scrap map photo courtesy of Kate
Are you staying home for Spring Break?
We are!
It’s the first day of spring and I can’t wait for Spring Break!
And I’m so excited. We are gearing up to do some really fun things. There are lots of ways to have an extra fun Spring Break Staycation.
In the past our staycations have consisted of mixing spring cleaning in with a couple of days of fun stuff. By the end of a spring break like that I’m glad to have gotten so many things done but it also doesn’t feel like it’s been a real vacation. If we had gone to visit my sister, NYC, or any other number of things we would have played the entire time. If we weren’t playing we would have been enjoying NOT doing anything. We would have sat on the porch and had lemonade or laid on the couch and read a book all afternoon and not felt bad about it in the least.
A Staycation should be like a real vacation! Except even better!
On a Staycation we don’t have to sit in airports, worry about the 6 tons of luggage making it to our destination, or moving from hotel to hotel.
There are so many benefits to staying home for vacation…as long as we treat it like a real vacation.
Today and tomorrow I’m going to give you ideas for making a Staycation a great vacation. Make sure to come back tomorrow to get your Staycation kit [free download] so that you can get started with your planning.
Tips for enjoying a Staycation to it’s fullest:
1. Plan ahead.
Don’t wait until the last minute or hope that the right moments will fall into your lap…they won’t. Get out pen and paper and make a plan for each day. (I’ll include a little help for this in the kit tomorrow!)
2. Decide what you want at the end of your vacation.
What do you want to feel at when the last day of you staycation arrives? Do you want to feel like you had a lot of fun? Stayed in bed all week? Or never stopped going places? Decide which suits you best. The end will determine what you schedule each day.
3. Schedule a start and end date.
Will your vacation start the day school gets out? Will it end a couple of days before going back to school? With a staycation you get to decide the beginning and end.
4. Get out of the house everyday.
Treat this like an out of town vacation. When you go out of town you see the sites and get out of your hotel room or down to the pool. Leaving the house feels like you’re having fun on purpose. When you stay at home the whole week it sometimes feels like the week is just happening to you. There are lots of free ways to have fun for a day away from home.
5. Fill each day with fun.
There are all kinds of things to do. Make sure to get out of the house everyday by a set time so that you don’t laze around the house all day or too late into your morning. Even planning a bike ride can feel like a special occasion if you plan little stops or a scavenger hunt along the way.
6. No chores!
You don’t usually do them on vacation. That’s one of the best parts of vacation not just for your kids but for you, too!
7. Unplug. No technology.
Avoid checking your email, blog, twitter, facebook, and doing work projects. You’re on vacation, work can wait and so can clients. Make some boundaries and commit to your family that you’re going to stay off of the computer, email, and whatever else usually grabs your time from them. If you absolutely have to check in with the office make a time limit each day and then stick with it. Set a timer and finish when it goes off.
8. Take care of household projects.
Before the staycation get the little things done that you want to get done. Spring cleaning is a pre-vacation activity….it is not a staycation activity! Whatever gets done before the staycation gets done. If everything doesn’t get done the staycation moves on without them. That’s what would happen if you were really going on vacation.
9. Hire a maid.
On a regular vacation a maid comes to spiffy up your room and wash your towels and make the beds. Hire a maid ahead of time to be scheduled to come to your home 1/2 way through your vacation and then again at the end to tidy bathrooms, make beds, and straighten a little. We’ve never done this but I think it sounds like a great idea. I’m thinking of talking to one of the teenage girls that attends my church and asking her if she would like to be a maid for an hour on two different days. I’ll have her come before our staycation and show her what I’d like for her to do while we’re staycationing.
10. Put an auto-responder on your email.
Remember to add an auto-responder to your email accounts. That way you can breathe easy because everyone knows what to expect while you’re gone and when you’ll be back.
Make sure to come back tomorrow for fun ideas to do on your Staycation. I’ll have a free download Staycation kit so that you can get started planning!
How do you prepare for a Staycation? I’d love to hear. Share your ideas in the comments!
Have you checked out Love 15? An 15 minute idea a day to do with the people you love. Perfect to start over Spring Break!
3 Comments
I’ve never planned a Staycation but these are great ideas to make it fun and feel like a vacation! I’ll have to do it 🙂
Oh yay! So glad that a staycation is looking fun to you. 🙂
We just did our staycation and it was one of our most fun spring break weeks to date! 🙂