The Perfect Staycation {When money is tight and vacation time is limited}
What is a perfect staycation?
Staycation (n.)
A vacation spent in one’s home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions.
Oxford Dictionary
Staycations have always been a popular vacation choice for families. In times of recession, a staycation may be the only option.
But, there are other great reasons to take a perfect staycation.
And with a mindset shift, what appears to be a lackluster compromise can become a memory-making experience.
Why we love a staycation?
Debt vs. budget
According to Bankrate.com, the average American spends $1,979 on vacation.
Many Americans don’t travel because they believe they can’t afford it.
And without a travel savings plan, that’s probably true. A common statistic tossed around the internet is that 1 in 5 Americans will go into debt to pay for a summer vacation.
Knowing you’re racking up credit card bills is bound to put a damper on the best experience.
There are many reasons to take a staycation, which we will point out, but one significant benefit is getting off the play and then pay cycle.
Other money issues
New house
Buying a house makes many people property rich and cash poor. If money is tight this year, staycations are a great way to ease the budget.
Young marrieds
If you recently dropped a chunk of savings on a wedding and went on a fabulous honeymoon, playing tourist in your hometown could be in order.
Adulting
There’s only so much money – and so many priorities. You might have financial goals that take precedent. Saving for a house, or college tuition, and paying off debt are important parts of life – sometimes sacrifices have to be made.
Timing
Limited vacation days
You may have started a new job, your benefits package doesn’t include leave, you used up your time off to take care of an urgent matter, or you’re self-employed.
Whatever the reason, you might not have a choice; you don’t have vacation time to burn. The perfect staycation is just the answer.
Move to a new town
If you recently moved to a new town, it deserves to be explored. This is a great time to schedule your next vacation close to home.
Your town is an embarrassment of travel riches
Or maybe you’ve lived in the area for years, and you’ve never taken advantage of what it has to offer.
Friends or family are coming to visit
If you have house guests, and you’re using some precious vacation time to entertain them, what better combo than a staycation?
Weather
In our neck of the woods (The Pacific Northwest), prime time weather hits in July and peaks in September. We make a point of staying close in the summer.
Stress
No wasted energy
We love to travel. Love, love, love it.
But let’s be honest, traveling is exhausting. It takes tremendous energy. How many of us come home from a trip thinking, “I need a vacation from my vacation?”
No wasted time
Driving and air travel eat up a ton of time.
If you have a limited number of days, do you want to spend them folded up in a small space, watching last year’s movies?
Animals
Pets and farm animals are another roadblock to being footloose and fancy-free.
If you have animals with special needs, you might have to stay home.
Health issues
Chronic health problems can make vacationing at home necessary – or at least more comfortable.
Equipment, frequent medical appointments, and the sheer lack of energy can make travel prohibitive.
And then there’s diet. You might be amid a restrictive eating protocol for health reasons. Traveling can make it hard to stick to your plan.
12 Tips for Eating on Vacation without Sabotaging Your Health
You travel for a living
People that travel heavily for work often crave home.
When our kids were little, and we chased Jody around the state on bridge inspection trips, all we wanted to do on his week’s off was stay home.
Solo-cation
Are you craving a few days to yourself?
A solo staycation might be the perfect answer.
Assuming you’re single, or your family is away, having the house to yourself can be a glorious luxury.
Ages and stages
Family stages
Are you pregnant? Do you have a tiny baby? Toddlers? So many kids you forget their names?
Jerry Seinfeld said out loud what many of us know to be true, but won’t admit…
There is no such thing as fun for the whole family.
Jerry Seinfeld
Yes, I think family travel is a must – almost a need. There’s no better way to bond, create memories, and teach your children valuable life lessons than family vacations.
But the truth is, family travel is HARD.
And maybe this year, for any of the other reasons on this list, you just don’t have it in you. A staycation can supply all the same benefits.
Grandparents staycation
If you’re blessed with grandparents or a family member close by and they’re able to host your children for a few days, you can take a solo or couples vacation.
Just drop the kids off at grandma’s and high-tail it home to enjoy the peace. We did this many, many times when we were young parents.
Quality time
Do you want to spend more time with your local friends or immediate family?
Long lazy days just hanging out, playing games, or meeting up for dinner?
A perfect staycation will give you dedicated time to do that.
Older kids
As children hit the teens, it gets harder and harder to mesh schedules. Sports and part-time jobs come into play.
