Staycation Ideas Regardless of Income Or Where You Live: Set Sail
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Staycation Ideas Regardless of Income or Where You Live: Set Sail for a Staycation! We love the idea of staying home for a vacation and making the most of your time as a family without breaking the bank or needing to take several days off work. This list will give you a jumping off point for creating your own ideas. We thought having a theme would make the staycation more focused, fun and memorable. Take what we have and run with it or use it as inspiration to create a staycation that reflects your family’s interests. Feel free to invite friends and neighbors. When are you ever going to be able to afford to take them all on a real cruise? If this seems too overwhelming and complicated, don’t worry. Take the ideas you like and put them on popsicle sticks or strips of paper and just pull one out of a jar when the kiddos say, “Mommy, I’m bored!” Bon Voyage!! Shipwrecked *Decorate your vacation *Survival skills/games *Stargazing spot like a shipwreck * "Walk the plank" *Fishing *Treasure hunt *Backyard obstacle *72-hour kit building *Pan for gold in a course *Emergency shallow pool with water *Fort building preparedness plans and sand. Use tiny balls *Earn a merit badge *Foam sword fights of gold tin foil and a *Archery *Watch age appropriate Frisbee with a few holes *Dig for dollar store pirate movies poked through to drain “booty" in a sandbox *Camping by a Lake the water. *Outdoor cooking *Sun bathing/swimming Cruise Ship *"Shuffleboard" any backyard *Destination exploration: games--ring toss, bocce, etc. Each day visit a local site or tour your *Bingo area: The Zoo, a nearby Metropolitan, *"Night life" talent show. Singing, hike, bike, shopping strips, find goofy magic, etc. souvenirs *Dress up and disco in the living *Collect a similar trinket from each room or outside with the neighbors location like a rock or a small stuffed *"Water slide" slip and slide animal. *Eat buffet style outside Hawaiian Vacation *Slushy drinks in a *Paddle board on a lake or * "Roasted pig" BBQ pineapple pond pork chops, kalua pork *Luau with hula dancing *Sunbathing/Swimming *Learn to cook other *Canoeing * Learn "Pidgin" (Hawaiian Island foods *Decorate your backyard slang) and speak it all week *Play hot potato with in a Hawaiian theme "Howzit Brah?” “Wikiwiki, "lava rocks" *Make leis out of paper Malihinis. It’s time fo’ da *Hike a mountain, flowers grinds.” waterfall or visit a flower garden European Vacation * Lie on a blanket and *Find fun ways to reenact *Rent a canoe in the star gaze while European history evening and pretend pretending to look at the *Make your kitchen into a you're on a gondola, Sistine Chapel pizzeria and learn to toss Point out imaginary * Take 3 hours to have a dough European sites long relaxing lunch and * Climb a mountain or a *Find a river cruise conversation like the large staircase and pretend *Go to a thrift shop French you're ascending the Eiffel and put on a fashion * Make sure there's Tower show French bread, French *Overlook the city lights *Take turns toast, German pancakes, *Learn about architecture pretending you’re a schnitzel, sausages, etc. *Visit museums palace guard and try to *Make and eat gelato ice make each other cream laugh. African Safari/Backyard Campout Survival Skills *Jungle Theme: make *Learn about animal prints *Set up tents paper plate lion masks, and make your own for your *Get a fire pit and safari hats, paper bead family to guess which make food in your necklaces/jewelry, bean animals they are tracking backyard, Make mosaics in a CD case *Make/Experiment with Namibian Potjke *Cook with a Dutch different fire starters *Practice different oven, roast food, tinfoil *Find out about different knot tying dinners, different types light sources (crayons as *Use a compass of s'mores candles, Crisco) *Setup archery, *Make and play camping bb/airsoft/nerf gun games (tag, capture the target practice flag, hide and go seek, *Learn about bean bag toss into cans, constellations and ring toss, ladder golf, spend time watching badminton) the night sky Service Days *Make baby blankets *Hygiene kits *Make art kits, pillowcases, stuffed *Check volunteer.lds.org, Boys and animals for hospitals Girls Club, United Way, libraries, *Volunteer at food banks/kitchen and museums, senior centers, retirement homeless shelters homes, city public works department. Fairy/Gnome Forest *Teach/help your kids *Recycling into fairy *Make mason jar fairy plan and make their own objects and place in lanterns garden in your yard/nature (paint rocks, *Have a Fairy Tea yard! Plant the flowers make rock bugs, bottle cap Party and plants, find a way to bugs, fairy houses out of *Fairy Movie with water, and then decorate toilet paper tubes) Fairy