Planning for the summer holidays – on a budget
With the summer holidays just around the corner, it can be quite a concerning time for parents. How to entertain the children without maxing out on budget, childcare and all the back-to-school costs.
Summer holiday days don’t need to always be big, expensive days out.There’s lots you can do with the kids that doesn’t cost the earth. Here are our top tips:
1. Picnic and play in the park
Get a group of friends together and pick a local park to head to for the afternoon. We’re lucky to have so many brilliant parks and playgrounds locally such as Reigate Priory Park or Crawley Tilgate Park. So take a picnic, pack a ball and head for a chilled afternoon relaxing in the sun with friends, whilst the children play.
2. Head to the library
Local libraries often have lots of free or low-cost activities for the kids over the holidays. From reading challenges to craft activities. In Surrey, visit www.surreycc.gov.uk/libraries/news-and-events/digital-activities or West Sussex, visit www.westsussex.gov.uk/ libraries/whats-on-in-libraries/ to find out what’s on.
3. Check out council led kids activities
In Reigate and Banstead and West Sussex, there are a number of summer activities for children that are a good value way to provide a few hours of entertainment. Take a look at these links to see what’s planned over the summer and keep checking back as we get closer:
Reigate and Banstead playwaze.com/search/CustomFinder/ ReigateActivityFinder
West Sussex - www.westsussex.gov.uk/news/
4. Holiday clubs
If your child is eligible for benefit related free school meals, you should automatically receive an e-voucher to join Club4 holiday camps across Surrey. The camps vary slightly by location but all of them offer at least one healthy meal a day and have plenty of fun activities for the children. Find out more here - www.activesurrey.com/community/club4/parents
5. Chilled days at home
It’s easy to get into the mindset that you’ve got to be filling time, getting the kids out and doing lots of things but it’s also important to remember that the summer holiday provides children with much needed downtime after a busy year of school.
We’ll be sharing details on our social media of local events for the kids over the summer holidays, so make sure you’re following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Plan in time for movie afternoons, playing at home and arts and crafts. You can pick up cheap craft materials from the supermarket or pound shop and websites like Stripey Stork and Activity Village have free printable sheets.
If you don’t have a printer at home, Surrey libraries charge 25p per side for black and white printing (A4 or A3) and 50p per side for colour (A4 or A3).
Struggling with back-to-school costs?
Heading back to school can be another costly time with school uniforms to buy as the children grow. Second hand uniform sales at school and social media reselling sites often have some brilliant, low-cost uniform you can pick up but if that’s not the case then our customer support fund might be able to help you. Stripey Stork can also help with school uniform, find out more - www.stripeystork.org.uk/support-for-families
Get in touch with our Moneywise team through your MyRaven online account or by emailing raven@ravenht.org.uk. They’ll be able to let you know if you can apply to our fund or if there are other places open to you for help with school uniform costs.