Wondering how to plan a family vacation while juggling everything else on your plate? These are the essential steps you need to take in order to plan your next family trip.
Figuring out how to plan a family vacation can be a struggle. As a working mom with a toddler, I know that there isn’t enough time to get the everyday to-do’s done, let alone find time to plan a trip. I am giving you the steps I take to plan fun family trips.
You are going to learn about how to plan a family vacation from start to finish. We break down the planning process so you can stop wasting time figuring out what you need to do and focus on planning your next trip.
This post is all about how to plan a family vacation.
How to Plan a Family Vacation
1. Get a headcount
You need to determine who is going on the trip. Is it just you, your partner, and your children? Or will extended family be joining you? It can be great to have extra hands to help with the kiddos and split the bill. But it is also nice to have quality time with your immediate family.
I always say that you can go to the same destination multiple times, and the trip will be completely different each time depending on who you travel with.
2. Determine the length of the trip
After you figure out who is going, decide how long the trip will be. Are you thinking of a long weekend trip, a weeklong vacation, or something else?
There is a lot that goes into this decision. You need to juggle everyone’s schedules and preferences and their paid time off. The more people you are traveling with, the more complicated this decision can be.
3. Put together a ballpark budget
Once you know who is going and for how long, you can put a rough budget together. Basically, you want to get a ballpark number of how much to spend on the trip.
You don’t need a detailed budget just yet. You just want to figure out who is paying for the trip, and roughly how much each person is willing to spend.
Having a starting point for the budget will help when deciding on where and when to travel. You don’t want to start planning a luxury trip if you have a small budget.
4. Pick when you want to travel
Being flexible with your travel dates can help you save money. However, if you work full-time, have children in school, and everyone has various commitments, it isn’t always possible to be super flexible when you travel.
I usually try to find a balance between traveling at a certain time of the year that works best with schedules, and choosing exact travel dates that are the cheapest during the time I want to travel.
5. Decide on a destination
This is my favorite part of planning a trip! I can get sucked into researching destinations for hours.
Brainstorm a list of places everyone is interested in visiting. If you are flexible with where you go and budget conscious, then you can look into the cheapest places to visit at the time you want to travel.
Then let the research begin!
I like to start by looking up the year-round weather for a destination. You don’t want to visit a beach if the high is in the 40s at the time of year you plan to travel.
I also like to look at what activities you can do at the time of year I am planning to travel. This is so important with a toddler! You need to make sure there are plenty of toddler-friendly things to do.
You also want to take into consideration how you plan to get to your destination. Are you driving or flying? For example, if you are going away for a long weekend, it might not be worth spending money on airfare. But at the same time, you don’t want to spend most of your trip driving to and from your destination.
6. Get down to the nitty gritty
When you know where you are going, you can start to work on the logistics – accommodations, airfare, car rental, things to do, and places to eat.
This can be very overwhelming with the number of decisions to make. And obviously, you have to consider your budget and individual preferences when making these decisions. Make sure you give yourself enough time to pull these details together so you don’t want to give up.
When making all of these logistical decisions, you will firm up your budget for the trip as well.
I try to come up with a loose itinerary.
Some things will be set before you travel, like your flights and accommodations. But for others, you want to leave room for flexibility. You don’t want to have every minute of your trip planned because inevitably things will change. For example, your toddler might have a random meltdown, which will cost you some time.
I like to look into activities to do and places to eat before I go. I will make a list and know where they are located, the cost, etc. This way I’m not scrambling each day to research these things since I’m prepared with my list. But then I take the trip day by day and decide what makes sense to do that day.
7. Packing to go
Packing for your trip can be daunting, but also super exciting because it means your vacation is almost here!
You want to make a list of things to take before you start packing so you have a better chance of not forgetting something.
You need to check the weather and think about what you plan to do on your trip before packing. You also need to check luggage requirements if you are flying and evaluate how much room you have in the car if you are driving. You want to do this in advance in case you need to purchase new luggage or other travel gear.
This post was all about how to plan a family vacation to help you save time on planning your next trip.
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