Summer holidays not going away

[Totallyfrazzledmum]

Starting to feel stressed about the summer holidays, we cannot afford to go away anywhere and looking for ideas but most day trips look super expensive. 3 primary age children who are very demanding :(

I think we all need a little more information from you op to be able to offer useful suggestions.

We won't be going on holiday either or many paid days outs. What we do is lots of free things. We got a secondhand swimming pool so that covers many days when the weather is good.
We pick up free/cheap secondhand toys or games to play.
We do lots of park trips. Visit the forest, bike rides. Cheap tent in the garden.

Mine are a mix of audhd so things are tough they can't manage the day's out or holidays without lots of down time but equally need some form of entertainment. It is a tough balance.

Is there such thing as a cheap holiday abroad these days?

Please don’t tsk your children to play at ikea. It’s not a playground

I have researched and couldn’t find any “cheap” abroad holiday. We have taken them to a caravan park before last
Minute last year but I didn’t find they fully appreciated it - better when younger

By demanding I mean “what are we doing tomorrow, what have you planned”

unfortunately play dates are difficult but that’s a whole separate story!

We are in Hertfordshire nearest beach is about 2 hr drive. I am thinking of waiting to check the weather nearer the time as we are not very good when it’s cold or raining at powering on.

Even the cost of legoland is extortionate. No benefits and we work so they will be in paid holiday clubs for 3 of the weeks.

I was going to suggest camping too. I’ve just come back from a 2 night camping break with my little one (3yr), my friend and her son (7yr). We had some outside toys and played with them a lot. There were other families with primary age children and they were doing similar.

@happybug1234 considering how many days there will be in summer holidays . She mentioned her kids are demanding . Multiple days out with 3kids can be super expensive . Unless she wants to go park every day and bring her own food . Then yes ,no
problem . Sometimes it’s cheaper to just book not super fancy holiday which provided food and entertainment. Not saying 5 start holiday

How old are your DC?
Because if they are old enough to ask what YOU have planned, maybe it's time to ask the question back?
If they are 8+ Give them a little budget & a list of local things to do, including bus fares, burger joint prices and other fees. Make sure the budget covers some, but not all things on the list. Then let them work it out....

Loads of good ideas here op.
i used to write out a 6 weekly planner with dates etc on.
you cannot fill every single day but once you start filling it in with a few days out then it starts to look manageable.
Any friends you hang out with? Kids just love going to their friends and having their mates round.
A craft day where you get a roll of lining paper and draw round each other - parents too then paint them.
local library used to do a book thing through the summer - I’m a bit out of it now but have a look, think it was a reading challenge. That’s free and a weekly morning out.

just a morning or afternoon out is enough. Therefore having lunch at home making it cheaper.

Baking - making cakes and cookies or sausage rolls.

Take the bus to a different area and explore - even a new park can be exciting for kids.

Trip to the beach - this can work out expensive but look for places with free parking, take a picnic, bats and balls and tell the kids you will get ice creams on the way home, then stop off en route at a supermarket and get a pack of lolly’s/ice creams at a fraction of the price.

@Totallyfrazzledmum I so get you . My kid is the same also sticky sit with play dates

Well yeah, but the OP suggests that she can’t afford either a holiday or lots of day trips. Doesn’t matter how cheap the holiday is if you haven’t got the money!

Even the cost of legoland is extortionate.

I find it interesting that you say "Even" in this context.

Yes, going somewhere like LegoLand is expensive. Places like that always have been. I'm sure I'm not unusual in saying we would do one trip like that (theme park / zoo / safari park) per year, as "the big outing".

Now you've said they are in holiday club for 3 weeks, then you actually only have 3 weeks to fill. I used to find a few days were taken up by things like having to shop for new uniform / shoes, and dentist and optician appointments. Then there's stuff like clearing out their rooms. Boring, but needs to be done and takes up some of the time.

After a long Summer Term and 3 weeks of holiday club, some actual down time entertaining themselves is not a bad thing.
Easy to fill some time getting them to cook - especially if you get them to look up recipes, check ingredients etc before hand - it all fills the time.

We would also get together with extended family during the holidays too. Is that an option ?

My DD loves camping in the garden! It's something we did during COVID and still do it now. She also just loves having a paddling pool, BBQ, outdoor games during the school holidays.

We are lucky that we are going on holiday and a few days out but she does loves home/garden days too

Yes, I thought the phrasing was odd there too. Of course Legoland is expensive, all attractions like that are. We don’t do big trips like that in the summer holidays.

