5 Ways for Families to Save on Food While Traveling

Feeding the family while traveling can be and often is one of the most expensive parts of traveling, so to help we have pulled together five quick ways families can save on food and meals while traveling.

Search Out Kid Eat Free Meal Deals - Many restaurants offer kid eat free meal deals, so be sure to do your homework ahead of time and find some stops along the way that offer these types of deals.  Use resources like KidsMealDeals.com to help find these places.

Stay at Hotels with Free Breakfasts - Search out hotels offering free breakfasts.  There are many out there, so be sure to take the time when booking reservations to find one that meets your needs.

Pack Snacks and Meals - You can save a lot of money by taking the time to shop in advance and pack meals, drinks, and snacks in advance.  Also, forego expensive soft drinks and juice boxes for water bottles and fill them along the way.

Shop at Local Grocery Stores - Stop by the local grocery store and pick up things for a picnic lunch or dinner.  Head to the local park, have a picnic, and enjoy the new scenery.

Cook for Yourself - Consider staying at a hotel or condo with a kitchen and cook your own meals or bring frozen casseroles that only need re-heated.  The added cost of staying at a larger place with a kitchen could easily be offset by the money saved in meals especially if you have a large family.

On the Road Again

A little preparation can turn any road trip into a fun family adventure.

Here are some suggestions and creative ideas to help families enjoy one another’s company while traveling on the road.

FOR TODDLERS: Prepare ziplock bags of items to be given out every 25, 50 or 75 miles. In each bag put a wrapped item, a small toy, juice or a snack (apple slices won’t turn brown if dipped in Sprite), stickers, or something pertaining to the trip.

Pack a new bag of multi colored pipe cleaners (about $1 or so) and let their creativity run wild as they make letters, flowers, animals, chains, jewelry, twist ties in their hair, and practice braiding.

FOR OLDER CHILDREN:  Let children help plan the vacation. Encourage them to pick motels and other stops along the way. Reserve the right to veto any impractical or unsafe plans. They can research family friendly destinations by region here: http://www.schoolfamily.com/school-family-articles/article/10652-top-20-summer-destinations-for-learning.

Give the children a map to show how far you have come, how much farther there is to go. Each time they ask “How much further?” have them take out their map and see for themselves. Older children can use this site, http://www.travmatix.com, to print driving directions along with a list of all the food, fuel and hotel options at every exit along your route. When they get hungry or need a break, have them check the list of what is available at upcoming exits.

Forego iPods, DVDs and cell phones. Play games instead. Come up with lots of categories and prizes so everyone wins.

1.      Scavenger Hunt. Make a list of items to watch for while driving. Make up the list ahead of time and adjust for scenery. Some items to hunt for: someone on a bike, flashing red light, license plate with Q, playground, church, railroad tracks, American flag, etc.

2.      Counting Cows (or whatever). Divide the car occupants into teams, left and right side. Decide how you will determine when the game will end.  Count the cows you see on your side of the car. If you pass a cemetery on your side of the car, you lose all your cows — but only if the opposing team calls out, “Your cows are buried!” A white horse can count as a bonus. The team with the most cows wins!

3.      True or False. Make a statement about yourself. Ask the children to decide if the statement is true or false. Think about which experiences you would like to share.

4.      My Restaurant. Make up a restaurant and describe it. Include outrageous details such as extreme locations, decorations, menu and customers who eat there often. Have the older children write down what the younger children say. Add drawings.

5.      Dots and Lines. Make your own game board using a blank sheet of paper. Fill a section with evenly spaced rows of dots about half an inch apart. Take turns drawing horizontal or vertical lines between adjacent dots connecting them together. If you complete a full square, write your initial in the box and take another turn. If your line creates two boxes, then you get to put your initial in both of them. Some strategy will be involved to see if you can create more boxes than your opponent. Continue playing until all the dots on the page are connected. The player with the most boxes wins.

Lastly, you can check out books on tape from the library, make up silly stories using Mad Libs, and if you can stand it, print out the lyrics to Willie Nelson’s song On the Road Again and sing out loud.

About the Author: Jodie Randisi is a certified Family Manager tm coach and the author of 201 Things to Do When Children Say I’M BORED. For more information about Family Manager coaching or to get a copy of her book, go to www.201thingstodo.com.

