School holidays deals and ideas.
It’s the school holidays and while you may be enjoying not having to drag the kids out of bed and to school the investable “I’m bored” will soon be kicking in, but it can cost a small fortune to keep the kids occupied during the holidays so I have been looking into a few ways to keep the little darlings amused without breaking the budget.
Groupon at the moment have a number of entries to theme parks at half price like Chesington World of Adventure but if you book more than 5 days in advance on the websites then it’s about the same price of £27 each, so don’t automatically assume it’s cheaper. Anyone under 0.90cm goes free so if you have young (or really short) children then you would not have to pay to get them in. However depending on who’s going you might want to think about the Kellogg’s vouchers that appear on the side of the cereal packets or some Kellogg’s snack bars. They allow you to pay for the child’s entrance and get the adult in free meaning both of you get in for £47. It’s worth noting that if it rains for an hour continuously you can claim a refund on the cost of your tickets, so possible a free day out.
Another great free day out at the moment would be Warwick castle, the sun plus currently has 2 free tickets for members and you can sign up for only £1 meaning you save £42. They have a series of events on at the moment including Horrible histories, Mike the night and the time tower so lots of things to keep the kids amused as well as the usual falconry, sword fights and the princess tower. I have 2 sun accounts at the moment so got 4 free tickets for £2 plus £1.50 p&p, plus under 4s go free. A big hint would be to try not to take a pushchair as a lot of places are not accessible, the food is priced at what you would expect for a tourist place so if you want to take a picnic and drinks that would be a massive saving. They also have a number of the usual medieval style stuff for sale such as swords and princess hats. Knowing small boys would want them and the “can I have please” would kick in I nipped to the pound shop and bought a couple of swords and other bits and bought them with me, they were able to run around playing knights, and I did not have to pay £11 each for them to do it.
The Kellogg’s vouchers also apply here meaning a child’s ticket at £21.60 will get two people, in so £10.80 each for what can be a very full day.
Another advantage of the sun plus at the moment is the fact that they give away 5 free cinema tickets every week for the kids, this means that on a sat or Sunday 5 of the little darlings can go along to the local Odeon and get in for free to the 10.30 kids film, so if you don’t have 5 little ones you could let them bring a friend or two. If you happen to be on o2 and have priority moments the fee app, or even if you’re not and can grab a 99p sim and register for the app before replacing your own (see the how to get free o2 priority on the web site) then they can grab a free small popcorn as well, meaning you pay nothing, and get some blissful quiet time.
CLICK HERE to sign up to Sun plus and get great deals now.
If the weather’s really awful and you’re looking for some indoor fun than the Sea life centre is a good place to head as it usually has something for most ages, the ticket prices can be a bit confusing as they offer so many ways of buying them that will save you money, for example if you have a toddler over 3 (they go free) but under 5, then you can get a parent-toddler ticket for £13 or if you have a Kellogg’s voucher it would be £17.50 for 2 of you to go. They also do deals for students if there are 2 going together and Vouchercloud has 40% off tickets as well, so you never really need to pay full price, but you may have to do a bit of maths to sort out the best deal.
Wherever you live and I appreciate these places might not be on your doorstep, I would highly recommend you check sites like vouchercloud, vouchercodes and myvouchercodes as they have so many “buy one get one free” entries to local places, meaning you could half the cost of a day out just for showing them your phone. There are plenty of activities and even if you can’t think of one they will occasionally put an offer up there for something on your door step you knew nothing about like a local farm day or circus.
You can also take advantage of a 1 month free trial of something called the kids pass, that allows you to get some great deals on entrance to loads of places across the country. Even better news is, I have an exclusive code that can get your 50% off your pass so you can get yours for just £19.99 instead of £39.99! Use code ASH2015.
This can also apply to food in the form of a taste card or a gourmet card, both of which are doing free trials as well, they allow 25-50% off the bill or BOGOF on plenty of chain as well as local restaurants and pubs, again potentially slashing your day out costs in half. It might also be good to keep an eye out for certain deals during the holidays such as kids eat free, Table Table, Crown carveries and Beefeater all have kids eat free deals but you have to check where and when they are available as with most things terms and conditions apply.
So when the kids get bored this holiday you just might be able to treat them a little, without paying through the nose!
CLICK HERE to see my school uniform price comparison.
