• About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact

Family Travels on a Budget

Travel with kids: theme park family deals, cruise ships for kids and best cruise lines for teens and other cool places to visit, including adult getaways

  • Home
  • Travel guides
  • Cruising
  • Destinations
    • USA
      • Alabama
      • Florida
      • Georgia
      • Illinois
      • Indiana
      • Louisiana
      • Maryland
      • New York
      • North Carolina
      • Ohio
      • Oklahoma
      • Oregon
      • Pennsylvania
      • South Carolina
      • Texas
      • Utah
      • Virginia
      • Washington, DC
    • World
      • Bahamas/Caribbean
      • Canada
      • China
      • France
      • Mexico
      • Spain
  • Interests
    • Adventure
    • Arts/Culture
    • Beaches
    • Fitness
    • Food
    • Girlfriend Getaways
    • History
    • Kid Fun
    • Romantic Escapes
    • Teens and Tweens
    • Theme Parks and Zoos
      • Disney
      • Universal Studios
      • Other Theme Parks
      • Zoos
  • Reviews
    • Hotels
    • Restaurants
    • Products
    • Tech
    • Books
  • Travel Tips
    • Air Travel
    • Budget
    • Packing
    • Planning
    • Roadtrips
  • At home
    • Recipes
    • Shopping
    • Staycations

Home » budget » 6 tips for a fabulous staycation

6 tips for a fabulous staycation

June 27, 2012 by Karen Dawkins 2 Comments

As an Amazon affiliate, and affiliate with other businesses, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Pin
Share
Tweet

Staycations can be fun!

A staycation  is a budget-friendly alternative to expensive family vacations. But, if they’re not planned, staycations can look like any other day of the week. Our “failure to plan” mistakes in the early years meant we learned the hard way. Hopefully these tips will save you some of our frustration — and some money!

6 tips to plan a fabulous staycation

Tuck away the to do list! This is vacation, not honey-do time. Pitch a tent in the back yard or family room and camp “in.” The advantages: working plumbing, hot showers, a refrigerator and shelter from the rain. Not to mention it’s free!

When our boys were young, we moved all the furniture out of our family room and slept in sleeping bags on the floor. We cooked outside on the grill and ate at the picnic table. I loved sleeping in air conditioned bliss. The boys loved crawling all over mom and dad. Remember, this is family time. The to do list will still be there when normal life resumes.

Make a budget. Consider gas, dining and activities, just like any other vacation but without the added expense of lodging. A zero budget staycation is possible, but if you splurge on local activities you haven’t done before it makes the vacation more special. Ideas include visits to the local water park, dinner out at a restaurant you’ve been wanting to try or a trip to the museum.

Treat your hometown like a traveler would. I tend to forget about the wonderful adventures waiting at my back door and look far and wide for things to do, but I live in an area rich with recreational opportunity: hiking trails, kayaking, museums, restaurants, parks, swimming and golf. Sit down with the family and select something special for each day. If the kids are old enough (mid-elementary and above), perhaps let each family member plan a day — get tips here. We drive up to two hours for staycation activities. Decide how far you are willing to explore, then go. Don’t forget to check your visitors’ bureau website (Search with <city name> and CVB to find yours) for valuable coupons and to find ideas you might not know about.

Staycation fun! Catch a local parade.

On this staycation, we finally saw the Raleigh Christmas Parade!

Eat someplace new. It’s vacation, so why not try someplace new? We have a long list of “maybe we should eat there one day” restaurants and a staycation offers the perfect opportunity!

Look for freebies. Chances are, your hometown offers discounts just like trendy vacation destinations do. Check for restaurant discounts, museum passes, and other online freebies as you plan your activities. Besides CVB discounts, check Groupon, Living Social and other discounters.

Turn off the phones. Our first staycation was a disaster. Because we stayed local, the boss thought nothing of calling my husband about this or that. Since that first time, we have learned to let all work-related calls go to voicemail just like we would on a “real” vacation. We inform family and friends that while we are home, we are still on vacation. Our kids know that vacation includes unplugging for a few days to reconnect with the three dimensional people called family. Trust me here. Staycations feel more like vacation when you unplug!

Pin
Share
Tweet

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Filed Under: At home, budget, staycations

Please keep in touch. Our FACEBOOK community is active, and a great place to ask questions. On TWITTER, I share great content from destinations around the world. Follow our adventures on INSTAGRAM — we love to answer questions during trips. And, we’re on PINTEREST saving all sorts of great content from around the web.

Comments

  1. Rosann says

    June 27, 2012 at 2:03 pm

    Awesome advice!! Thank you! Unplugging will be the most difficult part for both me and my husband. We love our technology. But, we also love our family and each other and it's important to get that quality time where we are fully present in the moment…even if it's just camping out in our backyard. 🙂

    Blessings,
    ~Rosann

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Everything you need to know for Spring Break! • Family Travels on a Budget says:
    March 14, 2015 at 5:10 pm

    […] Read this article for great tips to plan a spectacular […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Meet Karen Dawkins

An avid traveler, I enjoy discovering new places: history, culture, and adventure. I love it all! Well, not bugs. I don’t like bugs very much, so I probably won’t visit a bug museum.

Read More

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Subscribe

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

**This site may contain affiliate links and sponsored posts for which I earn a small commission to help cover the costs of running a blog.**

We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro Theme Theme URI: http://my.studiopress.com/themes/news/ Description: A mobile responsive and HTML5 theme built for the Genesis Framework. Author: StudioPress Author URI: http://www.studiopress.com/ Version: 3.0.2 Tags: black, red, white, one-column, two-columns, three-columns, responsive-layout, custom-menu, full-width-template, sticky-post, theme-options, threaded-comments, translation-ready, premise-landing-page Template: genesis Template Version: 2.0.1 License: GPL-2.0+ License URI: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in