To think the price of days out for kids is excessive?

[Niniope]

Looking at planning days out with DH and just turned 2 year old DD and a bit shocked by the prices!
We earn decent wages but both work part time and have quite a few outgoings.

For context we live in greater Manchester and have been to pretty much every museum in the area, as well as regularly going swimming, soft play, parks, and farms - a lot of days out are free or under £15 for us all.

I was trying to plan going to an aquarium and as DD is over 90cm it would be £72 for us all! Looked at sea life and that equally would be £52 as they've changed from under 3 go free to under 2 go free!

Cbeebies land would be £105, which although not feasible for us to spend I can rationalise more as a big day out, but an aquarium we will spend a couple of hours at before she naps!?

I was also looking at visiting a WWT site but that would be over £30, which is also a bit excessive when we can walk around numerous bodies of water and nice countryside for free.

I know these places have got to run and meet overheads but the prices mean they are just inaccessible to us. We just can't justify it to then not be able to do anything else for the rest of the month.

Am I being a skinflint?

I mean when I was growing up we went to the zoo once a year and theme park once a year because it was expensive. That was the paid days out. Otherwise it was round a friends or to the park.

You don't need a paid day out every month.

Sealife Centre tickets I think used to last for the whole year....Not sure if this is still the case.

Like you said… they have to make a profit and the MNW keeps rising so they have to keep paying their staff an increased wage every year.

Places with animals have to feed and heat them. That’s all gone up too.

I don’t think £105 for CBeebies land is that bad to be honest.

I wouldn’t book a aquarium as I think they are boring.

How about your local zoo?

We only do "big days out" occasionally because the cost is often around £100.

I don't mind spending that money on something I know the kids will really enjoy.

More day to day activities are often free or less then £20, but even little and often cheap activities still build up!

They tend to charge what they need to charge to cover their (massive, in the case of animal parks and the like) costs and make a profit.

I'd personally save such experiences until your child is older and can get more out of them/actually remember the experiences.

It is really expensive. And a lot of places like soft play have been doing timed sessions since covid for the same price as you could stay all day for before. I find the best thing to do is get an annual pass for a different thing each year. Some of the cheaper ones like national trust my in-laws will buy us as our Christmas present. Then we make the most of the annual pass through the year and then the next year we get a pass for somewhere else. It works out quite good value for money.

No - it why mine have seen a lot of museums, art galleries ruins parks and woods as they were free.

We did do Sealife center near us - but paying once could get you 12 months free entry on certain conditions - we had similar when we moved here with few other attractions.

Tesco club card vouchers or other discounts might help - pre booking or family tickets may reduce a bit but generally these trips were not every month.

We did about three trips when we lived nearish to a theme park over 6 years - they'd done odd school trip to ones - but they've not been regular outings. Been to one zoo - again they all had a school tip to another one.

Look for places that do tickets that last a year.

We went to the Transport museum in Coventry last.month, on the spur of the moment, quite expensive for 2-3 hour afternoon but the tickets last 12 months so we can go back repeatedly... I'll get me money's worth.. 🤪

It's hard because often it's clear why something is expensive...but that doesn't give you any more money to spend.
When my DC were young we only did things like that maybe 3 times a year. We used tesco club card vouchers for the zoo and often there were 2 fir one deals on cereal or soap packaging.

We go to the theatre about one a year (if that) It is really expensive but when we go I immediately notice how many things you are paying for within the ticket price if that makes sense.

We had DD during COVID and noticed that when attractions reopened a lot of them were free under 2 not under 3, and Wellington country park which is nearby to us made all the tickets the same price! So it's now £20 each for a day for anyone aged 2+. A 2 year old can't even use half the facilities. I don't mind Legoland or Alton towers as a one off, at least they put in some effort.

You’re definitely not being unreasonable. I looked at going to Paulton’s Park where Peppa Pig World is because it’s quite local to my parents and it’s £41 per adult! We do a lot of free or low cost things - story centre, soft play as daughter is 15 months but as she gets older, I’m worried about the cost.