If you have students in different educational systems – say a high school student and a college student on semesters – it can be nearly impossible to find an open block of time.
We’ve taken many staycations to make it work for all our kids. We just want to be together having fun. And if it means sticking close to home, we do it.
Visit their homes
Our grown children are buying homes, and establishing families.
We are in a fun season of life; our vacation is visiting them on their turf. As a family, we’ve made a loose plan to vacation at a destination every other year. In the opposite years, we will rotate hosting the family at our homes.
Picking Your Next Vacation Destination
How to plan your perfect staycation
Set a date
For starters, like any trip, you need to get the date on the calendar and make sure everyone’s committed.
A firm agreement is even more important for a staycation because the opportunity to let everyday life intrude is real.
Set a budget
How much can you afford to spend?
If money is the chief reason for the staycation, be frankly honest.
You can plan a rejuvenating, memory-making experience with very little money.
Make a list of options
Having a budget will also help with the next step. If money is truly tight, focus on all the things you can enjoy for free.
If you have more to spend, what have you been wanting to do in your town that always seems a little frivolous on a Tuesday night in March?
Every person involved in the vacation should have input to make it the perfect staycation for everyone.
45 Unique Experiences for Your Family Vacation
Create a loose itinerary
Next, sketch out an itinerary.
We don’t plan our staycations with as much precision as our major trips, but some kind of structure helps with decision making.
Vacations: To Plan or Not to Plan, That is the Question
Include downtime
Relaxation is usually a significant aspect of staycationing. So be sure to block out time to do nothing.
Include a splurge
What splurge would have the biggest impact or mean the most to you?
A splurge is relative to your budget. For some, one dinner at a restaurant will require most of the budget.
Others’ will have the means for a full day spa or a major league sporting event.
Consider what you can spend, look over the list of ideas, and do some soul-searching.
Search for deals and coupons
As a local you have an advantage when it comes to searching for deals.
For a big list of deal-seeking ideas, see our post, The Travelers Guide to Discounts on Food and Entertainment.
How to enjoy your staycation
How do I make my house staycation friendly?
Here are a few ideas to help get your home and mind in vacation-ready mode.
Clean
For me, starting a staycation with a clean house is a must; messy house – no vacation.
However, you make it happen – elbow grease, or a house cleaner – clean up and tidy up to create a peaceful environment.
Mowing the lawn, and taking care of light maintenance tasks in the weeks leading up to your staycation will also help set the stage.
Prep meals
A key piece of planning a staycation is mapping out the food.
The chief cook and bottle washer needs a break from day to day preparation of meals to make this a real vacation.
If cooking is your hobby and you want nothing more than to dirty every pan in the house, I leave you to it.
For the rest of us, coming up with an equitable plan of restaurant meals, take-out, dividing the cooking, or making meals ahead will take some thought and compromise.
Go shopping ahead of time
I know some families consider vacation grocery shopping part of the fun. If that’s you, add it to the itinerary as one of your first activities.
If errands are not your happy place, lay in provisions ahead, or use a grocery service and order your food online for delivery or pick up.
Don’t forget supplies for activities – water balloons, art supplies, new lawn chairs…try to get it all in one trip.
Even if you plan to eat every meal on the town, you will probably want some snacks or treats.
Flowers
Buying an inexpensive bunch of fresh flowers adds a special touch of luxury, especially if flowers are out of the ordinary for you.
It’s a visual way to mark the time.
Music playlist
Like a road trip soundtrack, making a staycation playlist is a fun addition.
What kind of playlist depends on your tastes and the purpose of the vacation.
Lots of ages and stages coming together? Have each person contribute 10-15 of their favorite tunes and expand everyone’s horizons. This is a fun way to stay in touch with what your kids are listening to.
A romantic retreat? Make a romantic playlist.
Solo-cationing? You can play anything you want!
Beware the appointment
Sometimes you won’t be able to get around this; it might even be the reason for your staycation.
But as much as humanly possible, do not schedule appointments during your time off. Home estimates, routine medical visits, meetings of any kind can derail a staycation and sour everyone’s experience.
How do I relax on a staycation?
Agree on the purpose of this vacation
Before you hit go on the staycation, be sure everyone involved agrees on the ultimate purpose.
Is it family togetherness? Then your avid golfer should not be booking 18-holes every morning.
Is it rest? Then each family member needs the freedom to indulge in what that means for them. For one, it’s working in the garden, while another person will curl up with a stack of books.
