Six ideas for the perfect family staycation
Many of us are tucking our passports away for the summer, with our plans for a family holiday abroad being postponed until next year. But while we might not be able to hop on a plane and explore the world, it’s still just as important to take some time off, relax and let yourself enjoy everything summer has to offer while you’re at home. We have come up with some fun activities and ideas for the perfect family staycation that’ll have you forgetting all about your old summer plans in no time.
1. Go camping at home
Camping is all about the atmosphere, so if you’re not able to go away, bring the essence of camping to your house. Whether you own a tent or not, you can easily recreate a camping experience indoors. If you don’t have one, build a fort using sheets and blankets, chairs or other bits of furniture. If you’ve got a garden and the weather is okay, bring all of these ideas outside!
- Put up your tent or fort and lay out the sleeping bags.
- Hide some stuffed toys around the room or garden to send the kids on a safari.
- Add a little bit of reality by turning out the lights and using torches instead.
- Hang some fairy lights across the room to replicate the night sky.
- Eat a camp-side dessert, made up of s’mores and roasted marshmallows.
- Put some outdoor animal sounds in the background on your phone.
2. Host a family sports day
After the first few blissful days of a staycation, you might find yourself feeling a little sluggish and lacking inspiration. A friendly sports day competition can be a great way to have fun while staying active. Pick 4-5 different challenges and compete individually. We love making score board and a DIY trophy for the winner. Here are more ideas on how to host your family sports day.
3. Go on a scavenger hunt
A house scavenger hunt can be the perfect way to keep the entire family entertained without having to buy anything. Write a list of clues or items that you’ll need to find the house. The harder you make the clues, the longer the hunt will take. Then, simply send the kids (and yourself) on the hunt to find those random things.
4. Put on a home theatre performance
Get your creative juices flowing with a little home theatre performance or talent show. You can either create the play as a group, perform in front of a camera and send it to family or watch it later, or you can create one-man-shows and perform for each other. Spend the morning coming up with a theme, a plot and the script. Then, have everyone search the house for props and costumes or have a DIY session and create them yourselves. After you’ve gathered everything you need, set aside time in the afternoon for everyone to rehearse. Finally, it’s performance time! Set up some chairs, gather around, and sit back to enjoy the performance.
5. Go around the world from home
Though you might not be able to explore the world this summer, with a little imagination and creativity, you can bring those holiday destinations to you. Every day pick a new destination that you want to ‘visit’. From there, look up local recipes, mocktails and cocktails for the adults. Think homemade pizzas for your Italian inspiration, enchiladas for a Mexican flare or some tapas for a taste of Spain. You can play music from the country, watch videos or a documentary and even do a cultural trivia quiz at the end of the day. If you’d like to delve into it a little more, learn a few sentences and words in the country’s language and challenge each other to see who can learn the most.
6. Build a time capsule
While your staycation might not have been the way you planned to spend the summer holidays, and though things feel a bit uncertain at the moment, building a time capsule can help you take a moment to reflect. When you find the time capsule someday, hopefully you will look back on your time and smile. We’d suggest finding a spot in your house that you don’t often use or burying the time capsule in the garden. Things to include can be your favourite memories from your staycation, a note to your future self, a book, a newspaper, pictures, trinkets, and really anything you think you’d like to find again in the future.
