What things that were little luxuries when you were a child are now big luxuries due to cost of living?

[Holdontightly]

When I was little, things like cinema tickets, or swimming lessons or owning a dog or cat were fairly routine parts of childhood. Most kids in my bog standard state school had treats on this level, cost wise - obviously there have always been a group of people that can't stretch to any of these treats, but it was much more unusual. They seemed very affordable.

Nowadays, all of these things seem vastly more expensive relatively speaking, imo.

Is there any stuff like this you have thought of?

I should add - a pet has always been a big privilege as not every kid was allowed a pet. But it didn't seem to be because of the cost.

My kitten was free when I was small and cat food and wormer wasn't that much money at all. We got her spayed which was reasonably priced, but she was not insured, and fortunately she was very healthy until old age.

Considered a luxury as a child but a lot cheaper back then was horse riding. 15 quid an hour back then, it is now 21 quid for half an hour.
As you mentioned the cinema, swimming were usually done on a Friday after school or at the weekend, soft play etc...now it's considered an actual day out as a treat.

Sunday roasts were bog standard on a Sunday but a beef roasting joint is so expensive now, so we have cheaper cuts instead.

A chippy tea cost us thirty quid for three people the other day.
Ice creams out an ice cream shop also very expensive.

Shoes seem to Be a lot more expensive than before.

It's sad.

Penny sweets.

How old are you?

Going to the cinema was a huge deal when I was a kid, I probably went less than 10 times in total throughout my childhood.

Soft play didn't exist so wasn't a weekend or after school activity.

Eating out was a rare occasion.

When I was a teen in the 90's we went to the theatre (two of us) each had popcorn, a drink and a candy , for 16$ and we thought we were getting ripped off.
We went last weekend, and while the popcorn was larger, the drink is smaller, and it bloody well came to 70$
I almost fainted from shock!

Agree with all these too.

Gosh yes, in particular an ice cream out and about is a small fortune now.

@UnaLaguna I'm pushing 40. Cinema was comparitively cheap in my big town in the eighties and nineties.

I feel your pain, have had similar experiences.

Fish and chips
yes, cinema
ice creams at the beach - set me back nearly £25 for 6!
buying sandwiches/crisps/drinks for lunch on days out (we take our own now)
takeaway (rarely had them, now never)
holidays

Completely agree OP. My brother and I were kids in the 90s. Our mum was a single parent who worked full time. Every Saturday morning, she’d buy herself a magazine, take us to the Wacky Warehouse and she’d buy us a slush puppie each and a coffee for herself. It was the only bit of peace she’d have all week. I dread to think how much you’d spend if you did that every weekend these days.

Cinema was a big treat when I was a kid, it's was pretty expensive, probably 1/3 cost of now but based on wages it cost a lot more. Mum complained about the price of dog food too, the difference now though is you have a choice of cheap or expensive pet food, if get a rescue and feed cheap food it's no more expensive relatively.

We used to see the cinema as a cheaper night out in the 90’s. Nowadays it’s extortionate.

Oddly I think the cinema is cheap in's only £6 here or was the last time I went (December)

Almost everything was a luxury when I was a child in the 1950s, apart from tickets to the Saturday matinee at the cinema. However, it was literally a riot so we rarely went. Children were definitely not better behaved then.

Our local cinema is £18 per ticket for adults (which includes dc if age 15 and up)! I only go on a Tuesday / Wednesday now when I can buy one get one free with meerkat movies. McDonald’s isn’t such a cheap treat anymore either.

Magazines.

I can't think of anything. Many the other way round though.

Lots of the things mentioned we just never did as a child. Buying ice creams when out, was a rare luxury, for example. Whereas if we go on a day out now we'll normally get one each.
And the cinema wasn't expensive (£1 per child if I remember rightly) just we very rarely went because they were either a 5 mile drive or the little local one which only had one screen. Now we get vouchers for them through a scheme dh has, and still don't go much!

I think I went to the cinima 4 times as a child, we never bought food or drink on a day out, all holidays were camping in the UK. A lot of things were done once a year, such as trip to the beach or to the local theme park. The only soft play was on the yearly day trip to Butlins.

No takeaways and eating out was a few times a year at the harvester. There was never a stop in a cafe or coffee shop.

My life now is completely different, we stop in coffees shops, have takeaway a few times a month, go somewhere every weekend etc We do a bit less of this with col but its still a world away from how my childhood was!

Most of my experience is the other way round. Eating out, going abroad, electrical goods - generally unattainable luxuries in my childhood. Alcohol was more expensive, but I guess cigarettes were cheaper.

So smoking. That's now a big luxury.

Magazines. My mum would get all 3 of us a magazine for being good on the weekly shop with her. At £6.99 each that wouldn’t be happening in our house!
Yearly skiing holiday (always an expensive holiday but no way could we ever afford that now).
Cinema we did regularly.
’Going shopping’ on a Saturday. Nowadays we only replace stuff as needed and wouldn’t go shopping for the sake of it. Probably best environmentally to be fair…

I'm early 40s and agree- as a kid (early secondary school) I think it was about 1.50 for a cinema ticket so we used to go with friends quite a bit.

Depends how old you are. I didn't go to the cinema until I was 10, although I did go fairly frequently as a teenager/young adult. Mind you, there was no Netflix streaming etc then so it was TV, video or cinema.

I don't remember anyone having swimming lessons - we learnt to swim with school.

We always took packed lunches out & still do now really.

No soft play either. I'm early 50s.

Most of the things my children did growing up over the last 20 years on a fairly regular basis (cinema, soft play, funfairs, day trips out, meals out) were definitely considered a luxury when I was little, growing up in the 70s and early 80s.

We probably went to the cinema once or twice a year, the fair for one afternoon in the summer holidays, there was no soft play, day trips were very rare, and a meal out was probably a couple of times a year. A trip to the Little Chef when on a car journey was so exciting! A Berni Inn was considered a huge treat. We were a fairly comfortable middle class family, and did more than a lot of my friends.

But I do think that things that I was able to afford for my children have now become very expensive. Eating out and takeaways have become so very expensive for what you get, that we just don't do it as often anymore

Same here. We did have a dog though. My family never once went out for a meal in my childhood.

To be fair, this sounds like good entertainment from a small kid's perspective as a bit of excitement