Home Vacations!

No money in the budget for summer travel? You can still have a great family vacation right in your own home.
Some years ago, as parents of three daughters under the age of ten, my wife, Kathy, and I thought it was time that we start making memories in the family vacation department. We wanted these events to be something we could do every summer, things that we would all look forward to. But we also realized we must be careful about starting such traditions, as the recurring annual expense can become a plan-altering factor in any given year.
Now we all know that vacations can be expensive, especially when it comes to travel and accommodation expenses. Thankfully, my smart wife did some exploring and found an idea in a magazine about "vacations on a budget." The writer called it a staycation, which incorporated the idea of having a vacation in the privacy of one's own home. We really liked this idea, and we began planning for one.
We decided that, while on our staycation, we would turn off the phones, as if we were really gone - out of town and unreachable. Staying at home meant that our only vacation expenses would be for food and entertainment, and we were willing to really spend the money there. We thought if we could have a five-day vacation with our little family, and spend only five or six hundred dollars making memories, what a savings we'd make!
The plan was this: since there are five of us, the vacation would unfold with each member of our family choosing a theme and the events for one of the five days . . . sometimes with a little help from mom or dad.
Our eldest daughter, having loved Madeline the little French girl, was interested in "going" to France. We began the day getting some lovely croissants and pastries at a local French bakery for breakfast. Then we went to a children's museum for a couple of hours. Afterwards, we went to an authentic French restaurant for a late but very French lunch. And finally we came home, had a little nap, and then watched the Madeline movie with all sorts of snacks to eat.
As each new summer would approach, our girls - who now knew what to expect - became more and more inventive. Over the years, we've traveled through a homemade time machine, gone to the Hawaiian Islands, and even journeyed into outer space. And all that for a pretty reasonable price.
by Kennth Cope