Costs for family outings :(

[super_e]

If you are a CAA member, check the website for places that offer discounts to CAA cardholders.
Many attractions are listed.

[lekate]

Skydiving is 300$, I realllllllly want to go! I kind of understand how it can be pricey though (plane, gas for plane, insurance, I'll need to go tandem so the wage for whoever's strapped to me, etc).

[<3 My $aving$ <3]

I live in Winnipeg Kelly25 and here there is quite a bit to do costing fairly little!

Saturday Mornings at 11am Silver City Polo Park shows a Family movie admission is $2.50
you CAN bring your own snacks or buy them at a reduced rate!
Over summer there are FREE drop in activity sites/centres throughout the City
Splash pads are free and there are many kiddie/Wading pools (also free)
Tinkertown (kiddie rides) has a BOGO wristband option
Our local Swimming pools are fairly cheap as well...
There are Loonie & Twoonie swim times available as well a family passes...
I use my Airmiles for Movie passes
Every Sept i order 12 admissions for each of the kids (2)
Then i use my Scene points from my Scotcia Card for my admission
Our Zoo has been under Major Renos but we do have a childrens Park/Play area that is free
The Childrens Museum here is expensive at $10 per person (no more reduced/family admission)
Wpg Goldeyes games can be as cheap as $5 seat...

I guess it really depends on where you live...
PS I always Google the activity I have in mind a day or two before just to see if there are any discounts available
or to see what''s going on thats free or close to it !

[Darth Penguin]

It certainly does depend where you live.

I'm 70-ish km from Montreal and there's very little to do here, nearly everything is clustered round Montreal , Trois Rivieres or Quebec or else the Eastern Townships on the south shore. That's the penalty we pay from not wanting to live in or near Montreal.

[walkonby]

kelly25 Oh I so understand that dilemma. it will only get worse as the all mighty dollar rules.
Remember though. your kids will only fret and feel hard done by if they see or sense it from you so if possible " fake smile " your way through the summer and do fun stuff at home with crafts, games, water play.

We were so very fortunate to have been heavily involved in our church when the 3 were small, and between Vacation Bible Camp ( don't laugh! they had so much fun for free! ) and the members that all volunteered to run carnival/fair type things during the week with races, challenges, prizes ( small inexpensive) scavenger hunts, all stuff kids love.
I know we both used 1 week of our vacation time each on a different week to be a volunteer then.

Just not sure about your own situation and DH involvement. Hope you do find something suitable and inexpensive for the whole family.

[<3 My $aving$ <3]

Awww That makes summer that much harder to enjoy DarthP

I'm 38 single MoM (18yr old son/10yr old Daughter ) on Disability & a Cancer Survivor 2x
to say my budget is limited in an understatement as I also Pay OOP for certain meds as well

I know things are different in La Belle Province
This is one of my fave sites to use to find fun things to do (outside of the box)

http://attractions.uptake.com/quebec...vacations.html

It even has links for Family activities and Budget activites too!!!
Good for Canada/USA/Int'l destinations as well

QUOTE=Darth Penguin;4814207]It certainly does depend where you live.

I'm 70-ish km from Montreal and there's very little to do here, nearly everything is clustered round Montreal , Trois Rivieres or Quebec or else the Eastern Townships on the south shore. That's the penalty we pay from not wanting to live in or near Montreal.[/QUOTE]

[hollyquaiscer]

Just consider a night at the movies for 4....unbelievable.
I have spent the last 2 days looking for inexpensive things to do with the family, we have a zoo close by ($80 for a summer membership 2 kids, 1 adult, ), the museum is $40 for a membership for the year (this is a great deal in my opinion, I think we have been 10 times this past year), we also live close to the worlds largest fresh water beach and buy a provincial park pass for $110 (approx.) this allows us day trips to many provincial parks from April to October (also not a bad deal, the park near us has animals and lots of parks do little eco shows for free). I also went to the tourism place and they gave me some ideas too!
I get very frustrated with paying to park, and not allowing people to bring food - many places sell food that is very unhealthy (not diabetic friendly) and way overcharge for drinks and water.
I think you could start a group of frustrated people tierd of paying too much for family fun.

I'm not sure how it is now, but when our kids were young, and we took them to places like Canada's wonderland, Niagra Falls, the Zoo and so on, I always packed a cooler of drinks, food for lunch and snacks. We weren't allowed to bring it into the park, but at lunch time, we would go out to the van, turn on the air, play some music and have our picnic. Then we would go back into the park and finish our day. It was very expensive then, I would always purchase the entertainment booklet as well, use those coupons and whatever else I could get my hands on.

