To wonder if family days out used to be a lot cheaper

[mrsbeeton999]

I’m sure days out like zoos and theme parks must’ve been comparatively cheaper when I was a child (I’m in my 40s). I remember my aunt who didn’t have much money taking us to Chessington and the Tower of London and they’re about £100 for a family now. Any show or day out is always £100. Luckily we love outdoor stuff and beaches and do lots of really low cost days at weekends mixed with the odd treat day but I was just thinking where my aunt used to take us and feeling guilty!

The only time we got to go to soft play was when we went to the fun factory at the pub and we never did days out. We did beach trips and walks in the new forest.

Now even parking for a day at the beach is £30 in peak season!

No they weren’t cheaper. 80’s child here. We could pick one for our birthday day out if we were lucky, but we’d take a packed lunch and not be allowed drinks.

We could go to a zoo / theme park OR go out for dinner (beefeater / harvester) just the family. Not friends.

Normal days out were homebase, walk round a shopping centre (not buy anything, not even a drink). Maybe on a Saturday Asda, to the pizza counter to pick dinner.

@Winniemarysarah I recommend feeding your DCs before the cinema! The amount they charge for popcorn etc is ridiculous

Calmdown14 😊 I’ve dredged up some happy memories this afternoon.
My mum used to take my DD on similar trips when she was younger and she loved them - bus or tram (novelty factor) homemade picnic on a bench - free or cheap attraction. They both loved the model village.
Some habits have definitely stayed with me - I usually take food and drinks, wouldn’t buy food in a cinema, use coupons or groupon.
I’ll definitely remember this thread when planning Guides next term. The girls go to all sorts of expensive places yet they still delight in simpler things. We took them to a Christmas tree festival (lots of diy decorated trees) with an old fashioned Christmas fair (the ladies who organised it were in their 70s/80s) reminded me of my childhood. 20p bags of sweets and a teddy bear tombola (from charity shops lovingly washed and brushed) The girls absolutely loved it and these are tweens with iPhones etc.

Don’t forget museumswerent free then either

In proportion to income they were still very expensive When I was a child. We only went when we had vouchers we’d saved from the paper or similar.

It's difficult for parents now. Children don't really play out of have freedom to go and call on friends. So parents are under pressure to provide entertainment. It's sad. My ds maintains his best day ever was when and his friends were allowed to go to the park by themselves for the first time and they got chips and ate them on the grass!

Prices have increased due to the massive insurance cover many of these venues now need to have in this day and age where every accident, slip, trip or fall has to have some form of blame and compensation attached.
I'm sure it was proportionately cheaper years ago but society was different and the 'injury lawyers for you" culture was not established.

Thing is the hot dogs and nachos at the cinema are meant to be your meal which is why they cost about the same as a Burger King whopper and fries.

I have Limitless, buy a Costa, and take my own sweets. But I remember paying about £8 in 2000 for the Odeon and they still do £7 saver tickets here now.

I was a child in London during the 70s and 80s - I think I was lucky to live in a place where the free activities were good. Obviously the museums in London were fab and free, but also the parks had paddling pools and animals. And there were loads of places to walk around and explore.

My parents couldn't afford lots of expensive things (working class, council house) but we were always doing something and had enough money for the odd Mac Donald's/fish and chips and ice cream and for UK holidays. It wasn't the norm the drop £20 in Costa every time people left the house. My mum packed a picnic for a day at the park!

Today, it seems like every place is set out to rinse parents out of as much money as possible.

We were not badly off when I was a child (1960s-70s) but we very rarely spent any money on days out.

There weren't any theme parks in those days - or at least nothing near where we lived. A typical day out was a visit to a NT type property - and we only ever went to the gardens which were free, never to the house itself, which had to be paid for. Or we might go to the beach or a local beauty spot/national park type place. The zoo was a once a year birthday treat when we were children (we were allowed to choose whether we had a party or a 'treat' and if we chose the treat we could take one friend). When we got older the treat stopped being the zoo and usually became a trip to the ice rink.

We never ate out and never had a takeaway. Every day out involved a picnic. The only money was spent on petrol, car parking and (if we went to the beach in the summer) an ice lolly.

I agree children's expectations are now much higher!

They always cost a lot. In years gone by they were rare treats and a picnic was always taken too

I don't think more takeaways is necessarily a bad thing. I'd never have got to eat Chinese or Indian food if I were fully reliant on home cooked food. My mum and dad can cook but it's mostly in the lasagne/stew/cottage pie family.

