Share your ways to make more of family days out during the summer hols with PizzaExpress - £300 Love2Shop voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[EmmaMumsnet]

With the long school holidays stretching out ahead of us, the thought of filling every day with entertainment is enough to exhaust any parent. So how to take a few simple activities and extend the fun across the full six weeks?

This summer, PizzaExpress is teaming up with Ice Age: Collision Course to give families great days out. Here’s what PizzaExpress has to say: “Come and visit our family-friendly restaurants across the UK and try our delicious new summer menu. We even have lots of gluten-free dishes and kids can try our Piccolo menu which features mini plates of grown-up favourites – for even the fussiest eaters.

While you wait for your food, your children can enjoy completing our Ice Age: Collision Course activity pack and even enter a competition to win a 5-day holiday to Hollywood! Simply visit a restaurant and draw a picture of your favourite Ice Age character with a pizza to be in with a chance of winning the holiday to Hollywood, Ice Age toys, goody bags, Pizza Making Parties and much more...”

PizzaExpress would love to hear your tips for making family fun last a bit longer - without constantly dishing out cash.

Could you encourage your children to do some creative writing based on a film they've watched - or put on their own performance after a trip to the cinema? Perhaps you come up with crafty activities which tie in with places you've visited or things the kids have seen? Or even encourage your DCs to cook by recreating recipes from a meal out? If you've arranged a day trip, do you extend the adventure by using different forms of transport to get to your destination? Maybe you make the preparation for a day out- like making a picnic and packing bags for the day - all part of the fun?

Please share your tips for making the most of days out and finding ways to make holiday fun last all summer long. Comment below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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We collect souvenirs and then the DC enjoy putting them in a scrap book along with a description of what we have done that day. They love looking through it and reliving the memories of any trips out. We also take lots of photos and involve food and drink.

we have a count down chart to special days out, to have a build up and make it exciting

Picnics! Get the kids to help. To make sure they don't get bored of the same soggy sarnies, try making a pizza from scratch and let them add all their fav ingredients. Cook it and let it cool down before packing in a lunch box. Delicious!!

We go to places where there isn't such a demand to spend lots. Eg parks, beaches, country walks, national trust properties (we have life membership). And we usually take a picnic lunch.

Well, my girl loves to draw so I ask her to draw things she's seen during the day. The park is nearby so she'll draw that and maybe some of the animals we saw along the way. We have lots of board games and aim to play a couple a week. On days out, we take our own food sometimes, yes. I look for cheap deals on days out as recently - a hotel chain and a train booking site had deals on at the same time for the 6 weeks holiday so we're visiting Edinburgh for 3 days at the end of August - costing a total of £200! The train fare was only £50! Normally that would've cost around £600+ altogether from Birmingham! So I look out for bargains. I budget. I find a good coastal hotel every year and book early so that during the summer, we visit somewhere new. We're going to Dorset this year. It's cost £400 total in travel and accomodation for a 4 day stay because I waited for the optimum times to book. Same thing goes with theatre tickets, events, cinema (they have 2 for 1 days and kids weekend showings), Cadbury World, the Sea Life Centre, etc. You just have to keep your eyes peeled and subscribe to mailing lists and such.

making diaries or photo albums.
little memory boxes.
taking a picnic and going to a parc,playing rounders family games.
when out buy something local and all cook something with the local food.
go and collect leaves or twigs fauner etc from wood walking and draw a stencil round yourself and make collage of kids with the things they've collected on the adventure.

We like having picnics in the local park. Sometimes we will try to visit all the parks in the area in one day.

Sometimes we will go I the bowling alley and just play in the arcade spending about £5. The kids love the games and all the flashing lights.

We also really enjoy playing PS3 together, I highly recommend the Lego games especially The Pirates of the Carribean games is really fun I played it when the were sleeping aswell!

Catching Pokemon wherever we go is also fun. We don't specifically go out to look for them but when we are walking to the shops ect we will play it.

We went to see a film set in space called capture the flag a few months ago. When we got home I dug out an old flag and we had a space picnic in the lounge.
Taking picnics is great fun, sometimes I will pay for an ice cream as a treat but it means the whole lunch doesn't break the bank.
Garden centres usually have some hidden gems and have the bonus of being free. There is one near us that dumps a load of sand on a patch and calls it the beach.

When DC finished reception year, they had to do a holiday diary to take in for year 1. It was a great idea and we have done it a couple of times since. She collects leaflets and tickets etc, and we print out photos of the days out.

This year I got a free 2 month railcard which then gives me £10 off a Friends and Family railcard, so I shall be buying one of those and using it to have some different days out in the summer at a reduced cost. We live in a rural area so always travel by car, so using the train will make things a bit different.

