Cost of having a large family - Odeon cinema prices
I have a big family. Four kids, to be precise. Plus two step-kids. I’ve had this post part-written as a draft for two years and haven’t published it as until now it has felt too whingy. This is about Odeon cinema prices, but it could apply to many different places.
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Growing up as an only child, I always wished that I had a brother or sister, but it was never meant to be. So when I met the now ex-wife, who herself was also an only child, and we settled down, a large family was never out of the question.
My eldest is now 15, and the youngest is 9. Although they generally get on quite well, there are always arguments and fighting between them all, all of which is completely alien to me as someone without siblings.
As a man who enjoys watching the occasional boxing match, but who has always been quicker with his mouth (and feet, on occasions) than I am with my fists, the violent outbursts between the kids sometimes surprise me.
This blog post is not about children with fire in their eyes (though I hereby declare that as an idea I’m submitting to Channel 5, so no stealing!), but rather the sheer cost of doing something as a family.
If you’re wondering what the connection between the two is, all I can offer is that the kids fight less when they have something to occupy them!
A while back, the kids wanted to go and see Despicable Me 2 at the cinema. The eldest daughter was out with her friends which left just the remaining three who wanted to go.
I’m not a big fan of going to the cinema with kids if I’m honest, but I said that I’d look into it and immediately searched for Odeon ticket prices.
Our local Odeon offered a “Family Ticket” which is for one adult and three kids (or two adults and two kids) for £27.80.
However, being an experienced father, I know that there is no way at all that the 15-year-old would want to miss out on this, and so I would need to get a ticket for her too - An additional £7.95.
The difference between standard seating and premier seating at our local Odeon.
This makes the total entry price a whopping £35 for the five of us, for an experience that lasts a couple of hours at most. (Though I should note that this is £9 CHEAPER than when I wrote this draft a couple of years back)
The price goes up if you choose to splash out for Odeon Premier seating - an extra £8.50 in the case highlighted above.
That’s without buying any sweets, food or drinks that the four of them would be pleading for on the way in (and from memory a small bottle of water is another couple of quid or so).
Compared to the cost of buying a DVD and some sweets, it’s a phenomenal price to pay, and needless to say, we didn’t end up going.
To their credit, at least, Odeon offer a decent “Family” deal in terms of the number of people they include in the deal.
As a single parent, I’ve lost count of the number of times a restaurant has advertised a “Kids eat free” meal only for the small print to declare that one child eats free per full paying adult.
Although I appreciate that no restaurant goes into business to lose money, I’d like to see better deals for single parents or big families.
It’s an unfortunate truth that kids in large families miss out on certain things just because of the sheer cost involved.
Upgrading six of us to sit in Odeon Premier seating is a definite no-no because the cost of the basic tickets is so huge.
At least, it is in the case of my family.
by DannyUK
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Photo credits: Header and seating photos taken from the official Odeon website.
Image taken from http://www.odeon.co.uk/premier-seating/, with thanks
Yup, I feel your pain. Now that my kids have all grown up and flown the nest I can look back ruefully on the cost of doing anything as a family. Holidays are a prime example, especially ‘going abroad’ as we quaintly termed it. I recall taking a trip to Florida around 2001 with three hulking teenagers, we went to Disneyland for ten days. An arm and a leg, it cost…..including a couple of trips to the Mall in the evening to take in a movie.
Here’s a bit of sage advice for prospective parents………it’s expensive. Bloody expensive.
Twitter: TheRealSupermum
on February 23, 2016 at 5:03 pm
Think of me with 6 kids lol we need a bank loan every time we go out as a family lol
Twitter: nefamilyfun
on February 23, 2016 at 6:39 pm
We priced going to see Goosebumps at our local cinema (Vue) on Saturday and it was £50 for 2 adults and 2 kids in standard seating! It’s a joke. We only really go to the cinema now if it’s a kids club film (so £1.99 each) or it’s a special occasion.