Planning Your Next Family Outing

It never fails, we will be happily driving along for a family outing to enjoy some of the traditional fall family fun like a cider mill, corn maze, or just a drive to enjoy the fall foliage and one of us will inevitably ask “Did You Bring the Camera?“  It should never be like this, but unfortunately there are times when we are less than prepared and either have to do without something we forgot or need to turn around and go back to get it .  So this year in an effort to make things easier and the transition out the door and on our way smoother we have created a free family activity planner to help us and you get organized.  Here are some tips and suggestions to make the most of this free printable.

Some common things you may need for your trip are a camera, video camera, sunscreen, maps, cell phones, discount coupons, snacks and/or lunches, car activities, and first aid kit

Save yourself some money by visiting the website of the place you are visiting to see if they have any discount coupons to print off and bring.   Also, to save money and avoid standing in long lines, try packing rather than buying your lunch.

Try and get as much of the prep work and packing done the day or night before to make the transition smoother the next day.  Things you can do the day before are fill the car with gas, check or replace the camera batteries, charge your cell phones, print off maps, pack your family backpack with supplies, go to the bank, set out clothes, check the weather, make lunches or snacks, and check your first aid kit. 

Print off a few copies of the family activity planner and keep them in your family activity file so they are easy to find when you need them.

Save your completed family activity planner sheet along with the map and any other documentation or information about your day trip in a family activity file so that you can reference it next year and save yourself time reinventing the wheel so to speak.

Good luck!

Alternatives to the DVD Player While Traveling

Worried your kids spend too much time watching the DVD player on long car trips and vacations?  Here are four ways you can unplug them from the DVD player and into something new.

Audio Books - Audio books are a great alternative to the DVD and a great option for anyone in the family who gets carsick from reading.  AudibleKids.com offers a lot of great options for kids and there is Audible.com for parents.  You can either download the books to your iPod or CD.

Learn Something New - Use the opportunity during long car rides to learn something new about the places you are visiting.  You can print out maps and state quizzes , use a map game, or download a book from AudibleKids.com on the particular state, country, or region you are visiting.  Another option is to highlight on a map your journey, laminate it, and then let the kids follow along during the ride.   Still another option is to check books out of your local library before you leave on the places you are visiting.

Oldies But Goodies - Before the creation of kids’ travel games and DVD players, families kept occupied in the car with good old fashioned road trip games that require nothing other than an imagination, creativity, sense of humor, and your family.

Sing - Let all of the pent up energy and excitement out of the kids by singing some classic songs together as a family.   Not sure you remember the words?  Then be sure to print off the song lyrics before you leave making sure you have enough copies for every family member.

How to Get Ready for a Family Vacation Without Losing Your Mind

Families spend a lot of time prior to vacation dreaming about all the fun and cool places they will see, but very little time thinking through how much time it will actually take to get everyone packed and out the door.  After all packing is no big deal, right?  All we have to do is throw some clothes in a suitcase, pack a cooler, grab a couple of travel games for the kids and we’re set. 

Unfortunately packing for a family vacation rarely goes as smoothly as we have imagined because in all the excitement of planning the family vacation, parents and kids tend to forget about all the small stuff that needs done before leaving and all the distractions that will inevitably occur.  Distractions like kids getting sick with the flu, last minute assignments from your boss, and your son’s baseball team making the playoffs when you didn’t think they had a chance, all make packing for a family vacation that much harder.  And then there are all pre-vacation things that need done before leaving.  Things like getting the car tuned up, stopping the mail, making pet arrangements, and mowing the grass.  All of these things seem to fade from memory as we dream of sandy beaches, but bring us crashing back to reality the day before vacation begins. 

Depending on the size of your family, the ages of your kids, the length of your vacation, and the complexity of your life, most families need at least three weeks prior to their vacation to get themselves pulled together and packed.   Allowing for a lot of time prior to your vacation helps parents and kids feel less overwhelmed, less anxious, and keep their cool.  Use the suggested timeline below to help you get started.  Feel free to adjust it to accommodate your family’s specific needs.

Three Weeks Prior to Vacation

Make a pre-vacation checklist of everything that needs done prior to your departure. Be sure to include things like cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, and laundry.

Make and finalize your travel packing checklist.

Make a list of things to buy for your vacation. Be sure to include things like sunscreen, new bathing suits, goggles, and supplies for your first aid kit. Use your pre-vacation checklist and travel packing checklist to help you decide what needs bought.

If you will be eating in on vacation and need to do some cooking, make a meal plan for the week and a grocery list. Be sure to include any snacks you will need along the way.

Schedule any appointments you will need for the car (oil change, tune up, tires), kids (haircuts, immunizations), and pets (boarding). Try and schedule them for the following week rather than waiting until the week you leave.

