Family adventuring: Create a memorable, affordable vacation

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Mary DeMuth

May 27, 2013 – It lurks. It beckons. It threatens to steal your wallet. Your family’s summer vacation looms on the horizon. What will you do this year? How will you create a memorable adventure with happy kids, a content you, and a smiling wallet? It is possible. Read on.

At Home: Staycation’s All I Ever Wanted

For many of us, traveling far away, renting hotels or cars, or paying for expensive theme park admissions puts too great a strain on our budget. And yet, we’re often unaware of the vacation possibilities in our locale.

Isn’t it ironic that other people pay to come to our city or state to vacation? Why not put on your tacky tourist glasses and experience your locale through new eyes?

Here are five suggestions:

  1. Check out your area Chambers of Commerce to pick up fliers and brochures local attractions. Choose a different attraction each day. Pack a picnic to save money, but go out for ice cream to sweeten the trip. In the evenings, capitalize on local outdoor concerts or theatres, which are often free to the public.
  2. Purchase a season pass for a local amusement/water park, and frequent it several days in a row. Sprinkle in a few days at the library for fun-packed summer reading programs.
  3. Leverage your neighborhood. Organize an evening block party, a weekday talent show another, a midweek family Olympics contest, an area-wide park clean up. Not only will you have old-fashioned fun, you’ll deepen your relationships with neighbors.
  4. Research local manufacturing plants, particularly of products your kids like. Arrange for a tour each day of the week. Each day can correspond to a different theme: corn chips and everything relating to corn one day, dairy the next, perhaps paper and paper manufacturing (or book printing) the next.
  5. Explore local bike trails, tackling a different one each day. Be sure to pack plenty of water and snacks. Treat the kids to lunch out as a reward for all that peddling. In the evenings? Camp out in your back yard, tent and all.

Venturing beyond: Road Trip Travel Tips

Sometimes it’s nice to get away—to escape home and explore a new place. Here are some fun and innovative suggestions to help jumpstart your planning:

  1. Ride the rails. Consider the way you get to a new place as the adventure. Head to .amtrak.com to plan your train trip. Look for faster trains, new cars, and great destinations. Click the Acela tab to find a high-speed train along the East Coast.
  2. Explore family history. Why not take a road trip that chronicles your family’s past? The place your grandparents homesteaded. Where you met your spouse. The business your uncle pioneered. Create a loop of family history, exploring other tourist attractions along the way.
  3. Rent a cabin near a ski resort. Summertime rates are much less. Nearby activities abound: horseback riding, trail venturing, mountain bikes, river rafting, shopping, nature walks. Our two favorite DeMuth family vacations happened just this way—one inColorado, one in the Swiss Alps  when we lived inFrance.
  4.  Go to summer camp—as a family. Last year our family attended the Laity Lodge Family Camp and had one of the most meaningful, relaxing vacations ever. We didn’t have to cook, plan, drive, or think. We just hung out, did activities, learned about Jesus together, and bonded with other families. See listing below for local camps that serve families.
  5. Serve together. One of my fondest “vacations” was serving inGhana,West Africawith my son . Aidan raised money for a well in a remote village, so we visited the village together. Serving God alongside your children will change your lives, cement your family relationships, and give you all an extremely unique family memory. See listing below for organizations that take families on mission trips, or go through your local church. 

Bringing the Joneses: So Happy Together

Another really fun way to vacation is to travel with another family with kids who mesh well with yours (and couples get along well, too). We did this when we explored our potential mission field, traveling with the Popa family to Antibes, France. Some things we learned:

