Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to think family days out have become unaffordable?

149 replies

ThisAmpleCritic · Today 09:52

Half term. Trying to find things to do to keep the kids occupied. Why is everything SO expensive?! We’ve exhausted the local free activities including various walks, playgrounds, splash parks, travelled to the nearest beach. We want to do something a bit more special and have looked at more “day out” type activities, including children’s theme park, zoo, steam train, castle, national trust etc but it’s just unaffordable. It frustrates me how as a family we’re considered good earners but we just don’t have enough left over to justify £100+ for one day out, not including travel and food and the inevitable ice cream and gift shop visit.

Is anyone else struggling with the cost of family days out or AIBU?

OP posts:
Hellzbellz25 · Today 12:20

It’s extortionate! My daughter was 14 in April and wanted me and her dad to take her and her best friend to Alton towers - entry tickets and 3 fast passes for them (I refused to pay for one for myself) and car parking came to just over £400! That’s before food and petrol, she had a massive party at a cricket club for her 13th which cost me less 😤

Badbadbunny · Today 12:22

redskyAtNigh · Today 12:10

I will note here, as I think it's pertinent, that when my DC got to age 9/10 and were allowed to "play out", that was pretty much all they wanted to do. They were out (with boundaries) all day, coming home only for meals, either on foot or on their bikes, meeting up with whatever children happened to be about. If I suggested going out anywhere, it was normally met with strong objections.
Is it parents that are assuming their children want more?

Yes, it was like that when I grew up, as we had a "community" on our street of kids who were all at the same school, mostly all playing out most of the day, every day, mothers typically SAHMs. We lived, literally within sight of the primary school and most of the residents had school age kids, mostly the reason they bought the house there in the first place, i.e. ease of walking to the school, and that built a real child community.

I was very different with our DS at the same age 30 years later. Very few similarly aged kids on our street, mostly kids were late teenagers and over half the houses were occupied only by OAPs with no kids at all, so DS had, literally, no one on our street of the same age. Yes, a few kids on nearby streets, but spread over three different primary schools, none close enough to walk, so most were taken by parents in their cars, so didn't really know each other. And they were seldom around anyway as both their parents worked, so they were dropped off at grandparents or other child care during school holidays, and a couple were at their (separated) father's houses at weekends. So it was all very disjointed and quite rare to see one child, let alone a group, cycling around our streets and no real "community" for hanging around in each other's gardens etc. Such a shame really.

gindrop · Today 12:23

Monty36 · Today 12:20

In the school holidays when young we had fun. Plenty of it.
And I never felt ‘left to find something as I was bored’. Some activities were organised eg. Brownies, scouts. Some at home, painting, art, baking. And a lot of playing amongst ourselves. Which we all enjoyed.
Never felt our parents should be more involved at all. They were happy we were having fun and yes, doing productive and positive stuff. But learning often to do so without having a parent to do it for us. We were imaginative and creative. It wasn’t done for us.

I think the difference is that back in the 80s if we were bored we played in the garden or read a book or met a friend. Maybe watched TV but there weren't kids' programmes on most of the day.

These days, bored kids are glued to screens, so parents inevitably feel a responsibility to entertain / occupy them 😕

ThatGreenFawn · Today 12:23

We manage it by getting family to give money for Christmas for dc and we buy membership to different places. This year we have bought a family national trust pass and a pass to a local attraction. We then take picnics (but this is due to allergies, it makes life easier.)

WimbyAce · Today 12:24

We went to Paultons Park which was nearly £200 for 4 of us. It was a belated Birthday treat though for my youngest and is a once a year thing for us. It is expensive but we spend the whole day there and all have a great time so I am happy to pay it for a treat.
We haven't been anywhere else, has been so hot so been mainly water based activities at home!

BrieAndChilli · Today 12:24

Our family membership for NT is £15 a month - you only have to go somewhere a couple of times to 'make your money back'. Kids are teens now but we keep paying and DH does a lot of hikiing/climbing and uses the NT carparks quite a bit.

FlowerSticker · Today 12:26

I'm all for letting kids be at home and doing nothing, just playing at by, reading, board games etc.

No need for constant entertainment and outings..

They're generally happy going to playground every day.

Hellometime · Today 12:27

I’d look at free museums and similar. Our council archives has free activities for kids every school holiday.
For theme parks I’d not go in with them once 14 plus. I remember buying a discount Blackpool pleasure beach ticket on Uk hot deals for May half term when dd was 14. One dad took, I picked up. It rained so they announced tickets good next day so they went again, then same again and a third day! She fondly remembers it.

