Ahh the summer holidays! Blissful memories of long days and cool nights, trips to the seaside, ice creams with flakes, laughing with and if we were lucky, maybe even a trip abroad. Yes indeed, the end of the school term is the signal to kids and teenagers everywhere that for a long six (on average) weeks, troubles are far away!
If you flip this picture ever so slightly, you come to the other side of that equation – the side of the parents. Where the last school bell does not mean kicking back for six weeks, but instead means restless children, six weeks of childcare needing covering, the pressure of providing activities, fighting against colleagues to get time off and if you manage to come out the victor of annual leave, you can then be rewarded with prices for things that are roughly double than they were the week before!
My first child is due this month, perfectly timed for my first experience of a summer holiday period. Chances are for the first one, I’ll spend most of my time indoors wondering how to get my bundle of joy to stop crying, trying to remember when the last time I got any sleep was and asking people if they mind me being in my pyjamas when they come round at four in the afternoon. But having accompanied many friends and family members on day trips out of school hours – it has very definitely started to bite home just how much extra these things are going to cost me in the next few years. For example, I don’t want my children’s only experience of animals to be from watching ‘Cats do the funniest things’ on YouTube. So, we’ll want to take her to the zoo. Once you’ve paid for the entrance fee, got yourselves some lunch and maybe a little souvenir or afternoon coffee and cake (not to mention petrol and parking costs) you’ve easily said goodbye to £100 and that’s being conservative. You can double that figure if you choose to go to a major theme park for the day.
Unfortunately the school holidays are big business and the pressure on parents to provide is huge. It SHOULD be about the time together – all parents SHOULD be able to help their kids experience different things/activities and experiences without having to financially cripple able, but to try and save at least a couple of headaches this summer – having spoken to many more experienced Mums and Dads – here are my top tips for a Super Saver Summer (despite the inevitable rain..!)
- Get familiar with money saving websites and look out for any coupons and vouchers in magazines/on cereal boxes or anywhere you can find them.
- Get creative. For example, water parks are expensive but creating a homemade slip and slide with a paddling pool, hose, water guns and/or buckets of water are significantly cheaper in the long run and can even be more fun (with much less queuing!).
- Where possible, avoid being out and about at mealtimes, cutting out the necessity to purchase food can really make a difference to the s budget.
- Invest in a picnic basket. It’s all very well trying to avoid being out at mealtimes but day trips without food are no fun! A picnic basket need be nothing more really than a plastic bag (a bag for life if you want to be fancier!). By making your own food, you again significantly reduce costs.
- Sign up for/look out for updates on special deals or days at your chosen attractions. If you’re going to splash out, you can at least make it on a day when there’s something of specific interest on and you can likewise make use of half-price ticket days.
- Combine with other families to make use of advanced group bookings and group discount deals. A lot of companies offer reduced 80 day can make the difference.
- Try and relax. Holidays can be stressful enough as it is and spending your whole day at the zoo complaining: – “I cannot believe that ice cream cost £3!” – is not going to make it cheaper but it is going to ruin your child’s enjoyment of the day and probably lead to a bickering session with your spouse. What’s the point of a day out if you’re not going to enjoy it? Accept early on that money is going to be spent, look into all the costs you’ll be faced with and accept them before you arrive. In ten years’ time, you’ll still remember the laughing face of your child on the carousel but you won’t (hopefully!) still be seething that it cost you £2.50 for the privilege!
The pressure of the summer holidays is not something I’m looking forward to as a first time mum, but the joys of being a family and even thinking about the memories soon to be made make doing it all worthwhile. So whilst it is hard and compromises will inevitably need to be made, to be able to do even half of what your little ones want to do with you will soon enough be over. They will no longer want to spend their time with you and you’ll yearn for time with them (even if it does mean being ‘taken for an absolute mug’ at the ticket stand). The wonder children find in their childhood is admirable and enviable, so maybe we should try and follow their lead. Parents, the summer holidays are upon us … let’s do this!
Written by Danielle Jordan