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!

I grew up in the 80s too (in the north), and days out were normally to national trust places or free museums and so on. My parents didn’t really do theme parks, or eating out or going to the cinema or “attractions” - and we always took a packed lunch and flasks of lukewarm orange squash! (Blurgh!)

I remember a couple of trips to safari parks or similar, and they did take us to “educational” places like Jodrell Bank, and the occasional theatre trip. I think I went to Chester Zoo once on a school trip (the only times we really went near a theme park was on a school or church day out). No Eurodisney, Legoland, Chessington etc. - though we knew more well off friends who lived in the south east and did go to “attractions” like those a lot. I’m not sure if I was actually jealous though - I just remember being quite accepting that those things were out of my sphere or reference! I was a bookish child and probably happier sitting at home with a book on a Saturday or at a national trust place anyway.

Like a pp, I could probably count how many times we ever ate out on the fingers of both hands, it was so rare! But then there just weren’t the number of restaurants there are now - not even Pizza Express in the north, near us it was either fast food/sandwich cafes/pubs which only served food at restricted times of the week, or a few adult French restaurants for special occasions, but literally nothing like the family chain restaurants that are everywhere now.

I think a lot of this is also related to where you lived in the country - booking a hotel overnight stay was prohibitively expensive, so if you didn’t live near the south east, you were far too far away from most of the theme parks. Our local equivalents were pretty manky, rickety and unsafe - as anyone who has ever got stuck at the top of a ride at Morecambe Frontierland can attest (went once with a church day out age about 12 and it was eyepoppingly creaky)!

@mrsbeeton999

Reading about the picnics has stirred up a long buried memory of weak orange squash in an old Robinson’s bottle poured into old Tupperware beakers with furry chewed rims - yuk

Oh same here! And only being allowed one of the cheapest two ice lollies on offer wherever we went - either a mini milk or a lemonade sparkle. I dreamed of the luxury of a Cornetto, but those were only for adults. We knew when my dad had gone up in the world at work at the end of the 80s, because we were suddenly allowed a Funny Feet or a Feast. Sadly then the recession hit and it was back to the mini milks

@Dixiechickonhols

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.

I notice that the preteens who are my DD’s friends definitely aren’t doing lots of attractions etc. - even though many have quite affluent parents. The big thing here for preteens is a birthday trip to Harry Potter studios (which does cost a flipping fortune), but it’s very much a once a year treat, and the rest of the time they are going to the park or local bird sanctuary or woodland to do free den building at the weekend, or just swimming at the local pool or football or a playground. I don’t really hear of anyone doing the theme park thing. Usually a panto at Christmas, one outing in the summer holidays, the rest of the time free or cheap outdoor stuff and national trust. Not so different to my childhood to be honest. I think even before Covid my DD has only been to the cinema twice in her life!

Obviously Covid has really impacted kids’ lives a lot during the last two years, but honestly they seem just as excited to go to the playground with a picnic at the weekend as to any attraction. My DD had a few girls over for a film on tv and some pizza to celebrate her birthday, and they were deliriously happy just to be having that after nearly two years of hardly any socialising! And at Brownies they get incredibly excited just to do a normal craft activity like making a paper lantern or playing a team game. So I don’t think the kids expect it even enjoy expensive activities more than just the ordinary stuff we used to do.

@foxgoosefinch

YES!

These posts are bringing lots of happy memories.

Kew Gardens was 3d for adult entry in the 60's and. 1d for children. So definitely massively cheaper then, and we went regularly. And if we could wriggle under the turnstile they let us off the pennies. There is absolutely no way a person on a comparable income could take their grandchildren there these days.

Not a clue. A day out to a theme park or zoo was an occasional treat. For my own children this is still the case. We don't regularly do big days out, or expensive activities. We live quite close to Chester Zoo, but could never afford to be members.

Kew Gardens was 3d for adult entry in the 60's and. 1d for children

I was just about to write about Kew Gardens! I was a child during the 70s and it was a few pence to get in- we went a few times. Also Hampton Court Palace gardens, which are now blocked off unless you pay.

We didn't have meals out in the way that we do now- we would occasionally have lunch in Milletts or BHS, but that was it.

Mum did own a cottage in Wales (inheritance investment) so we spent all summer there-mostly on the beach/repairing the cottage/'chasing the sun' to other beaches etc with perhaps one trip to the cinema (always a Bond film I remember), fish and chips sometimes and so on. We didn't pay for food en route to the cottage either- we stopped at motorway services and had a picnic. One memorable occasion saw Mum trying to crakc open a tin of condensed milk with a crowbar...

I don't think many existed, not in the 70s and 80s. We had local swimming pool, a few seaside picnics, a rare trip to London zoo, once or twice the fair when it came. Never the cinema or theatre or even a free museum. No meals out.
Bowling didn't exist. Ice skating did, but it was for rich people.
I don't think we were unusual. Nobody had much money, so you didn't feel left out.

