How much do you spend on your children's hobbies?

MatthewAnthony

MSE_Molly said:

The kids are nicely settled back at school... And then the dreaded forms arrive.

"Ballet, football, cricket, hockey, swimming, drama - sign up to us all!", they read.

But does it have to be pricey?

We want to know what activities your children get involved in, and how much they cost?

Are there any hobbies you say no to, because they're just too much money? Or find the cost goes up annually?

Or have you been lucky in finding a reasonably priced activity?

Do you know of any MoneySaving ways to pay for your children's hobbies?

Maybe the same activity cost much less in another part of town? Are newbies given a percentage off?

Leave your thoughts below - we're interested to know if you have any hobby hacks up your sleeves!

- MSE Molly

[purplesignup][/purplesignup]

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hi my name is MatthewAnthony and i'm a father of two sons and one daughter and they love watching movies and besides it both of my sons would love to collect different type of skull like cow, camel, buffalo, ram skulls etc because they though its better to get skulls instead of a whole animal    and also they're madeup of real animal bones and its really sounds good to me because we can also use it for decorating our houses and for different staff and daughter shes soo innocent all she wants is books like novel books, detective books   etc

jackomdj

My girls have been through rainbows/brownies/guides/rangers, have decided not to continue after lockdown.
they have played netball and done ballet.  Both did swimming to a reasonable level and our eldest did rookie lifeguarding.
currently (once it opens post lockdown) they are both having tennis lessons and eldest is going to do the adult lifeguarding course (she is 16), eldest also does DofE which youngest will do too.

AnotherJoe

annabanana82 said:

My Husband and I volunteer with the local scout group, this has meant that we are exempt from monthly subs saving £36 per month, we pay for all their trips.
Further benefit is the transferable skills to the work place and getting to join in with all the fun thst they are having. Abseiling, climbing, archery, scuba diving, sailing are some of the activities we've been able to do would recommend it 110%

Daughter used to have riding lessons, thankfully stopped before she got any good for it to be very expensive but there was the option for them to work and learn in the stables to earn their riding lessons.

Yeh we tried archery in my office but it didnt work out too well

strawb_shortcake

AnotherJoe said:

annabanana82 said:

My Husband and I volunteer with the local scout group, this has meant that we are exempt from monthly subs saving £36 per month, we pay for all their trips.
Further benefit is the transferable skills to the work place and getting to join in with all the fun thst they are having. Abseiling, climbing, archery, scuba diving, sailing are some of the activities we've been able to do would recommend it 110%

Daughter used to have riding lessons, thankfully stopped before she got any good for it to be very expensive but there was the option for them to work and learn in the stables to earn their riding lessons.

Yeh we tried archery in my office but it didnt work out too well

:-D 

fred246

I remember our kids were doing loads of activities and I decided to make a spreadsheet to make sense of it all. The end result was a massive appreciation of scouting. That was by far the best in terms of benefits per £ spent. We stopped some music lessons. They were paying £30 for half an hour with 10 in the class. Rubbish.

essex123456

works out at £102 a month for two children, covering violin, hockey, netball for one and football for the other - i can see that going up next year when the younger one will probably need to start swimming lessons which are quite pricey here 

Savvy_Sue

fred246 said:

I remember our kids were doing loads of activities and I decided to make a spreadsheet to make sense of it all. The end result was a massive appreciation of scouting. That was by far the best in terms of benefits per £ spent. We stopped some music lessons. They were paying £30 for half an hour with 10 in the class. Rubbish.

I remember looking at the 'timetable' on a sibling's fridge for all the things their children were doing. At least two different activities per night spread over 3 children. I felt tired just looking at it ... 

Actually it was time as much as money which reduced the number of activities ours did, plus only having one car for most of the time which DH usually drove to work, coming home late. 

But having said that, they didn't ask to do much. DS1 tried drama but didn't want to perform, he also did Sea Cadets for a while but something happened to him and / or his friend at some point and neither of them would go again. DS2 was happiest with his nose stuck in a book but did Beavers / Cubs / Scouts, also a little bit of football and a very (mercifully) short time of violin lessons. DS3 did Beavers and Cubs but gave up at Scouts, also did violin for a little longer, his ongoing love was cricket and I can't tell you how much I preferred that to football!