My family ticket hack saves hundreds – some say it’s a cheat but it’s not

I’M a mum-of-three, and I’ve saved hundreds over the years when buying tickets for attractions on holiday.

I’m sure lots of people think about clubbing together with friends to buy a family ticket as they are generally better value.

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Perhaps it’s the worry about getting caught out that stops people doing it, but in my experience, it’s all above board and I’ve never had anyone working at the attractions question me about it. After all, families come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

I’ve just got back from a day trip to the Harry Potter studios near London and my friend and I shared a family ticket and both took one of our children, saving more than £20.

Two adult and two child tickets cost £183.50 when bought individually as adults are £51.50 each and children £40 – but a family ticket covering the same people is £160.

Sharing a family ticket is a trick I’ve used many times in the past, when visiting attractions both big and small.

And it’s not just day tickets that it works for – I’ve even held an annual pass for a local farm with another friend before, which saved us up to £45 each as we split the costs.

A family pass covering two adults and three children was £75, so I had one adult space and two child spaces, while she filled the others with her and her son.

One downside to teaming up with friends is that generally family passes cover two adults, so if you have a partner who always comes on days out, it might not work for you.

But if you’re single or often take your children out by yourself, it can be a massive money-saver, as well as giving you some adult company while the kids enjoy playing together.

It needs to be someone you get on well with so you can agree how to split the costs.

For me, I like to look at the individual adult and child prices and work out roughly what the saving per ticket is so that the split is fair, especially if one family is benefiting more than the other.

Before approaching a friend with the idea of sharing, you need to be fairly sure that they’ll be on the same page as you about buying a ticket together in the first place.

Some people just prefer to do their own thing, which is fair enough.

The most important thing is to check the terms and conditions before buying and make sure you don’t have to live in the same household as then there might be awkward questions if you get a family ticket when you don’t live together.

Mostly though, family tickets cover lots of different social set-ups so adult siblings or grandparents could be your second adult, just as much as a family friend could.

I’ve done this for steam trains, soft plays and even the cinema before.

The best places are those that offer family tickets for two adults and three or four children as those are the easiest to team up for.

But I’ve made it work in other combinations too. You just need to look through all the ticket prices and work out the best value when you take your whole party into account.

It just goes to show that it’s best to look at all the different options available rather than just buying individual tickets.

All the savings soon add up and it means you can get your children a treat or two while you’re out and about, with the money you’ve saved being savvy about sharing.

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