Two Weeks Prior to Vacation

Buy everything you need for your vacation as well as the non-perishables off your grocery list.

Take care of all the appointments you made in Week 3.

Get your suitcases out of storage and find a central place to put them for easy packing.

Begin scratching things off your pre-vacation checklist.

One Week Prior to Vacation

Finish up things on your pre-vacation checklist

Begin packing. Start by doing a little bit every day with things like toys, swim gear, DVD’s , and clean clothing that doesn’t need worn before vacation begins

Two Days Prior to Vacation

Do laundry

Finish packing clothes and all other non-perishables

Clean the house

Mow the lawn

One Day Prior to Vacation

Pack the car

Finish any last minute things on your pre-vacation checklist

The Day You Leave

Pack the perishables in a cooler and the car

Complete any last minute things on your pre-vacation checklist

Relax and enjoy your vacation!

Planning Your Family Vacation

Families with purpose are families who dream together and work together to make their dreams and goals a reality.

I spent hours and hours planning our family vacation to Disney world.  I read the right books, visited and subscribed to all the popular websites, made reservations in advance, and when all of it was done I had detailed plans day by day of how we would spend our days at Disney World.  My carefully crafted plans minimized wait times, allowed for rest times in the afternoon, and had us blissfully enjoying our 7 day stay at a comfortable pace.  Though my plans were extremely thorough they didn’t take into account my husband’s theme park strategies.  Strategies he had developed over the years of standing in long lines and having limited funds.  A strategy that was a combination of engineering ingenuity and a Superman like pace that no human (including me and the girls) could keep up with.  Don’t get me wrong, his strategy had some great points and if we had talked about his strategies BEFORE the trip and BEFORE I had spent hours and hours of planning things would have gone a lot smoother.            

Avoiding arguments is just one reason why it is helpful for families to spend some time prior to their family vacations planning them together rather than leaving the planning up to the parents or in our case just one parent.  Planning family vacations together makes kids feel involved, gives them a voice, and teaches them how to plan.  Planning family vacations together also helps build cohesiveness and closeness in a family by allowing families to share excitement and a sense of fulfillment after the vacation is over and all has gone well. 

So to get your family vacation off to a great start this summer try these family planning suggestions: 

To get things rolling, start by scheduling a couple of times on your family calendar or in your planner when you and the family can sit down together to discuss the vacation.  The bigger and longer the trip the more time you will need.  Also, take into account the ages of your kids.  A general rule of thumb is the younger the kids the shorter the meeting.  It is better to hold several short family meetings rather than a couple longs one if your children are young.  Make sure everyone knows about the family meetings.

If married, talk with your spouse beforehand about any specific parental decisions that need to be made.  Things like budget, activities that are off limits, sleeping arrangements, and means of transportation (car or plane).  Parents should be united before the meeting on the big things so that it doesn’t distract from the other decisions that the kids can help make.

If your children are small (ages 3-7), print off pictures or have brochures handy to show them what the vacation spot will look like and what their choices of activities will be.  Don’t overwhelm them with a lot of choices.  Pick some of the more interesting ones, and let them choose a few.  If your children are older (ages 8 and up) get them involved by asking them to do some research on the computer before the meeting.  Let them look up possible activities and outings and interesting places to stay and have them come prepared to the family meeting with their findings.

Negotiate the differences of opinions by taking votes and possibly splitting into two separate groups for a while.  For example if your son absolutely loves alligators, but your daughter would prefer to skip them, make plans for one parent to take your son to see the alligator exhibit and another parent to either stay behind with your daughter or to do something she enjoys.  Just be careful to not let your FAMILY vacation become a fragmented vacation.  It is okay to split up for some things, but try and make sure that the majority of the vacation is spent together.  Another option is to just compromise and spend time at exhibits and activities that everyone enjoys.

If your children are old enough, give them responsibility to pack their things by giving them their own travel packing checklist.  If they can’t read yet, but are anxious to pack their things, make them their own packing list using pictures rather than words.

Use your family journal to help keep notes of your discussions and decisions.  Put one of the older children in charge of keeping the notes.

If you feel comfortable telling them, share the vacation budget with the kids and let them help you keep track of how much everything is going to cost.  This is a great way of teaching the kids the value of money and how to budget. 

Let the kids help plan the travel games or car activities and get them packed for the trip.  Using a DVD player to help pass the time?  Let the kids each choose a couple of movies and give them responsibility for getting them packed.

Once all the plans have been finalized, ask one of the kids to update your travel organizer with the itinerary and important contact information.  While on vacation, let the kids get involved by entering in the vacation expenses. 

