Visiting a museum at the right time can mean substantial savings for your family on admission prices. You can beat the heat in the mostly air-conditioned galleries while taking advantage of these hot discounts.
$5 or Less Promotions
Happy hour has a whole new meaning at the Please Touch Museum in Phila., where admission on every first Wednesday (Aug. 4 this month) is only $2 from 5-7pm. Regular admission to the museum is $15.
Admission to the National Constitution Center on Thursday nights through August is $5 (regularly $8-$12) from 5-8pm. During family activities those nights, kids can explore the connections between Philadelphia’s past and present.
Dollar Days continue at Hagley Museum & Library in Wilmington, DE on Thursdays through August. Regular admission is $4-11. Admission is also $1 on Tuesdays in August at the Delaware Museum of Natural History in Wilmington (regularly $5-$7).
Free-admission Community Nights at The Franklin Institute in Phila. run every third Wednesday (Aug. 18 this month), except in December. You can check out all the permanent exhibits for free from 5-8pm, and free tickets are usually available for IMAX and 3D shows, too.
Combo Savings
A combo-ticket deal between The Franklin Institute and the Penn Museum in Phila. offers discounted admission to both museums, including the special Cleopatra exhibit at The Franklin through January. Tickets for $22-$32 (a savings of $3.50-$4.50) are available at either museum. At the Penn Museum after 3:30pm any day except Monday (and after 4pm on Sunday), museum admission is pay-what-you-wish. Half of the Penn Museum galleries are not air-conditioned, so save a trip to Penn for a cooler day.
Free Art Museums
Pay-what-you-wish admission is available all day on the first Sunday (Aug. 1 this month) at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Sundays there feature children’s tours & family art projects. Admission to the Woodmere Art Museum in Chestnut Hill, PA and the Biggs Museum in Dover, DE is always free (both are closed Mondays) and the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington offers free admission all day on Sunday.
Military Discount
Military families with proper ID can gain free admission to more than 700 “Blue Star Museums” nationwide through Labor Day. The Academy of the Natural Sciences in Phila. and the Delaware Children's Museum in Wilmington are among local museums participating in the promotion.
Stephanie Halinski is calendar editor of MetroKids.
