Why is it that we always look to get out of town when it comes to planning family vacations? With a little research, there are probably a ton of unexplored opportunities right in your own backyard! If you think about it, that’s pretty much what a comprises a family vacation anyway. They’re all about taking time out of your routine and experiencing new things together as a family. We don’t always need to travel long distances, in order to enjoy a vacation with our family.
Here are some ways to search out and plan local holiday activities that won’t bust your budget and will help you begin the New Year debt free and feeling relaxed!
Think Like a Tourist
You don’t need to live in a big city to discover fun family holiday activities. Most cities and neighborhoods plan annual holiday lighting events, local holiday theater in addition to many other forms of Holiday Entertainment that are economical and will provide fun memories for your family.
It’s simple to research online using the name of your city along with a few keywords to help find fun activities that might interest your family. There are tons of activities like Holiday Lighting Festivals, Holiday Parades, Turkey Trots, Craft Festivals and local theatre performances that will all make great family activities.
You might be surprised to discover just how much your city has to offer. For example, I live close to the beach and last week I was quite surprised to see a temporary Holiday Ice Rink is being constructed right near our city center. Now how unexpected is that in the middle of 80 degree temperatures and just blocks away from the sand?
Become Your Own Event Planner
Create a holiday-themed event to host in your home and recruit your kids to help plan this event. Traditional activities like Holiday Cookie Baking or Holiday Cookie Swap parties are always a great excuse to invite in friends and neighbors. You could also host a holiday ornament decorating party and ask guests to bring whatever beads and other shiny things they might have on hand to help contribute to the project. Iff your kids are the high energy type and weather permits, think about hosting a sports-themed holiday party that will help everyone burn off some of that energy, along with a few of those extra holiday calories too.
If you’re lucky enough to live in an area with snow, there are lots of snow related activities like hosting a snowman building competition or planning a neighborhood sled pull that are fun ways to get everyone together.
Spearhead a Neighborhood Holiday Tradition
This one takes a little more time and commitment, but your efforts will go a long way towards building a richer sense of community for your neighborhood, so it’s well worth it. Plus, there’s no better way to mentor leadership to your kids than by demonstrating it yourself.
It could be something as simple as working together on creating a flyer or composing an email with your kids to send out to your neighbors for organizing an evening of neighborhood Christmas Caroling or organizing a homegrown Turkey Trot.
Another idea might be to organize a Progressive Neighborhood Holiday Party that could work in much the same way that Progressive Dinner Parties do. It can be something as simple as having each participant host hot cider and holiday cookies or it could be structured as part of a Holiday Cookie Swap. It doesn’t need to be an event that’s super complicated, the most important thing is just getting everyone together.