snacks your garden as a fairy or *Teenagers: Dress up like a * Wing Making gnome garden fairy and be the Head * Gnome Garden: *Make Natural Fairy/Gnome that will make clay pot Playhouses out of conduct activities/games mushroom houses for willows, sunflowers, gnomes, paint rocks corn stalks (they will that look like gnome grow how you plant doors, make gnome them into a hut/house to houses out of toilet play in). paper tubes Science Palooza (STEM) *Plan a day doing *Explore bubbles *Paper airplane folding and experiments, blowing *Buy a rocket kit and flying competition things up, building, launcher *Bridge building (who can launching, flying *Egg drop hold the most weight) *Candy experiments *Make rock candy *Exploding toothpaste, *Visit a science museum *Make Lego robots Mentos and coke explosions, *Work on your next *Do water baking soda balloon bombs science fair project experiments outside Pre-Missionary Training Center *Read a book about Joseph Smith and *Iron a shirt gain a testimony of him. *Sew on a button *Read about Jesus Christ and gain a *Learn about different cultures testimony of Him *Try new foods graciously *Read through Preach My Gospel *Scripture study techniques *Learn 3 hymns on piano, ukulele or * Map reading guitar *Service *Learn to get comfortable talking to *Learn to work hard. Do a difficult strangers. project. *Give a Book of Mormon to a *Spend a few hours biking stranger. *Learn to use public transit *Call and order pizza *Learn to cook (communication/ polite phone skills) *Menu planning/shopping *Get others to ask difficult gospel *Learn budgeting questions and look up the answers. Spa Day *Make Kool-Aid lip gloss *Make scrubs and face masks *Manicures and pedicures *Decorate flip flops to wear *Find a local place that gives *Make a foot soak massages (check with massage therapy * Make your own soaps schools for good deals). History/Civics Week *Learn about people in history *Learn about how your system of *Visit historical or political museums, government works compare it to another local government buildings country *Tour police stations and firehouses * If there are separate political parties attend a city meeting where you live, learn what each party *Read/memorize your country’s says they stand for. constitution. Learn what it means Treasure Hunting *Check out * Rent a metal *Do a Treasure Hunt Picnic geocaching.com, and detector (check online (clues take you to diff. places using a GPS device you for your area, or buy and you eat something at each can find hidden treasure one online), and you place) all around your city can explore parks *Create treasure hunts for *Make geocaches and looking for treasure each other hide them for others to *Watch a movie find about treasure hunting Around the World Pick a country or destination each day of your vacation. Combine ideas and role play a story throughout the week. Did your train break down on the way to London? What did you do to pass the time? Did you have an overnight layover in Belgium? What was the hotel like? Did you end up sleeping in the airport? Get creative so little ones have stories to tell about their staycation. Plan meals, games, activities around that country/destination. Become a Tourist in your hometown/nearby city *Visit the city's visitor center and get a *Put on backpacks, grab some maps list of ideas and brochures (places to *Get the public transit schedules, and eat, museums, tours, parks, hikes, ride public transit to get to your swimming pools, historical destinations. landmarks/buildings, national parks, * Take pictures or record your family at etc.) various places and make a photo journal *Plan out your days to visit and do the or video of your adventures. various activities Obstacle Course Play *Set up an obstacle/play *Build it with things *Give dollar store plastic course for things like like cardboard boxes, trophies or medals to each Nerf Gun wars, water folding tables, chairs, participant with a unique balloon fights, paintball, painters drop cloth, title. “Fastest time, Best airsoft, water guns, big pieces of wood, balance, Highest jumper”, etc. capture the flag, glow in etc. Invite the the dark capture the flag, neighborhood to play! etc. Book/Movie Theme Day Read/listen to a favorite book together or watch your favorite movie and then have a theme day based on it. Here are some ideas for a Harry Potter theme day: *Dress up like the *Make a 9 and ¾ *Make floating candles for characters platform door your room *Serve a Hogwarts meal *Make potions (use * Make homemade butterbeer in your dining room some science *Play your own game of *Make wands (get a experiments, blow quidditch in your backyard magic trick book and things up, change *Make chocolate frogs learn some magic colors, etc.) or make *Try some Bertie Botts All together) perfume and lip gloss.