Works for Me Wednesday is backwards this week. I post a dilemma and you get to leave a comment with your solution. This is your big shot. I know you’re brilliant, now you get to prove it.
I would love some ideas on how to take an inexpensive vacation with children. Tips on packing, destinations, activities, travel and feeding the troops are all welcome.
I can’t wait to see how smart you all are. Oh, and if you just want to leave me a comment to tell me that you LOVE my blog, those will be accepted as well. 
Check out my other WFMW posts or head over to We Are THAT Family to read other dilemmas and reader solutions.
You may also enjoy:
Mrs. Rivera,
I don’t know if you have any desire to see western Missouri, but one of our favorite inexpensive vacations is there. We like to stay in (rather primitive- no tv!!!) a cabin at Montauk State Park, where they have a beautiful location complete with trout hatchery, and eat at the restaurant at the park where you can watch all of the wildlife (birds, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, etc.) through big windows. We also float (in canoes and/or intertubes… next time we hope to try kayaks) the nearby Current River and have a picnic lunch. It is so gorgeous and relaxing- lots of time to enjoy family without a hectic “running and doing” schedule. If you ever head in that direction, it would be well worth checking out. A couple other state parks closer to the southeastern side of the state are Johnson Shut-Ins (with natural water slides) and Elephant Rock (with huge, granite boulders that you can climb around on). They were favorites of mine and Chloe’s when we were little. The way you all enjoy camping and the outdoors so much gives me a feeling you’d really love them.
Of course we LOVE your blog- we look forward to checking it every day! You have such a precious family that we are so glad to know!
Blessings,
Sam
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My family went on hundreds of factory tours when I was a kid. We loved it and learned so much without realizing it. I know things have probably changed, I doubt if the pulp companies let tourists stand right next to the logs being peeled for plywood without any safety gear on (gosh I remember how loud it was!)but even observing behind safety glass can be fun.
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2 things that our family (of only 4) has done:
1) The beach (Destin, FL). We have done this with my whole family including 8 kids and just as our nuclear family with 2 kids. The beach offers so much for every age to do whatever their age will allow them to do. A couple of things… with small ones, spend the extra if you can to be in a low rise condo right on the beach. The packing up is easier and with the low rise condo, fewer people will be on that section of beach. And work hard ahead of time to fix meals to freeze and take with you. Saves money by not eating out and you’re not spending all your time in the kitchen.
2)Lake Murray, OK. Stay in the lodge. Go to Turner Falls for the day. Go to Arbuckle Wilderness for a day. Rent a boat, swim in the lake, play put-put, go horseback riding. Tons of stuff to do. We had a blast!
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I’m not sure where you are located, but St Louis is a great family destination. The zoo is fabulous and free, the science center is free, the art and history museums are free (except for special exhibits). All of these are located in Forest Park, and you can even park on the street for free if you want. Another free activity is Grant’s Farm (tram rides, animals, petting zoo). The Arch grounds and the Museum of Westward Expansion that is under it are free, but you pay if you want to go up in the arch. Of course there are a lot of great places that charge admission too. Here’s a website w/ more info/ideas http://tinyurl.com/2loyvx
Where ever you go, try naming your own price on Priceline for the hotel. I’ve had the Hyatt for $35/nt!
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In January, we spent a week renting a condo in Destin, Florida. I loved that we could hang around the condo and that we were able to make some of our meals in. I would definitely recommend condo rental as a great vacation option. (I actually think I wrote about it in a WFMW in the past month or two.)
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We have an extra-large family, and we LOVE road trips.
In 2004, we took a 3 week, 8,000+ mile road trip through 22 states. Our youngest kids were just 2 & 4 (we had 9 of our kids with us). We budgeted $4,000 for the trip, and only spent $2,500 (with $1,000 of that on gas).
In 2006, we took a 5 week, 8,000+ mile road trip through 27 states, with 8 of our 10 kids.
In addition to those long distance road trips, every year or two we take the 3,000 mile (round trip) road trip to Southern California. We DON”T do Disneyland. We just love hanging out at the beaches.
We camp. We rarely eat out. We buy all our food at the grocery stores, and cook on our Coleman “Roadtrip” gas grill. (You can do 3 meals a day on the griddle/grill.)
We pack everything in Rubber Maid tubs. They stack wonderfully in the back of the van. We label all of the tubs, and put them by category, rather than by child/person. We have all church clothes in 1 tub. If we need to dress up, we all need to dress up. We have all swimsuits and swim towels in 1 tub. Then, we don’t need to dig through 10 tubs if we want to go swimming. We have all extra shoes in 1 tub. Then, mom gets a tub, dad gets a tub, and a couple of kids share each of the remaining tubs (for shorts, t-shirts, underwear, socks).
