It isn’t until your children are over 3 that you truly realise the cost of a family day out. I nearly keeled over when I was asked for £45 for us all to see the latest Disney film at the cinema. Family days often mean quality time, so finding ways to ease the cost is important. Here are some tips on making your money go a little bit further.
1. Use loyalty schemes. We shop at Tesco and have a Tesco credit card. After a while loyalty points start to add up. Don’t use them at face value off your shopping. There are loads of clubcard rewards meaning you get more for your points. From days out to restaurant vouchers it is worth looking into these.
2. Buy annual passes. If you live near an attraction, consider purchasing an annual pass. These usually save you money after around 3 visits. We currently have Merlin passes (through clubcard rewards) and National Trust. Our Merlin passes also give us a discount on food and retail in the parks. We purchased the National Trust passes 2 years ago when we went on a trip to Devon. Here not only were we able to visit some local houses, but were also able to park for free at the National Trust beaches.
3. Take a picnic. Often you can double the cost of a family day out by purchasing food onsite. A picnic will save you loads. Make sure to pack plenty of snacks and water. If you want to avoid another hefty bill in the gift or sweet shop on the way out, pack a little treat to give them as you leave. I find the small packets of Haribo often work a treat!
4. Use coupons. Always check for a money off coupon before you visit an attraction. Do a quick internet search, and don’t forget to look for coupons in magazines such as Families and Primary Times that the children bring home from school or nursery. Online apps like Vouchercloud can even be checked on your phone when you get there incase you have forgotten to look before.
5. Enter giveaways. You’ve got to be in it to win it! Giveaways are a great way to win family days out. They are often lower entry too as they are region specific. Local magazines, facebook pages and competition websites such as prizefinder are a good place to start.
6. Plan when you go. By visiting an attraction off peak you can sometimes get a price reduction. Parking at train station is cheaper on a Sunday, so that might be worth considering if you are going on somewhere on a weekend. Advance tickets can also offer a reduction and some attractions allow you to use the ticket on any date rather than specify one.
7. Sign up for newsletters/like of social media. Money off vouchers are often shared on social media and through newsletters, so if there are a few places you fancy visiting, sign up to their facebook or online newsletter and you may get sent a discount.
8. Use Local Parks. Don’t forget that there is often a great day out just around the corner. Pack a picnic and go to a local park. Check out the local splash area. Many are free and just require a small fee for the car park. Geocaching is also great fun and just requires a small fee for the app.
9. Use kids cinema showings. As I mentioned at the start, a family seeing a current film is really pricey. If you wait a couple of months you can see the same film at a kids showing for a fraction of the price.
10. Look out for offers on your groceries. Odd but true. Kelloggs often have Merlin offers on their cornflakes. They are currently giving you a free digital ride photo from a Merlin Park. Highland Spring have recently had free tennis lessons. Who knows what other offers you can get from your weekly shop!
What top tips do you have for saving money on a family day out?
Really useful tips for families here – annual passes can make a real difference and also something as simple as a picnic can save a fortune. Thanks for linking to #sharewithme
Yes. I always pack more than I think the boys will eat as they seem to get extra hungry on days out!
Great tips and all worth doing for some quality family time outdoors #sharewithme
Definitely! Will be linking up to Country Kids this week thanks to our National Trust pass x
Great tips. The cinema is SO expensive isn’t it? We sometimes go to the kids screening at the weekend but really the cinema is a rare treat now there’s 4 of them! xx
I know Susanne, a treat here. My Aunt kindly bought the boys cinema vouchers for Christmas which has helped. Not sure how we are going to get away with delaying the Angry Birds movie as middle man is very keen on the idea!
My tip is to always take your own food/drinks/snacks-you’ll save a small fortune!
And always take more than you think. My boys get crazy hungry when they are out!
Great tips thank you (:
Great tips – I am always looking to save the pennies!
Silly not to! So many offers and giveaways x
Got to be picnic. And snacks.
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I make a picnic and take plenty of diluting juice. Filling bottles of water with the juice stops the moans lol, and saves buying over priced juice at the destination.
Oh that is a good idea – esp as you can get those tiny bottle ones
fantastic tips
Very useful advice thank you
Really useful ideas on how to make days out cheaper
Great ideas
Great list. Not sure I have anything else to add!
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Sometimes it’s cheaper to visit attractions or amusement parks if you have a larger party. Check, and if it is, see if you can organise a joint outing with some friends. You can always split up once you’re inside the attraction.
Oh that is so true – group discounts!