  1. Discuss your trip prior to departure. Both families showed children pictures of the area. The DK Travel Guides are children-friendly with lots of graphics and interesting information.
  2. Consider your children’s travel tastes. Our son enjoyed looking at old buildings—he has a penchant for architecture. Our eldest liked to shop. Our youngest loved to swim. And our friends kids were just as diverse. Keeping these interests in mind, we were able to provide a broad spectrum of activities that held each child’s interest.
  3. Anticipate mishaps, particularly if you travel as a group. The airline lost our luggage for four days. Thankfully, we packed a change of clothes, toiletries and pajamas in each of their carry-ons. As parents, the two couples tried to instill a sense of adventure in our kids while we navigated this unfortunate situation.
  4. Meet prior as families prior to vacationing. It’s good to have a meeting of the minds beforehand to set down ground rules, discuss likes and dislikes, and decide on a firm plan for each day. You might want to trade babysitting so couples can get a night out alone in the new locale.
  5. Get outside. Our happiest times were spent on the beach or exploring the streets of unknown towns. Children need time to run and play.

Reining in the Big Bucks: Budgeting Tips

Everyone wants to save a buck these days—vacation’s no different. Here are five ways to extend your travel dollars.

  1. Purchase an Entertainment book for the city/region you’ll be traveling to. You’ll usually get a free meal and free tickets to events. You also find a wide scope of activities to do. Go to entertainment.com to purchase yours.
  2. Eat in for breakfast and lunch. Securing a hotel with complimentary breakfast buffet is especially helpful. Having a fridge in your lodging place allows for homemade deli sandwiches for lunch.
  3. If you have friends in the area you’re visiting, ask their advice for cheap or free activities. Don’t know anyone there? Try twittering your need. Send out a tweet via http://www.twitter.com saying something like, “Hey does anyone who lives in Carlsbad, CA have budget-friendly tips for a family vacation there?” You’ll be surprised how willing strangers will be to help.
  4. Consider alternatives to lodging. Try house swapping: homeexchange.com Some local YMCAs offer lodging. (My favorite? Estes Park, CO: ymcarockies.org) Try one of the discount sites like hotwire.com or priceline.com to book cheaper hotels. Ask friends if they know of family-friendly cabins. And of course, there’s always camping. Buying a large tent and paying for camping fees is much cheaper than hotel rooms. Be sure to book your slots early, though.
  5. If you’re flying, consider not renting a car. Visit a place with great public transportation—which adds another adventure to your vacation. It saves gas, driving headaches, and gives the kids something to outsmart you with! Make it a contest to see who can figure out how to get to a venue the cheapest, fastest, most interesting, etc.

Count Vacation as a Blessing!

Whether you stay home, venture far, experience vacation alongside another family, or struggle to keep on budget, a family vacation is the perfect time to reconnect with the hearts of your children. As a family, be sure you spend some time brainstorming the upcoming year. Make dates with each child, exploring future dreams. And take the time away to refuel for the year ahead. Allow for some unscheduled down time to truly rejuvenate. When you’ve learned how to relax as a family, your positive outlook on the rest of the year will blossom.

Harmony in the Family: Fun Travel for All Ages 

Kids in close age proximity can make for amazing adventures or tireless whining and bickering. Here are five ways to keep the joy in the journey:

  1. If traveling by car, bring MP3s of great audio theater, audio books, and favorite music groups. Alternate between favorites.
  2. Have a family meeting before you leave to create down ground rules for the trip. Kids are not allowed to pick on, demean, or complain excessively or you’ll pull the plug on that day’s activities.
  3. Foster respect yourself. If you treat your spouse with kindness, even when vacation stress mounts, your kids will catch your kindness.
  4. Offer a variety of adventures for the age spread of your children. Don’t always do theme parks where a little one feels left out. But also find places where the whole family will benefit. Another idea? Have each kid plan a day.
  5. Reward great attitudes. Build in a surprise to each day if kids act gracious with each other. Ice cream is a great motivator!

Top Vacation Websites

Family Camps:

Family Missions trips:

Blue Ribbon News special contributor Mary DeMuth of Rockwall has vacationed with husband Patrick and kids Sophie (17), Aidan (14), and Julia (11) in Colorado, Texas, Washington State, and the Swiss Alps. When not vacationing, Mary spends her time writing parenting books and novels. Her eighth book, Thin Places, explores the way God intersected her broken childhood. http://www.marydemuth.com. The above was a reprint from Home Life.

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