Make sure you don't ‘break the bank' this bank holiday

The standard British family spends on average a staggering £5,000 every year entertaining their children, according to new research from The Co-operative Bank Savings.

Kids across the UK will be treated to approximately 72 outings this year alone - including local attractions, the cinema, swimming, fast food restaurants and holidays.

And when the ‘little darlings' aren't being ferried from one source of distraction to another, parents are splashing out hundreds of pounds on the latest books, games, toys and DVDs.

Six in 10 couples admitted that they ended up forking out the most money keeping their children entertained over bank holiday weekends than any other time of year.

One in two of the 3,500 UK families surveyed on behalf of The Co-operative Bank Savings confessed that they were financially unprepared for the extravagance of keeping their kids occupied during the school breaks.

Costs of ‘entertaining the kids' per year

1. Annual holiday x 2 (£2,190)
2. 12 local attractions (£425)
3. 24 swimming trips (£307)
4. 24 trips to fast food outlets (£275)
5. 12 cinema trips (£257)
6. Toys (£255)
7. Sports Clubs (£252)
8. DVDs (£240)
9. Books (£200)
10. Computer games (£195)

A further £232 is spent by parents on bi-annual visits to special tourist attractions such as theme parks, water parks or amusement centres.

According to The Co-operative Bank Savings research the average British family spends at least £37 more each week during the summer holidays - but only 39 per cent of UK parents put savings provisions aside to cover the cost of these six weeks.

Despite half of parents admitting to dreading the financial burden that school breaks bring, primarily due to their lack of dedicated savings, encouragingly when it comes to saving for their children's future the majority of families are much more prepared.

Parents in Northern Ireland are the most financially prepared for their children's future with almost three quarters (74%) putting away an average of £35 per month. Adults in Wales are the least likely (52%) to be saving for their children's futures on a regular basis.

Scott McPhail, Savings Manager at The Co-operative Bank said: "These findings clearly demonstrate that many parents can vastly underestimate the cost of keeping their children entertained during school breaks over the course of a year.

"At The Co-operative Bank we would like to stress to families that it is never too late to start putting some savings provisions in place to ensure that the cost of ‘keeping the kids happy' during school holidays doesn't result in unhappy and out-of-pocket parents, in addition to continuing to save for their children's futures."