4 Ways to Save Money on Family Days Out

Terri Brown, a family travel blogger from The Strawberry Fountain, has been reviewing family focused attractions for 8 years. She regularly shares her top tips for getting the most out of certain attractions as well as advising her readers on which ones should be avoided altogether. Here she shares her 4 top tips for saving money on family days out which is bound to come in handy with the school holidays only weeks away.

1. Parking

Lots of families will plan their days out, look for discounted tickets, and collect coupons for free entry and then get stung by parking fees. Before you head out on your adventure do some research on the attractions parking facilities, if it is free, or included in the entry price, then brilliant but if not make a note of the fee for a full days parking. Once you have this fee as a starting point look for local park and rides or public car parks that are within walking distance and compare prices. Next, have a look to see if there are residential streets close to the attraction with no parking limitations where you can park for free and walk to the entrance. For some attractions, this can be a big money saver.

2. Use lockers

Taking a picnic with you is not a new idea, in fact, it is refreshing to see that more and more attractions are encouraging this by having designated picnic areas. What is less common, however, is the idea of taking additional snacks and drinks with you and this is usually due to the fact that parents, understandably, don’t want to be carrying them around all day. The simplest solution for this is to check if the attraction has lockers in advance and if so store your lunch, snacks, and extra drinks in there. Not only will this save your back and your bank balance but it will also keep everything cool on a hot day.

3. Preempt the gift shop

One of my biggest complaints is when you have to walk through the gift shop to leave an attraction. Spending additional money should be a choice, not something parents are guilted into doing, nor should a nice day out have to finish with disappointment when children are told no. One way to overcome this is to preempt the gift should by talking to your children in advance and explaining to them that on this occasion they won't be buying anything in the gift shop because the day out itself is the treat, or setting them a limit to spend which could, of course, be their own money.  For those with small children who will not understand the concept of money then I suggest you take a small treat that you have picked up somewhere else that is linked to the attraction, so an animal sticker book for the zoo, and present it to them as you enter the gift shop. This should save money and tears!

4. Check the membership deals

If you have just enjoyed a day out and think your family would like o return again within the year and the attraction is local enough to make this happen then check out the membership deals before you leave. Lots of attractions now offer great membership deals and if you sign up on the day (or within a week) of a paid visit they will deduct some, if not all, of that from the membership which can save a lot of money in the long run.