If you really want to try and take all the stress out of organising the family holiday this summer – how about positively deciding not to bother?
This is not to be confused with simply “not bothering” which is a completely different thing altogether.
Not bothering implies a laziness and a general lack of activity which, though this may be desirable to some, isn’t much fun if you have children of school age. They tend to want action and adventure, lots of activities, days out and ice creams to boot!
So here’s what to do – plan your whole summer holiday itinerary around staying at home and making the most of it. Wherever you live, you can always find great days out and things to do within reasonably easy driving distance. But better yet – be creative in the home with kids’ games. If you’re lucky enough to have a garden, then this is a lot easier, of course. Camping in the garden is wonderful for kids and if you can have a campfire – so much the better. Stay safe of course – but the kids will absolutely love it.
And if you can’t camp out, how about camping in? Put a few sleeping bags anywhere you can find some space on the floor inside the house and enjoy a family slumber party. Kids love all this stuff.
Have barbecues in the garden and let the kids prepare the snacks. Play organised games in the garden and, when the sun goes down, buy a telescope to study the stars – learning together with the children about the wonders of the night sky and the constellations. There’s no better time of year than the summer to do this.
Cook marshmallows on the ends of sticks inside or outside – a simple candle flame will do the trick nicely. Bob for apples, play water games in the garden, play “charades” on rainy days – and play those board games you never seem to have tome for.
The only limits on making a summer a fun-packed time of magical adventure for our children are our own imaginations, the amount of preparation we make and the amount of time we’re able or willing to set aside to make it magical. The rest is up to us.
And there are perhaps more reasons than ever to make this one a stay at home summer – particularly if you’re a football fan. That’s because there’s this little competition going on in Brazil between June 12 and July 13 called the Wold Cup. As it stands, the home country is the 3-1 favourite with bet365 to win the trophy for the first time ever on home soil. But nearby neighbours Argentina, currently at around 9/2 with the bookmakers, may have something to say about that as they have their strongest World Cup squad since they last won it back in 1986 with one Diego Maradona playing for them.
All in all – staying home this summer seems to make a lot of sense, it should save you a lot of money- and it should also be a whole lot more relaxing than paying over the odds for everything and joining the hordes on the roads, at the airports and on the ferries.