A Family Vacation at Home: Staycations!

In these weird Covid-19 times, traveling around the world or even in your own country is very tricky, and sometimes impossible. This is where staycations come to play. Staycation means: “a holiday spent in one's home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions.”

How is a staycation different from an ordinary day at home with your family? Basically, it is intentional and conscious quality time spent with your loved ones and trying to do something special every day just like you’re on vacation. They are much more affordable and comfortable than driving or flying to a faraway destination for sure. You don’t have any transportation and accommodation costs, and you can direct that money into various activities around your town doing daily trips! However, you should make sure to get into a vacation mindset while planning the activities.

Here’s some ideas for a fun, easy, affordable, and memorable staycation:

Get into the vacation mindset

Step away from work, it’s a staycation! You may need to work from home for a bit during your staycation, it may be a good idea to designate a time and place each day so that the rest of the family knows what to expect. If that’s not the case and you would like a longer staycation than a weekend, taking a few days off work to focus on having fun with your family is totally valid! 

Create a staycation bucket list & plan, make it a household event! 

Your kids will love having a say in planning their staycation, and you can use some time doing arts and crafts to make a colourful schedule to hang on the fridge! Kids love any change in routine that feels special. Getting ideas from them and delegating some of the responsibilities will make your job much easier. Also, a rough plan or a schedule will prevent the last-minute “So, what do you want to do?” conversations and nervousness. You can have a kids’ choice day in your schedule, and let them decide what to do.  

Activities around the town

You can take part in various activities around your hometown, or even go to other close-by cities for day trips! These activities can be indoor ice skating, jumping around in a bounce house, a family spa day, a family bike ride, exploring local restaurants that you’ve never been to, seeing a local performance, having a picnic in a nice park, etc. Possibilities are endless, you just need to make them your own. 

Act like a tourist in your own town

It is so easy to take the biggest sites in your city for granted and never go there. Be a tourist in your own town for a day and take your kids to see all the local attractions! Sometimes the most obvious things around are the things that you need to remember to do.

Activities at home

Use your home like an activity playground! Some easy and fun home activities can be family game nights, movie marathons, grilling outside, arts and crafts, ordering in food, redecorating a room together, gardening, doing science experiments, water play day, scavenger hunt, or at-home Olympics. This is especially easy if you have some outdoor space like a backyard or a park nearby. Day-long activities will keep you and your family active and pleasant the whole day!

Themed days

You can select a theme like Harry Potter, Disney, or Halloween for a day, or you can go international and choose to have an Italian day, for example! Apply this theme to every aspect of your day: clothes, food, decorations, even characters if you’d like to! This whole day will feel like a game to your children, and they will love it! The themes can also be activities like camping in your backyard or an at-home spa. 

Top Chef Competition!

Create a cooking/baking challenge with your kids! Even if they are very young, they can team up with the older siblings/friends/family/or your partner! Select some easy-to-work-with ingredients from your pantry and get cooking! What’s better than having a fun family competition, having dinner on the table, and cleaning out your pantry at the same time! 

You can add a lot of things to this list, depending on your family traditions and interests. If a big trip is not on your list for the near future, or if you just want to have a fun weekend with your precious family, a staycation might be just what you need right now.