My DM was an expert at getting a good deal for us for a day out about 40 odd years ago. We’d get a cheap day return and go on the train to London or Margate for £1. Then if we we went to a Margate we’d get a wristband for all day rides at DreamLand. A red bus rover ticket was 75p and then my friends and I would walk around Covent Gardens or visit the museums for free.
My DC are older now but I often bought a Merlin Annual pass in the January sales. We’d go out every weekend and always have something to do in the holidays. This and £1 cinema and parks and we were sorted. I remember my DM telling me about her work colleagues who’d spend a fortune on one day at LegoLand where as I went as often as I wanted with my pass and didn’t spend that much annually.

We went to the beach or the 'country" quite often but paid attractions were few and far between.

And we always always took a packed lunch and drinks. My parents would have never dreamt of popping in for tea and cake or getting a burger on the way home etc.

Re the homemade sandwiches & picnics which I still think are fairly common, people probably have less time. Certainly vs the 80s working hours are longer plus longer commutes.

Certain things used to be I'm sure. The cinema and pantomimes and bowling.

Eating out was an event, it required a long dress and your hair either up or curled.

And strict instructions that this was, "Adult time, adults don't want to hear children bickering"

And no children's menu, my brother and I had to chose the same thing and my mum would order, "one of X and a plate" and the waiter would bring an empty plate for my mum to split the one meal.

Agree with the posters saying swimming used to be comparably cheaper, and longer slots too. Was it more subsidised in the past? Shame because its really good exercise for all types of people and levels of fitness.

Swimming lessons didn't go on for years either! I had a block of about 12 lessons at Elephant and Castle leisure centre (I think) and that was it - I could swim!

I know this thread is a few months old but I would agree so so much OP.

I am a mid 90s baby, my mum was a hairdresser, my dad was an estate agent but became a courier area manager.

We weren’t well off but my parents bought their home etc. We lived in a rough area in Kent where people would steal cars and assault people on the daily.

however I seemed to always be doing something as a child

my auntie was the manager of a soft play place so we got to go there a lot, assuming discounted.
we went camping with the neighbours every year in Cornwall, talking about massive tents, real equipment (these days that’d cost you a fortune)
we went to Ibiza, France/Monaco and Disneyland (I won tickets from a newspaper competition)
we went bowling (sometimes cinema as my parents said it’s expensive)
we went to theme parks, concerts but nature parks when money was tight

we never bought food out though always had a packed lunch, I wore hand me downs all the time and my parents did the house renovation themselves
my dad had a company car which also saved money,

my mum is still a hairdresser and claims she was better off when we were kids and earnt more in a day!

now as a mum, I feel constantly poor, days out are so expensive I’m talking £30 a day even with a packed lunch by time you consider petrol/bus ticket, entry fees.
its £20 to take my son to the local soft play, but what choice do I have when nursery is even more expensive.
life is definitely much more expensive and places just rinse you, plus a lot of places you have to have the food they serve, so you’re forced to purchase

i hope this doesn’t come across as I was well off or spoilt, I’m aware I got to do lots. But as a household who takes home the national average for the uk (probably like my parents did in the 90s or 2000s,) we can never afford to do anything like i got to as a kid, we do stuff once in a blue moon,

I think they’ve always been expensive. My parents separated when I was a baby and I’m my Dad’s only child/ his only real responsibility meaning he always had lots of money to take me wherever I wanted to go because he had a decent job. Even he would rarely buy snacks from the cinema, we went to the cinema all of the time. Looking back, he was often seeking ways to save money on trips out despite not being poor at all. Even with one child it was clearly expensive going out for the day. This was the 90s/00s.

80s child here.

We went to the local pool (without an adult from age 7), park (again no adults), fed the ducks with old bread etc. Occasionally to a museum or stately home. Picnic from home.
We did go to Thorpe park a few times. I recall it was called Thorpe Farm and park or something like that, it was mainly a farm with play areas and, as far as I remember about 3 rides (phantom fantasia, space station zero and teacups for those of the same generation!)

Mind you, although not massively poor, I am stingy so it’s pretty similar for our kids - we leave near the coast, so lots of beaches and parks with picnics, cheap swimming or museums on wet days (or parks etc with wet weather gear). Probably a costly day out once/twice a year. Where we live, there are smaller attractions that are less costly than, say, Alton Towers, but are still around 20pp, so v occasional treat.

I don't know if it is more expensive or whether there is the expectation that it is part of parenting now to do more things. As a 70s child we went to a navy day, or air show once a year. We had a week holiday at butlins. Otherwise it was family picnics occasionally or going to tea at a relatives. Organised by letter. None of us had a telephone. Most school holidays we just went out to play every day, we didn't expect to 'do something' every holiday.

Similar for my own DC as going to places/attractions was too expensive. We often looked but couldn't afford it. We did more beach trips though.