Thursday, April 28, 2011

The cost of fun.

Yes this post is once again about financial stuff but thats pretty much in the forefront of my mind all the time lol.

Hence of the reasons I haven't posted in so long is I couldnt pay the Telkom account lol *sigh*

You know when the girls go to J they have a ball of a time. He can afford to take the girls to Gold Reef City and to movies and for take outs.
Me? I just can't. What I would pay on one day out like that would feed us for a week. So Dad is always the "Cool Dad".


So I try keep us busy at home - I hire the girls a DVD, we bake, we do beading, we take the dogs for a walk. We go to "free" places like Emmarentia and feed the ducks but that becomes "boring" for them rather quickly. Sometimes I also want to be the "Cool Mom" you know? The Mom that takes them to interesting places and shows them new things.

With the long weekend we have just had I was glad that J had the girls for at least 2 days - I was searching for places to take them that wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg, and seriously - I don't know how places that would make for a fun family day out can justify the entrance fees they charge. Unless its because I don't have that much to spend that is seems excessive? I know there are running costs etc - but they just seem beyond the reach of the normal family - like they are geared for the tourist?

Just as an example:
Lion and Rhino Reserve - R460 for a family of four
Lion Park - R390 for a family of four
Johannesburg Zoo - R160 for a family of four
Pretoria Zoo - R180 for a family of four
Gold Reef City - R500 for a family of four Movies - R196 for four tickets.
Monkey Sanctuary Harties - R580 for a family of four

I can't see how (with exception of the zoo) that any of those days out could cost under R1000 as you would still need to pay for breakfast/lunch and other little things throughout the day that the kids ask for lol.


Lol my girls and I are just going to have to be creative as far as entertainment goes for a little while longer :)

4 comments:

Fiona's photo a day said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fiona's photo a day said...

Have you been to Delta Park yet Tanya? It has an amazing play area sponsored by Simba chips and it's for free :)
Or you could take a drive out to Teak Place with the kids bicycles and you guys could order drinks and starters...that should cost under R200 (I blogged about it...there is lots to do out there for the kids, they will love it)

A Daft Scots Lass said...

Movies on wednesday are less than 1/2 price.

Laura said...

Been there :) They learn to adjust!

I would often take mine to Spur and order a meal to share between them and I would have wine :-p

In the long run it makes your life easier because they learn to entertain themselves without you having to keep doing stuff!