Travelling with children; what are your tips? Share them with South Western Railway

[EllieMumsnet]

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We all know that travelling on family days out with children are not always the cheapest of experiences. However they can provide great family bonding and memories that will last a lifetime and just as importantly don’t have to burn a hole in your pocket every time. With that being said South Western Railway want your top tips for travelling with children, especially your best money saving tips!

Here’s what South Western Railway have to say: “If you’re savvy at looking out for great family deals then sign up to receive our customer newsletters. You’ll receive exclusive offers and inspiration on where to visit on the network, helping you to plan a fun family day out.”

Do you ensure you bring pack lunches and snacks for the whole family so you don't have to spend anything on food? Perhaps you like to bring along extended family or friends? Do you bring lots of fun games to use as distractions if and when needed on the journey? How do you decide where to go if you have children of different ages?

Whatever your tips are for travelling with children and saving money on family days out, share them on the thread below and everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

Tablet preloaded with lots of Peppa Pig and nursery rhymes. Also lots of snacks to tide them over!

take snacks and activity books

Take lots of clothes, drinks, snacks, toys

Leave them at home!!

Try to plan interesting and (relatively) quiet activities that will interest and entertain them for the whole length of the journey. With my children it was a range of books and simple games. With grandchild a cheap tablet seems to provide a lot of time filling with a mixture of videos and games. This also reduces the temptation to buy things at rest stops/stations.

Take plenty of snacks and books to keep them occupied

Be prepared! (as everyone else has said). Also plan the toilet stops (for all ages of traveller)

Food/drink and things to do and read.

So lunch plus a variety of snacks and a water bottle

then activity books (Usborne are great for these), magazine, notebooks for drawing, writing and playing hangman etc on. Card game like Uno.

A couple of story books

iPod with audiobooks + headphones

Saturday Times for me so I can bury myself in the jumbo crossword

Tissues and wipes

in the car we have a couple of games we play, like trying to get through the alphabet by make of car ('I'm sure I saw a Land Rover 10 minutes ago, does that count for L?') and the animal game - each person has to think of an animal that starts with the last letter of the previous one (and you discover that lots of animals end with an N or an R but not many begin with those letters...)

Do what a family did on our last flight back from holiday. Mum and kids sat at the front, Dad sat right at the back away from the screaming and bawling!

Leave them behind with their grandparents

Lots of snacks, DVDs & a bowl just in case!

take colouring books and crayons
snacks
play games eye spy etc
take a blanket just incase any1 wants to sleep

Take snacks, drinks and wipes. On long journeys take a portable dvd player or Ipad to keep them entertained.

gd2011 I would love to do that but not an option for lots of us, unfortunately!

TAKE A LITTLE BOX WITH SNACKS IN IT AND LITTLE DRINKS . PLUS AN IPAD AND ALSO THEN A MAGAZINE AND CRAYONS AND COLOURING BOOKS

I always take pack ups as it stops them asking for unsuitable snacks and drinks. Plenty of short breaks, and things to keep them occupied like colouring books. Having two adults is best to keep on top of everything without stress. Booking online for admissions in advance usually means taking advantage of discounts and sometimes saves queuing.

I am very particular while traveling - I make sure it is a fun place and my kids who are 6 and 10 both have something fun to do - whether it is nature reserve or palace. I always take packed food so that they have healthy snacks and food to eat otherwise even older kids can get cranky. I always research if there is something interesting to do or historically important.

I travel on South western railway a lot for work and take my children out for days out using the trains too. Usually up to London. It's a good journey from where I am- so we have about an hour to kill - I have 3 DS. We always take sandwiches and food. We always take drawing and pens to play simple games. Hangman. Noughts and crosses. When they were younger other games too. Now old 2 are teens it's UNO. Or another game called Describe it, where you have to guess the word without saying some key words. Once we have had a good amount of time doing that I will let them have 15 mins or so on devices.

Have snacks, drinks , blanket and ipad

Plan for a delay of any kind with snacks, dinks and activities, eg books, portable games and phones/tabkets. Take a portable battery!

Activity books and snacks are a must and dare I say it some games downloaded to your phone- take advantage of the free WiFi!

I've always taken snacks ,packed lunch,drinks, travel games, wet wipes sick bag..recently added. A bag for any rubbish and only recently a Ipad.

Take a picnic and snacks. Just buy one "treat" item whilst out, i.e. an ice cream, or something else you can't easily take with you. Carry water bottles so you don't need to spend money on other drinks.

Portable DVD player and/or tablet and a couple of travel games. Most importantly, pray for no delays!

Bring toys, books and food to help keep them occupied!