Is the purpose to be a tourist in your town? Everyone knows there will be a lot of get up and go.
No staycation is right for everyone, but for family peace and good memories, be sure you’re all on the same page.
Use the itinerary to meet everyone’s needs
Working out your purpose might surface conflicting ideas of what a great vacation entails.
That’s where the loose itinerary comes in.
Museums are not at the top of Jody’s list, he doesn’t mind going to a handful on each trip, but he needs to know that we have something more active planned on the horizon.
Having the plan on paper will go a long way to gain cooperation. Everyone knows their favorite activity’s accounted for; there’s downtime for the introverts and game time for the extroverts.
Tech break
To each his own, but here’s a controversial suggestion…
Delete social media apps and email from your phone. Just for the staycation.
Leave your work lap top at work – or at least tucked away in the closet.
Stop the mail – you would do it for a trip away from home, so why have junk mail and distracting administrative tasks knocking on your staycation door?
If digital cold turkey is too extreme, at least designate ‘no phone’ time blocks or alternately block out space when it’s fair game to check-in.
Do nothing
At least some of the time.
Sleep as much as you want. (Unless you have littles. All I can say is, it will pass)
A staycation is the ideal opportunity to just be still.
How do I make a staycation feel like a vacation?
Do something special
Like we talked about in the planning section, including a splurge or two goes a long way to make a staycation feel real.
You might need to get creative and think of an unusual activity that doesn’t cost a lot.
New nightwear
Like new Christmas pajamas, new vacation sleepwear can be a fun way to mark the occasion. If your children need new jammies, have some fun and get a souvenir out of the deal.
If this is a romantic staycation? You know what to do!
Mix up household responsibilities
One of the beautiful things about hotels and restaurants is that someone else does the clean-up.
Assuming you don’t have a maid, there will be daily chores on your staycation.
A way to turn this on it’s head is to switch things up.
Trade jobs.
If you have younger children, create teams, and treat clean-up like it’s summer camp. The annoying songs are optional.
Assign days and allow each person in the family to have one day completely free of maintenance.
Take photos, collect memories
Would you go to Italy and come home empty-handed? Without a souvenir menu or photo to show for yourself?
I don’t think you would.
Treat your staycation with the same respect you would give any other trip.
Hometown Tourist: Scavenger Hunt
Hometown Tourist: Touristy Photos
Send postcards
Adults can take a pass on this one. You may be hiding out, the last thing you want to do is announce your location to the world!
With children, this is a fun activity. Pick up postcards at the local visitors center or a bookstore and send them off.
Travel Every Day: Stop at Your Local Visitor Center
50+ Ideas for your perfect staycation
At-home fun
Read
Treating yourself to a new novel is a good staycation splurge.
10 Ways Armchair Travel Will Enrich Your Life
Camp in the backyard
Fun for kids (and adults?).
Set up a tent or sleep under the stars. You can always sneak back into the house when you get cold.
Backyard fun
Dig out the dusty lawn games – badminton, croquet, horseshoes – you probably have something lurking in the garage.
Play games
The same for your board and card games.
Put together a puzzle
We enjoy setting up a jigsaw puzzle at the beginning of a vacation. Everyone can stop by and place a few pieces when it’s convenient.
Puzzles give the introverts of the family a quiet way to check out for a few minutes.
Exploring Cultures and Countries
Just play
Study after study shows that what children want most is not expensive gifts and international travel – it’s time with their parents.
Sitting on the floor and playing with whatever your kids are into – without a time limit or a schedule – is the ultimate vacation luxury for a child.
Movie marathon
Every five or ten years, we watch the Lord or the Rings trilogy, Indiana Jones, or Star Wars.
One year we gathered a selection of pirate movies through film history – like Swiss Family Robinson, Treasure Island, and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Road trip movies, superhero themes, and Pixar are also good choices.
I’m campaigning to have a Tom Hanks movie marathon.
Have friends over
Combine any other activity with friends and have a potluck, game tournament inside or out, a movie marathon, or tasting.
At home spa
If luxury spa treatments aren’t in the budget, maybe DIY would work.
Plan for a facial, manicure, or a long soak in the tub.
Walk the neighborhood
When is the last time you took a long walk around your neighborhood?
Are there any hidden treasures? Look for green spaces, exciting shops, or new-to-you restaurants.
Hometown Tourist: Take a Walk
Hometown Tourist: Geocaching
On the town fun
Park
Pick a park you’ve never been to and check it out.