So true. From experience I can tell you going out with a large family can be very expensive. By a large family, I mean any one with more than two kids. The best deal you can ever get in terms of family is is 2 adults and 2 kids or 1 adult and 3 kids.
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Twitter: and1moremakes3_
on February 23, 2016 at 9:28 pm
This is so true, what started out as a monthly treat for us and the kids has become a twice yearly begrudging trip. And that is just with three kids.
We have to really want to see a movie to pay out all that money, otherwise we just wait for it to come out on video!
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Twitter: sarahnblogger
on February 23, 2016 at 9:54 pm
I feel your pain, even with just the 4 of us a trip to the cinema is costly. We try to make use of any offers we can find our idiom has something like kid saturdays/Sundays where they put a select film on and it costs between £1-£2.50 for tickets 🙂 . Use to love orange Wednesdays too. I don’t get how they get away with charging so much x
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Twitter: joannabayford
on February 24, 2016 at 8:55 am
I feel your pain cinema tickets are really expensive we don’t go that often anyway but know that as Blake gets older he will want to go.
Twitter: anadultieradult
on February 24, 2016 at 10:47 am
We have stopped going to the cinema due to the sheer expense of it. It’s just ridiculous and we’re a small family! Large families have no chance.
The prices seem to have come down a little in the past couple of years, but it’s still high. I’m glad to see that cinemas are slowly introducing lower-priced weekend morning tickets for kids too.
DannyUK recently posted…My Sunday Photo – 2 adults, 6 kids at Knowsley Safari Park
Twitter: monsoonbreeze1
on February 24, 2016 at 11:48 am
I too grew up as an only child and had always wanted to have siblings which didnt happen. And I used to dream of having a house full of kids for myself..
Now having added the first one, i know hoe hard it is..so when the new additions come in, I wonder how things are going to be!!!
Haha..after reading this..OH my god…do I really need a home full of kids!!
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A home full of kids is fantastic… You quickly learn about the free things in life like trips to the park lol
DannyUK recently posted…My Sunday Photo – 2 adults, 6 kids at Knowsley Safari Park
Twitter: RockinRandomMom
on February 24, 2016 at 12:56 pm
Going to the movies here in the States is expensive too. Luckily, I only have two kids, one whose 14 and one who is 9 and thankfully when it comes to movies, they are pretty much still into the same things, sometimes, lol! It costs me about $40 between tickets for the three of us and food and there are no family discounts. The only discounts the movie theaters give here are senior citizen discounts and student discounts (for college students who have to show their college ID in order to get the discount). Sometimes they offer Military discounts for our service members but that’s only on like, a Monday morning when most military members are working. Yep! That’s the American way. I’m the oldest of 4 so I’m all too familiar with sibling fights. The stories I could tell, lol. Fist fights, throwing things, yeah it can get brutal.
Twitter: Chelseamamma
on February 24, 2016 at 2:15 pm
It is frustrating not being able to afford to take them to the cinema. We have Kids Passes now which give you 40% off, or we go to the kids club on a weekend
Twitter: littlepicklemom
on February 24, 2016 at 2:25 pm
YES! I’m one of four kids, and I always felt like we missed out on family outings because the cost of all of us going was just too high. We very rarely went out for meals or did trips out – we’d mostly be found going on free outings, with a bag of soggy cheese sandwiches and a multipack of crisps from Aldi. I’m not saying there’s not merit in things that are free, but surely there must be better deals out there for larger families, especially to encourage cultural outings. We did a lot of ‘at-home’ version of trips out. McDonalds at home involved me and my brothers making our own paper containers for home cooked chicken nuggets and chips. Cinema at home involved putting cushions on the floor to sit on in the lounge and some Butterkist popcorn.
Twitter: MumSomeone
on February 24, 2016 at 5:09 pm
Eek. Mine are 1 and 3 and so get into lots of places free at the moment. I can see this being a big issue for us in the future though. And it is really unfair that places don’t help out single parents and larger families.
