This article will offer suggestions for readers with children in the family.
If you have children the vacation most likely will be and should be geared towards things that will interest and entertain them. So often we the parents are so busy working and providing for the family that we fail in the most basic duty of happy interaction. The vacation provides a chance to remedy that for a few days or a week.
A staycation offers a far greater opportunity for interaction than an intense travel busy trip does. In the pre-teen years a game of toss or kick ball in the backyard or park where they have your undivided attention can be a real memory-maker. After the teen years when they are older they will fondly recall those times far more intensely that your actual actions really justify. To hear my grown ones tell the story we played toss in the back yard all the time.
Sure you drop them off at the pool quite often but do you ever go with them? Play in the water and cheer them on? A staycation offers the time to do just that. You might even have a good time, just wear sunscreen, we don't want that un-tanned skin getting a nasty burn.
Kids love movies and more than likely you hate their choices. Do you ever share one with them at the theater? You can always do math in your head a smile now and then. There might even be one you all could enjoy. If you go to a late matinee showing you will save enough money to take in a family style restaurant for dinner.
Every locality has parks. Most communities with multiple parks have different features in some of them. Have you and the kids been to every last one of them in your area? One of our parks has paddle boats to rent for only a few dollars per half hour. If they have never done that is a real memory maker. Those paddle boats can burn a lot of your energy and leg muscles so don't go too far before you start to circle or they may have to carry you to the car.
How about a BBQ in the back yard? Not just cook it on the grill; eat it out there also. Hamburgers, hot dogs, canned drinks in a an iced tub and relax the rules and let them have more than one soft drink. Crack open a water melon and have a seed spitting contest, at a target not each other.
For older children a trip to a nearby museum or even a free tour of a factory might be a fun filled afternoon because they did it with you.
There might even be a little time for the adults to have a little vacation evening out just the two of you. You are staying at or close to home and can use a trusted sitter while the two of you sneak off for a well deserved night off. You can sweeten the deal for them so they don't mind by ordering in a pizza or a couple of movies you know they would like. It's okay to suspend normal rules on vacation.
You can always do the stay at home part with the aforementioned activities for part of the week and tag on a one or two night stay to an nearby amusement park or other activity the children would enjoy. Unless your budget is really tight one or two nights on the road close to home won't break the bank.
What are some of your ideals?