How to Plan a Family Vacation – start by getting the children involved in the planning.

A family vacation should ultimately accommodate and satisfy everyone who travels.

Tips for Brainstorming Family Travel

Gather the family together and brainstorm your destination and activities. Brainstorm using the following tips:

• Listen to and record everyone’s ideas (no matter how outlandish).

• Prioritize each idea, taking into account the cost, time and distance to a destination.

• Plan your vacation around the interests of the youngest child – but make sure that there is also something exciting for the older children.

• Build in time for everyone to relax by planning no more than two activities per day.

• Schedule in full days for relaxation at the beach or around the pool several times during the vacation.

• Visit (link Great Family Vacation Tips) and review the different travel possibilities that exist.

Travel with Children

The following issues should be addressed when you travel with kids:

• Airfare discounts

• Sightseeing discounts (link the budget travel store)

• Family friendly meals (including preparing your own meals)

• Souvenirs for children

• Educational opportunities

• Special travel medicine considerations

• Passports and visas (if necessary)

• A child-friendly travel budget

• Special packing considerations

• Special safety considerations

• Any other issue that you believe to be important





Packing for Kids

Traveling with children requires additional packing considerations - especially with respect to very young children and the extra items they require. Here is a website that focuses on packing for children.
Travel accessories for baby may be purchased from the following websites:










Children’s Travel Activities

“Are we there yet?” is probably the most common question that children ask on a trip. For full impact however, don’t forget the whiny tone that sometimes accompanies this question. Fortunately you can easily handle this.

Focus on keeping your children constantly occupied, stimulated and fed. Here are some travel activities for your children:

• Outline the travel route in a manner that your children can follow. Tell them about some of the interesting things that they should watch for. If your children are older, let them “navigate” as you travel.

• Bring games for your children to play. You can also download games at Mom’s Minivan and Puzzlemaker.

• Stop every 1.5 - 2 hours to eat/drink something, move around or use the restroom.

Return from Family Vacation to Home Page