Houston Family Memberships: 3 Venues That Pay For Themselves (2024 Guide)
Discover how Houston Zoo, Children's Museum, and HMNS memberships can save your family money.
Houston has so much to offer, but sometimes it feels like a challenge to find the perfect family activity. As a dad to a newly turned four-year-old (happy birthday, little dude!), I’ve found that investing in a few key memberships has not only made outings easier but also turned into opportunities to share experiences with friends and extended family.
When I was growing up, places like these were reserved for special field trips or big events. I never imagined they’d be accessible to my own family due to the cost. Thankfully, we’ve been able to make these memberships work, and they’ve become some of our best decisions as parents. Here’s a look at the memberships we love and why they’re worth every penny.
Houston Zoo
The Houston Zoo was at the top of our list when we had our son. However, our early visits were hit or miss—one trip where he slept the whole time and another that lasted only 15 minutes. With single-day tickets costing $70–$100 for a family of three, those outings became expensive gambles.
That's where the memberships comes in! The Houston Zoo offers multiple membership levels. We ended up going with the Family & Friends Premium, which is the most expensive option but the benefits end up paying for themselves in multiple ways.
The Houston Zoo has plenty of membership levels that fit your family's size and budget. The Family & Friends Premium pays for itself in a few visits but more importantly, it allows us to invite friends and family for fun outings!
Why the Membership is Worth It:
We opted for the Family & Friends Premium membership at $349/year. Here’s what we get:
• Unlimited Visits: No need to reserve ahead.
• Member Mornings: Early access on the first Saturday of every month.
• Discounted Events: Including Zoo Lights, a seasonal favorite.
• Reciprocal Admission: Discounted or free access to 100+ zoos and aquariums nationwide.
How the Houston Zoo membership pays for itself
Financially it makes sense. For a family of three, this membership pays for itself within 3-4 visits. Our family goes to the zoo 1-2 times a month, making it a well-worth investment.
Stress-free visits. The worst feeling is spending a lot of money on tickets and then having your kiddo not want to be there. With the membership, our visits are less stressful because we're not worried about any sunk costs related to admissions. If we go and it's not going to work out, we can pivot and head to the Hermann Park Railroad or enjoy The Commons (new park addition) at Hermann Park.
Perfect for play-dates. Having the membership, and specifically our level that allows us up to 10 people per day, means we can always offer to invite our son's friends and parents for a day at the zoo. We've used this multiple times and if you're kiddo is into animals, they'll very rarely reject an opportunity to show friends and family their favorite animals.
Reciprocity makes our travel easier. One of the things we always do when we travel to other cities is visit their local museums and zoos. With our Houston Zoo membership, we're able to get free or reduced admission at participating zoos. This is an unsung benefit that has saved us hundreds of dollars visiting places like the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo in Canada, the Oregon Zoo in Portland and the Fort Worth Zoo.
Children's Museum of Houston
The Children's Museum of Houston is typically the first option that comes to mind in terms of museum memberships for new parents in Houston.
Membership Highlights:
We chose the Thinker Membership ($190/year), which includes:
• Admission for up to 6 people.
• Discounts on extra tickets and parking.
• Reciprocal benefits via ASTC and NARM programs.
Why we love it:
Stress-free visits. We often took our kiddo to the children's museum as a smaller toddler. While there's plenty of exhibits and activities to do, we found that the museum was often full of older kids. This meant that we'd be able to visit during busier times and hang out in the toddler area upstairs and if it was emptier, we'd be able to visit the other exhibits.
Reciprocity. Also like the zoo, the children's museum participates in a similar program that grants you free/reduced admission to member institutions. This has gotten us access to museums awesome museums in other cities like:
- Thinkery in Austin
- TELUS Spark in Calgary
- The DoSeum in San Antonio
- Fleet Science Center in San Diego
- San Diego Natural History Museum in San Diego
- Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland
It really does give you a de-facto activity whenever you travel. You can see participating institutions below!
It includes membership to the Children's Fort Bend Discovery Center.
It's like a two for one! You get admission to the Children's Museum in Houston and you also get access to the Fort Bend Children's Discover Center. While smaller, it's often less crowded and has enough for the kiddos to have a fun time.
Houston Museum of Natural Science (Ages 3+)
Once Diego hit 3 years old, it felt like he was too big for the toddler activities at the children's museum but still too small for some of the other exhibits. He also started showing an interest in dinosaurs and like most of our initial experiences, the one-time cost of admission was pretty significant.
Access to three locations for one membership
Like the children's museum, you get admission to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in the museum district and admission to the smaller museum in Sugar Land. The Sugar Land museum still has plenty for a toddler to enjoy and have special exhibitions we've visited and spent plenty of time at.
Discounted parking and proximity to other activities
Parking at the Houston Museum of Natural Science is always an experience. The attached garage is $30 for non-members but discounted to $10 with the membership. That savings alone makes it more convenient for our family to go to the museum because we know we always have a place to park and even if the museum doesn't go as planned, we're perfectly situated to visit Hermann Park or the McGovern Centennial Gardens.
Automatic 20% discount on membership renewal
We ended up paying for the $125 Family membership, which grants us 2 adults and 4 children tickets. Upon renewal, we'll be savings 20% as well.
Not an ATSC or NARM member, though.
The Houston Museum of Natural Science doesn't participate in the ATSC or NARM program, which is a bummer but considering the savings between the membership and one-time admissions, we're still saving on our visits here and plan on keeping it until our kiddo is no longer interested.
Bonus! Houston Arboretum & Nature Center
The Houston Arboretum is a sneaky gem in Houston. It's the closest thing we can get to being completely removed from the city all while still being in the city.
Free to experience, but membership has its benefits
You can technically visit the Arboretum for free. However, parking at the Arboretum isn't free and costs $6 per visit. When our son was a baby, we would be visiting the Arboretum every single weekend at which point the $85 Family Tree membership, which includes free parking, paid for itself.
The membership also gives us discounted registration for children's programs and camps and free admission to one of our our favorite events in the fall, the ArBOOretum!
Things to consider when looking at memberships
Having gone through a few memberships, there's a few things I look for before signing up.
- Break-even point. Probably the most obvious one if cost is your main factor, but you'll want to confirm how many one-time visits it would take to break even. For a family of three, the break-even point is 3-4 visits and even less if we're taking guests.
- Guest admission. We have found this to be one of the nicer benefits of having a membership. If you can afford it, being able to offer to cover friends/family's admission for a trip to the zoo or museum is a nice gesture and makes it easier for people to join you on trips. It also helps give people to visit these places that otherwise wouldn't be able to
- Reciprocity. Confirm which programs the institution you're looking to become a member at participates and get a sense for what other institutions at other cities are members. I like to see the cities I plan on visiting soon and plan trips around those experiences.