We talk about a day out before we do it; for example, we visited London for two days with our 3 year old and 3 month old. We said we would catch a train, then a bus, and do lots of walking. And we got a book about the natural history museum (Katie and the dinosaurs- James Mayhew) which was fantastic. Then during the day, we could talk about where we were in the plan of the day, and what we were enjoying the most. Sad as it is, when she got tired I would produce something like dried apricots which she loves.. In the end, she walked 6km and we had an amazing day, and she told all her friends in nursery about it. Amazing family time to remember!

We have a pot and at the start of the holidays me and DDs sit down and write a load of free/cheap things we'd like to do on little cards.

Think things like 'ride scooter to the park', 'go for a walk on the beach and get an icecream', 'have a picnic in the garden', 'go to the library', 'visit X farm we have an annual pass for', 'do some craft', 'bake something together' etc etc

Then on those dog dangling days where we don't have plans, we just pick something out. I have the right of veto if something's really not weather appropriate, but other than that we just live by the pot!

I love making a big picnic and luckily DS loves 'helping' so by the time he's done that that's 2 hours killed already
I love encouraging him to collect things when we are out; shells from the beach, leaves from a country walk, etc so we can use them to make a picture for the grandparents which is ideal for using a couple of hours on a later rainy day.
Luckily he's still of an age where he would choose three hours throwing stones and paddling over an expensive trip to peppa pig world so I'll be getting some tips for when he's older from this thread!

So a scrap book of holiday activities you've done. Collect items, photos and draw pics. Fun and educational

take lots of day trips, doesnt have to cost much, when taking the train i keep them amused by using a notebook and having kids write down when we arrive, depart, station name etc, kids love it

plan ahead with little ones i find it easier to plan ahead, use a diary or calender and as we all know days out can be expensiveso we use wowcher and groupon to get codes for cheaper admission prices this can save a small fortune or big fortune depending on your family size, we limit these to one or 2 trips a week then the other days will be local trips day at the beach picnic in the park again we look for vouchers or cheap food deals to be prepared, and also a must have is a back up plan as the uk weather rarely plays ball every day, so plan for activities indoors a dvd or 2, arts and crafts and even colouring in, these neednt cost a lot but if you plan ahead you are prepared for all weathers.

Planning is key. Last year we made a 'nature' scrapbook, collecting something from all of our days out and putting it together at the end of the holidays - not only did it give us a focus and something to do, but DD1 learned from it too.

More generally, check ahead for good deals on tickets, stock up on shopping before the holidays start as much as possible so less time is wasted in the supermarket, and always have a Plan B for rainy days!

We take a picnic out wherever we go over the holidays. That way we don't get caught short and end up spending money on lunches etc. It's also a really nice way to spend some time together, and it helps break up the day, wherever we are. We take a ball too and have a play on the grass. We go to lots of different parks, rivers, Woodlands, lakes etc.

We take picnics on days out for lunch, but then stop in a cafe / somewhere like that for a mid-afternoon drink and snack. The kids like feeling as though we have 'gone out' for a meal, but it is a fraction of the cost to a full lunch.

We also play the 'Spotting Game' i.e. by the time we get to the destination we have to have spotted 3 roundabouts, 5 bridges, 2 dogs, 4 blue cars etc. (This has been a fantastic way of getting 2 year old DS to walk the mile to DD's school and back every day!)

We also make suncream into a game - I spray e.g. DS' legs and arms with cream then we all choose a limb, and whoever rubs it in fastest wins. Then there is the face, chest, back and neck - 2 goes per person

We like to use public transport for days out - part of the treat and for touristy places avoids parking nightmares.

We like to pack a picnic as its all part of the fun.

We collect things be it unusual leaves and take pictures to print out and create collages.

We often collect things when out that can then be used at home- like leaves for rubbing or collages. We always take our own food and drink and a pack of biscuits is way cheaper than lots of smaller snacks and lasts longer. And ice creams on the way home from supermarkets are cheaper than vans or in cafes!

We go on our bikes and take a picnic, no cost involved! I usually invite one of their friends. When we stop for lunch we tend to collect bits and bobs for their memories box and take photos. We live in north Walesso there's lots of lovely places to walk and have a 'treasure hunt' if they're getting bored and we're running out of money!

Change tesco vouchers for days out

Take a picnic to keep the costs down.
Bring back interesting 'finds' and use them in art work on a rainy day

We tend to do more 'free' activities at the beginning of the hols and leave those that cost towards the end.

We often recreate restaurant meals at home. The DC prepare their own menu, take the orders and make the pizza. They think it's lots of fun, but it's great writing practice and I put my feet up for half an hour!