Winter Holidays |
Tips for a holiday at home
You've decided to forgo the travel, exotic food and hassles of packing in lieu of a vacation at home. You'll have "quality family time", lounging opportunities and reduced costs by avoiding foreign exchange. Sounds good on paper, but the reality is that a home-based vacation still needs to be planned. Here are some tips to ensure to ensure your family has a restful, fun and stress-free escape from your regular routine:
- Make up an agenda, based on your family's activity choices and stick it on the fridge so everyone knows the plan for the day. This avoids the "what are we going to do today" question.
- Develop a budget for your vacation. Determine whether you are going to eat out, eat in, entertain, attend events like plays, visit attractions, use up much gas, buy souvenirs, stay in a hotel etc. Find out the cost of events beforehand (the Internet can provide much of this for you), and whether there are any mid-week specials that can reduce your costs.
- Try to strike a good balance between time at home and time away. Spending a night away at a resort, an attraction like Niagara Falls or having grandparents sit while parents get away are all worth investigating.
- If you are planning to stay around home, look into public swimming (or skating in winter), family programs at community centres, local restaurants or seasonal activities like maple syrup making.
- Pre-pack or buy a car activity kit filled with toys, crafts and books for your children - new as well as tried and true favourites.
- Consider taking the train to visit family for a few days - it saves the wear and tear of driving and is a huge hit with little ones. If you travel mid-week and book ahead of time, you can save money as well.
- Have a family movie day with child-friendly movies and popcorn.
- Plan a games night when you test your competitiveness by playing cards, boards games or your knowledge of trivia. Invite another family, have prizes, food and treats.
Even if you're staying home for your vacation, focus on fun, family time together and getting away from it all. Avoid chores -- they will still be there next week when you're "back"!