Twitter: helpfulmum
on February 24, 2016 at 6:21 pm
If we take a trip to the local Odeon (20 miles away) it is so expensive. Our local cinema is 9 miles away and a lovely independent cinema. It’s under £15 for a family of 4 there. Yes, there might only be one screen and one showing a day of a film, but it’s far more affordable!
Twitter: daysinbed
on February 24, 2016 at 7:28 pm
This is a lot! I am really quote surprised at just how expensive the movies is. Usually due to me being unwell, my daughter goes just with her dad so its not too bad but then they will have a meal out too and treats and when i’m expecting a small cost it ends up huge so its one thing they hardly ever do! There are options though for kids to go for £1 at some cinemas on a saturday morning but then thats for cartoons and not for older kids and you dont get to choose what you watch!
Twitter: pagan500
on February 24, 2016 at 7:36 pm
I agree with this, having a large step family days out always work out really expensive.
Twitter: leanmeanmomma
on February 24, 2016 at 8:49 pm
We went last Thursday for the first time in ages! It pained me to pay ridiculous prices for ice-cream and popcorn. And I only had 2 of my 4 kids with me. I’ll be remortgaging for a cinema trip then! So safe to say it’s pretty much the same situation here in Ireland.
Definitely easier to have a movie night indoors, isn’t it!
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Twitter: travellovinfam
on February 24, 2016 at 9:44 pm
I took my son to Cineworld over the half term holidays and it only cost 1.50 each! I thought this was excellent value for money. I would look at other cinemas local to you, you may find similar deals
Twitter: babychaos11
on February 25, 2016 at 8:41 am
I find the cinema expensive full stop – and when you add the cost of sweets and drinks in it really is an expensive ‘day out’ When my husband’s two boys come over to stay we are five – and it’s a bit awkward then as everything seems so geared towards 2 adults and 2 children which doesn’t fit everyone – there should be more flexible deals out there
Twitter: emmaand3
on February 25, 2016 at 1:40 pm
Agree everything costs more – kids being charged as adults by holiday comapnies is my current annoyance. We need two hotel rooms as it is but when they count us as four adults and one kid they are taking the mick!
Twitter: idaintyit
on February 25, 2016 at 4:03 pm
I totally feel you on this post, we only have one child and haven’t yet taken him to the cinema as he is only 3 but plan on taking him for the first time in the next few weeks. As a couple we used to enjoy going to the cinema so we thought about getting a babysitter and going on a date night only the cost now like you said is crazy! I know its a lot cheaper for just us to go but even then it costs a crazy amount! Its the same with everything these days, we can hardly ever afford a family day out
The cinema can be a huge expense for a big family, or even a small one. We go to our local cinema on a Saturday morning when it’s £10 for a family. We can get away with this while they are young, but it will change when they get older I suspect
Twitter: usthreebythesea
on February 29, 2016 at 6:35 am
Going to the cinema used to be a regular thing when I was little but now a days its very rare we go. When you add in the treats even for a family of 3 its an expensive 2 hours
Twitter: thestagemommy
on August 10, 2016 at 3:34 pm
My question: are 2 parents and one child not considered a family unit by Odeon as the Family option is only 2 parentsand 2 children or 1 parent and 3 children. This is why my 7 year old always says “mommy we can’t have that coz there’s only me. You need another child for us to avail of that.” In th end, we always get the family of 2 parents 2 children and my daughter ends up with 2 boxes of popcorn, 2 drinks, 2 packets of sweets and 2 seats! LOL
Yeah. Odeon’s approach to pricing is wrong. I can kind of understand where they are coming from in terms of them wanting to offer bulk discounts, but it falls so short on so many levels. I grew up in a single parent family – just me and my mum – and Odeon’s description of “family” doesn’t fit that either. I like your idea though – double up the sweets!
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