Planning your Family Holidays for the year

Last updated on July 28th, 2020 at 10:48 am

Planning your Family Holidays for the year

It’s January! Got the blues…. well, I sure hope not. If you do find yourself with the “blahs” though why not combat those January blues with planning your family holidays for the year. Every January, the husband and I sit down and tentatively write out the dates of when the kids are out of school and start planning our family holidays for the year ahead. Not only is it a great thing to perk up those spirits but it also gives the family something to look forward to.

We don’t just plan our family holidays in January but we usually book the big ones too. Yes, I agree it’s so soon after Christmas and a time we should be budgeting which we do. We also save all year the previous year for our next adventures so when the January sales hit the travel providers we are ready to score some amazing holiday deals too. We noticed for our big summer holidays and a few long weekends for half terms booking in January really has saved us so much money. (no one is paying me to say that either, honestly, it’s true). We have been booking our family holidays in January for five years now and have seen such a difference.

Planning your Family Holidays for the year

So how do we decide where we want to go and what we want to do for our family holidays for a whole year? First, I pull out my master list (book) of every family holiday I ever dream of going on with my kids from babies to young adults someday. I started one when they were little and each year we go through it and see if we can check at least one off the list to do together. Every family should have a book full of those dream holidays however big or small they are and keep them handy. I like to write down ones that are far fetched as much as ones that are weekend road trips. Nothing is off limits because you just never know. If you need some wild ideas why not Design Your Dream Holiday Home or have the kids design one and see what they dream of for the next family holiday? It’s so much fun to think outside the box and it also sparks ideas for your family master holiday list too. Check out here where 10 Bloggers Share Their Fantasy Holiday Rentals too. We had a blast seeing where our family wanted to go next.

Below you can see my kids had a bash at it too with their wild, safari animals, beach front, colorful family Villa. While this isn’t realistic it told me a lot about what they want to do this year like seeing animals possibly a safari or zoo trip even. Plus they really want to be on a sandy beach and swim lots considering they picked a beach, pool and hot tub. What would your kids come up with?

Planning your Family Holidays for the year

Funny enough this fun family game made me add family Group Villa holiday to my list which we have never experienced before. We have it already on our list one with just our immediate family but now one for extended family and friends too. I think it would be such an amazing experience if my parents and my husband’s parents and our siblings and nieces and nephews could all share a large Villa one day and experience the ultimate family holiday together. That’s a huge dream of mine.

After I go through our family holiday list, I think in terms of the kids ages? Are they too young to go to Disney World this year, are they old enough to go on rides and get the most out of it? Would they really enjoy Glamping in Wales for a long weekend away during half term? Would they prefer a skiing holiday or is that just my dream? I think of every place on our list and then we think of budget for the year for travel. That helps us determine what type of holiday we are going to book and where we want to go.

Planning your Family Holidays for the year

Dates are important too. We have a family calendar where we can put if the kids are in school or not. Does hubby have a big golf competition on or am I away at a conference on those dates. Then we sit down and book our year of family holidays together.

What’s not to get excited in January about all that? It’s such a fun process and it really makes January a lot more fun for us. If the January blues still got you blue why not check out my 10 Ways to Beat the January Blues.

Planning your Family Holidays for the year

We look forward to our 2017 family travels and going to Ireland for Easter to see hubby’s family and our summer to America to see my family and popping over to France to see friends we haven’t seen in a while come October. We might even squeeze in a bank holiday weekend Glamping or Center Parcs this year. We love having family and friends in other countries giving us the opportunity to travel to these places and share different parts of the world with our kids on a budget. They are always gracious enough to let us stay with them and feed us and provide the utmost hospitality. I am forever grateful to each experience and memories made with them.

When and how do you book your family holidays? Do you plan out your family holidays or do you wait until you have time off to figure out where you want to go? I would love to know, please comment below.

 

*We teamed up to take part in the fun Expedia Design your Dream Home rental game and help promote it. 

 

 

2 thoughts on “Planning your Family Holidays for the year”

  1. How cool is that app, looks so fun!? I love reading about your holiday plans, it makes me want to just book the same holidays you’ve talked about! Really hoping to get abroad this year 🙂 x

    Reply
    • The kids had a great time playing around with their fantasy holiday too. We love seeing our extended family for our holiday trips but I think one day soon we need to take a trip abroad just the four of us. I would love to go on a skiing holiday one year that would be amazing.

      Reply

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