1) Plan, Plan, Plan! – From the packing to planning whatever adventure you're off on, planning is the key to vacationing with small kids. Even if your entire plan is to sit on the beach for a week, you still need a plan. Believe me, getting lost on hour 11 of a drive or getting to the place you're staying just in time for bedtime and realizing you forgot night time diapers is a nightmare! You don't have to pack as early as I do, but at least start a list of what you need to pack. I start a list about 2 weeks out from vacation. Then, every time I think of something I need to take, I write it down. As I pack, I mark it off my list.
2) If you can, take food with you – I love eating out on vacation, mainly because it is a break from the cooking and cleaning of real life, not necessarily because I love the local cuisine. That being said, eating out for every meal can be exhausting and bad for both your pocket book and waistline. So, if you're staying in a place that has any sort of kitchen, take as much food as you can and fix a simple breakfast and lunch each day and plan on eating out each night. I know that whatever place you're staying in probably has a grocery store near by, but seriously, do you really want to grocery shop on vacation? It's enough of a pain at home, so to avoid, mentally prepare a grocery list of what your family will eat each day and plan to pack it. (Note – eating out is only less stressful if there is no bomb threat involved…believe me – I know!)
3) Plan for "just in case" – Inevitably with any vacation lasting more than a week, something will always happen to ruin your perfect plans. For example – it may rain every day you plan to go to the beach or Disney and you're now stuck in a 900 square foot condo with 6 other people. Since watching Sponge Bob from sun up to sun down will most likely put most parents over the edge, have a just in case bag packed. This also comes in handy when the kids just need a little vacation down time. For our most recent trip I had the following craft projects that the kids LOVED!
a. Color your own shirts – I found white and light gray shirts at the dollar store and got some of the iron on printer paper from Wal Mart. I then designed some shirts that said "Beach Bum" and listed the city we were staying in and found a clip art of some flip flops. I made all of the wording in stencil font so that the kids could color their own shirts with some fabric markers that I brought along. They cost way less than the kids shirts at the souvenir shops and kept the kids busy for at least an hour one day. They were very excited to show off their new creations.
b. Theme color your own stickers – again I went into word and found some clip art that related to the beach and would allow coloring by the kids. I found some large address labels that I already had and made a few sheets for each kid. My particular address labels were the re-stickable kind meaning that the kids could stick them to anything and they'd come right up.
c. Vacation picture frame – I found some wood frames at Wal Mart for less than $1 and packed some stickers and paint I already had. This was a 2 part project so it was even better! First the kids painted their frames. Once they dried they came back and decorated them with stickers. Once we get pics from the trip back I plan to put one of them in the frame that Braden made.
4) Shop for souvenirs ahead of time – This is something I've practiced for just about every trip we've been on – whether it be a trip to the Atlanta zoo or a weeklong trip to the beach. Souvenir shops can be the expensive death of an otherwise fiscally responsible trip. I'm just as bad as the kids are. We get in there and I want to get every tacky t-shirt and knick knack to commemorate this occasion. So, in order to avoid the pitfall, I plan ahead and just don't go. That doesn't mean my kids don't get souvenirs. Example – when I began planning trips to the zoo and aquarium for out of town guests I began amassing zoo and aquarium knick knacks wherever I went. I found cute color your own zoo masks and zoo keeper rubber duckys at orientaltrading.com and some cute fish stuff in the $1 section at Target. So, when we go to the zoo I pack a cute mask, a juice box and snack, and a rubber ducky in a cute little zoo themed box. When the kids ask to go into the store I pull out the ready made souvenir and they forget all about buying the $20 hat that they'll never wear again. Same thing for the beach, since we went at the end of summer I got new beach water bottles, pails and shovels, etc on clearance at Target, but all of the kids had new toys to play with and didn't care much about going to a souvenir store.
5) Make naps and downtime a priority – take it from the mom who didn't enforce this one day – make your kids take naps! Kids are always more keyed up for vacation and chances are they'll be outside in the heat and be expending more energy than they normally would, so even if you're temped to not make them take a nap, DO IT. You and your kids will thank you later. Plus, it gives you a little time to recharge as well.
Now, you may look at this and think I'm crazy. A no nap, 13 trip to the souvenir store, unplanned vacation might sound like a blast to you. If so, kudos to you and enjoy! If not, hope the above tips help out just a little! I promise the next blog will be filled with pics of my beautiful kiddos and our white polo/khaki short adventures along the beach!
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