Lastly, document your memories.  Give each of your kids a disposable camera and let them take pictures and write about their vacation in either your family journal or a travel journal. 

Though our family vacation to Disney World was a great time and is the source of some wonderful memories for all of us, it did result in some stress along the way; stress and arguments that could have been avoided if we had just taken some time to plan the vacation together rather than separately.  So give yourself and your family the gift of a wonderfully pleasant vacation by planning it together!

STOP IT! - Keeping Your Cool on Family Vacations

A family with purpose is a family who acknowledges their problems and who work together for resolutions. They deal with their problems and issues with open communication and with confidence.

STOP IT!  My yelling these two little words into the backseat of the car is usually the first sign that our family vacation is beginning to take a detour and if we don’t stop to regroup we will end up in a place that none of us wants to be. 

You love your family with your whole heart and would even give your life for them, but after a couple days of backseat squabbles, smells of questionable origin, and a few wrong turns, it gets a little hard to keep your cool as the excitement and happiness over the long awaited family vacation melt away to become tiredness and irritability. Let’s face it, though most family vacations are more good than bad, there can be times during the vacation when you suddenly find yourself counting down the days until you can return to work.  So to avoid having the time you completely lost it be the family vacation memory your kids talk about for years to come, use these tips to help keep your cool during your next trip.

Know and Recognize Your Family’s Weak Spots

Every family member has them, you know those little things that really push our buttons and send us over the edge into craziness.  For me sharing a cramped hotel room with 5 other people will wear on my nerves faster than anything and send me into a nervous state that nothing short of a separate room will save me from.  For my husband, the never ending requests from 4 daughters for bathroom breaks will drive him insane. Whether your button happens to be cramped hotel rooms, never ending bathroom stops, or something else, it is important to recognize those weak spots before the trip and try to minimize their impact by talking them through, negotiating solutions, and compromising.  It’s easier to come up with compromises and solutions before the problems happen when your mind is clearer and less emotional. 

Slow Down Your Pace

Prevent yourself and kids from getting tired and crabby by slowing down your pace.  No one can enjoy their vacation if they are constantly running and never get a chance to relax.  After all isn’t relaxation one of the reasons we take vacations?  So when planning your vacation, take into consideration the pace you have set and make sure you aren’t going to come home more exhausted than when you left.  Easy ways to slow down your pace are by adding in extra travel days, building in down days in which all you do is hang out at the pool, and emphasizing quality over quantity by cutting back on some of the sightseeing events.

Build in Breaks for Parents and Kids

An easy way to help with the nerves while on vacation is to simply build in breaks from each other during the vacation.  Parents can give each other a break by taking some time for themselves while the other parent stays with the kids or if you are comfortable and it is available, consider using the resort’s babysitting service.  If the kids need a break from each other, use the opportunity to get some 1:1 time with them by taking them separately for ice cream or doing something else they would enjoy doing. 

Laugh it Off

I know this is easier said than done at times, but sometimes you just need to let it go and laugh it off while remembering patiently that what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.

Good luck!

How to Create a Family Travel File

 A family with purpose is a family who strives to manage and balance their lives and who work diligently to prevent their lives from being controlled by outside factors. A family with purpose sets priorities and lives their lives accordingly.

You are thumbing through a magazine and find an article on a really neat fun place to vacation, or you are surfing the net and stumble on an incredibly fantastic resort.  So you either rip the page out of the magazine or bookmark the webpage.  The magazine page gets filed away in some drawer and the webpage gets added to the already thousand bookmarks you have created.  A couple years later while cleaning out drawers or cleaning up your computer you find them and say “oh yeah, I forgot about this place.”

Does this sound familiar?  If so, then maybe a family travel file will help.  Organized by destination, a family travel file helps families keep track of all the information they pick up and want to save on either a vacation spot they visit frequently or a new place they may want to try.  Here is how you create one for your family.

Things You Will Need

3 Ring Binder

Tab Dividers

3 Hole Punched File Folders

A working knowledge of your browser’s bookmark or favorites feature

How to Create

First decide if you want to keep both an electronic and paper based system.  Since so much information comes to us over the internet it is helpful to have both versions, but if you prefer to keep everything in one place stick with the paper system for now.

