The standard of lost cost holidays is appalling but there’s very limited options

[AsproutdeserveslifenotjustChristmas]

I know term time holidays will always be expensive for what they are, but I feel people on a budget are hit worst than ever as the squeezed middle classes are now “downgrading” their holidays to cheaper options, thus helping the price creep up. And of course everything is more expensive, food, staff wages.

I can’t tell you how many people wearing crew clothing and having children called Rafferty I’ve seen at Butlin’s this week! Unless you are in the premium lodges then you are literally staying in a dirty out of date shacks to get a break away somewhere, despite both of us being full time workers.

I think £100 a night without any food or activities IS a lot because going somewhere is expensive for a family of 4 at least £50 up to £75 for a part day something to do. So your spending on food & activities is probably averaging at £100- £125 a day for breakfast, lunch, dinner, ice cream , free activity such as beach walk and paid activity such as visits somewhere such an aquarium or NT property. This is self catering, or budget dinner such as McDonald not eating out. I mean pizza express for 4 even with apps is 85-100 for a family now without drinking.

So 5 days is sitting at £225 a day plus fuel in Uk, I agree abroad is at least £1k each, plus food whether it’s Tui or eurocamp and piecing together ferries. It’s insane to me.

Sorry, I love Butlins. I go there because we all have a great time. It’s not even cheap! Costs us a bloody fortune after Rafferty has hit the arcades

The price of holidays are crazy at the moment, I won't pay it. I'd rather stay home where all my stuff and my comfy bed is 😄. We tend to do 3/4 nights in a cottage let, a few times year rather than a big holiday. This year we are renting a motorhome and touring Scotland, this is not a cheap option but it will be a fun adventure. Still cheaper than going abroad for 4x in August.

I've not been to Butlins or Pontins since the early 90s, I hope they've improved since then.
Center Parcs are silly money now, I used to go when the kids were preschool and we weren't limited to school holidays.

We could afford a big holiday abroad every year but it is so eye wateringly expensive, I wouldn't enjoy it.

I also shop in cheap shops and buy stickered food even though I can afford to shop more expensive ones. We're frugal and love to get a bargain. It would actually sting me to pay M&S prices when Lidl is much less.

Cheap holidays I've done with the DC:

• YHA hostels in London, Whitby and the Peak District
• Static caravan at an independent site in Cornwall
• Camping (tent) in North Wales, Sussex, at a Parkdean site on the Isle of Wight and a Haven in Norfolk
• Centerparcs Elveden in terms time before the DC were school age
• Air BnB on Anglesey (don't hate me, it was an annex of a family home)

Less cheap but not £88k:

• Centerparcs in Belgium and the Netherlands over the May half term
• Butlins Skegness
• Premier Inn-based holidays in different parts of the UK
• PGL Barton Hall, just outside Torquay. You can't really go wrong for just over £1k for a week, including full board and activities for a family of 4.
• Eurocamp and Yelloh in France.

Edited as I x-posted with the OP. I'm almost an exact fit for her stereotypical MN mum but when the DC were little I was a single mum working 3 jobs topped up with benefits. I now spend an absolute fortune on holidays (not £88k) but that's for me. The DC have just as much fun in Clacton as they do in Costa Rica.

Shocked you have a Rafferty and never shopped at Crew clothing, if not there then Boden surely have something called Rafferty zip 😉 ! I don’t look down on anyone, I’m common from Sauf London and and I don’t have t’s in my vocabulary. I’m an unmarried mother, although I have a boyfriend 😬 I however aspire for my children to have a better upbringing and quality of life than I did growing up. It’s not looking down on people it’s just saying we are really treating people badly that on Butlin’s there is lovely new lodges and the post apocalyptic ones the rest of us can afford because we dare to want a change of scenery and experiences for our children. I was tailoring my post to MN where most people earn 150k minimum, even though they never gave up their career to have children but they are able to drop them to school , collect them and spend every school holiday with them, well apart from when they are briefly separated whilst they wait for them to attend multiple enriching clubs.

We're probably one of the families you are thinking of sorry OP. We holiday to an expensive exotic place once a year but also sneak in a week at Butlin's every year simply because DC absolutely love it and insist on it. (they discovered it during lockdown when international travel was limited). Not my idea of a great holiday but we tolerate it for them The massive smiles on their faces are worth it. It's not massively cheap - we spend £1500 a week on accommodation and premium food package and it's still barely edible wetherspoons type quality but we do what makes the DC happy. Hoping they grow out of it soon!

Meh, we’ve got a ‘mumsnet six figure income’ and did a week at Butlins last year. Preschool age kids, it’s not a holiday as such but what is with tiny kids! We stay in the premium apartments and for £400 the kids get daily swimming, puppet shows, toddler disco and fairground. If we spent a week at home we’d easily spend £400 taking them to entertainment parks, leisure centres etc to get the same and we’d be stuck at home with the temptation of doing laundry to boot and no wine on the balcony when they’re asleep. We’re going again this September 😁 The kids adore it and we do plenty of galleries, museums, national trust places every weekend when not on holiday. I can’t be getting on board with the judgement, if it makes the kids happy I’m happy.

Edit: the £400 is out of term time and booking on an offer, completely appreciate term time is more expensive and I’m not looking forward to when eldest goes up to school!

Well if you voted Tory or did not vote in 2019, you are partly responsible for the cost of living crisis being worse than it need be.

If you supported Brexit, which has made travel into and out of the EU more difficult, you have contributed.

Damn it, I mean in term time/out of school holidays, too late to reedit

I’m struggling to see your point here. Are you saying that well off people shouldn’t go to Butlins? Or that it’s wrong that they stay in posher appointments? Or… what? FWIW we have a high household income and we have a weekend in Butlins every year because despite it making me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon, my kids think it’s the best place ever invented. We don’t even stay in the posh lodges.

@Screamingabdabz you seem to have missed my next post explaining further. The "riffraff" who threatened to stab my son with scissors..yeah damn fucking right I took him out of that environment and not for one second will i apologise for it. And again, I won't derail further.

In my experience there has never been any correlation between the quality of a holiday and its price

You might be happier OP if you removed that massive chip off your shoulder. So people with particular names shouldn’t be allowed to holiday in certain places now?

😂😂😂

Go camping?

What's up with these weird holiday posts, first Carbis Bay is apparently full of "rough northerners" and now Butlins is apparently being taking over by the middle class.

A fight in the swimming pool rapids

Thats ok then because everything else was clean and tidy 😂

OP, I think the issue is that you are looking for a hotel room that sleeps 6. I think you would be better off trying to find an apartment or villa.

It’s joke .. uhh I give up with MN off to Reddit

I’m not ., family of 4 here !

even though they never gave up their career to have children but they are able to drop them to school , collect them and spend every school holiday with them
the further up the ladder you go often means the more flexible work will be for you. So not giving up your career might be more difficult to manage when children are young, but will pay off later.

my mum worked minimum wage equivalent jobs but just on my dad’s wage we always went abroad for four weeks every year. Me and my dh, both educated snd in decent jobs get one week every-other year. My dad’s answer to my children not having been to many countries was to go on a cruise like they did….

Ah sorry OP, must be muddling you up with another thread!

Butlins isn't cheap, we only stay in the hotel which is always spotless. £1k for 4 nights for this half term. My kids prefer it to CP and the hotel accommodation is better than the CP options.

Tbh if you could afford to keep your kids away from.the chaffs and the riff raff(erty),
Why wouldn't you? 🤣🤣