To ask how much money you spend in the summer holidays?

[Cornfieldrainbows]

When you’re at home with the dc?
I’ve two dc and we seem to be burning cash. They are 12 and 5 so tricky to please both. My 12 year old has ASD and struggles socially so is never off doing stuff with his friends. He’s always with me.
Over the last week or so we’re been bowling, to the cinema, to Pizza Hut, to a local theme park, to the beach, to a special evening show, to a local museum, to the zoo...
This week I am back at work three days, so dc2 is with the childminder which is expensive in itself and dc1 is at sports camp. Next week we’ve got two big outings planned on my days off, but dc1 has sports all week this week and dc2 is easier to entertain with the cheaper stuff. Tomorrow we will go to a nearby forest and do the trail and Friday we will go to a pretend beach and paddling pool that has opened up.
How much do you spend during a ‘typical’ week in the summer holidays? I think I spend about £600 last week, maybe more, but I suppose for three of us, doing the stuff we did that’s to be expected.

I wouldn't like to add it up! For us it's food that bumps the total up, we do try to take picnics if we can though.

So far we've been swimming, to the beach, and to two different farm parks. We've met friends for milkshakes and cake. We're also planning on going to Longleat, a water park and indoor rock climbing. Probably back to the beach too.

Oh and the cinema twice so far!

Most weeks a pony club day rally around 2x £20, a competitive event with associated refreshments etc another £50 then usually another entertainment eg my husband and kids have just gone to cinema.

Next week we’re doing a one night family thing that will cost £500 plus and then there is pony club camp so another £100 x 2

We’ve probably got another £1750 of stuff planned between now and September but we are not going away apart from staying with friends and family so I’m OK with that. Not one typical week as such but an average spend of around £400 x 8 weeks

My kids are younger so it’s much cheaper. I have a 5 year old and a toddler.

Forest school sessions x 5 kids worth different combination of kids £60
Soft play x 2 times £20
Ice creams out and out £30 max over the holidays
Sports camp for 1 child £60
Tennis lessons x 5 £35
Swim crash course x2 £50 = £255
This wasn’t all needed and I booked it before I booked holiday so I may have not done as much.

Depending on the weather we may do another couple of trips to soft play. I think we may do some science experiments and baking so maybe £20 on the shopping.

Plus two week all inclusive holiday ££££££!!

We do one 'big' thing each week (although it's not always expensive because I get deals / use Clubcard points etc). We're not going away in a formal sense this year because DH and I have used so much annual leave covering 'self isolation / burst bubbles'.

This year:

• afternoon tea (£25 for four of us on two for one)
• Legoland (Clubcard points)
• bowling and lunch (pre-paid Groupon thing £22 for six of us)
• Three day circus school (to coincide with three days of work I need to concentrate on - £70 for three days)
• Night in a hotel (Travelodge - £35)
• Children's farm (although one of our DC has an annual pass so it's £20 for the rest of us)

Otherwise, picnics in the park round the corner of our house, library, play dates, paddling pool etc.

I try really hard not to let school holidays go mental because it's so tempting sometimes to feel like I need to do stuff with them. At Easter I didn't look for deals or plan in advance and we did stuff more spur of the moment. I may as well have just emptied the contents of my purse into a bin.

Not much so far. Shes quite happy hanging out with her mates , tapping me now and again for a kfc or a costa .. i think so far shes cost me a tenner if that
I'm planning a trip to the coast for a couple days , she will probably come, or not , she may stay at home with her boyfriend nearby and her dad who dont like the costal town I go to . again , we will eat in the pub and she may tap me up for ice creams .. shes fairly cheap

Quite a bit although I always try and balance this out with play dates and picnics in free parks.
This week we have done a family farm - £20 entrance fee for 1 adult and 2 DC plus 2 ice creams and 2 coffees.
Family swim £11.50 plus a juice after.
Rest of the week we are visiting family and friends so low cost.
Next week I will do swimming again then the rest of the week play dates or pottering or visiting grandmas.
Week after we are doing overnight in London in a BnB plus an open top bus and dinner so that'll be a couple of hundred quid all in. But then this it for the rest of the holiday. It's hard not to overspend

We've done nothing very ambitious yet - only in our first week of hols, though. So far we've done garden centre + cake (about £10), food shop (probably £20ish extra as they kept asking for bits and pieces), fun swim session (£5), park (free), met friends for day at a park/picnic (free), play dates - one child gone to friends one child has 3 friends here (free). Also planning a day trip with friends to national park (free), kids can both have friends over for sleepovers, some more swimming and I've looked at bowling and cinema for if it rains. We're going away for last two weeks, so spending the weeks before that decompressing and saving our spending g money for our holiday!

£600 may be tenable for one week, but not every week. I can see how zoo trips, bowling (always surprisingly expensive), food etc can soon mount up.

However, like others have said, I would spread the trips out. You don’t have to do something costly every day. You can go for walks, cycle rides etc, or just stay at home. It’s actually good for kids not to be. Entertained all the time, and to entertain themselves (and occasionally be bored).

Additional to a holiday in a couple of weeks - not much! DS's both of an age that they don't really want to do many days out, we will probably do a couple of lunches out and DS2 is having a day at a theme park with friends so there's that ticket to buy

Mine are younger, but we've budgeted an extra £50 a week. We do a lot of free trips to the beach, woods, parks and local museums, and also have annual passes to a few local attractions that get a lot of use over the summer. So mostly we just have to pay for transport and treatments.

