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I think you will find that it's very very regional. I live in NYC, and everything is more expensive--we pay anywhere between $300 for a 10 week semester of music class to $575 for a 16 week semester of cooking class. I have heard of people in other areas paying $10-15 per gymnastics class or music class--that just doesn't exist here.

ETA definitely take advantage of free activities--parks, library story time, playgroups, most places are free for kids under 2 or 3 (like the zoo, museums, etc).

Gosh at least 74 / month for gymboree. This is one 45 minute session a week... but our gymboree let's us go to as many sessions a week (they usually have 1-2 a day of each age group) as we want as long as there is room (aka call ahead) we only did that for the first month or two... and decided one session was good enough actually. Haha.

Then we have memberships to a few places ...
100/yr (two adults - kids are free) for the local children's museum.
90/yr (30 per person including kids so this will go up when we have more kids) for a local kid's only park/zoo.
150/yr (two adults - kids are free) for a local aquarium.

If we go more than 2 times a year to any of these places it's worth the membership... well that's what I tell myself.

Not including gas, $0. There's not much offered around here to begin with but we do a lot of free things (playdates, library storytime) have been to the children's museum once & occasionally visit an indoor play space that is about $7 per kid but free for adults. We've been to the zoo once too but its a far drive for us, plus admission for adults is expensive. We just can't spend a ton of money on classes & stuff. We manage fine without those things.

I wouldn't bother worrying too much about planned activities the first year as stimulation from you and being well rested will be more important than activities. Starting somewhere between 12-18 months I would try to do at least 2 activities a week for socialization and your own sanity! We have a nanny and do a combo of some free things (story time, gym play space, playground), some low cost like swimming and community center play group and then splurges like gymnastics and music together. If you look, there are lots of opportunities to save... Museum passes from the library, kids smoothies and story time at whole foods, I am sure whatever your budget is, you will find ways to have fun and stay busy!

We just this last month (18 months) paid for our first class. So far we are sticking to rec department stuff because it is reasonable. I am finding it to be about $10 per week (one class per week), so about $30 for 3 classes.

We also pay for a gym membership, which is about $65 per month and includes 2 hours of childcare per day if I am at the gym. The childcare there is run like a cross between drop in gym and preschool. They have a schedule with music time and art and playground time etc.

We didn't do a lot of classes when she was under 1. She honestly was content with me singing to her and making funny faces. If we did the occasional class, it was usually a drop-in for $5-15.

LO is a member of the YMCA and that's about $150. She used to take classes there that were part of her membership. LO is not currently enrolled in any classes, though, it's hard to find classes on the weekends that don't get filled up right away and we work full-time.

Over the summer she took a swim class that was about $125 for 10 weeks. She does drop-in on Tuesdays and Thursdays at a sing along with her nanny and that's $5-10.

@hilsy85: my jaw literally dropped!

We went to all free until he was closer to 11 months and a strong walker (story time, playdates). We now have a zoo/sci center annual pass that was $150 ish, go to a free indoor gym through our community center, a free indoor playspace through another community center, and are going to try and get to a free music class through another city's community center. Swimming lessons for 2 months are about $45, same price for Little Gym, the local cooking class and other music classes.

We'll also be trying a $15 a session art class that's an hour long and just set up with different stations.

@LaughLines: look for mom's groups on meetup.com & postpartum or breastfeeding support groups! the latter will get you in with moms who have similar aged babies

Gymnastics is $150 for 2 months, swimming is about $60-80 for a few months. We typically do about 3 activities a year.

Nothing! We only do free stuff.

Right now, we are doing 2x week AM preschool ($150/month - it's cheaper b/c it's a co-op) and swimming 1x week (30 minute lesson, $75/month). We usually do Music Together ($175 for 10 weeks), but couldn't this quarter due to scheduling conflicts w/preschool. Am thinking about enrolling her in ballet - that would probably be another $50/month.

We also have a children's museum membership ($90/year) but we haven't gone in awhile... will probably go once it starts raining again.

Wow some of these are the price of my mortgage! We only do free activities like the library or we use the museum pass my grandma gifted us.

@BandDmommy: it is awesome!! Lo really likes it and has actually tried a lot of new things. And we discovered he loves raw tomato and raw onion lol.

@hilsy85: gotta love NY kids club! Painful...

Prices are definitely regional. We have year memberships to the zoo and the technical museum which is really kid oriented, both are relatively cheap at €45ish and €24/year respectively. I just signed up my 3.5 year old for an in-preschool gym class. It's once a week for 2 hours and it was €400 for 20 weeks. Like others have said, I would look for local toddler or parent groups, check out the library or community center in your area and any parks and recreation or cultural office that might have free or inexpensive children's activities.

LO is only 12 months so we don't do any classes yet, though I take her to soft play every couple of weeks and that costs £5 ($8). We did a free trial the other week for a music class, which at £7 ($11) is just too expensive for half an hour! There is another one which costs £4 ($6.5) which we will start after Christmas. At this stage, LO is just as happy going to the park or the beach which is free!

I didn't start taking my LO to anything until he was 5ish months and could kinda sit up. I know people will say it's too early to do that kind of stuff with them, but we were getting crazy bored and it's nice to get out and meet other moms and babies.

We make an effort to do free things as much as possible -- there are two baby story times at local libraries. I joined a mom's group through meetup that has some events -farm tours, crafts, etc. It's hit or miss for a baby as little as mine, but we both benefit from getting out of the house.

I took a sample music class and really liked it. It's $55/month if I decided to sign up, but I'm not sure that we will. I am considering a Mommy & Me yoga class that is about $11/class.

I think there is a lot of value in trying classes if they fit into your budget. I don't have much wiggle room, and I'm only home temporarily, but I have a very active little guy who looooves to get out and see new things. It's tricky though, because he still naps 2-3 times a day, but going places is helping him be more flexible with sleep (I think).

@LaughLines: as PP mentioned there is not much you will do when your LO is really little. I think the first activity we enrolled DS was Gymboree. I can't remember how much it cost. Most activities are for kids that are sitting up, crawling or walking.