20 ways to have cheap days out with the kids in the school holidays

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Here’s my guide to having cheap days out with the kids – with 20 ways to have fun on a budget on the weekends and over the school holidays! It’s great to get out and about when the children are off, and make the most of your time together, making memories. But the school holidays, especially the 6 week summer break in particular, can be really expensive if you don’t plan carefully and make the most of the deals and discounts on offer. So I’ve come up with 20 ideas for cheap days out with the kids, to help you to save money so that family days out are more affordable. Frugal family fun on a budget!

From making the most of nature, to free kids’ entry at big attractions, annual memberships, discounts and promotions, in-store workshops, free local events and lots more! Make the most of these tips and tricks and mix in some free days out to keep costs down. You might even want to set a budget for the long summer break and work backwards from there; planning your days out around that. And, if you need some ideas on how to entertain the kids at home too, keep scrolling for my free, printable 30 day kids’ activity calendar.

Here’s how to have cheap days out with the kids in the UK:

1. Get cheap cinema tickets

Never pay full price for the cinema, there are loads of ways to save money on cinema tickets. First up, most cinemas offer weekend movies for junior rates, and this often extends to weekdays too during the school holidays. A cinema trip is a great way to entertain the kiddies indoors in the winter or on a rainy day! Odeon, Cineworld and Vue offer these screenings for just a few pounds per ticket. If you have Amazon Prime, you can also get two Odeon tickets for £10 on Monday-Thursday screenings once a month – which could be good for cheap school holiday entertainment.

You could also exchange your Tesco Clubcard Vouchers for free cinema tickets, to see the new releases without spending a penny. Or sign up to Kids Pass to get discounted cinema tickets, 7 days a week (with a £1 trial) – it can be well worth it to save money on family days out all summer! Meerkat Movies offer 2 for 1 cinema tickets every Tuesday and Wednesday – and you can get this deal for about £1 by buying the cheapest qualifying insurance policy through Compare the Market. Grab a cheap insurance policy that you don’t need (like a 1 day travel insurance) and you’ll benefit from the 2 for 1 deal for a year.

2. Take the kids geocaching

You can easily find a local geocaching trail nearby, with just a quick search on google. It makes a long walk a little more purposeful, and the kids enjoy it because it feels like a treasure hunt! Lots of country parks offer geocaching activities too – it’s just £5 per family at our local park and they provide the geocaching equipment, a route planner to complete and clipboards – so even paid routes can offer cheap days out with the kids. Pick a route to follow, pack up a picnic and enjoy an afternoon exploring.

3. Make the most of memberships

National Trust and English Heritage memberships can be a great investment; once you’ve signed up you can use them time and time again for free days out. (And keep your eyes peeled as the National Trust offer free one day passes a few times each year!) Often it’ll only take a visit or two to make it worthwhile money-wise, and payments can be made monthly so that they don’t seem too overwhelming – family memberships are usually about a tenner each month. These memberships are great idea for the Christmas list too; adventures rather than things. Then you can enjoy the benefit for a whole year, having all sorts of fabulous family days out to places like Walmer Castle, Dover Castle, St Michael’s Mount and Tintagel Castle. For more info, check out my article: The 10 best English Heritage sites to visit with kids.

If you’ll be heading to lots of family attractions with the kids, The Merlin Annual Pass can be a good money-saver too. The cheapest pass is currently £139 – though look out for the Merlin sale as the Merlin Essential Annual Pass was recently reduced to just £79! Kids under 90cm don’t need one – they can enter for free – which is great news if you have little ones. If you’ll make the most of it, and have a whole year of fun, it might be worth thinking about. A Merlin Pass includes theme parks like Alton Towers, Chessington, LEGOLAND Windsor and Thorpe Park; indoor fun like SEA LIFE centres, Shrek’s Adventure!, The London Eye and Madame Tussauds; and historical and immersive experiences like Warwick Castle, The Dungeons and even Cadbury World. To find out more about them check out my article: Are Merlin Annual Passes worth it and which pass is best?

4. Visit a free museum

Don’t forget that so many museums offer free entry – London, in particular, has a lot to choose from. But if you’re not near the capital, have a quick search online to see what’s available in your local area. Often, during the school holidays, museums will offer children’s activities, talks and craft workshops too, so it’s well worth checking to see what they’ve got running when the kids are off school.

5. Get free child entry with a Blue Peter Badge

With a Blue Peter Badge, children can gain free entry to over 200 UK attractions around the country such as theme parks, zoos and castles – making weekends, school holiday days out and UK staycation entertainment a lot more affordable. They take a while to arrive, so make sure you get it sorted well in advance. For a family of two adults and two children, this would save around £40 on a trip to the Tower of London, or the local zoo. We’ve used our badges to get the kids in free at places like The Heights of Abraham, Howletts Zoo and the HMS Belfast – plus they offer it at the Eden Project, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Dover Castle and ZSL London Zoo too – it’s well worth doing! Check out my article on Blue Peter Badges for more info on how to apply.

