How much do you budget for school holidays?

[Nettel]

I find school holidays really expensive and want to budget properly this year. I know there’s lot of free things to do (DS is 6) like different parks, farms, trips to the beach, museums etc but even when bringing a packed lunch the costs all seem to mount up with the little extras here and there. It’s also the only chance we get to go do bigger and more expensive activities like theme parks, sealife, places like that. We’ve decided not to go on holiday this year so that we can afford more big days out too.

How much do you budget for school holidays and how many kids is that for? It’s the summer holidays I struggle the most with, but also quite nervous about the Easter break coming up!

We don't here. Only in 6 week hols will we go to zoo aquarium safari or something big like that. If we can we'll do 2 in the hols.

We normally do a lot of garden play, bike rides, different parks, beach.

Someone in our family own a static caravan we sometimes stay in for 3 -7 days so different environment being in the site.

Food budgeting is not much different to school lunch prices tbh, we may buy a bit more fruit, treats & sweets and yogurt drinks but that's it. Also kids school send out vouchers to us £10 p/week p/child for their 'lunch costs' which is what we use

Oh god I hadn’t even thought about all the extra money for food🤦🏻‍♀️ DS gets free school dinners because he’s still in year 2 so food shopping is quite cheap when he’s at school. Must remember to factor that in!

mostly free days out here. Maybe one outing per summer holidays to a zoo/themepark type place. Certainly not every week.

Beach - free. Sometimes I take lollies in a freezer bag from home too. Picnic.
national trust properties - we have a membership
play in garden
paddling pool (cost of water, but lots of fun)
bike riding
local free events
den building with lots of old blankets
camping - actually not that cheap any more, but cheaper than other accommodation

if you're not going on holiday then maybe you have a bit more budget for fancy days out?

i think the biggest tip i have is to bring a nice picnic, so you are not distracted by cafe food or fancy cakes. If you have a decent picnic then you'll enjoy it. If you have a basic picnic/soggy ham sandwich then you might give in to buying stuff!

When taking account for food budgeting, shop in different places for best deals. I find I split my monthly shop between Tesco, Sainsbury’s & Aldi, sometimes Iceland

I don't really budget but we live really rurally so there arent a lot of things to do anyway that cost money.

We do beaches, walk, picnics, kids play outside on their quads. Take horses out.

Once a week I try to organise a trip to the city so that might involve trampoline park, cinema or McDonald's.

I don't think we are going away either - the kids might go with their dad so at least they will get some sunshine.

Food is the main cost as mine seem to want to snack constantly at home. I'll need to bake flapjacks and muffins to keep them going.

So at home we might spend a tenner a day on food maybe and then city days will be 50-75 quid? So it's probably around £120 a week in the hols.

I have to cover more holiday club whilst we work in the holidays so me and my husband pay slightly more for childcare vouchers over the year to help.spread that cost.

I also save each month a little bit to help pay for extra activities like days out when we do have days off

Like others have mentioned I look out for free or cheaper activities at the local parks. Use NT membership. Go for a bike ride. Walk. Picnic. Beach day (we stay away from the arcade type beach areas)

Food costs aren't something i notice as being more. Some of the summer holidays will have 3 -4 long days at kids club where all food is included in cost so its just me and husband eating at home.

I don't set a budget but food costs increase a lot as have to feed them lunch every day and DS breakfast as well (DD at least will sleep until lunch time so doesn't need breakfast!) when usually they eat for free at school and nursery so unless I have extra money saved up like I did last summer (which was a one-off, summer of a lifetime spending money freely kind of summer) then there really isn't much money for extras like days out so we stick to things like walks in the local area, swimming in the lake, and going to the park - all free stuff, and keep an eye out for free events nearby.

I dont necessarily set a budget for the school holidays but I try and plan a "big" day out once per week. This could be visiting a museum, cinema, going to a further afield park, zoo/theme park etc.

I make sure there's at least 2/3 days at home per week so we can chill out.

We go to parks, mooch around shops, beach, walks etc.

Try and meet a friend at least once a week too.

Doing days out cheaply - tesco clubcard vouchers, the sun days out codes, cheap deals/voucher codes, groupon, kids showings at the cinema.

I take a packed lunch, drinks everywhere. We have those little squirty bottles of squash and find free water refill stations. Plan dinners for when we get home from a day out - whether it's beans on toast or something chucked in the slow cooker, there's less temptation to spend on takeaway.

Book train Fares in advance where you can as they are cheaper.

Think about whether you would benefit from annual passes to somewhere local. We used to have one for a local attraction and went at least once a month. We got a really good groupon deal.

Yes I budget, £200 a week for half terms, £500 for summer holidays (they go away for 2-3 weeks with other family), Christmas we keep very low key no budget usually at home or with family, and we are usually on holiday/away for 1-2 of them. Mine are 12 and 9 now, wasn't quite this regimented/prepared when they were younger, I do tend to make sure we get out a bit otherwise they would stick to their consoles, and we have quite busy lives so don't tend to do much on weekends, trips out etc are usually reserved for holidays.