If feel for all the young families today who want to give their kids more than they had, it's really hard. Just remember, no matter where you take them, give them love, attention and always expand their curiosty for nature and they will always remember.

[GeorgiaK]

Here in St-Lazare we are lucky in so much that there are a lot of low cost or free activities for kids and families. Since there are a lot of young families here, the town needs to cater to them. I think that the cost of these "well-known" activities are ridiculous. Talked to my dad about Granby Zoo and he said that, even back when we were little - in the 70s and 80s, it was very expensive. I asked him how he could afford this with 3 kids. He said that he would work overtime and sacrifice on a lot of things in order to have the money for us to go to Cape Cod, Granby Zoo, etc.

What I remember from my childhood was fishing with my dad, going to the beach and having fun with my parents. Don't remember fancy restaurants, label clothing, fancy toys. I think that sometimes, as parents, we bite the bullet and try to do at least one "bash, big bang" activity and then try to make memories.

[couponmummy]

Thank goodness my kids are older so we don't do family outings.

When kids were in elementary school, I bought family season's pass to La Ronde, Montreal's theme park. We went every Friday after school in May, June, September, and October when it wasn't busy. We stayed in the kiddie section and all of the rides you can stay for as long as you want because there were no line ups. Kids love the roller coaster and those airplane ones.

[Zonny]

Here in Atlantic Canada there's a water park called Magic Mountain, lots of water slides and such. If you're over 48 inches tall, you can go on any of the rides but you have to pay the price of an adult, no option to go on only the kid rides once you've hit 48 inches. My DS got to that size when he was four, and we've had to pay for him as an adult since then! He doesn't go on the really big scary slides, he's too scared because HE'S SIX, certainly wouldn't go on them when he was four. It's not his fault he's a giant! Adult admission is over $25 as I recall, so $75 for the three of us, plus the gas and car rental.

We went to Upper Clements Park here in NS this past week, mostly because a coworker was selling raffle tickets for his kids awhile back and I won two passes. We were on vacation this week, so we made a point of including that area. For the third person to get a bracelet, it was over $20, and only that cheap because we had an Air Miles card that gets us a discount. For the three of us to get something to eat (a hot dog, a burger and a grilled chicken sandwich and one drink for DS he wanted, DH and I had water) was over $20. I don't know how people with several kids do it. Fortunately DS and I didn't want to do the zipline, DH did, paid an additional $5 for the trip.

[MomOfOne79]

We are pretty fortunate to live within 20 mins of some great attractions in Vancouver. My ds just turned 5 and I realized that we have to start paying for him!!! What we have started to ask for for gifts (birthdays, Christmas , anniversary) is yearly memberships or money towards one, for our favourite attractions. This year we were fortunate to get a locals pass to Grouse Mtn & Capilano suspension bridge. When we go to the Aquarium next month we will renew our membership as it will cost a little more than paying for each of us. And most of these passes will give us disc'ts on other attractions. We also do a lot of geocaching which takes us to new parks/areas, which is a big adventure. And aslong as you have a gps or iPhone, it's free!!!

[couponmummy]

Back when we had our major league baseball team, the Expos, we used to go on Thursdays for their $1 hotdogs. Whenever there is a freebie on Sundays like bobble heads, we show up really early, get our freebie, then run down the stairs to the Expos dugout section and get autographs and picture taking with the players. I miss the Expos.

Lucky lucky Torontonians.

[SFARAZ]

I used airmiles for toronto zoo , marineland , ontario place , lion safari and wonderland but still you have to spent more for parking , food and then kids they want some stuff from their shops also

[FrugalNotCheap]

This is why today I made my husband pick up the half full coke bottle off the ground in the parking lot so we could take our daughter to Canada's Wonderland for free....well admission anyways. We still have to pay $10 for parking. I find that outrageous! If you buy your ticket at the door it's well over $50/person and yet they still feel the need to charge for parking?? Grrr.

We took her last month to the zoo on Coca-cola day so with a coke label she got in free but it was still $50 for us to get in plus $10 parking. I can understand the cost...it's a huge place with lots of animals to feed and take care of but holy moly. We go once every 10 years and they make me pay up the wazoo!

Well, hopefully with Coke on sale at Sobey's this week we will be that much closer to getting to Canada's Wonderland...only 10 bottles to drink! LOL

[cjunk]

Okay so I know I’m a bit of a penny saver by nature but today I’m checking out local sites for rates on zoos ect.. and holy monkey balls its way out of line. A rate to get in then a rate for the activity card and then a rate per person per ride! Have they lost their minds!? So one day out with the kids would cost 200-300$ Am I the only one disgusted by this!? Gah, completely ridiculous.