We used to just tent camp (3 room, 10×20 tent), but decided to get a pop-up tent trailer for our cross-country trip. We LOVE it. We can put it up or take it down in just 10 minutes. It can sleep 9 of us. (We take along a little dome tent for the big boys.)
We do NOT have dvd players in our car. We do NOT allow the kids to have MP3 players while driving. We listen to books on tape (from the library). We listen to Adventure in Odessey. We play all kinds of games in the car. (We have the travel editions for yahtzee, scrabble, risk, connect four, etc…) We have found that even the driver can play Yahtzee while we drive. I’ll reach over and roll the die, the kids will tell me what I rolled, and then I will tell them how I want to play it. Rather than being distracting, I find it helps my mind to stay alert while driving for hundreds of miles per day. (We have done many 700 mile days with all of the kids.)
We get AAA travel guides before each trip, so we can find all of the great free and/or inexpensive places to go. We also have our own local zoo membership and science center membership which have reciprocal memberships with zoos and science centers all over the country. So, last time we went to Southern CA, we went to the zoo one day and the science center one day, free of charge with our Wa. State memberships. Pretty cool!
Well … I think I’d better just write my own post about all of this fun stuff. I’ll let you know when it is up, so that you can read more of my thoughts/ideas about traveling with an extra-large family.
Laurel
mama of 13
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I think that we are going to take a road trip with plenty of camping thrown in there! Destination is unknown at this time…but I am hoping to get to Colorado next year!
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One bag per person. Each bag has a large trash bag in it for dirty clothes. One superlarge cooler that has a two lid openings, one large for putting in more ice and one small for getting at the food and drinks while still in the back of the van (also has a plug on the side to empty out the melted water. Always eat breakfast and lunch out of the cooler, replenishing supplies as we travel. One tub that has the picnic table supplies (tablecloth, plates, cups, bug repellant, cleaner etc.) One backpack for things the individual wants to do during the ride or when there is free time (books, games, camera, small craft projects) plus everyone has a flashlight in their bag. This bag is also used for souveniers.
We travel not on Interstates but on state and county roads. We get to see so much more of the country that way and the pace is so much nicer. If you are going to be heading to a National Park or Parks, you can buy a year long pass that will let you get in to most if not all of them and it can end up being much cheaper this way.
Our vacation philosophy is we can’t do it all so we do a few things but do them well. For instance we went to Colorado a few years back and loved climbing the Great Sand Dunes (National Park). We visited Zapata Falls because we saw a small sign for it. It cost us nothing but gave us lots of memories. The road up to it is very off roady so don’t take a really nice car up there. The hike to the falls is maybe a mile and an adventure. The Mesa Verde cliff dwellings is a full day event (National Park).
In north east New Mexico there is an extinct volcano (National Park) that is pretty cool. The journey to it is scattered with chunks of lava – great fun to see.
I agree with a previous poster that St. Louis is a great place to go with a lot to do. I don’t know how camping friendly or picnic friendly it is though.
Following the Great River Road is fun and pretty. If you are bikers, bike the Katy Trail in Missouri.
Oklahoma has a lot of State Parks with fun things to do. We frequently Western Hills Ranch there. There was camping, horseback riding, fishing, hiking and a small wildlife facility.
Sorry to babble hope something was useful!
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Um, Disney has kids sail free this summer on their cruise. Food is included and the cruise is fabulous. you would pay for two adults and airfare depending on where you live.
Have fun what ever you do. Vacations rock.
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Hands down our favorite place to vacation is Jellystone Campground. We live in Michigan so we have been to a couple in our state. We have an old pop-up camper that we bought very cheap. I never thought that camping would be something I would enjoy but at Jellystone they have so much planned for the kids that I don’t have to occupy them. They also usually have a couple of pools and decent bathrooms etc. The kids talk about these trips all year long. Most of the parks have cabins you can rent if you don’t own a camper or don’t want to tent it. The ones we have been to have been in “touristy” towns so there is a lot to do and see outside of the campground too. Good Luck!!!!
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Wow thank you, please keep the great ideas coming. Now I wish that Mark had more vacation time!
Blessings,
Kimberly
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Ship ahead! When we went to Disney (our only “big” family vacation), we packed a box two weeks ahead with snacks, sippy cups, stamps for postcards, address labels, sunscreen…all the little stuff. We shipped it to ourselves, c/o the hotel, with “Hold for Arrival mm.dd.yy” on the label. We then used the box to ship home souvenirs as well. For our next trip, I will see if it’s cheaper to do this than pay luggage fees on the airlines as well.
