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 used to get £5 a week pocket money on a Saturday in the early 90s.
we’d buy a 1 day bus pass, go to the cinema and get a junior special from the chicken shop and that was all our money gone!

the bus fare now is more than the £5.

I remember being excited about getting new back to school bag/lunchbox/pencil case etc every September. It couldn’t have been a huge deal money wise - my mum was a single parent of 4 kids and we all got them as an extra, without going without anything else. I also have 4 kids and I had to dip into savings last year to replace theirs.

@SisterWivesrus not in every shop, no.

Chocolate digestives are 85p in Tesco

I do more now than what my parents could afford
Not so much cinema as my kids are 4 & 1 but sea sides, holidays, soft plays, aquariums, zoos etc
But my parents rented then saved for a house, they let us live with them for a couple of years pre baby to save up ££££.
If you're renting trying to save for a house must be hard or single parents all depends on circumstances.

And costs obviously it's ridiculous now!

Was that in Harrods? Even for branded ones at Waitrose they’re only £1.60…

As a child in the 60's I remember standing at the ice cream van and one our neighbours brought a dish and handed it to the ice cream man. The dish was then filled with ice cream, and our neighbour took it back home.
A whole dish of ice cream!!! Obviously it was to be shared with all the family, but that envy has never left me. I could buy my own ice cream van now, but as a child from a large family with no money to spare that full dish seemed so luxurious.

In my childhood the cinema (well, "the pictures" as my parents called it) were a treat - mostly for birthdays. Eating out as a family was very unusual, and I still see it as a treat now I'm an adult. We'd get a takeaway about once per month (almost always fish and chips) and a chocolate bar was twice per week. Snacks were generally not available but we did have yoghurts for dessert most days. We didn't have much money, but we weren't unusual in my state school. I was born mid 80s.

By comparison, when my younger siblings were older children / teens (born early 90s) cinema, chocolate bars, takeaway and eating out were much more ordinary. Again, they were normal amongst their peers.

I think there was a period from the mid 99s to late 2000s where prices of non-essentials were much lower than they were before or since. Or maybe food was cheap so non-essentials were more affordable.

I can’t think of an anything that works for. I’m the 90s going to the cinema was a rare treat. It was even rarer to be allowed drinks or food from the cinema! We used to go to the corner shop and get a 50p mixup and take it in.
If we had a day out at the zoo we always brought food.
We ate out but it was definitely a rare event for a treat/ special occasion.
I think proportionally things were at least just as expensive if not more.

We are the same vintage. The Berni Inn was the epitome of luxury. Things like children’s clothes, stationery and toys were relatively so much more expensive in the 70s and early 80s than they are today. Supermarkets only sold food and a very limited range at that - orange or lemon squash only, Ribena if your parents were feeling flush!

As a 90s child I didn’t go to the cinema till my teens when I chose to spend my pocket money on it. We ate out once a year and that was a chippy tea during our once a year seaside holiday.
My children don’t know they’re born, constant cake and soft drinks in cafes, loads of uk holidays and the odd one abroad each year.
The only thing my parents afforded that I can’t is a large house in the country with land. Our house is pokey in comparison and we all share one bathroom.

Comics, newspapers and magazines have certainly disappeared off the affordable list, whereas I got Twinkle, then Jackie, Smash Hits, Just 17, Cosmo, Prima, Good Housekeeping well into my 30s.
Now I just avert my gaze…

Ours is £7.99 for a standard seat, £4.99 for a seat with a crap view and £10.99 for a VIP seat - larger and with best view. DH and I go maybe 3 or 4 times a year. We're not bothered about buying food and drink there so £16 - £20 for the two of us is affordable as an occasional pleasure.

I honestly don’t believe chocolate digestives are £5.6 is any shop.

A Freddo was 10p in the 90s and is 25p now. Hardly unaffordable. The rise is near enough just exactly in line with inflation between 1995 and now.

All the treats you mention were beyond us as a child. I remember 1 cinema trip, no meals out, 2 or 3 uk holidays. A budgie was the pet. Treats were days out at the seaside (with picnic) but bought ice cream. (Never the chocolate heart on a stick!), cream buns from the bakers, Brownie pack holiday was the most exciting thing ever.
We were pretty standard kids, I don't think anyone had much to spend.

I think it all swung too high, flights abroad shouldn't be cheap, for instance- the environmental aspect should make them rare. Small cars should be much more the norm, as they are in lots of European countries. I think we in the UK got very greedy and took too much for granted. I don't want the ability to have treats half as much as I want a decent government, clean rivers and beaches, and affordable housing. Because as far as I remember, we did have that.

Cinema was a huge deal and I didn’t have swimming lessons. I remember having a friend who did dance lessons and really wishing I could do them. In fact my parents couldn’t afford any clubs. It’s sad thinking back on it as I see how much is out there for kids.

I went to the cinema once or twice in my entire childhood.

My family was not well off at all but my Mum cooked from scratch every day except Saturday when she shopped and bought fish and chips for herself, my Dad and 5 dc. It was cheap in those days now a portion of fish and chips cost £15. So today it would cost £105 pounds.

Going on holiday to a caravan park

Cinema is cheaper now than when I was a kid tbh. Our local Vue does tickets for £5.99 everyday for everyone.
Swimming was practically free when I was a child. You could be at the pool all day in the half terms and summer holidays for £1. It's so expensive now for a short slot.
We're lucky that our local swimming club does lessons fairly cheaply, but I imagine that's not common.

They're nowhere near that in Tesco.

And we are all alcoholics now as you can pile wine and beer into your trolley and push it through the self checkout rather than having to go to a pub or your local off licence. My parents rarely drank as they wouldn’t have wanted anyone in the village to count the bottles.

Kids magazines. We could get a comic/magazine for about 30-50p as kids.
Now they are £5?!!!

For me I feel its the opposite (although the cinema is blooming expensive now) - all our holidays were to the caravan and now they're all luxury cottages or abroad, I probably only went to the theatre a couple of times through my whole childhood and now I go a few times a year, we only went out on special birthdays and if we did it would just be a cheap pub where now we eat out typically once or twice a week. Part of it is probably wage related as my parents weren't well off (I'm not either but comfortable), but I also think it just wasn't the done the thing where I'm from (working class north west mining town)

Holidays! We were a family of 4 children born in the 50s and 60s, and every year we had a seaside holiday. Even staying in a hotel and travelling by taxi. Or renting a holiday home.

Always to Broadstairs or similar. We lived in Kent.

Dad wasn't in a well paid job at all but Mum always managed a 2 week holiday for us all.

Not a cheap option these days unless maybe camping or out of season.

I think it all swung too high, flights abroad shouldn't be cheap, for instance- the environmental aspect should make them rare. Small cars should be much more the norm, as they are in lots of European countries. I think we in the UK got very greedy and took too much for granted

Agree - holidays in the UK were cheap, and are now often a more expensive option. Nowadays abroad is cheap.

Which is wrecking the planet - as is the relative cost of driving v taking a train (rail travel having shot up in price)