Not sure where you live, but I am in the Greater Toronto Area and here's what I do to save $ on Family Outings (hope it helps):

• The Toronto Public Library has a number of free passes you can sign out to museums and zoos if you have a library card. Here is a link for the info:
• http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/museum-arts-passes/
• If it is too busy to sign out the passes, you can get 10.00 off kids admission to the Toronto Zoo buy buying " President's Choice penguin crackers" at loblaws chains (like fish crackers but shaped like penguins) and cut off the UPC for the 10.00 discount. I buy adult passes using my Airmiles points if I go that route. If you know of someone who has a ROM pass, they can sign in friends on various sign in days (I am fortunate to go with my girlfriend and her son so I pack lunches for all of us).
• Some other libraries such as Caledon Library, you don't have to be a resident to get, and they have free admission passes to some provincial areas such as Albion Hills
• A 75.00/yr pass for some of the local conservation areas will get you months of fun at a large number of conservation parks. I purchase either the Hamilton and Halton Conservation family pass for access to areas such as Mountsberg Conservation which has a bird sanctuary, maple sugar fest, petting zoo, play barn, clinics for kids, hiking trails etc. and others such as Kelso for swimming and hiking.
• There are some awesome free park/splash pad areas in the GTA that are free. I've spent a whole day at some of the larger ones. For example Parks like Chinguacousy Park in Brampton have much to offer with play equipment, splash pads, mini putt (nominal cost), animal barn/petting zoo, snack bars skateboard/bike park etc.

• Keep your eye open for Opening Day Freebies. For example the Toronto Molson Indy has free admission on the Friday opening day courtesy of Honda (I think it's Honda). Other things like store re-openings, mall events and city organized events are often free of charge. Today for example our local Giant Tiger rennovated and re-opened and had hot dog&drink for 1.00 for both, face painting and balloons for kids, a tiger mascot, frisbees for the kids and tattoos. It was incredible and cost me a few dollars for all of it!

• For big parks like Wonderland, look for corporate discounts, airmiles or icoke points redemption, (collect lids of coke for points) etc. I also like Darien Lake stateside as you can get discount passes at Duty free and can even camp overnight there reasonably.

As for movies, I have a ton of strategies for cutting costs. Here are some:

• Summertime outdoor movie screenings by clubs like Rotary clubs in local parks

• Theatres like AMC have morning movies at extremely discounted rates

• promotions like M&M (collect 8 tabs, mail in and get 2 free movie passes). I like this promo, if you catch a good sale on M&M candies. My friends and family collect these for me sometimes too.

• icoke rewards redemption (I belong to a club that stocks their fridges with pop, so I raid the recycle bin for lids).

• cereal box offers for free or b1g1 entrances or snacks

• scene card free movie for every 1000 points collected and scene contests for free movie passes

• Go for free screenings...every now and again events like Teletoon have kids movie screenings where they feed you and your kids with movie snacks, with toy and movie and draws for more movie passes!

• Airmiles points redemption for famous players famous night out (i believe it's 200 points for a 2 ticket pass with popcorn and drinks)

• I personally like the drive-in with my parent's van as we load it up with all of the cousins (1 per seat belt of course) and bring a few of our own snacks along (not supposed to but we do anyway).

• Entertainment Books are a good purchase in late July as they typically discount them so you have from July to November to use up a bunch of great coupons for family outings (last year I got a book for 5.00 and used at least 100.00 worth of items).

• Attractions Ontario has excellent discount printable coupons for various attractions:

http://www.attractionsontario.ca/ind...=Chapter&ID=19

• Keep you eyes peeled for great vouchers. For example one of the companies like Groupon I think, had one for wonderland with passes and local hotel for the family at an amazing rate (was like the cost of tickets alone).

• Stores like Bass Pro Shop in Vaughan or Michaels Crafts often have kid clinics with free craft activities (Lowes, Rona and Home Depot often do as well) where they spend a fair amount of time and come away with something decent. For stores like Lowes you have to register in advance but they are free. Lowe's clinics are my kids favorite. Toys R Us and Lego stores sometimes have a free lego clinic where they get to put together a little kit and take it home with them.

• For any and every event I can, I come with a large snack bag/lunch or thermos meals like hot dogs in hot water with buns etc. and for example for wonderland I get my hand stamped have lunch at the car and then go back inside.

There are many more tips I can suggest, but not sure if people want to hear them!!!

Cjunk