This week roughly works out as;

£20 - extra fule
£10 - swimming
£5 - softplay (at leasure center)
£5 x2- icecream
£5 - Parking (overall)

I make a point of only doing one paid for activity a week and I take picnics everywhere. So we might do a park, a beach or a NT place other days in the week. It's harder to stick to this if the weather is bad though.

I also have at least one day a week with nothing planned though because I think kids should be able to amuse themselves. This is the first year that my eldest has been constantly asking to go on the iPad or switch though so I've found that easier said than done.

We're on a massive budget this year and I did lose it a bit when dh mentioned there might be no budget at all for 6 weeks hol activities this year. I suggested he try entertaining them for one afternoon without spending any money at all then he can come back and tell me how to do it for 6 weeks!

I have one Ds. Not going on holiday but still expensive. Trampoline park, lunches out, taxis, videogame museum (worth every penny, fabulous place), day trip to theme park with cousins. And food bill has doubled.

We go away and we do free stuff. This week we have a 3 storey cottage with a sea view cost £470, petrol, £30 so far, we have taken food and had a couple of takeaways and sandwiches and things out but we are still under your £600 and the food would be a separate budget back home so wouldn’t really be included there anyway.

.We have done long walks, beach days, rock pooling etc. Nothing with an admission fee (mainly as we are happy doing what we are doing). When we are at home there will be days out based on shopping for new school shoes and uniform, a trip out to the optician, dentist and other life admin that I save for the holidays. They will see friends which normally involves buying a few pizzas and cakes or taking a picnic. They will also make their own entertainment, I’m a firm believer in boredom fuelling imagination.

I darent even count OP! I try to do things mon we fri sun then have cheap picnic park days in between ....your figures sound about right!

Nothing like £600 a week

I find planning and booking ahead really helps keep costs down - not only does it spread the cost over several paycheques, advance tickets are also cheaper. Agree about taking picnics where possible as well. I also save for the summer holidays over the course of the year in a separate bank account.

Up until today we had spent nothing as we have either been to local parks or working and ds8 has been at grandparents/ds15 stayed home alone.
Me and dp are at home this week so all in it will be around £100 which includes two cinema trips and a crazy golf session. Money is a little tight and we have a week away for the last week of the hols so it will be walks/parks/museums/chilling at home although ds8 wants to go to a science centre which we will fit in one day as I don’t think it’s too expensive and once you’ve paid I’m sure you can return for free for a few months so could then be used again
Ds8 still has karate 3 times a week but older ds would sit in his room on his pc all day if we let him so I try and get him involved in a few things

Spent about £2k last week on a UK holiday.

I'm divorced so DS is with his dad this weekend. His turn to spend!

I work so had to fork out for holiday club but at least that's some activities taken care of for me and they go swimming there.

Next week DS is with his dad and then my mum while I work so I'll spend nothing until the weekend.

£600 ???????

Wow, you must have a massive budget.

When my dc were that sort of age, we would generally have one week away (cottage in Wales type break). Sometimes go and stay with extended family for a couple of nights (free except petrol). We'd have one 'expensive' day out across the holiday (eg zoo or safari park). Then we'd do free stuff. At 12, they'd usually have had a Scout camp for either a long weekend or often a week. Mine would swim a lot. Then I'd keep an eye on all the local media to find the free days out - from Fire station open days to carnivals and things in the park, to going for picnics in different places, to the odd meet up with friends or having friends round to us. Stuff like cooking. Just entertaining themselves for part of the time. Of courser you'd have to interweave those trips to the optician / dentist / haircuts / buying new school shoes. Stuff like having a good clearout of their bedrooms / clothes sort outs, then possibly having to go and replace outgrown stuff. etc etc.

I’m a childminder so my kids stay with me in the hols so we don’t have to pay childcare however, we did a playcentre with lunch last week which was about £40, eldest DD has 2 days at her hobby which js costing £90, camping weekend will be about £200 then we are away the last week of the hols. Day to day activities I try to keep as cheap as possible. Lots of parks and picnics. I think we will do the cinema one day though. We are lucky that things like museums are free and we are close to some really nice outdoor spaces.

One year I remember I only paid out for soft play (and a 2 week holiday abroad) but once we got home that was all I paid for. The rest of our entertainment was free - parks, walks, bike rides, play dates etc. They were 6, 9 and 10 that year.

We won’t even be spending £600 all summer. We just don’t have it. We are planning on camping a few nights when the weather improves and so far it’s been park trips and bike riding and reading. We have been to a farm too and had a couple of day visits to family. We will go swimming this week too.

Not that much, imagine what you’ll spend by week six.

Mine has been at soft play today, it also has a petting zoo etc, so three hours entertainment cost £18.

I don’t spend a great deal on days out, we tend to take advantage of as many free things as possible. Tomorrow we’re going to the puzzlewood, £17 for all three of us. Apart from that I’m not paying for any activities this week.

Next week is a bit pricey, my son has a drama camp thing 9-3 everyday which is £80 for the week.

2 dc age 8 so far Ive spent
Lido with parking £100
Cinema £15
Hot chocolates and cake in various coffee shops £40
Meals out £60
Random things they’ve asked for from shops, roughly £50
Rock climbing £40
Soft play £40
Childcare clubs (sports & music) £200
We’re only 2.5 weeks in too

Hmmm.
Just thinking.
Spent. Two weeks worth holiday club. £80 each.

Another two days a more expensive one- £60.

Also booked a butlins break. Approx £630.

I was hoping to do a couple of big days out- zoo and theme park. Will be around £80 admission for theme park similar for the zoo.

Then any other days out petrol- we dont have many museum near us so at least £20 petrol for any other attractions.

Been library local walks too.
So that's at least £1110 .
Me husband and two kids- 3 and 7