6. Get discounts on UK attraction tickets

Lovetovisit.co.uk is a fantastic website with loads of discounted tickets for attractions all over the UK. Keep your eyes peeled for additional promotions too because I’ve seen some amazing reductions on family-friendly days out (with cheap tickets that even the attractions themselves haven’t matched!) – the ‘Love to Visit’ website is a great place to start if you’re trying to save money when the kids are off school. Plan your trips out around the offers available near you and you’ll definitely save a small fortune!

7. Save on days out with Kids Pass

Sign up to Kids Pass for a month’s trial for just a quid! Enjoy the perks and either continue your subscription or cancel prior to your trial ending to make sure no further charges are taken. If you want to continue your subscription, you can do so for just a few pounds each month – allowing you to enjoy the huge savings available year round. Using their app, you can save on the go and search for things to do and restaurants near you. It’s a great option for saving during the summer holidays, even if cancelled afterwards. (It’ll likely be the best £1 you spend all summer!!) The perks are:

Up to 52% off family days out – such as: Legoland, Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures
Up to 56% off cinema tickets and snacks
Kids eat free at loads of restaurants
Holiday discounts… and lots more!

8. Visit your local library / children’s centre

If you have a local children’s centre or library, see what activities and clubs are on offer during the summer holidays. Many activities will be subsidised (or even free) – so craft activities, story-time, play sessions and family fun days can be a great way to keep everyone busy on a tight budget. Just be sure to do a bit of research in advance because (as with anything free) spaces may fill up pretty quickly! The kids can also take part in the reading challenge; which is a good way to motivate them to read regularly over the summer.

9. Spend a day at the beach

The beach is one of our favourite places – the kids don’t care if the water’s cold, they’ll swim anyway, build sandcastles for hours and collect more pebbles then they can carry home! We always come back filthy and windswept but it’s such a lovely way to spend an afternoon. We love sports too, so beach rounders, frisbee and football are a must – pack some supplies and enjoy lots of free days out with the kids at the seaside over the summer holidays!

10. Enjoy in-store children’s workshops

Lots of stores offer free or cheap children’s in-store workshops and activities on weekend dates and throughout the school holidays. These are a few that I’ve come across:

Pets at Home run free small-animal workshops throughout the year, including during the school holidays. These are designed for children aged 5-11 years – see what’s available near you.

Hobbycraft run craft workshops year round, usually starting from around £5 depending on what’s being made – the perfect way to keep the kids busy when the weather’s bad. Check out what’s available at your local Hobbycraft.
Dobbies Garden Centre run free plant and nature themed workshops, suitable for children aged 4-10 years; take a look at what your local Dobbies has to offer.

11. Hunt out restaurant deals

Lots of restaurants and supermarkets offer cheap (or free) meals for the kids, or daytime saver menus – so you can enjoy family meals alongside your days out without spending loads of money. For instance: kids always eat for £1 at Asda; kids eat free at Morrisons with an adult meal purchase; Toby Carvery offer kids’ roast dinners from just a few pounds; and the IKEA Café offers meals from 95p. Plenty of places offer ‘children eat free’ deals or £1 meals during school holiday times too – so have a google before you go, and plot meals out around the best prices! Here are some that I’ve found for kids eat free (or for £1) during the UK summer holidays for 2025…

12. Enjoy the outdoors

Make the most of the outside spaces in your local area – trip to the woods is always a hit with the kids, whatever the time of year. Pop your wellies on, build dens, search for fairies and, if you’re really lucky, you might even find a rope swing! And, most kids love a trip to the park, but visiting the same old places can get a little dull. To mix things up, ask other parents to recommend new parks, or search online to see what’s about. There are loads of brilliant free parks about, so pack up a picnic, invite the kids’ friends and try somewhere new! If the weather is nice, water pistols always go down a treat too – think of cheap and cheerful ways to make days out with the kids as fun as possible without spending much at all.

13. Enjoy free fun with Tesco Clubcard

If you’re a Tesco shopper, you can benefit from using your Tesco Clubcard points for free meals and days out with the kids – though if you don’t have enough points you can still use them for partial payment to makes things more cheap and cheerful. Reward points can be collected through Tesco services too – such as Tesco Mobile or through a Tesco Credit Card, so you can collect them even if you do your weekly shop elsewhere. Points can be exchanged for theme parks, zoos, farms, castles and even trips to London.