If you already have a paper file started with information, begin by sorting through that file.  Toss the things you don’t want or need anymore and save the things you want to keep.  Once you have weeded this file out, sort all of the information by destination and put all of the literature you have for each destination into one pile.  Once you have this done, you will have the titles for each of your tab dividers.  Simply write in the destination’s name on each tab divider and place all of the literature you have for each destination in one of the three hole punched file folders and place the tab divider with the file folder immediately behind it in your three ring binder.  If you only have one or two pieces of information on a certain place and not sure you want to make it a separate tab in your binder, simply create a tab and title it “Maybe Someday” or “Possibilities”.  Be sure to have some extra dividers and file folders, so you can easily add to your travel file in the future.  Also consider creating a “Useful Resources” tab to collect any website addresses or general travel information you want to keep.

If you are creating an electronic version as well, the process is very similar.  Begin by creating a Travel folder in your favorites or bookmarks.  In Windows Explorer you do this by clicking on Favorites, selecting Organize Favorites, Select New Folder, Type in Travel, and hit Close when you are done.  In Firefox, you do essentially the same thing, but using the Bookmark feature rather than the Favorites feature.  Next, start by going through your current bookmarks or favorites and if it is travel related and you want to keep it, save it to your family travel file.  Once you have gone through everything, begin sorting everything in your travel folder by destination similar to what was done with the paper version.

If you only want to keep a paper version, skip setting up the Travel folder in your Favorites.  Simply go through you current bookmarks and printout any information you want to keep and place it in your paper folder.

How to Use Your Family Travel File

Once you have everything set up it just becomes a matter of maintaining and using the information.  Here are some tips to help you make the most of your Family Travel File:

Have it handy while planning your family vacation.  Use the information you have saved to create your itineraries and plans. 

While vacationing, remember to save brochures, menus, and flyers of places you want to visit again.  When you get home you can simply add them to your travel file.

If you vacation to the same spot frequently, keep any notes on costs, budgets, and travel items in your file.

Continue to tear out important information from the magazines or newspapers and just save it in your file.  Do the same thing with any new ideas or information you come across on the web.  Simply save it to your electronic travel file or print it out for your paper based system.

Good luck!

Creative Ways of Finding Money for Your Family Vacation Jar

Now that we have our Family Vacation Jar decorated and sitting proudly in the middle of our fireplace mantle, we are looking for some creative ways of adding money to our jar on a semi-regular basis.  Here is what we have come up with so far:

Dad’s Pockets - If your home is anything like ours, my husband routinely leaves his spare change sitting on the dresser.  Now rather than have it sit there collecting dust, we scoop it up and place it in our vacation jar.

Seat Cushions - Inevitably change will fall out of someone’s pocket while relaxing on the couch, so we have found underneath the seat cushions a great place to look.   The washer and dryer are also a great place to look.

Bottom of Mom’s Purse - When switching over purses this spring, clean out all of the spare change that has fallen to the bottom.

Bottle Returns - If you live in a state with deposits on pop bottles, return them to the store and use the deposit return for your vaction jar.

Ice Cream or Lemonade Stand - Got bored kids this summer?  Then let them set up a lemonade or ice cream stand and use the profits to fund the jar.

Family Travel Goals

My kids are big dreamers.  Recently we sat down as a family to set some family vacation goals and at the top of the family’s list was a family vacation to Hawaii.  Obviously the kids don’t grasp the magnitude of what a family vacation for 6 will cost, but since they outnumber us (parent’s remember this if you are thinking about having a third child) we have Hawaii at the top of our list.  But just because Hawaii is at the top of our list and is what we are saving for in our Family Vacation Jar doesn’t mean we will be going there anytime too soon.  We will probably have to amuse ourselves with some family vacations in the continental United States for a while.  But we still keep it at the top of our list and are making plans and dreams to someday get there. 

The benefit of setting family vacation goals is the satisfaction, closeness, and pride family members gain by accomplishing something together as a family.  The destination is the reward.

So how does a family go about setting family vacation goals?  Here are some tips and suggestions to help you get started.

Take some time as a family to sit down together and talk about all the fun places you would like to vacation to as a family. Don’t be critical of any of the ideas, just write them down for now. Ask one of the older children who can write to be in charge of making the list.

Once the list is completed, talk over the pros and cons of some of the trips. Are some of them really expensive (like Hawaii…), are all the kids old enough to really enjoy them, how will we get there, how long will they take, etc.

After you have discussed all the ideas, take a family vote as to which ones go at the top. Either re-write your list with the first choices at the top or make a special indication on your current list of which ones where the family’s top picks. Save your list in your family travel file or paperwork organizer folder to help you remember and for future discussions.

Start making plans for one of your top choices.

If one of your top choices is a big expensive one like our trip to Hawaii, start making long range plans by tackling the Yeah But’s.

Good luck!

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