Why We LOVE Memberships: Science Center Edition!

How can you save money with family memberships?

Our kids love science centers and museums so one of the things we highly recommend is a family membership.  In most cases, the cost of a family membership pays for itself in two trips. 

We live about 1.5 hours from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvannia, which is home to Carnegie Science Center and Highmark SportsWorks.  For the last few years, my mother-in-law has purchased a membership for our family as our Christmas gift.  It’s a perfect gift for our family because it really is a gift that keeps on giving! 

The membership cost is $150 and includes unlimited admission into the science center for an entire year for our family of five!  If our family decided to visit Carnegie Science center for just one day—without the membership—our cost would be over $75. 

The membership also includes one designated care-giver. My mother-in-law is listed on the membership, which means she can either come with us or take our kiddos on her own and they all get in free.  The caregiver can be any adult so a grandparent, babysitter, etc. can use the membership with your kids!

Carnegie Science Center: Pittsburgh, PA

What makes the Carnegie membership even more worthwhile is that it includes admission to all four of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh!  In addition to the Carnegie Science Center, we also get admission into the Natural History Museum, Andy Warhol Museum and the Carnegie Museum of Art. 

Plus discounts in the cafe and in the gift shop, special member pricing on classes and movies, and invitations to members only events. Tell me that’s not a steal!

FREE admission to 550+ ADDITIONAL museums

Remember that I said it’s the gift that keeps on giving?  Well, there’s more!  (I know, I totally sound like an infomercial).  We also have access to 300+ ASTC reciprocal science centers and 250+ ROAM reciprocal art museums, arboretums and more around the U.S. That’s right, we get into over 550 additional museums and science centers for FREE!  In the course of a year, I can assure you that we get way more out of our membership than we pay!

Use your membership at other nearby science centers to get more bang for your buck!

Fortunately, we live pretty close to a few additional science centers and museums. We live about half-way between Cleveland and Pittsburgh so we can easily visit the Great Lakes Science Center or the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  And we love to do small road trips throughout the year so we’ll end up at a few other science centers or museums a little farther away. 

Anytime we’re in a new city, we pull up the Carnegie website and easily find places that we can get into for free.  We’ve used our membership in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Alabama, North Carolina and more!

Use your membership when you’re on vacation!

Activities are an expensive part of a trip—especially when you have to pay for five people.  We easily spend over $75 for an activity so visiting a science center for free, saves money and fills our day with fun!

Have you been to a “can’t miss” science center?

Do you have a “can’t miss” science center in your area? Tell us about it!

Check out other ways to save!

Check out our post on How to save with Zoo Memberships, Credit Cards and how to budget your next vacation!