Fancy taking the kids out for a meal this break? VoucherCodes.co.uk have found some of the best deals for cheap eats in the school holidays, with 22 kids eat free or for £1 deals in the school holidays. And for those days when you’re eating at home, check out their ideas for how to bake a kid’s afternoon tea.
Kids eat free/for £1 in the school holidays:
Across the country, there are plenty of pub restaurants, cafes in shops/supermarkets/garden centres, and popular chain of restaurants that offer affordable kids meals and tasty breakfasts in the school holidays. It’s worth remembering you usually can’t combine the offer with any other promo, deal or discount, and sometimes T&Cs apply, so click through to read all the details before you dine:
The best in-store cafe cheap eats:
Where: ASDA Cafes
What: Kids eat for 60p (kids hot meal deal or cold pick and mix selection) with no adult minimum spend.
When: All day, every day, for the month of May (usually kids eat for £1)
Where: Dobbies Garden Centres
What: Kids eat free (free children’s breakfast with any adult traditional or full breakfast or a free child’s hot meal or pick n mix lunch box) with an adult main meal, £1 supplement applies to kid’s Sunday roast at selected restaurants.
When: Daily, breakfast until 11:30am and then 12pm-3pm.
Where: Morrisons Cafes
What: One free kids meal with one adult’s meal costing £5 or more, including The Breakfasts, The Classics or The Chippy excluding extras.
When: All day, every day.
Where: Sainsbury’s Cafes
What: One kid eats for £1 (children’s hot main meal or lunch bag) with an adult hot main meal from £5.20.
When: From 11.30am until cafe closes every day.
Restaurant chains and Pubs kids eat free/for £1:
These familiar chains offer great deals for kids meals during the school holidays.
Where: Angus Steakhouse
What: One child aged 8 and under eats free per full-paying adult with a main course from the a la carte menu.
When: Every day, 12-5pm (except Saturdays in Bond Street and Oxford Street branches).
Where: Bella Italia
What: Kids can enjoy three delicious courses & a drink for free or £1.
When: On Thursdays, one kid (2-11 years old) eats free all day with every adult meal; on Sundays to Wednesdays, one kid eats for £1 with every adult meal.
Where: Bills
What: Up to two kids aged 10 and under can eat free per one adult main dish (breakfast, lunch, or dinner – excludes set menu).
When: All day from Monday 26th – Friday 30th May (excluding Saturdays and Sundays).
Where: Brewdog
What: Pre-book and one child can eat free from the kids menu when an adult is eating too.
When: In Scotland, from Saturday 3rd May – Monday 5th May 2025, and from Saturday 24th May – Monday 26th May. In England and Wales, from Saturday 3rd May – Monday 5th May 2025, and from Satuday 24th May – Sunday 1st June 2025.
Where: Burger King (selected sites, not valid at motorway service locations, airports, train stations and holiday parks)
What: One child can get a free King Jr. Meal per qualifying adult burger meal when ordered via the Burger King App at a participating restaurant.
When: 26th May to 1st June 2025
Where: The Coconut Tree
What: One child (10 and under) eats free per one paying adult.
When: Sunday 25th May to Sunday 1st June
Where: Franco Manca (selected pizzerias)
What: One kid (aged 12 years and under) gets a free individual kids pizza for every full-priced adult main meal.
When: Monday to Thursday.
Where: Farmhouse Inns
What: Up to two kids get a free small main and scoop of ice cream when you buy an adult main. Sign up to their newsletter by 14th May to claim your voucher.
When: 23rd – 30th May 2025.
Where: Gordon Ramsay Restaurants
What: One child (aged 10 and under) gets a main course free from the Ramsay Kids Menu for each adult ordering two courses from the A la Carte (one course must be a main).
When and where: Selected UK restaurants only. All day, every day at selected restaurants (e.g. Bread Street Kitchen Liverpool, Pizza East). Every week day at selected restaurants (e.g. Bread Street Kitchen City, Heddon Street Kitchen).
Where: Heathrow Airport
What: One free kids meal for children under 12 (from the children’s menu) with each adult main course costing over £14.95 (maximum of four free children’s meals per table) at participating restaurants, such as Big Smoke, Leon, Giraffe, Gordon Ramsay Plane Food, The Commission and more
When: 26th May – 2nd April.
Where: Hungry Horse
What: Two children can eat selected kids’ mains for £1 (larger meals for £1.50) per full-paying adult (excludes starters, sharers and the lunch section of the adult menu).
When: From 12pm on Mondays.
Where: Las Iguanas (selected restaurants only)
What: One kid (up to 12 years old) gets a free meal from the Niños menu when an adult orders a main course from the a la carte menu, when you download the app and join My Iguanas. Maximum one app perk can be redeemed per table.
When: Every day (lunch menu is not included).
Where: OK Diners
What: One child under 10 eats free (from the children’s menu) when an adult purchases a main course from a la carte menu (at all OK Diners except those on the A1)
When: All day, every day
Where: Preto
What: One child up to 10 years old eats free per full-paying adult (once you’ve filled in your details on the website and downloaded the voucher)
When: All weekend, and every weekday from 4pm
Where: Purezza
What: One kid under 10 eats free (mini pizza with one topping) per adult
When: Every day
Where: Sizzling Pubs
What: One kids main meal for £1 per adult main meal (excludes breakfast)
When: From 3pm-7pm, Mondays to Fridays (from 12pm during school holidays).
