Days out are so expensive.

[Hazel]

I picked a leaflet earlier and saw there is a local reindeer farm with a santa grotto and thought "ooooh, that would be fun next year when she's a bit older", looked at the price of entry and it was £9 per child and £6 per adult (£40 for a family of 4 ). Days out are so expensive now, the local castle is about £15 per person and I would be bored after a few hours as would have seen everything.

Even the local pool is pricey, cost us £8 for 2 adults and a baby (that's including parking). Certainly not something we could do afford on a regular basis.

What do you all do for for cheap days out? We go to the local forest for a walk or to the larger garden centres as at the moment they have all their xmas decs displayed and Connie loves the flashing lights .

 

[nickilubs]

We just go to the beach and for walks too. Car boot sales with free entry. Parks. Window shopping

 

[aramintalovegrove]

We have a national trust membership, some lovely places to visit and when we go on uk breaks it saves us a packet

 

[Jade&Evie]

I said the same when we went to the Colchester Zoo Meet.

Ask your HV about Mum and Baby Walks etc. They make good days out for you and the kids in the week x

 

[widowwadman]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bollocks-Alton- ... 071814791X

There are a few not so expensive ideas in there, if you're up for the more quirky stuff.

 

[Happybunny]

As a teacher I was always looking for places to take my class too that was free or very very cheap. We often had more fun at doing these things than trips to more expensive places. I certainly plan to do a lot of these when April is a bit bigger.

1) Local museums and galleries (Government trying to make many of them free) they usally have some interactive things for children to do, or a treasure hunt. Children love looking around and running around anyway!

2) Churches or cathedrals. You could do brass rubbings on some of the plates; give them a list of things to find; a competition to fid the oldest tomb stone! (Probably best in an old graveyard!)

3) Airports and train stations!! I have hours of fun with children here! You could have competitons for who can spot the most red planes or get a point for every carriage they count on a train etc. You could even get an inexpensive train ticket to the next town and back for fun. (Best to get a metro/tube to airport to avoid airport car park fee!)

4) Allotments! My class (only had 8 as a SEN class) had a great morning helping my FIL on his allotment.

5) Libraries and toy libraries. Take some drawing equipment and paper. Read a story and then get the children to do some illustrations.

6) Pet shop. (Big out of town ones stocked full of fluffy animals)

7) Beaches, parks, woods and countryside are all brilliant too, either with planned activites or just running around for the sake of it!

 

[LisaJ1986]

We have a serious lack of stuff to do round here. Me and Angel paid £4 just for the 2 of us to go swimming for it to be absolutely freezing cold that we were only in 5 mins! She went instantly blue it was that cold! I couldn't believe just how cold it was for adults, let alone children!

Our nearest garden centre is a few miles away, which is ok when i can afford the fuel. It used to look nicer at Christmas years ago, it's not so good now. But Angel is teeny so won't know the difference. Flashing lights all the same.

We have no woods here, no nice walks.

It's basically walking round shops. But fresh air does us the world of good all the same.

 

[Hazel]

1) Local museums and galleries (Government trying to make many of them free) they usally have some interactive things for children to do, or a treasure hunt. Children love looking around and running around anyway!

I love the natural history museum and the science museum in London and it's free . Shame the train fare is so expensive and I really don't think the tube with a pram is fun , when she's older and have a small buggy we will brave it .

We go to the library every few weeks to get myself and Connie a book, they do rhyme time which I really must pluck up the courage to go to.

In the spring I'm going to get a back carrier to put her in so we can use the footpaths. One of the footpaths go through the grounds of one of the local castles, you're supposed to stick to the footpath but we wander around the grounds that you're supposed to pay to see but you can't get in the building.

 

[Hazel]

And there's a footpath that goes right through the middle of the big zoo!!! It goes through the safari bit and it's all fenced but you still see most of the animals and it goes right next to the giraffes and elephants

 

[DaisyRose]

We usually go for walks in woods or down to the sea, and weather permitting, we usually take a picnic. Occasionally (usually if it's someone's birthday) we'll have a treat somewhere but you're right, it's pretty expensive. Even going to the soft play area costs about £15 with 2 of them playing/ having snacks etc.

One thing I've found with small children though is a distinct lack of cheap wet weather things to do at the weekends. Everything I can think of is either expensive, or packed, or both. What does everyone else do with lively kids on a wet Sunday?