14. Look for seasonal deals on days out

Lots of UK days out offer seasonal or school holiday offers, so get googling to hunt out the best ones near you. For instance, for February half-term 2025 lots of Merlin attractions (like the London Dungeon, Sea Life London and Shrek’s Adventure London) offered free entry for kids when they dressed up – you can find out more about it here: UK days out with the Kids: February half-term 2025 discounts! And, zoos like Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent frequently offer ‘kids go free’ tickets in the school holidays. For the summer holidays check out my article: UK days out with the kids: School summer holidays 2025 discounts – I’ve found loads of discounts and deals for UK attractions to make your days out with the kids more affordable. Think theme parks, zoos, movies, bowling and even theatre tickets!

15. Visit the capital

There are loads of FREE things to do in London with children, even if you’re not a fan of the museums. From playgrounds, to lidos, to farms and zoos – there’s something to entertain everyone. Make sure you read my post on the best 10 free days out in London with the kids for more info. Pack up some lunch and you can have a totally free day hopping from place to place, or use the freebie activities to balance out a paid activity for a whole day of fun in the city. If you’re reading this over the winter, you’ll probably want to check out this article too for lots of frugal festive fun in the capital – 10 FREE things to do in London at Christmas with kids.

For the paid attractions, look for combination tickets to get the best deals. For instance, Merlin have five main London attractions with each typically priced at around £30pp, but with a multi-attraction ticket the price can be as little as £12 per attraction! (This includes SEA LIFE London Aquarium, The London Eye, Shrek’s Adventure, Bus Tours, Madame Tussauds and the London Dungeon.) You get 90 days to enjoy your chosen attractions so it’s worth buying in bulk.

16. Enjoy 2 for 1 on days out with National Rail

National Rail’s ‘2-for-1 Days Out Offer’ is a fantastic way to explore top attractions across the UK with the kids, whilst keeping things as cheap as possible. With a valid train ticket, you can enjoy two tickets for the price of one at a wide range of destinations including museums, theme parks, historic sites and more. This deal makes it easier to plan budget-friendly trips with the kids – some of the attractions currently taking part in this scheme include: ZSL London Zoo, the Tower of London and Howletts Zoo – find out more about, with a full list of the days out available, on the National Rail website.

17. Explore a country park

There are so many gorgeous country parks dotted all over the country – each offering a new (free!) adventure. Whether it be woodland walks, streams, lakes or large green spaces, it’s always a winner for a family walk. Many have trails too, to keep the kids entertained, or themed activities dependent on the time of year, so be sure to check out what’s on offer before you visit.

18. Head to a local farm

Lots of farms offer free entry, or farming days for kids for a couple of quid, so you can have a day with the animals without spending loads of money. A quick google in your local area will reveal any open days and events – so pack a picnic, put your wellies on and make some furry friends! Particularly over the Easter holidays, you’ll find lambing days dotted all over the UK.

19. Swim at a lido

There are actually quite a number of outdoor pools and paddling pools around – a quick internet search will help you to discover what’s in your area! Lots of the entrance fees are pretty cheap and some are even free – for Kent families you can take the kids to Walmer paddling pool and enjoy a day out without spending a penny! If the good old British weather is being kind, pop your swimsuits on and head to your nearest one for a dip.

20. Check out free local events

The summer is the best time to explore your local area (or further afield) – and there are always lots of things happening for free – so plan your days out with the kids around the events that you can attend on the cheap with a picnic and a bottle of orange squash! For instance, bandstand shows pop up all over the place over the warmer months, as do food and drink festivals where there’s usually free entertainment too. Broadstairs, in Kent, even hold free fireworks evenings every summer, and lots of towns host airshows too. Just get googling, and take your food with you, to entertain the whole family without spending a penny!

And don’t forget to…

Pack up a picnic lunch to make sure your days out with the kids are as cheap as possible, and take refillable water bottles and lots of snacks too. If you’re visiting an attraction like a zoo, theme park or castle chances are the food prices at the venue will be extremely inflated, so bring your own to make days out with the kids more affordable. We always bring a flask of coffee for the adults as well – it can be so expensive out and about but it’s definitely needed for survival on a family day out! 😂 And, I’ll often even bring ice-lollies buried in cool blocks too, as my two will inevitably always ask for an ice-cream! Invest in a decent cool bag rucksack (I have this one from Amazon) and you can use it time and time again to avoid splurging on food when heading out with the kids.

Or have some fun at home!

The school holidays can be hard going, particularly the long six week summer break. So if you’re exhausted, out of money, or the weather is grotty, you might just want to snuggle up at home! Download my free, printable 30 day kids’ activity calendar for lots of ideas on how to keep the little ones busy on a budget without even leaving the house! Socialising at home can be a great way to save money too. Hosting the kids’ friends at home with a few chicken nuggets and a paddling pool can be just as fun as a big day out, whilst costing very little. Or, a nerf gun battle, a water pistol marathon or a disco in the living room can also be great ways for them to make lovely memories with their friends without even leaving the house. Have a lovely time!