BringBackCatsEyes · Today 12:27

It sounds like you’ve done “activities” 4 or 5 times this week. That’s ok isn’t it?

Hellometime · Today 12:30

Lots of tween and teen lads fishing at a local pond today. Obviously they need kit but they seem to spend hours there.

GreenCaterpillarOnALeaf · Today 12:34

CaffeinatingAndTolerating · Today 10:50

We used to do similar with my dad when we were little and it was one of my favourite days out!

Even now when my dad takes my kids out they’ll come home and be like “you’ll NEVER guess where we went with grandad today!!” And I just know it was something that was free or at the very least didn’t have an entrance fee. 😭

MidnightPatrol · Today 12:37

Monty36 · Today 12:20

In the school holidays when young we had fun. Plenty of it.
And I never felt ‘left to find something as I was bored’. Some activities were organised eg. Brownies, scouts. Some at home, painting, art, baking. And a lot of playing amongst ourselves. Which we all enjoyed.
Never felt our parents should be more involved at all. They were happy we were having fun and yes, doing productive and positive stuff. But learning often to do so without having a parent to do it for us. We were imaginative and creative. It wasn’t done for us.

You describe it like it’s binary:

  • 100% child led, no parental input; or
  • 100% supervised activities at all times

The list of things modern parents are criticised for is very long, but ‘wanting to do nice things with their children’ is one of the more absurd ones.

Jellycatspyjamas · Today 12:42

Badbadbunny · Today 12:16

But then they'd lose the revenue from the "Mugs" who pay full price because they're too lazy or disorganised to find/use discount codes etc.

But more people might go for the lesser cost. If the published price for an attraction was say £25 per person instead of £40 per person with half a dozen different discount categories, fewer people might dismiss it out of hand as being too expensive.

Blueflutterby · Today 12:47

I have 4 DC
They are mainly older now
But we found exactly the same , everywhere expensive
We went on quite cheap caravan holidays in all kinds of places ,which left more money for days out
Each year we would buy yearly tickets for 2 or maybe 3 places near us
Safari park /wild life park ,farm type place / play area /
We always had national trust tickets
And any place we went to ,that let you swap your daily ticket for a yearly one with extra cost ,we always did that .
We tended to stay fairly local for these days out ,and travelled further for holidays...we would absolutely max out these tickets taking full advantage and always a picnic to cut down on food costs
But spending less on holidays,meant we could afford these yearly tickets ..
In fact the youngest 2 are 16 and 25 ,and I'm trying to convince them we can still have these days out .. sadly they don't seem Interested
Enjoy it while you can

Nottodaythankyou123 · Today 12:56

We used to do a zoo trip and a theme park trip every school holiday as kids, as well as free days out etc. We have a similar income now to what my parents did back then, but it’s a once in a blue moon occurrence for us. My parents are genuinely shocked by how much more expensive those same days out are now.

Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t cheap back then either, but the costs have gone up significantly more than wages in comparison.

Badbadbunny · Today 13:11

Jellycatspyjamas · Today 12:42

But more people might go for the lesser cost. If the published price for an attraction was say £25 per person instead of £40 per person with half a dozen different discount categories, fewer people might dismiss it out of hand as being too expensive.

But a lot of these places are already crowded/busy so don't need "more" people, otherwise they may have to start refusing entry, and they'd lose repeat customers if the queues were too long for rides/loos/meals etc. Even with capacity, more people usually means higher costs, such as more staff needed etc.

The bigger places are run by professional/experienced owners and managers and will have lots of data as to their price versus number of customers, so can make informed decisions.

I've worked with lots of businesses, granted much smaller businesses than the likes of Alton Towers, and we've regularly done "elasticity" to find the "sweet spots" to maximise revenue, and in most cases, the loss of custom from prices increases costs less than the extra revenue raised from the slightly lower number of customers, so controlled price increases usually increases revenue despite losing a few customers, and of course a few less customers often means lower costs too, thus increasing profit further.

After all, any fool can make a multi million pound business by selling £5 notes for £4.99 - often fewer customers paying more, sometimes for a better experience, results in higher profits than the Aldi mentality of pile high and sell cheap.

The real skill is getting punters through the doors on the quieter and off-season days, which is where the "free" return entry comes in good, as they don't get entry fees again, but the customers will fill the place, buy souvenirs, meals, etc., and most places also have "chargeable" extras like slot machine arcades, special rides, etc. They don't want your second/third visit to be at peak time, they want it at a quieter time. A free yearly return pass also helps justify a high price for the initial entry as they can sell it as a yearly pass instead of day pass, and of course lots of people won't return, especially if they're not local.