Where: TGI Fridays
What: One free kids meal (excluding dessert) for 12 year olds and under per full-price adult’s main, for Stripes Rewards customers.
When: All day, every day (excluding bank holidays).
Where: The Real Greek
What: One free kid’s meal (from the kids menu) for every £15 adult spend, for children under 12
When: Sundays
Breakfast freebies for kids:
Get the day off to a delicious start at a great price with these restaurants.
Where: Beefeater
What: Two kids under 16 eat breakfast free for every adult unlimited breakfast costing £10.99
When: Until 10.30am weekdays and 11am weekends
Where: Brewers Fayre
What: Two kids under 16 eat free with every adult breakfast, plus you can get a 3 course kids menu for just £6.49
When: Breakfast is 6:30am-10:30am on weekdays and 7am-11am on the weekend.
Where: Premier Inn
What: Up to two kids under 16 eat breakfast free with an adult’s full Premier Inn Breakfast or a Meal Deal
When: Breakfast is available at most Premier Inn’s, every day.
Where: Table Table
What: Two kids aged under 16 eat breakfast free with every adult breakfast purchased. Kids can also get two courses for just £4.99
When: Breakfast times vary depending on hotel
Where: Travelodge hotels with an open onsite Bar Café
What: Kids under 15 eat breakfast for £1 with every full paying adult.
When: Breakfast times vary depending on hotel
Where: Whitbread Inns
What: Two kids under 16 eat breakfast free with every adult full breakfast. Adult breakfast costs £20.99 per person.
When: 6:30am until 10:30am Monday to Friday, and 7am until 11am Saturday and Sunday
When you’re not eating out, you can make special meals affordably with our…
Money-saving homemade kids’ afternoon tea recipes:
Fancy afternoon teas can cost a considerable amount and might be a bit too formal for the kids, so making your own version at home is a great way to enjoy this special spread minus the expense and faff.
We’ve got easy, cheap recipes for the three key elements of a kids’ afternoon tea:
- Finger sandwiches
- Scones
- Cupcakes
1. Sandwiches
Sarnies are a staple packed lunch, but they can become oh-so-interesting when they’re presented a little differently. Transform a standard lunch into a special treat with our hack… simply cut them differently!
The traditional ‘finger sandwiches’ served as part of an afternoon tea are typically cut into dainty rectangles, crusts off. The key to making them looking elegant is to add the filling first, and then cut them down.
Handy hack: Of course, you don’t want to create food waste by throwing away anything that’s perfectly edible, so turn the discarded crusts into edible artwork! Put all the offcuts in a bowl and get the kids to artfully arrange them on a plate into whatever shapes they like — it could be faces, butterflies, or abstract patterns. Take a photo and then they can gobble them up.
Top tip: To make it more of a special occasion, try some unusual fillings and combinations, such as marmite and peanut butter or egg and cheese.
2. Scones
Afternoon tea isn’t complete without that classic British cream tea treat, the scone. They’re super easy to make, and my Great Grandmother’s recipe only requires four ingredients. This has been passed down through my family and has been going strong for more than 100 years! To make 6-8 scones, you’ll need:
- 225g self-raising flour
- 85g cubed butter
- 55g sugar
- 2 eggs
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl.
3. Add the cubed butter and rub the mixture between your fingers to get a breadcrumb consistency.
4. In a mug/small bowl, mix the eggs to combine the white and yolk.
5. Pour a bit of egg at a time into the mixture, bringing the ingredients together to form a crumbly dough. (You might not need to use all of the egg.)
6. Roll the dough to 3cm thick and cut out your scones. You can use any remaining egg as a wash on top.
7. Lay on baking parchment on a tray and bake until golden — typically around 15 minutes.
Handy hack: Don’t have a cookie cutter? No problem. Instead, you can use a narrow glass to cut out your scones (using the open end of the glass). Either way, dip in flour first so it doesn’t stick to the dough.
Cheap toppings: Scones are traditionally eaten with cream and jam (in that order if you’re from Devon, or jam first and then cream if you’re from Cornwall). You can get a 454g jar of strawberry jam for just 39p at Aldi, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, or for 40p at ASDA. A 420g jar costs 36p at Morrisons.
3. Cupcakes
Cupcakes, or fairy cakes, are one of the simplest bakes to make with kids, and they’re very affordable too, requiring only four basic ingredients:
- Self-raising flour
- Caster sugar (or Xylitol)
- Soft butter
- Eggs
Handy hack: Weigh the eggs in their shells first, and then use this weight for the flour, sugar and butter, too. Two eggs will weigh around 125g, and that amount will usually make around 10 cupcakes.
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Mix the butter and sugar together first.
3. Slowly mix in the eggs bit by bit.
4. Fold in the sieved flour to combine everything together.
5. Spoon the cake batter into the cases on a cupcake tray.
6. Bake for around 15 minutes — they’ll be done when they’re golden, spring back when you gently press them, and you can gently place a knife in the middle and it comes out clean.
Cheap toppings: Buying a bag of icing sugar (85p for 500g at Aldi) and making your own icing by adding a spoonful of hot water at a time is a lot cheaper than buying ready-made icing. You can get a jar of sprinkles to decorate the icing with for a pound at ASDA.
Happy hols!
Image: Depositphotos
