Holidays as a single parent during school holidays.....

[NGC2017]

How do parents do it?

I have already taken my son away twice before but before school age. This September he starts school so now my options are massively reduced to school holidays only.

I am shocked at the price difference. Almost to the point I am wondering if I should even be considering it :( I price up a holiday see the total and my tummy sinks. Its only self catering as well)!!!

Are there any sites out there not intent on ripping us single parents off? Don't we already have enough to worry about! I've already had to make peace with the fact my child at 2 years old was charged as an adult and we are not eligible for discounts we aren't considered a package holiday (2 adults apparently)

I always did haven holidays at that age . I also did Butlins once and waited till the week and it was half price.

Also remember you can’t be fined till compulsory school age and even then with one child and single parent it is £60 .

Awful as it sounds I'd rather pay the fine than an extra £500 to £600! He will have just turned 5 when I want to take him. Really prices us out. I've done a comparison on this years school holiday equivalent to see if there is a difference but there doesn't seem to be. Will waiting til last minute really make a difference despite it being peak season and in the holidays. Its the comfort of knowing where you stand booking early with a child I guess. But wow am amazed at the prices

We do a ‘build your own’ holidays.

I book a cheap EasyJet flight + a hotel separately (you pay a premium using a tour operator with all their fancy offices and overheads).

I’ve booked a week in Madeira B&B in a 5* hotel (albeit it is for 4 of us) for £475 each.

Just turned 5? It is term after they are 5 . But it is dates set in stone I know summer born are from 31 st of March . So a summer born can go anytime in reception without fines .
However first few years of school for the £60 difference it will probably be worth it.

I go term time holidays now due to my job but also Ds is desperate to make friends and far more choice in summer holidays but we go abroad.

I do separate flights and accommodation too. Usually owners direct, you're charged per property regardless of number of people. I've stayed in some lovely apartments and they usually have a full kitchen with washing machine which means I've got away with hand luggage only, saving £££ on baggage fees. I prefer private rentals as you know exactly where you'll be staying and there's no sunbed nonsense.

I would consider looking at prices for a few days before a school holiday starts as sometimes you can get a much cheaper price even just going a fw days before end of term. Then they dont miss too much.
I dont even think itsa big deal at that age

Sites such as owners direct, AirBnB, home away, and similar allow you to get some good properties at very reasonable prices.

Alternatively, you can be brave and wait until the very last minute (ie a few days before you go) to take advantage of some good last minute deals. The key here is to be very flexible in where you go - you have to take what's available. And to be brave, nd assume you'll find something!

Thank you for all your advice. Defo worth looking in to. Thanks

I take mine out for a day or two this cuts the cost. So if holidays are friday to friday I might take them out tuesday to tuesday. Monday tuesday being the days they have off. They can only fine you if you take 5 days a term off i think, well that's the rules. I did it on the last school holiday but my daughters a prefect and loses her job if she takes time off for no reason. I called them monday morning and said they'd both been throwing up all night. I get the "well you know they have to have 48 hours off" sickness bug speech which suited me down to the ground.

I book well in advance and hunt for deals the last one I did was in the canaries. Transfers for us were £200 I did my reseach and found out a taxi would be £20 so i winged it. I also pay bit by bit weekly.

Out of all the countries my kids have been to on all kinds of fabulous holidays (family take them too) their favourite places are camping or butlins when i've struggled in the past we went camping.

Getting advice here I never even know existed. Thank you. So I have some breathing space for a few days either side of holidays

By not going during the school holidays but shh don't say that on MN. My school won't authorise but they won't ask for a fine either unless you are a chronic absenteer.

Yes if your ds is summer born you can take them in term time for the whole of reception with no fine.

When he is in reception and Year 1 I think it's fine to take him out for a 2 or 3 days for a holiday. (I'm a teacher).

I camp and will be exploring the UK for the foreseeable future.

The exact rules vary from council to council the trouble with this law is it’s very vague. It says you must make sure your child attends school regularly and that’s all it says. Most councils work on 5 days per term so if they take a week if you’d be fined.

He is July so will be one of the youngest. I'd never intend to abuse the schools attendence policy but at his age I can't see it being much of a problem. I'm amazed at the price difference. Between £400 and £600. UK or abroad prices definitely increase when the kids break up

Skytours used to be fantastic for deals for single parent families and eurocamps too.

I've never been abroad with DCs but uk holidays are so pricey.

I was looking online last night for a hotel room for an adult and a child. The cost was going to be a room for 2 adults plus an extra charge for the child! So as a single parent I was going to be charged more than if I was going with 1 other adult and no children.

Hi there

Our parents separated when we were very young (I have a brother), so all trips were one parent, two kids.

We stayed in the UK, went to somewhere by a beach (for us it was newcastle, it has so many beaches, plus rock pools, lighthouses, the city, a boat across the river, the metro to get around, regular kids fun things like museums set up for kids, parks, playing on the beach, all an adventure because we were on a trip!). I have the most amazing memories, some of my favourite from my childhood. We were always on an incredibly tight budget, but we as children never felt it at all.

Full disclosure, now I'm Miss Jetsetter, I've travelled, lived and worked all over the world, - hello from Paris and I think France just scored a goal because there is massive cheering outside! - I love the weather and the cultures and so on when I travel, but I didn't get on a plane until I was 20 and as a child and even a teenager, we didn't need or want that part of it! At five, definitely not. Adventure is adventure for kids, the same things that make them happy will make them happy anywhere.

So maybe choices closer to home where you can find budget appropriate things. As I said, we took the train for a couple of hours, family railcard, had adventures doing things kids love, happiest childhood memories I have.

If you want to go abroad, really, take out the travel agent! A five year old as an adult, ridiculous, they charge massively for packages that are so simple to put together yourself, I'm always shocked that people don't realise this!

Find your own flights, easy jet have so many and are good prices as others have mentioned, they are actually really good. For somewhere to stay, it's easy to check out airbnb, same price no matter how many people, I have friends who went around the world with three young kids and were on a strict budget, they found family friendly places absolutely everywhere.

Get a guide book or look a bit online and find things your child will enjoy and you will enjoy! The Rough Guide guide books are full of so much information about absolutely everything, they are so good for making the most of a trip, plus how to manage money and costs is a big feature in them because they are for people who love to travel so they discuss backpacker budgets and all budgets.

It can be way more fun for you that way too, you can choose things you know you will enjoy together:)

Good luck!

Yeh exactly. It's terrible. You are charged more for not travelling with another adult. But then you also get charged (despite already being overcharged in my opinion) for under occupancy as for some reason a child isn't considered as a person filling a bed. Only an adult can do that right 😠
Really makes me angry.
I had to get over it really and accept it is what it is. I did manage to find somewhere lovely, in school holidays returning the day before New term starts for around 500 less than other places. Still more than I wanted to pay but something to look forward to. Still pees me off though as money isn't the easiest. But I have 14 months to pay lol