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Hi Kimberly,
We try to stay somewhere with a kitchen, whether it be a condo on the beach in Florida, a cabin in the woods of Alabama or an overseers cottage on a plantation in Virginia. We generally plan on eating out lunch as that is cheaper than dinners in most restaurants. We breakfast at our temporary home–I bring homemade breakfast goodies, bacon, sausage, eggs, etc to fill us up until a late lunch. Dinners consist of all ready cooked frozen dinners. I typically do a roast with gravy (frozen) add rice and English peas for a side. Spaghetti is also easy to take. We take a couple of large ice chests to hold the food and we take lots of bottled water to drink throughout the day as it is very expensive otherwise. When we stay in hotels we look for continental breakfasts and microwaves and refrigerators in the room. And suites. Or at least connecting rooms! When I was speaking at homeschool conferences we began taking our crockpots and putting large baking potatoes on in the morning when we left for the conference. In the evening they would be ready for butter, sour cream, bacon bits, chili, whatever. Nice and not too expensive.
We now have 6 children at home and 3 of them would eating from the adult menu. Five of us on the adult menu is too expensive to do for a long time. I just found out that we have a trip to the homeschool conference in Orlando coming up in May. I won’t be able to take our large coolers, so we need to plan more money for food. Most of our other expenses are covered for that trip, so that will be nice.
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Hi Kimberly,
Thanks so much for your suggestion at The Trysting Place. I would love to be able to learn Greek. Hopefully someday. I know you’re right! That’s the best thing I could do!
Thanks again!
Rachel
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For a big vacation, we save up and go to Disneyland or Disney World. We try to do it inexpensive.
For Disneyland we drive, take a cooler with food in it, and eat on the road. We used to pull into a McDonald’s, eat our lunch in the parking lot, and then go in and buy cokes and let the kids run around (when they were younger).
We get an inexpensive motel (we never stay on sight) and get one with a fridge and microwave. We eat at our hotel when possible, and then have dinner in the park.
For souveniers we would go to a Disney discount store, or make sure the kids looked around a bit before spending their money.
Other vacations were mostly day or weekend ones, like to the beach or something and those were camping.
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9 kids? Did I read that right in a comment you left in someone else’s blog. I can’t help much with the vacation stuff, but mainly because I can’t hardly survive with 2 kids! Nine? How do you do it? I would love to have a bunch of kids, but holy cow I can’t image more than I already have..lol. I am actually madly jealous of you!
Nine? lol.
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I love these tips. Great question. We have traveled all over the place with our three kids (all teens now). This summer is a little different. Our oldest is graduating from high school and two of our kids have girlfriend/boyfriend that they would love to invite to go.
What can we do that is affordable for older kids that love to go fun places?
Everybody loves the beach…but affording a condo is not always economical. At least it’s not when I search online.
Hope you have a great trip.
Lots of good advice here.
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Visit the Cities On The Cheap blog for cheap stuff in cities all over: http://www.citiesonthecheap.com/find-your-city/
We live in Atlanta and love visiting Chattanooga (it’s only 2 hours away from us)… a great destination for kids. They have a large aquarium, a Children’s Museum, and various cute spots around town to eat and stay (including hotels with kitchens). There is a huge pedestrian bridge over the river with people walking and biking on it, and a lovely carousel under the bridge, along with a park fountain that kids can run and play in (it’s a flat space with spouting water). On that side of the river is a cute line of shops and restaurants including my fave for kids: Clumpies. They sell homemade ice cream and hot dogs and that’s about it. It’s a cheap place to stay, and there is a free trolley that takes you around town. Of course there are parks and mtns and water things to do as well nearby!
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This spring becaaause of circumstances (we are trying to sell our house and get a new one built) we are taking a staycation. DH is taking 3 days off and we are going to see and do lots of things around our area as if we were tourists. We will eat breakfast out, do picnic lunches in the park etc. We plan to spend most of the daytime hours out and doing. We will not let ourselves work until kids are sleeping peacefully in their own beds and then we can sleep in ours.
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I have 5 kids. I thought about camping once. . . I like to vacation where it is restful as well as memorable. I’m not sure where you live, but we live about 5 hours from the Outer Banks of NC. We rent a 6 BR/6.5BA house in Corolla in May, when the prices are 1/4 what they are in the summer. Also, there are very few people on the beach. The water is cold, but we have lots of fun anyway. The company we rent from is wonderful – beds are made, towels are provided, etc. http://www.twiddy.com
With a weekly rental, it costs us less per night than one room at the local Hampton Inn!
For food, I make a meal plan before I go. Some items I pack and take with me, I also make a shopping list before I leave home so I can just run to the store when I get there.
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