You’ve heard of pub crawls? If you have children, how about a park crawl.
Picnic
And if you’re going to a park, might as well take a picnic.
A progressive park dinner would be a unique way to see your city.
Bike
Get out the bikes and explore a new part of town.
Volunteer
Helping others might be your idea of the perfect staycation.
What can you do to feed your soul and contribute to the community?
Play tourist
If you’ve never taken advantage of the popular activities or sights in your region, a staycation is a perfect opportunity.
See our Hometown Tourist Challenge for ideas.
Walking tour
Many cities and towns host free walking tours. Learn something about the history of your city.
Factory and business tours
Tours are a fun way to get to know the economics that make your town tick.
You can search the web to find established tours – or just call and ask.
Over the years, we toured the grocery store, fire department, the harbor, a garden center, and many manufacturing operations in our area.
Explore the town center
Sometimes called the historic district.
Hometown Tourist: Visit Downtown
Pick up information at the visitor’s center. They will often have self-guided walking tours highlighting significant buildings and homes in a neighborhood.
Every Day Travel: Stop at Your Local Visitors Center
Movie theater
Even better, a Drive-In, if you can find one.
We don’t go to the movies very often, so this is a special treat for our family.
Take a class
Is there something you’ve always wanted to learn to do?
Upholstery, improve your putting average, paint, play the ukulele? There’s probably a class for it.
Either online or in your community, a staycation is the perfect time to try something new.
Try an exercise class
If you already belong to a gym try a new class – something intriguing, challenging, or that doesn’t fit your regular schedule.
No gym membership? Most health clubs offer day passes.
Airbnb experiences
Many people don’t realize that Airbnb offers experiences (not just lodging).
You will find tours and activities of every imaginable type.
Read the reviews carefully to be sure you’re getting what you want.
Linger in the library or bookstore
Pure luxury for a bibliophile. Stay as long as you want.
Shop
Are there any interesting stores in town you’ve been meaning to visit?
Museums
How about museums? What does your town have to offer?
Even small towns usually have one museum, and you might be surprised just how interesting it is.
Try a new outdoor activity
Stretch yourself and try a new sport.
See our extensive list of Outdoor Activities
What have the kids been begging to do, that you put off
Is there anything in town your kids want to do?
Now’s the time to get it on the calendar and make it happen.
Day trips
Beach, lake, or river
Check out a new beach, lake front or river.
Or spend the day enjoying an old favorite.
Neighboring town
Is there a nearby town that you haven’t gotten to know? Explore.
National parks or sites
What National Parks or other National sites are within driving distance of your home?
Hike
Take a hike and enjoy the most beautiful spots in your area.
Brittany put together a resource to help you find hiking trails by state.
How to Become a Hiker – Couch to Trail
City
Visit the nearest city and take advantage of all it has to offer.
Wacky and weird
Are there any strange tourist attractions in your area?
Check out RoadsideAmerica.com
Food
Eat outside
Eating al fresco is a simple and free way to elevate meals.
Setting up a table on the patio, spreading a blanket in the lawn, or taking your morning coffee on the front porch signals the brain to slow down.
Special meals
Plan a few meals that are out of the ordinary.
Special can mean hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for some.
Filet Mignon and lobster for others.
Plan a menu that makes everyone happy. It’s a vacation.
Shop at a farmer’s market
Leisurely explore your local farmer’s market and try something new.
Many farmer’s markets have live performers and food stalls. Lunch and a concert in the open air? Perfect.
Meal box
Would you like to eat healthy meals at home but still enjoy your time off.
Try one of the many meal services that have popped up in the past few years.
We’ve had an excellent experience with Hello Fresh. The ingredients come to your door. The instructions are easy to follow, even for non-cooks and kids.
You will have a delicious, quality dinner on the table in 30-minutes or less, with minimal prep and clean-up.
The boxes are more expensive than shopping at the grocery store but cheaper than restaurant meals of similar quality.
(We do not have any business relationship with Hello Fresh, I just like the service)
Cooking party
You have to eat, might as well make it an event.
We have enjoyed homemade sushi parties. (See Brittany’s tutorial on making sushi).
Invite friends over and cook together.
Progressive dinner
A progressive dinner is eating each course in a different location. Have the appetizer at the first stop, the main dish at the second, and finally dessert at a third location. Add as many courses as you like.
You could do this at restaurants, parks, or with friends.
Cooking class
Indulge in a cooking class – these are usually part entertainment, part learning.