We didn't have as much disposable income in the 1960s and 1970s. I can remember a mortgage rate of 15% in the '70s. We did a lot of family walks in the countryside, never bought drinks out, only takeaway was fish and chips once a month, and I don't think we ate out as a family till I was ten years old. Family holiday was a week in England in a self-catering cottage, later increased to a week in the summer and a week in the autumn. There were not the opportunities to spend money, no Costa-type places, hardly any fast food, very few places like historic houses and museums had more than a tea room selling postcards. My mother was a SAHM, and my parents still managed to buy their house.

I remember very few of these paid days out, we didn't have a lot of money but I lived in an idyllic part of the country 12 miles from the sea, until I was 18. We were able to drive to the beach, splash in the sea, eat cheap homemade sandwiches, run about on the beach. So not a priority. If I was a parent in a grim inner-city area, these more manufactured days might be more important.

Also, when I was a student in the late 80s and early 90s, going to the cinema was something we would casually do. It wasn't expensive. Why is it now so much more?

Every Saturday us kids & our friends would go to the cinema, then the swimming baths. If we walked home we could afford a bag of chips too.

We’d go to the Zoo every year in the school holidays, & to the park. Mom would make sandwiches to take. I remember having an ice cream, but only if we walked so far to save on bus fare. Dad worked 6 days a week so he never came.

Actually when they finally took me on a day trip to the seaside I was quite disappointed as I didn’t feel that it measured up to the park.

My family most weekends were spent watching the film we got from the video shop on repeat, or whatever was on live tv, playing in garden or out with the neighbourhood kids, up the park with a packed lunch and maybe an ice cream from the van if it came round. No cinema, soft play, bowling, arcade, theme park, swimming, museum, etc. That was a few times a year and a big deal, always with packed lunches and flasks of tea nothing from the cafe or restaurant, or from the gift shop. I do think those expectations have changed.

@TheresSomebodyAtTheDoorNeil I agree about the holidays. We used to have a holiday in a static caravan each summer when I was in top juniors/early secondary school. It was about 4 hours drive away and the highlight of our year. At today's summer prices plus petrol there's no way a lone parent in the position my mum was in could do that, however well they save and budget.

I grew up local to chessington and we never went as even though it was local it was too expensive. Our treat was Saturday morning pictures for 50p and then once my mum remarried and my step dad had a car we had the occasional picnic to Brighton beach.

With regard to cinema prices, DMum used to go to the cinema 2 or 3 times a week when she was a girl, in the 30s and 40s. There were 3 cinemas in their northern town. The family didn't have much spare cash, but cinema tickets were tuppence. If you think about it, no-one had TV, Netflix, Sky, phones to stream films on etc., so everyone used to go to the cinema - the cinemas would be full for several sessions every day, and so they were able to keep the prices low. I've been to the cinema for an early evening session and they might be three or four people in the screening - the cinema must be losing money.

My 2 Aunties had no children of their own. They used to take me and my sister's put quite a lot. My parents used to take us on some day trips to seaside going on train when Dad was on holiday for 2 weeks in summer. We might go for 4 day trips during the fortnight. That was all they could afford. My Aunties took us another 2 days during same fortnight. They took us to a pantomime at Xmas, on a trip to London each year, to see a large firework display and an Easter Egg hunt at local NT property. Without my Aunties taking us we would have had a lot less. They also helped my parents pay for our school uniforms, school trips too. They were like second parents to us all our lives, the downside was we all miss them so much when they died.

I teach ten year olds. It’s an inner city school, in a not very affluent area. A large handful of them regularly have £10 and £20 notes with them for going out to a local Starbucks, Bubble Tea cafe or Pizza Hut after school together. They also go to the trampoline park, swimming or cinema often. Let’s not even get started on the Smartphones, tablets and AirPods they all cart about… And the dance academies, sports clubs and various other activities. There must be huge pressure on some parents to keep up.

My parents would never have funded that kind of lifestyle. I was ten in 1996. I had a friend who’s mum worked in the Odeon and we got to see a film for free once a month. We could go to the local pool quite regularly. We went to local youth clubs to hang out. Things like ice skating was a very rare treat. When we were a bit older, we’d go into town and buy a McDonalds Happy Meal because it was all we could afford!

As for attractions, my parents were pretty well off, but trips to places that weren’t included in our National Trust membership were pretty rare. I remember once being taken to look at Edinburgh Castle through the gate!

I think theme parks & zoos were expensive but the cinema & bowling is a lot more. So are pantos & shows

I thought anyone is born in the 80s or after have less disposable income vs previous generations

I think it's much cheaper to go out now. Often outings can be bought with BOGF vouchers or Tesco Clubcard points etc.