All families want to save more money and be able to travel. My number one way to do this is through our annual museum pass. The best museum membership programs often include free entrance to other museums throughout their reciprocal network. We have saved thousands of dollars and see some amazing museums and gardens without it costing my family of six more than just the cost of one well-chosen reciprocal membership program.
Top two expenses every year for homeschooling the four kids: travel and memberships
Top two best money investments: travel and memberships
I strongly believe that, of all that we do for our homeschool, our non-traditional learning is what has been most impactful to helping my kids truly learn and love our world. No amount of book reading can compare to knowing familiar obscure details about the towering dinosaur fossils or visiting the same gorillas four times a year or spending hours at the local children’s museum. Sure, these opportunities can be big financial investments, but given the right strategy, they don’t have to be. Let me convince your why a multi-museum membership is the best investment you can make to your family learning budget.
Why Should I Get a Museum Membership?
Repeat visits to the same place bring ever more information retention and familiarity. The best kind of learning. When you are familiar with a place, less energy is spent trying to figure your way out and seeing the new sights. You can focus on truly absorbing details. There will never be a museum visit when you leave to declare that you saw nothing new. We always discover new items, corners, or facts. Challenge your family to do so and make it a game. And bring guests to your museum to give them private tours of all your favorites.
Usually, I can get a family membership for the whole year for the price of two one-day trips. This seems to be the average whether it is for an arboretum, zoo, or museum. Depending on the location, having a membership can brings early entrance some mornings and discounts for special events, educational programs, Imax movies, and gift shop purchases.
Plan ahead. If you know you will be travelling within the next year, definitely look at that area’s museums. For the cost of one trip to the local museum plus one museum on vacation, you have practically paid for a year’s membership. Just make sure you do it far enough in advance to have proof of membership with you in your wallet.
Saving Money on a Membership
- Consider buying a membership for a museum not in your home city. The museum near Grandma’s house or even on a trip might be $40 cheaper for the year than your local one. Smaller, less popular museums tend to offer cheaper membership rates. Double check on their website for the little ASTC logo on their membership page and consider calling to talk with them directly. You get the same reciprocity no matter the location of your home membership.
- Ask about a teacher or homeschool discount. It never hurts to ask. Make sure you keep your homeschool ID or proof of enrollment with you just in case.
- Check on Groupon. Search by city and “things to do”. Museums often have one day ticket deals as well as discounts for a year’s membership. This is especially beneficial in more tourist-heavy cities. Make sure you check the details listing how long before using Groupon that it has to be purchased. Some required it to have been bought 24 hours before use.
- Ask for memberships for family gifts for Christmas or Mother’s Day or even “Happy First Day of Homeschooling”! Best gifts ever.
What Does Museum Reciprocity Mean?
When your museum offers reciprocity, you can get in for free or reduced price to museums all over the country and, sometimes, world. My favorite museums for membership are the ones with reciprocity, and we sure abuse use them on our travels cross-country. Make sure you keep your membership card and your driver’s license with you to prove membership.
Another perk of these programs is that you explore new cities because you have seen an amazing museum on the list. You make a detour. I have planned quite a few road trips based solely on which museums I can hit along the way. When you have a membership, you also have an automatic free stop for a wiggle-break on a long driving day. A new children’s museum is better than a rest area any day.
Sometimes you can find museums that are on several different reciprocity lists at one time. They exist to give you even more bang for your buck.
A word of caution. Sometimes on the list I see museums which are free of charge to all and aren’t technically reciprocity. I find this pretty sneaky.
Should I Join a Museum That Doesn’t Offer Reciprocity?
Not all museums are involved in an alliance of museums. The only way to know this is to check the museum website or even call them directly. Museum reciprocity lists change, so make sure you are looking at the most recent one. Additionally, some have identification requirements that you won’t know about otherwise.
So should I consider a yearly museum membership if they aren’t in a network? Absolutely if the museum is awesome and has tons to offer for repeat visits throughout the year. It may not save you money on travel, but the benefits of being able to visit your favorite museum for a whole year out-weigh this fact. The Houston Museum of Natural History will forever be one of our favorite places and returning feels like going to see old friends. We still talk about one of the mummies by name every once in a while. It’s lack of reciprocity didn’t keep me from renewing our family membership to this favorite museum year after year.
Top Reciprocity Programs in the United States
Association of Science and Technology – ASTC
The ASTC museums are my favorite membership to get and includes science and children’s museums. By using their Travel Passport Program, you get in completely free to other museums on the list by showing your membership card and meeting the requirements for each museum.
The catch: if you buy your membership in a large city that has several museums on the list, there sometimes is a requirement that your membership doesn’t give reciprocity within 90 miles of your home museum. My downtown Houston Health Museum membership didn’t get me in free to the Johnson Space Center in south Houston for example.
Association of Zoos and Aquariums – AZA
While the reciprocity with zoos isn’t 100% free, distant zoos will give either 25% of 50% off of the full price ticket. Our family lives at the zoo, and we definitely get our membership’s worth of visits out of this investment. Hint: sometimes zoos are listed under garden memberships so check out other lists too!
Wild Kratts + Zoo = more animal knowledge than you could ever find elsewhere 🙂
I tried to go without a zoo membership once. It lasted six months.
American Horticultural Society – AHS
When I realized how much my kids enjoy walking around the Atlanta Botanical Garden and did the math, it just made sense. The year of Covid seemed like a good time to spend more time exploring new outdoor locations. Since we have bought it, gardens around the country have been explored. It’s been a great addition to my reciprocity arsenal and brings with it some awesome outdoor adventures with the cost fully covered with my membership.
We have been able to travel all around the US and get in to so many botanical gardens for free. It’s been a great investment!
North America Reciprocal Museum Association – NARM
With the purchase of our membership to the Carlos Museum in downtown Atlanta, we got to add North America Reciprocal Museum (NARM) to our list of reciprocal museum programs. With full admission price covered by the one family membership, we’ve been able to go to many history and art museums around the United States. If you’re looking to see if there is a NARM museum near you, the NARM association list shows a map of involved organizations. There are more than 1000 art galleries, historical museums, and gardens on the NARM reciprocal list to explore. If you’re looking for a membership with a great reciprocity, this is the one to get!
Links and information updated May 2022
16 thoughts on “Museum Memberships: How to Save Money with Family Travel”