What fits, with guide prices
£35–70 a head, guide price
A theme park
The big one. Book ahead for the best price.
£20–40 a head, guide price
The zoo or a safari park
A full day with a clear route and plenty of stops.
£10–30 a head, guide price
A big museum and lunch
Many of the best are free to walk into.
£10–30 a head, guide price
A day at the beach
Buckets, chips and an early start to get parked.
£12–25 a head, guide price
A trampoline park
An hour that takes care of the rest of the afternoon.
£12–25 a head, guide price
A farm park
Goats to feed and a tractor to ride. Soft play if it rains.
£20–45 a head, guide price
The panto
It is behind you. Group rates are common.
£10–25 a head, guide price
A water park or big pool
Slides, a wave machine and tired children.
Finding the day
The difficulty with several households is that each has its own layer of commitments: work, clubs, parties, and weekends that belong to the other parent. The page on family calendars goes through those one at a time.
Do not assume everyone's children are off at the same time. School term and holiday dates vary across the UK. In England and Wales you look them up through your local council, and Scotland and Northern Ireland publish their own. Cousins two hours apart can have different half-terms.
Nobody has to show the in-laws what is in their calendar to do this. The group sees when each person is busy, never what they are doing, and the guide to sharing free and busy time without sharing your diary explains how.
Look for a whole day. A theme park needs about eight hours, a beach day six and the zoo five.
If someone in the group is on shifts
For a parent on shifts, a day that long is most of a day off, and it cannot be the day after a night.
Choose something shorter and later: a trampoline park needs two hours, and a pool or the panto three. Or treat it as a near miss. The rest of the group arrives when the gates open, and the parent who worked last night sleeps, then joins after lunch. Put that in the plan, so nobody spends the morning ringing them. The page for nurses and midwives has more on earlies, lates and long days.
What to book ahead
Theme parks reward booking ahead with a better price, so lock the date in and buy. Vennado suggests the panto from November to January. Group rates are common, and twelve seats in a row are easier to get early. For zoos and farm parks, check whether entry is by dated or timed ticket.
The beach and the big museum need no booking. The beach needs an early start to get parked, which is its own kind of booking.
Three generations in one day
- Count car seats before cars. Child seats decide who travels with whom.
- Check the rail discounts. A Family & Friends Railcard gives a third off adult fares and 60% off child fares for up to four adults and four children, as long as at least one child travels. GroupSave gives three to nine people travelling together up to a third off at off-peak times with the train companies that offer it.
- Plan around lunch and one nap. Fix a place and a time to meet. A group of twelve does not move as one.
- Check the family ticket. See what the venue counts as a family before assuming your mix of adults and children fits.
- Check height limits before promising anyone a ride.
Who pays for what
Vennado uses one budget a head for the whole plan. Children's tickets often cost less, so set the budget at the adult price and expect to come in under it.
Each household buying its own tickets is the least awkward method. Keep a small kitty for the shared things: parking, the picnic, the ice creams. Split shared costs by head, not by household, or the couple with no children ends up paying for a third of the minibus.
Grandparents will try to pay for everything. Decide beforehand if you will let them.
Before you pay
- Whether dated tickets can be moved if plans change or it pours.
- The age at which children start paying.
- Height and age limits on the things the children most want to do.
- Carer and accessibility tickets, if anyone needs them.
- Parking: whether it is booked or paid separately.
- Where twelve people will eat. A picnic, or a table booked ahead.
Questions people ask
How do we find a day that suits several households?
Have each household add its own diary to one plan: work, clubs, parties, custody weekends and school dates. Do not assume the cousins share a half-term, because school term dates vary across the UK. Vennado then shows the days when every household is free, and the near misses where one person would have to join late.
Which days out work when a parent works shifts?
Shorter ones, later in the day. A theme park needs about eight hours and the zoo about five, which is hard the morning after a night shift. A trampoline park or a pool needs two to three hours and can start after lunch. For the long days, plan for the parent on shifts to join part-way.
How should families split the cost of a day out?
By household for tickets and by head for shared costs. Each household buys its own entry, so it can use its own discounts. Shared costs such as parking, a picnic or a minibus are split by the number of people, so a family of five pays more than a couple. Settle the grandparents question beforehand.
Are the guide prices for adults or children?
They are one figure a head for the whole group, and children's tickets often cost less than adults'. Set the plan's budget a head at what an adult would spend and expect the day to come in under it. The real prices, including child and concession rates, are on the attraction's own site.