I don't think it helps more places are charging - Transport museum in Coventry used to be free - a local version of Roman baths we'd walk to was free then suddenly it was £25 for us all to go round - so we stick to the free museum and amphiteater.

Yes I definitely understand that for the 'big' days out like theme park.
We have DD 5 days a week and so we do need to do things on those days- we try to do free stuff and pack lunches but even a weekly playgroup, council leisure centre swim, and basic soft play visit will set you back £80 for the month! It adds up!

It's National Lottery Open Week between 9-17th March. Lots of places they have given funding to give free entry to anyone with a ticket or scratch card (from £1). Includes lots of National trust, English heritage and RSPB nature reserves.

This might be worth knowing.

https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/life-changing/your-ticket-unlocks/project-open-week?icid=lich-212:bd:4:tnls-gc:tnl:lich-yotiun-propwe-866:in:btn

I costed up a small steam service trip - pricy but doable - did same post covid about £200 more for 7 of us so not affordable.

You've just said the important part out loud "I was also looking at visiting a WWT site but that would be over £30, which is also a bit excessive when we can walk around numerous bodies of water and nice countryside for free."

The best things in life are free ( I know...a cliche ) but your child is only 2. They just want their parents and love and attention (and fresh air). Go for a free walk.

We never had any of those expensive things you mentioned in your OP.

I live in London and visits to attractions like that are usually one parent affairs for us - DH sits in a bookshop and meets us later. Saves quite a lot.

It really is. So at 2, that's when we got DS into walking/hiking.
By 6 he was either climbing big mountains with us at weekends (we weren't mountain climbers before this btw) or at least walking hill routes or a different woods/forest, river routes, etc.
Or bike riding every weekend (a balance bike was great at 2 to get him into it).
Took a picnic and treats on every walk, made it fun. We've had great times and all it cost was the fuel, maybe parking, and the picnic or a stop in a cafe.
He's nearly 10 now and we still do this but less so as he usually ditches us for his friends! Although we sometimes take a friend out with us

Yes we are on a decent income but the full price charges make me wince. We are in London and have a zoo membership which is great value if you go more than 4 times, and plan to get different membership/passes to other attraction groups, eg one year we'll do a Merlin pass, one year the Royal Palaces. Our dcs have disabilities so we've bought Access passes for each of them - it means DH and I can both get in free as carers which makes a huge difference, we just pay for 2 child tickets. There are loads of free places in London but it's a bit limiting to only do free days out, although we'd probably have to limit ourselves more if we couldn't get carer tickets.

I used to join things, so I had a Merlin Pass for four years, a soft play membership, memberships to various castle day out places that I used to join for a year and then join a different one another year.
I was also a member of various heath clubs over the years that did children’s activities so had somewhere to go or I could take the DC swimming.

I'd recommend a national trust membership.

Ours is 13 quid a month and the kids love those places.

Instead of the aquarium find your nearest pet shop or garden centre where they sell fish and reptiles. Your DD will enjoy this just as much.

Ditto places with small animals to pet, best playgrounds and parks.

Yes, loads of expensive options but there are numerous free or low cost days out especially when DC are young.

When your dd is older, you can apply for a blue Peter badge which will give her free entry into a lot of different places.

I would be more inclined to visit child focussed places if the pricing structure was reversed. Eg £12 per adult, £25 per child. There's a local theme park here which costs us (2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant) £60+ to visit and I begrudge that because the adults aren't getting anything out of the experience. It would be a great place to meet grandparents as it's flat and there are lots of benches to rest on but again why would they pay £25 for something they can't participate in? So we just don't go. My husband took our daughter to Paultons Park alone because we couldn't justify the additional £40 for me to stand at each ride entrance holding the coats.

I feel bad not making more of an effort to do these things because we can afford them but they rarely feel worth the money. As my OH says, they'd get as much fun from walking around IKEA or B&Q and you can do that for free.