Thrifty Tips and Trips Mum

06/10/2025

Jurassic World: The Experience, London. My honest review!!!

We booked this for our son’s fifth birthday ‘day out’ because he’s honestly just been dinosaur obsessed since he was about 18 months old 🦕

That obsession is just starting to slowly fade now (we can feel the shift ever so slightly 😅) so we wanted to make the most of it, probably the last year he’d truly be blown away by something like this!!

The pros? The set up is really clever: you “board a ferry” to Jurassic Park, walk through labs, touch dinosaur poo (of course 😂) and come face to face with incredible animatronics, the best we’ve ever seen (and we’ve seen a lot)!!!

The ending, with the giant T-Rex, is genuinely impressive (and maybe a bit scary for younger ones, so just bear that in mind).

The cons? It’s advertised as a 90 minute experience, but honestly? You could get through it in 15–20 if you weren’t being held in groups (they long out the time in each room to give the illusion of value for money). And it does get crowded in some of the smaller rooms especially. For the price, especially if you’ve got more than one child, it’s definitely on the expensive side, particularly if you factor in food and travel for the day!

Still…we absolutely made a full London day of it and knew it would be costly but our son would love it! We tied in brunch with my brother and his girlfriend as they live there, so that worked out well…and we came home with one happy, albeit tired little boy 💙

💬 My rating: 6.5–7/10

Would I recommend it? Yes, if you’ve got a dinosaur mad child and you’re treating them to a birthday or Christmas day out! But go in knowing it’s short and pricey for what it is.

👩‍👦 I’m Chelsea, a working boy mum sharing real, candid reviews of family days out, plus money saving tips and honest experiences 👌🏼

➡️ Follow for more days out and random, real life, mum-life content!

20/09/2025

The fact that we were just 15 when these two were in the jungle together is wiiiiiiiiiiild 🤯🤯

YouTube re-runs whilst getting ready of a morning won’t be the same again 😂 Guilty Pleasure ✅🙏🏼❤️

*gifted tickets

04/09/2025

In our primary school era 💙

Sending love to the parents who have sent a child to school for the first time this week, maybe you’ve done the ‘first day of school’ for the very last time, or if you’re like me…. experiencing both your firsts and your lasts all at once 🥹 It’s a toughie ❤️❤️❤️

24/08/2025

Here’s my honest (and maybe a little controversial 👀) review of Gulliver’s Land in Milton Keynes…

💸 £89 entry for 3 + food + ice creams = around £140 total for the day

✅ Pros: short queue times, fun extras like a roaming dino & Punch & Judy show, decent food quality.

❌ Cons: dated decor, very short attractions, pricey for what you actually get 🤨

Our son had a brilliant day, which is what matters most 💕 but personally, compared to Sundown Adventureland or Twin Lakes, I don’t think Gulliver’s offers the best value for money 😬

Would I go again? Maybe… but only for the dinosaur park/farm park, I wouldn’t rush back to the theme park itself.

👉 Have you been to Gulliver’s? What did you think? 👀

22/08/2025

If you’ve only got 10 or so days left of the Summer holidays and your big day out budget is now gone…don’t worry peeps, I’ve got you covered!!! 👌🏻😍

Here are 5 fun (and mostly FREE) places in Lincolnshire to enjoy with the kids:

🌳 Belton House adventure playground (under 5s go free)

🏖️ Sutton-on-Sea beach + brand-new splash pad and park (near Mablethorpe)

🦆 RSPB Frampton Marsh (free entry and the pond dipping is SO fun)

🌿 Whisby Nature Park (free trails + play area)

💦 Appletree Holiday Park, Boston way (buy a drink = free play + splash pad all day)

📸 The pictures I’ve paired with this post aren’t necessarily of the places I’m describing, it would have taken me far too long to dig back through my whole camera roll 😂😂 But I have been to four of these (bar Whisby) and I wholeheartedly recommend them all as brilliant activities for young children that are affordable, cheap or even free.

Whisby I’ve heard fantastic things about, so it’s definitely going on our own list to try! 💛 Save this to refer back to 👌🏻

17/08/2025

Lunch is on Prezzo! ✨

Be one of the first two tables of two seated at any Prezzo restaurant (Mon–Fri, before 4pm) and enjoy a complimentary lunch on the house!

Choose from:
🥖 Soup & Panini Meal
🍝 2-Course Lunch (starter + main or main + dessert)

✅ How to claim:

1. Arrive early (doors open at 11.30am)
2. Say “We’re here for the free lunch offer”
3. Enjoy your meal, completely free!

⏰ Available daily, Monday – Friday (excluding bank holidays). First come, first served. Ts & Ca apply ie. Can’t be used in conjunction with other offers

Tag and send to you your lunch buddy 👯‍♀️….because I’ve used this deal multiple times now and it could be your tastiest and easiest freebie of the week!