We always take picnics to save money, food in places for a whole family is so expensive, and not always to everyone’s taste. I also look for any vouchers or offers to reduced the price.
Great tips on here especially number 5 🙂
😀 It’s a fab hobby isn’t it! xx
Great tips! Thank you!
Useful info
Some great tips must admit I do always try and take our own food as it’s always so expensive out
Useful info. Thank you
I do a fair few of these already but I hadn’t thought of the Tesco club card points one. Thank you
Lydia Graham recently posted…#NotDoingSatsWeek!
Oh they really are fab – loads of offers.
Some fab tips, I always take a packed lunch when we go out
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Great tips – thanks very much
Brilliant and useful tips I love saving money
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Some fantastic advice. We are forever on the look out for ways to save money on our regular days out
move to Cornwall I did and it saves us a fortune we can nip home from the beach for snax
Oh I would love to live near the sea again.
i take way too much stuff for the boys some great tips on here thanks
Useful tips. Thanks a lot
these updated themed attractions are getting very expensive these days. i find it a bit infuriating when you can’t bring food or drinks in and they charge way over the top once you’re in.
Thank you these useful tips will come in handy
Great tips. I love the cinema tip. You can also get preview codes for screenings of films to use on sites like showfilmfirst if you look around.
Oh I have never heard of that – will have to have a look!
Get together with friends and their children too for a picnic or bbq in garden. Afterall, it’s to company that makes it fun rather than the destination. You are not spending much more than you would be if you weren’t going out.
Great tips! We went to the cinema recently and it was eye wateringly expensive, luckily I had been down to the corner shop before we left and bought bags of popcorn and drinks there to take with us!!! This helped keep the cost down and I’ll definitely do it if we go again!!!!
Great tips! I am a huge fan of coupons and if I can’t use them, I give them to people that can, put them on my local selling pages for free or leave them on products in shops, if they aren’t to be used on specific accounts. Hopefully I’ve also helped others save too.
Fantastic tips. I don’t think people realized how much you can save by packing snacks and food or even just water bottles. They cost a fortune. It’s great to save pennies here and there and save it for more important things. 🙂 Thanks for linking up to Share With Me I hope you will continue to share your amazing blog posts with Charlotte over at Mummy Fever starting next week. #sharewithme
id say,always take a picnic ,save loads of money,x
Great tips – thank you!
Great reading all the tips here
Great tips, always love to save money any way we can
Some really useful advice.
Great tips!
Take sandwiches; saves a fortune on resturant bills
thanks, always looking for ways to keep my purse shut lol!!
Alot of useful tips here, great piece
We usually take a picnic with us.
Planning ahead is always a good idea.
Good advice – thank you.
Great tips here – thanks for the heads up.
very handy, have took note of these.
Good ideas!
Great advice!
Take a big picnic as food can be very expensive!
What great ideas
We always take our own food and drink wherever we go. Children enjoy ‘helping’ to get it ready too.
we go to the local woods with the dog and have a long walk taking photos of the wildlife and spend some quality time together
Lots of great saving tips, thank you
I have to comment on this page to enter thermos competition
Some good advice thanks X
Great tips I love ways to save money
Fantastic Tips!! Any info that saves money is always VERY welcome xx
A good list. You’d think that staying at home instead of going away for holidays is cheaper – but it isn’t if you don’t do your homework first.
Some great tips. Thank you
Super ideas! Thank you.
Our food is already eaten by the time we get there.
Take food and drink and put some of the bottled water in the freezer the night before – it’ll help keep everything cool and be lovely and refreshing when you come to drink it.
Sat mornings at small cinemes are cheap. Coupons are great let them add up and buy snacks for the local park. Buy icecream before park from supermarket.
Brill tips. Food and drink especially is always so expensive on days out and picnics are more fun anyway!
Some great tips. We got annual family passes this year and has saved us so much money.
Some handy tips there, we used to have Merlin passes we found them to be great value for the amount of times we used them.
Great tips 🙂
thanks, this is very useful!
very useful information. We went to blackpool a few years back and used every voucher possible we had a great time for next to nothing 🙂
Go with friends! If you have a couple of spaces in the car then take some people with you. These are the times that memories are made. 🙂
Fantastic tips xx
No.4 & 5 are my most done!
fab article, i cant believe how expensive the cinemas has now become!
Great tips, thankyou x
Fantastic tips, and I agree, a good picnic beats the often horrid fast food!
Love a good giveaway makes an outing even more of a treat, some useful info here 🙂
Great tips – we always take food and snacks with us due to family allergies but it does also save a lot of money.
Great tips!
Great!!