Tastings
There’s a wide vareity of options for this one.
Wine tastings, food tours, and chocolate tours are familiar.
But you can also have tasting’s at home. And they don’t have to be the usual.
Try tasting every apple, berry, or plum you can find at the farmers market. Have a kombucha tasting or test hot chocolate mixes.
This is the perfect activity to include friends in – more people to eat the samples and vote.
Plan an international night
Read our post on Exploring Cultures and Countries and plan a night to explore the world.
Luxury ideas
See a show
Live theater, music and entertainment are usually on the spendy side.
Is there a venue or a special show you’ve wanted to see – this might be your splurge.
Eat in a fancy restaurant
Now’s the chance to try that special restaurant.
Sporting event
Professional sports might be more your speed. Take in a ball game.
Spa
Book a day or afternoon at a local spa.
Try a new sport or activity
Read our post on Outdoor Activities to stimulate your imagination.
Send the kids to a day camp
One year we vacationed in a nearby town, technically this wasn’t a staycation, but we signed our kids up for a kayaking day camp.
They had a great experience and we had 5 hours a day to enjoy ourselves.
There were plenty of other hours in the day to do family activities.
Pick a special place
Is there somewhere in town that you’ve meant to go, but it just never rises to the top of the list?
Maybe a trampoline house, the batting cages, or a driving range?
Think about paint-a-plate shops, or other drop in art type activities.
One year for Mother’s Day, my sisters and I took our mom to a glass blowing facility, we each made a bowl. It was unique and fun. But just enough glass blowing to know that once was enough!
Variations on the staycation theme
Workcation
Workcations are not for everyone. Some people will feel wholly cheated by even suggesting such a thing. For others, it could be exactly the thing.
Staying home (and saving money) to work on home improvement projects is a highlight for Jody. I like the outcome of these weeks at home, so sometimes we compromise.
There are ways to make a workcation fun. Sprinkling in some of the above ideas helps.
Room redo
For decor lovers, staying home to redecorate a room is a joy.
Carving out a week to paint the living room and style might be more fun for you than a trip to Hawaii. If so, you be you and decorate away.
Build something
Some projects need a solid chunk of time, if progress is to be made.
Home additions, a new deck, a major paving project are some of the projects we’ve stayed home to complete.
And as I look at the finished product – some I’ve enjoyed for over 15 years – I know it was worth it.
Complete something with lasting value
What would you like to do that you will be able to look at and remember?
What would bless your life for many years to come?
Is it a scrapbook project? A family tree? A quilt or reupostering a chair?
Maybe it’s something more mundane, like dejunking the house or installing a new lawn.
If the project is going to rejuvenate, energize, or make your life better, it qualifies.
Close to home getaway
Stay local
Just because you decide to vacation at home, it doesn’t mean you have to sleep there every night.
One night in a hotel, an Airbnb, or a local bed and breakfast could be the perfect splurge for you.
You get all the benefits of a vacation away but avoid the time and expense in getting there.
With children, you might trade-off with a friend in town. They keep your kids while you spirit off to a romantic bed and breakfast, and you return the favor.
We have a Great Wolf Lodge waterpark nearby, and many families opt to spend one night at the hotel to use the park even though they live a few miles away.
House swap
We live in the country and often dream (OK, I often dream) of living in town. One day I mentioned this to a friend, and she said, “We’ve always thought we would like to move to the country.” We joked about swapping houses for a year – classic city mouse, country mouse.
We didn’t swap houses for real, but it’s a great idea for a weekend getaway.
There are services that arrange house swaps between strangers – that’s a topic for another blog post.
What I’m talking about would not be for everyone – trading homes with a local friend for a few nights. The appeal is that you will not feel any pressure to “just take care of this little thing” in someone else’s house.
A side benefit is that knowing a friend will be staying in your home will probably motivate you to clean the house and finish a long list of naggy projects. You will wonder why you agreed to this crazy idea; then, you’ll return home so happy you got all those things done.
Your perfect staycation
You may not have dreamed of staying home for vacation.
And you may not have a choice.
Whatever your reason for sticking close to home, a staycation is not a cause to mope. It’s a chance to get creative.
We hope our guide to the perfect staycation helps you make your next vacation a fantastic, memory-making experience.
We would love to hear about it.
What do you enjoy doing on a staycation? Let us know in the comments below.
Related post: Follow along with our Hometown Tourist Challenge and make every day a Staycation.
