If you are looking for something different to do with your kids this summer the PanAm games is a good bet. Some of the more alternative sports have tickets going for as little as $15 - including the cost of public transit that's an unbeatable deal for anyone close enough take a trip into Toronto for the day. (We frequently will drive as far as the closest GO station and transit in the the city core to save the trouble to downtown driving and the cost of parking. If you don't live on a GO route the train and subways are trip in themselves for the little ones.)
We've had our tickets for months to our kids' favorite sports - there truly is something for everyone! But today I got a notice from PanAm about their Celebration Zone which is running free activities for the duration of the games and they actually look pretty good! Since there is no ticket public transit is not included but they do advertise onsite parking. They have nightly concerts (Down With Webster sound promising to me but there is a variety of tastes catered). Did I mention they all of the concerts were free?
While I haven't yet been and I can't vouch for it there seems to be an wide range of activities especially for the older kids - including a zipline and rock climbing (also free...)
Thursday, 9 July 2015
Wednesday, 8 July 2015
Museum memberships can be cheaper than day passes
Most families don't realize that if you live more than 100 km from an attraction, like a museum or
science centre, the membership rate is much cheaper. I have found (especially if you have a bigger family) that the cost of a distance membership rate can be cheaper than the cost of a single visit. Additionally most of these establishments have reciprocal agreements with like places.
A few of my personal favorites are:
Canadian Science and Technology Museum.
You can get a Associate Family membership for $70 for a year - keep in mind day admission for a family of five is $50. This also gives you admission to the Agriculture Museum and the Aviation and Space Museum, both in Ottawa. But, as an added bonus it also gets you admission into hundreds of other science centres - including the Toronto Science Centre as long as you are more than 100 km from it as well. At the time of this post the Science and Technology Museum was actually closed for repairs however you can still order a membership and take advantage of all of there other nifty perks of being a member. http://techno-science.ca/en/join-support/members.php
Royal Ontario Museum.
A non-resident pass at the ROM in Toronto is only $102 ($183 for two years). A single trip for a family of five is $76 - if you don't go to the special exhibits (which ROM members get for free). Admission for a family of five to the museum and special exhibit (changes regularly) is $116. The ROM reciprocal agreement does not include any other Ontario museum and the next closest is Montreal, however they do have special exchange days where ROM members are invited to visit other local museums for free that day. As members we visited three other local museums with our ROM membership, including the McMicheal (who incidentally have a special family of five rate of $36 if you are interested but the ROM isn't your thing). The other thing about the ROM membership is they send you a monthly magazine with information about exhibits and dinosaurs and other really cool things you didn't know you didn't know. They will also send you email messages about special days at the ROM, which are almost always worth the price of admission alone. We have made chocolate, met live animals, and attending music festivals there, all with our membership. The play areas are especially great for littler ones making the ROM a great visit for kids of almost any age.
Bonus tip: Most family museum and science centre membership are actually admission for two named adults of the same household and up to four unnamed children. If you have two kids that means you can grab a couple of extra kids and hit the museum with your membership!
A few of my personal favorites are:
Canadian Science and Technology Museum.
You can get a Associate Family membership for $70 for a year - keep in mind day admission for a family of five is $50. This also gives you admission to the Agriculture Museum and the Aviation and Space Museum, both in Ottawa. But, as an added bonus it also gets you admission into hundreds of other science centres - including the Toronto Science Centre as long as you are more than 100 km from it as well. At the time of this post the Science and Technology Museum was actually closed for repairs however you can still order a membership and take advantage of all of there other nifty perks of being a member. http://techno-science.ca/en/join-support/members.php
A non-resident pass at the ROM in Toronto is only $102 ($183 for two years). A single trip for a family of five is $76 - if you don't go to the special exhibits (which ROM members get for free). Admission for a family of five to the museum and special exhibit (changes regularly) is $116. The ROM reciprocal agreement does not include any other Ontario museum and the next closest is Montreal, however they do have special exchange days where ROM members are invited to visit other local museums for free that day. As members we visited three other local museums with our ROM membership, including the McMicheal (who incidentally have a special family of five rate of $36 if you are interested but the ROM isn't your thing). The other thing about the ROM membership is they send you a monthly magazine with information about exhibits and dinosaurs and other really cool things you didn't know you didn't know. They will also send you email messages about special days at the ROM, which are almost always worth the price of admission alone. We have made chocolate, met live animals, and attending music festivals there, all with our membership. The play areas are especially great for littler ones making the ROM a great visit for kids of almost any age.
Bonus tip: Most family museum and science centre membership are actually admission for two named adults of the same household and up to four unnamed children. If you have two kids that means you can grab a couple of extra kids and hit the museum with your membership!
Tuesday, 7 July 2015
Welcome
As a very busy parent of a small pack of children, I like to keep busy. Over my many years parenting I have navigated the ins and outs of keeping the kiddies busy on a budget. I find there are so many programs and deals out there that people don't know about that I would start sharing them!
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