I was a single mum of five - we had NO money. I used to get my kids to write down their favourite activities on bits of paper (having a quick look and check that no activity was 'fly to Iceland for the week' because my little buggers would have been likely to sneak that in). They'd put 'swim in the river', 'go for a picnic', 'take the dog to the fields'...that sort of thing.

Then we'd put them in a jar and every time they were doing the 'I'm bored, what can we do, what are we doing tomorrow?' whinge, they would take it in turns to pull a bit of paper from the jar. Because we did it this way I didn't get the 'oooooohhhhh, it's not FAAAAAAIIIIRRRR, he/she ALWAYS gets to choose/gets their own way/does what they want!!! because it was random.

Sometimes I'd add a few more expensive activities myself (visit to the cinema, soft play, local attraction (but only a very few, because paying for five kids was EXPENSIVE)) and they'd be overjoyed when one of those came up! But it kept them occupied and stopped some of the moaning that so-and-so always got to choose - a moan at which they were all extremely experienced.

My kids were primary age early secondary when Pokemon go came out. That kept them entertained for a lot of the long summer holidays! A few hours in the park, a walk around the neighbourhood, going to specific places, catching the little things then training & maintaining these Pokemon. DC1 had own phone and DC2 used mine for the game.

Look at river lications in herts eg The Beach (River Beane - Hertford): A popular wild swimming spot situated on Hartham Common. It features a gravel riverbank and grassy areas perfect for paddling and picnics. Access is easily found by parking near Bengeo Church and following the footpath down to Hartham.
River Lee at Hartham Common (Hertford): Just a short walk from the Beane, the confluence of the River Lee tributaries and the canalised river features improved entry points and is highly popular for summer swims.

We're returning to the way of life we had when we were kids and didn't go on holidays. We're not taking it hard. They're an aspect of a more priveledged way of life now, and we can be happy with a simple existence.

‘Even’ the cost of Legoland? That’s one of the most expensive things you could possibly do with your children!

How old are your children?

Download the Eventbrite App. You can search around you in categories (family activities, music, arts and culture, sports etc) and filter by free or paid.
Often throws up some random stuff, we did a load of free rivers trust activities last year, as well as some cyanotype printing in an old church, all for free.

Following and also posting in solidarity OP, we went on holiday last year and will go next year but I also have 3 young kids and am worried about the summer holidays too. We have an extra challenge in that we don't even have a garden 😬 we do have a park and large playing field just behind us though so will spend hours out there in the evening.

Ideas I have:
Get my neighbour to stop parking their extra car on my car port, and use the space as a garden sort of area. Get a mud kitchen or similar.

Lots of sensory play items bought ahead and hidden so I can bring things out strategically. Slime, sand, bubbles, playdough, fidget toys, etc. Mix of premade stuff and stuff to make together like moonsand or homemade slime.

Ikea near us is good for a day out. Creche for one hour while I grab a drink, cafe for lunch, let them maybe get a little thing like a small toy or some craft supplies, and then ours has a small park outside too. Very cheap day out!

We are lucky that we live near our city centre and also a lake with a huge park and facilities. As long as a take a picnic those can be great days out, will get a pop up sun shade and bring a book.

Board games the kids can play themselves with minimal supervision. We have pokemon labyrinth and will get some orchard games.

Plan all your resources, everything from treat meals to picnic lunches to spare cash for taking them out to the shops to all toys and craft supplies you have, and plan it on a calendar so it provides that structure and plan they are looking for and take the pressure off a bit. Even if one of those days is just "make a traybake together in the morning and take it out as part of a picnic with a loaf of bread to feed the ducks".

And just a reminder, it's okay for summer holidays to not be expensive days out and ling excursions. It's okay to spend the day making a bucket of bubble mix with a bunch of different bubble sticks, or set up a homemade cafe (my kids LOVE doing this, even if me and their dad are their only customers)

We never went on holiday when I was a child. Happy as Larry! especially at primary age. Our favourite day out was to a local forest where we’d have home made sandwiches on a tartan blanket by a big felled tree and chase the grasshoppers around. Paddle in a river. Day at the beach. Etc etc.

Legoland?!!! I think your expectations are much too high. I appreciate it's difficult if your kids are used to going to expensive places like that, but you can change the narrative if you want to.

I didn't go anywhere like Legoland for my entire childhood. I turned into a fully functional adult and had an extremely happy childhood and wonderful summer holidays. They were full of free activities: picnics, walks, exploring, berry picking, craft, baking, camping, marshmallows on fire, Lego, movies and popcorn, bikes, play parks.

I like pp's idea of giving your kids a budget if they're old enough. Give them the costs for each activity and let them help choose what to do. Useful lesson!