Snaletrale · Today 13:13

We used to get car park passes for various places that were then essentially free entry, and share them with another family You can normally register two cars and register one for each family.
One or two places the kids were allowed one or two rides they could choose per day and then had to use the free play equipment/utilise the free park etc. We managed expectations before they arrived so they weren’t constantly pestering for more. They had to use pocket money if they wanted to go in gift shops, so again no pestering or pressure for us.

When our kids were young, we took posh picnics. Took a bread board and knife and had nice ham, cheese, olives etc. So it was still a treat but much cheaper than eating out.

Used to scour for discount codes and used sites such as “days out with the kids”.

The kids always had more fun if you went with friends and their kid’s, cousins or you took a friend for them, no matter what sort of day out it was.

Expensive didn’t always equal more fun.

A cheap tent in a local campsite was always a winner too. Better than camping in the garden which we did too. They just enjoyed the freedom that gave them. Often because it was local, others would join us just for the day.

Managing expectations is key.

Friendlygingercat · Today 13:13

Like many of the PP upthread I remember BIG days out as occasions. Maybe one or two each summer. They were train trips to Southport (or somewhere with a beach) flasks of tea and packed lunches. We never had lunch in a cafe. We never went to a stately home because my parents had no car and were not of a mindset to appreciate such things. I can remember maybe 2 trips to the zoo in my entire childhood. We kids were chased out in dry weather and expected to entertain ourselves, or play quietly indoors in wet weather. Our parents did not go out of their way to entertain us. I consider that a good thing because we learned to be content playing with our friends and siblings and not on curated "play dates". Being able to amuse oneself appears to be a lost art but is a valuable life skill.

Anjoola · Today 13:16

@MidnightPatrol I agree about being bored witless in the long summer holidays but I also remember being allowed out on my own to ride my bike, kids “knocking” to see if I was free to play out and off we’d go for a few hours.

No kid has the freedom to roam any more. My 8 yo would be fine to go out alone - but I’d be censured if he was allowed down to the park without me.

Crafta · Today 13:16

If there is somewhere near that you like going, get an annual pass if they do one or NT membership and you can visit different ones.

Applecup · Today 13:16

Bjorkdidit · Today 10:00

You can do those things for far less than £100. Family tickets for NT don't cost anywhere near £100 and you only need to go a few times to make membership worthwhile, so if you join, you'll then have a year's worth of cheap days out.

You don't need to buy tat from the gift shop.

Take your own picnic. The food in the cafes is not good, you have to queue for ages and it goes without saying that it's stupid money.

Even better - English Heritage let you take 6 kids in for free. We take our grandkids and a picnic. We buy them an ice cream and a cup of tea for us. Cheap day out.

Anjoola · Today 13:17

@Friendlygingercat what age would you let your kids out alone these days? It is so quiet - if all the kids were out, maybe ok, but round here no kids are put some until they are 10 or 11 really

Ilovemsrachel · Today 13:18

I am surprised by people saying it’s always been expensive. Days out in the UK as well as UK-based holidays cost a lot more. I grew up with a single mum on benefits and we did lots of days out. National trust and stately home gardens, zoos, steam trains. We did it all. Going to visit a castle would cost a couple of quid.

We did plenty of free beaches and things too, but my mum valued cultural experiences and that doesn’t seem that much of a shift from parents now.

Snaletrale · Today 13:21

School trips also now tend to be “educational” which is a shame.

When I was a kid a lot of the zoo/theme parks I did was with the school. Still expensive but the parents only had to pay for the child not the whole family.

AprilMizzel · Today 13:31

It's why my DC have done a lot of museum, art galleries often free and castles - with cheaper entrance fees or none and local attractions where you get 12 months free entry. Also done quite a few walks and parks.

80s and 90 childhood - there was more visiting family every weekend and shopping and the summer hoilday was very boring - we did days out by few and far between. There were quite a few local places I hadn't been to by time I left the area. Our kids have done many more days out and often do fair bit in in long summer hoildays.

When we moved here there were cheaper swim things on in hoildays - they've come back a bit but kids had to get to certain level to access which did cost a bomb. So once there holidays often had a reduce or free swim event in them.

I do think it had got more expensive - post covid and cost of living as costs for attraction have gone up and purses tighened generall in many house holds.

DD2 got invited to attraction you have to drive to - so we couldn't have got there - the cost of the tickets then line reducing passes was exorbitant and we got transport free - (they wouldn't take money)

Swipe left for the next trending thread