tips for our first family holiday

savingmummy

We are stupidly excited as we are going away for a week to bognor regis butlins. We have never been away anywhere (been together 12yrs) and now we have children we thought we wouid make a start.
SO i booked to go to Butlins lol! (better the nothing and cheapest place i found at the time) despite hearing bad things.
Now i got it with 50% off with a gold apartment BUT we are going self catering due to fussy children and also me who is ocd about foods not cooked by myself.

Any tips for self catering? what will we need regarding pots etc (will the apartment have essentials?).
Obviously i will be taking food with us and buy from Tesco etc instead of onsite shops. I have started saving £1 coins for the kiddies rides as i`ve heard about them.....any thing else?

Thank you in advance off to cook Sunday dinner

BLUis

You shouldnt need any pots/pans etc, but what i would suggest is to take your own frying pan if you use one. The ones in these kinds of places, butlins, havens, caravans etc, arent the best quality, so if you want to fry an egg without it sticking, thats the only thing i would take.

how old are the children? can you get them to save some of their pocket moneyfor their rides? that way they can budget for themselves and when their money has gone, its gone. if this isnt possible because they are too young, have a jar each for them and put the same in each jar. that way, no arguments! thats what i do with mine when we go away.

never use the onsite shops, they are always really really expensive!

Barneysmom

Yes, always take your own frying pan and your own veg peeling knife, the knives in holiday homes are usually too blunt to cut butter Have a great time!

chris_n_tj

The best bit of advice i would give is take your slow cooker, ( if you havnt got one plenty of offers around at min) Also the frying pans in these places are not up to much so take your own. Your own trusteed kitchen knife is a must as well. Dont forget the basics ie salt pepper and vineger, its surprising how many forget the little things.
Enjoy your first family holiday, I rememebr ours so well.
Chris n TJ
PS how old are the children?

savingmummy

Thank you ever so much all!
My son will be just 2, and my daughter will be 4 while we are there. Fab idea about jar each - they are not ones to want all the time and luckily they don`t moan when we say no BUT i would like them to enjoy their 1st break away!

My dd is going to be attending a skyline party as a birthday treat which we paid in with the holiday (£10). Thank you for your help!!x

BLUis

Your lucky they dont moan! My son is a little bu66er!! They wont want a lot of the rides that are there then.

Hope you have a lovely holiday together!!

:j

McKneff

You'll have a greattime, Many years ago we took our two littleones to a Butlins holiday camp and we had the best time. Just watching them was a treat for us.

Gotta say the other posters are spot on with frying pan/knife and shopping.

Have a good time.

torikate

Cant offer much advise RE the accomodation etc, but Butlins is very local to the centre of Bognor Regis. The 700 bus but goes from outside the site and right into town (cant remember exactly how long it takes.) They have lots of shops there if u feel u want a change from being on-site. We usually go only for day trips due to being local(ish!) and take around £60 between the two of us, this pays for our meals for the day, entry (which u obviously wont need) and games - my OH is a sucker for the slot machines :eek: If you go swimming dont forget money for the lockers.
HTH & have fun!!
Tori xXx

Spendless

Never been to Butlins but things I have been caught out with on SC holidays are,
having to buy tin openers cos the one supplied is rubbish and/or needs a masters in Engineering to use.

forgetting swimming nappies and goggles.

I find it helpful to meal plan for all the meals whilst you're away so you're either not running out or are dragging food back home with you.

emzy2k5

I have also booked a holiday to butlins for me and a friend in february. But the minehead one. having visited many times when i was younger, i decided it would be a nice little escape for us both, at only £100 each for the monday- friday with both breakfast and evening meals included!

Advice would be to save as much as possible before you go! Everything on site seems to be really expensive!

SOmething my parents used to do is on the first night, buy us one of the big pepsi containers for drinks, then from then on, refil them in our chalet! (this ma sound tight but it was about £3 per refil, so £6 for me and my bro, would save about £5 a day by doing this!)

Also, im sure the rides were free? you would have a entertainment pass which could then be used as many times as you liked. altohugh, somethings were excluded from this such as the go karts.

There should be a local supermarket near by where you can go for your groceries, you will save loads by doing this rather than buying on the site!

The accomodation should be nice and spaciopus, when we have been there self catering, it always has been. But as people have commented, take your own frying pan!!!

If you do forget anything, they sell all kinds of food and drink on site, although its overpriced, its there if need be!

If you are on quite a tight budget as for things to do (they do tend to charge for everything on site!) i suggest swimming every day! I know we used to do this, and really enjoyed it! There are plenty of lifeguards (one had to jump in and save me and my nan, i was drowning her! ) so you do feel safe, espeically as you have young children. there are plenty of childrens parts to the pool!

one last thing,if you both wanted a break, i know the minehead butlins offers a chreche , so am sure the one you are gonig to will. I remember them ebing great with me and my brother, your children would be safe and have a fab time!!!!!

savingmummy

:beer:Thank you!!!

It is so nice to get some feedback:D
I know my children are very young but i`m 99% sure they are going to have a fab time especially it being their birthdays while we are away there. Great to know your children enjoyed it!!
We will be doing our basic shopping in town and will deinately be planning meals so we don`t feel as if we are at home
Also will pack essentials from our own cupboards.

I recently read on reviews that there are a lot of small kiddie rides around the site which are not free and are owned by another company at £1 a go, then there is the photos with butlins characters at £3.50 - not sure my 2 will want this but will save my coins just incase!!

Thank you again all xxx