Ottawa Museums: Why I love our Ingenium Membership

One of the things about big days out doing fun activities is that I find them kind of exhausting. You pay a bunch of money to get your family into a museum or attraction and then you want to stay as long as possible and get the most out of your money because "money doesn't grow on trees" and all that fun stuff :)

One of the reasons we got an Ingenium membership (a membership that let's us into the Science and Tech Museum, the Aviation Museum and the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum) was that 1) it was a good deal - we've more than gotten the value out of the membership in a few months already 2) it took the pressure out of our trips to the museums.

Short and fun outings

When I want to go out with the kids and do something fun I like to suggest one of the museums because I know it won't cost us anything (we got the parking pass as part of our membership too!) and I know there will be fun activities for the kids, and I know I'll plan to leave before they even have a chance to start fraying my nerves or getting bored ;)

We typically visit one of the museums for about an hour to an hour and a half. We get in, the kids explore, if there are presentations we visit a couple, and then we leave.

It's beautiful. Nobody has gotten overtired or started complaining about not wanting to do this or that. I don't feel guilty that we haven't gotten more out of the money we spent to get in. We're spreading out our enjoyment of the museums over the year. 

The museum also has a reciprocal agreement with 360 other museums, which means you can spread the value out all over the place. 

Cost

It was about $160 for the year with parking for my family of 5. As a comparison, it would cost me $42 plus parking to get in to the Aviation museum without the membership and $50 plus parking for Science and Tech. It's a pretty simple decision to opt for the pass when all the museums are so close by.

Other bonuses

We got a discount and first access to summer camps (my kids are heading to City Farm camp this summer and are so excited to get to interact with the animals in a more personal way than you get to as a regular visitor!) and first invites to other special events, and 10% off in the cafeteria and in the gift shops.

And look at how much fun we've been having!!

Museum Membership

by Lara Do you have a museum membership?  The first time we bought one was on Kiernan's first birthday.  We went to the Experimental Farm and by the time we left we were convinced that $90 was more than money well spent.  We've renewed our membership ever since and now, with three kids, the value is even more apparent!

A family pass to the museum of science and technology is $28.  A family membership is $90.  Four time and it's paid for!

This past Saturday we went to Science and Tech for the first time in about a year.  My twins are finally old enough that they can be at a museum without it being a horrifying experience for their parents!

We had such a wonderful time exploring we decided to take on another museum on Sunday!  This time we hit the aviation museum.

We plan on making many more excursions to the Farm, the "train museum" (science and tech) and the "plane museum" (aviation - there is so much more than just planes) this summer.

Do you have a membership to any museums?

Lara is mom to five year old Kiernan and three year old boy/girl twins Quinn and Juliette. Between the kids and her social media consulting business, she spends most of her time running frazzled.