I'm a big fan of the Lawrence Hall of Science, and science museums in general, but is the price of membership really worth it? I wanted to evaluate what's included and excluded in the membership dues and compare it to how many times my family would need to attend to break even.
Regular admission prices to Lawrence Hall of Science:
$12 Adults; $10 Children 3–18; Seniors 62+
FREE for children age 2 and under, UC Berkeley students and staff.
Currently offering FREE admission to anyone displaced by the North Bay Fires.
Tickets for shows are $4 per person.
Perks of membership to Lawrence Hall of Science:
- Admission for one year
- Discounts and priority registration for classes, workshops and camps at the Hall
- Invitations to members-only openings and family events
- 10% Discount at the on site Discovery Store
- Discounts on children’s birthday parties at the Hall
- Free or reduced admission to more than 300 ASTC science centers and museums worldwide! (reciprocal membership is one of my favorite reasons for joining a museum)
At the basic level, you get all of the above perks. We kicked in for the “family premium” membership to bring along visiting grandparents, so our membership includes a few more goodies:
- Up to four personalized member cards
- Two additional guests anytime
- One single-use six person pass
- Four digital theater passes (don't call me a planetarium!)
- Free or reduced admission to over 130 children’s museums through the Association of Children’s Museums Reciprocal Network! (the upgraded membership gives FREE admission to the Bay Area Discovery Museum)
($125 of this is tax-deductible)
What membership doesn't get you:
- Free classes, camps, parties, workshops
- Free parking all the time
The break-even point, doing the math on my family:
The Family Plus membership costs $135. Gulp. With two adults and three kids under age 18, a single visit would run us $54 plus parking so we would need to visit the museum somewhere between 2 and 3 times in a year to get our value out of it, even sooner if we bring visiting grandparents!
When it's not worth it to become members:
Membership might not be a great idea if you have a best friend with fancy membership since they can invite guests for free. Other times when you might want to skip it: you have a young toddler (who's already FREE), you work for Cal, you have a membership to another reciprocal museum, or you're just not that into awesome science.
[Photos by me; rate information updated 12/13/17]
We got my five year old an individual membership for $50 (since my toddler doesn’t pay admission and my husband gets in free with UC Berkeley ID). My son can take one guest free each visit (ie me). And he got a discount ($20 off, I think) on LHOS summer camp. AND with reciprocal museum admission, four of us got free admission to the amazing Boston Science Museum this summer, which is usually $20 a head. So our $50 investment in LHOS has already paid us back generously.
That is definitely worth it! Nice one.
No. Discover and Go both through Berkeley and Alameda County Libraries.
Rebecca is right. The Discover & Go passes are AMAZING and FREE. Contra Costa Public Library has them too.
If you can afford it, please sign up for a full family membership! My understanding is that the museum is in dire financial straits because of budget cuts and that one of the few things people can do to save this terrific local institution from possible closure is to sign up for memberships, pay admission, have parties there, buy items at their gift shop etc. We only discovered the museum last summer but have already been there close to 10 times, and have already seen several sets of exhibits cycle through, plus own a couple books they helped develop. We’d be so sad to see it go!
That’s a really funny comment Anonymous. So, one of the few things we can do to support our local science museum is to throw money at it? Roger that.
I laugh but I did buy a membership for our beloved events editor within the last two weeks. I have personally found that the Lawrence Hall of Science is fantastic for local families with little kids. And I’ve loved the classes and birthday parties, too.