13/08/2025

Gifted Tickets | Always feels crazy to say that whenever we are lucky enough to be invited somewhere….but especially surreal for an awesome day out like this in the capital!! 🤯🥹 We were kindly invited to the Paddington Bear Experience while in London for the day and I’m honestly so grateful that we had the chance to go! Massive thanks to ❤️

It’s a 90-minute immersive adventure: you ‘board’ a clever ‘train’ and explore Paddington’s interactive home, follow the story with brilliant actors and end with photos, games and of course, you get to meet Paddington himself🍊

📍 Location: Next to the London Eye, Sea Life Aquarium & Shrek’s Adventure. Ideal for families 🙏🏼

💷 Prices: Under 2s free • Kids (2–15) ~ Approx £29 • Adults from ~ £39 (up to £49+ peak) Prices vary by day/time/advance booking and these are estimates based on the website.

💡 Verdict: If you’re already in London for several days or completely Paddington-mad, it’s absolutely well worth it. We were very impressed by how well done it was, it’s great for kids of all ages and it goes without saying, to be gifted this kind of experience, is always incredible!! But, you do have to factor in that it wouldn’t be the cheapest day out or activity you could do. For a family of 4 you could easily be looking at £150, which for 90 minutes is pretty heavy! So, with that in mind, I wouldn’t necessarily travel to London specifically for it given how short the experience is, but I would definitely include it as part of a longer trip, as it’s a brilliant memory maker, particularly if your kids adore Paddington and like the books and tv series 🤩

Our son LOVED it (theme song now on repeat and has been ever since we visited)!! Thanks again for a fantastic experience! 🫶🏻

15/02/2025

Got a s**t load of washing to put away and I’ve been procrastinating on the garage sort out all week, but hey, at least we’ve got a load of homemade pancakes 😂😂😂👍🏻 Why am I like this 😝😂

Used the leftover buttermilk from Thursday’s ‘butter making activity’ to make a batch of homemade pancakes for freezing!!! These are ideal to just whip out frozen and stick in the microwave or toaster for Chase’s breakfasts!

I always add flaxseed and chia seeds to homemade pancakes as it’s more of the ‘good stuff’…without him even realising! 🙏🏼 At least future me in the mornings will be thanking ‘tonight me’ 😜

12/02/2025

Saved a small fortune on West End theatre tickets by playing it VERY late but VERY smart! 🎭

Our first time trying this was pure fluke about two years ago — rocked up to the box office 15 mins before the start of ‘Only Fools and Horses’ started and scored seats just four rows from the front for £50 each!!!!

Now, we’ve learned to skip prebooking and just show up! 👀

Did it again for ‘Back to the Future’ last week and nabbed amazing seats for £75 each (the online price for these was £115 plus)! It’s a bit of a gamble sure, but if you’re flexible and not picky on what you see, it’s a total win 💸

Next time you’re in London, try it out, especially if you’re a couple or small group, no fuss and BIG savings to be had! 🙌

23/01/2025

This is the £5 Entry deal for Tattershall Farm Park when you book online - Promo Code is WINTERFIVE 🙏🏼

It’s £5 winter entry until 14th February. The wacky and wonderful Kirsty from Rhubarb Theatre is back in her 11am interactive storytelling session tomorrow.

We’re lucky to host these sessions virtually every Monday, and you’re lucky that these sessions are included in your normal farm park entry. Even luckier that entry is just £5 when you book online with the promo code WINTERFIVE

https://bookings.tattershallfarmpark.co.uk/book

19/01/2025

£5 ENTRY for all at when you book online until mid-February‼️

We LOVE it here because it has the best of everything - a good size indoor soft play, complete with a baby soft play too, the cafe within the soft play also serves lovely food 😍

Buy some animal food and feed the meerkats, goats and sheep, after looking at the lizards and snakes inside the reptile hut (Chase’s personal fave! We learnt the word chameleon last time we went and played ‘karma chameleon’ all the way home 😂)🦎

There’s awesome outdoor play areas for kids of all ages and multiple themed indoor rooms, offering a number of different activities, including a toddler toy room, a sand room (literally like walking into a massive sand pit) and even a straw room complete with a swing 👀🫶🏻 We ran out of time to pay those a visit on our last trip but usually we make sure we do these too! I’ve included one or two pics from visits a few years ago so you can see 😊

Last but not least, don’t forget the animals you can see outside like pigs, emus, alpacas and birds of prey and they do fun activities throughout the day, included in your ticket price, like goat walking, falconry shows and even reindeer feeding! The kids REALLY took to walking a little goat that we called Mipsy 😂

The main restaurant (which does incredible pizzas) is closed at the moment but the cafe certainly does the job 🙏🏼 In the Winter the park is currently open 10am - 3pm in the week, perhaps a little longer at the weekend, but for just £5 (and you could take your own food if you wanted, so that’s all you’re really spending) there is plenty to do in that time and it really is such good value for money!

We will definitely be back to utilise the online offer price again and would highly recommend as a fab activity for all ages, in all weathers 🫶🏻

17/01/2025

PR Invite 🙏🏼❤️ | Is there anything better than putting the world to rights with one of your best mates over food that neither of you have cooked 👀🙏🏼😂

Big thanks to for inviting us to join them for a delicious meal to celebrate their £1 pizza deal throughout January! Yep, that’s right….buy one pizza, get another for just £1 until 30th January 🫶🏻 *ts and cs apply, no obligation to post but the food was too good not to 😍