Let’s normalize family Staycations!
We had a blast this weekend with our babies and I want to share with you guys exactly how we made this happen!
Here’s the thing you don’t have to go on a week long vacation to have fun! Especially with your kids. Keep in mind that an overnight stay somewhere driveable can be just as fun! Simply do your research prior and make it happen. I’m going to share with you 5 tips I used to have a successful family staycation!
1– pick the location! This is super important because it allows you to scope the time needed to make this smooth. Having a toddle we try to keep our car ride when doing this under 3 hours one way. In our case this location was just shy of 2 hours away! You’ll be surprised how many quick getaways are right in your backyard! Literally… right now go on google and search driveable get always near me. For our trip I picked Blue Ridge, Ga… this is a mountainous area with beautiful cabins.
2– Air bnb!!! I love this app and feature because I’d rather rent a house for the night to incorporate a nice home cooked meal into the schedule. Hard to do that in a hotel and in this case the kids can have a room to share so the adults can still have their time. Here’s a few tricks to consider,
• find a home that will allow you to book one night.
• Check in Saturday and check out Sunday.
• Request an early check in and a later check out. Being that it’s a Saturday the host is usually very accommodating for this. So if your check in is at 4pm request to come at 2. This gives you a little more time to get settled in.
I knew I wanted luxury since we were doing one night. That one night rental allows you to splurge a bit. I found a beautiful cabin
The cabin was absolutely beautiful and worth every penny. I mean why not go all out for one night?! It was STILL in budget as well!
3– Earlier that morning go grocery shopping and grab every ones snacks, grab the ingredients for a nice dinner and breakfast.
Most of the rental homes have all the tools you need to cook and dishes to serve. Also include a fun food activity the kids can enjoy. I’m our case I did a hot chocolate station. The girls enjoyed theirs and I added a little spike to mine because, you know… MOM rights lol.
Other cool food activities seasonally could be
• s’mores at the fire pit
• Ice cream bar or make ice cream
• Make cupcakes with decor seasonal
• Bake cookies
• Make fruit infused lemonades
4– I’m not one to say watch a family movie together because this is vacation and I’d your family is anything like mine age gaps are REAL! Nope I didn’t pressure inclusion for free time. Although we did eat together I let them roam for the rest. Hubby and I watched and did what we wanted and the kids did the same. I mean it is a vacation right…? Forfeit the rules. Let them relax and entertain themselves. This allowed me to relax as well because I’ll get into planning mode and stress myself out wanting things to go a certain way. Nope, not this time…. relaxation was my mission.
5- the most fun part to close out a fun trip is to find something locally to do as a family after checkout. We woke up the next morning, Karl made an amazing breakfast, and I enjoyed the fabulous tub! When I picked Blue Ridge I initially wanted to do the Blue Ridge train to see the city and history of the area but it was closed temporarily for 2 months for maintenance. That’s ok… plan B came into play. We went to Amicola Falls Home | Amicalola Falls State Park & Lodge – Dawsonville, GA and had a blast! Although they walk up the mountain almost took me out it was an amazing experience! The views were stunning and we captured a bunch of footage and pics! This is the cool part of finishing an overnight staycation. Every city, I mean EVERY city has an attraction so add it to the agenda!
• museums
• Local restaurant unique to that city
• Any trail/ state park (this is my favorite to do with the kids because it’s a team effort)
• Zoo/aquarium every city has their own or one near.
We had a blast on a budget. One night stay at the bomb air bnb, we cooked at the cabin, and enjoyed a beautiful state park the next day for $5! We still made it back home before 3 so Karl could catch football on that beautiful Sunday. So yes, it is possible to enjoy a spontaneous trip that doesn’t require months of planning and savings. Create the memories with your family that they’ll never forget. I’m already on the search for our next getaway.
Is this something you’d do?! Let me know!
