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Tips for Planning a Family Staycation

Lately I’ve been on a mission to be more present in my girls’ lives. One of the pitfalls of my blog career and social media duties is that I often find myself plugged in to my computer or my phone and not showing my kids that they have my full attention. Are any of you guilty of that on occasion?

One opportunity came up recently when the Holiday Inn brand invited me to stay at one of their lovely hotels. Since it was close to Faith’s birthday, I picked their Holiday Inn Downtown Seattle hotel location and planned a little family staycation. I thought it would be a good idea to give you a few tips to help you plan your own family staycation.

ACTIVITIES

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Knowing what your kids enjoy to do while at a hotel helps when checking what amenities are available. For example, do your kids love swimming while at hotels? Check to make sure the hotel you pick has a pool. Or perhaps you’d love to have a family movie night, ask if there are DVD players available or consider packing cables to allow you to stream a movie from your device onto the hotel tv.

Also be sure to notify the hotel if you’re celebrating a special event during your stay. Since we were celebrating Faith’s birthday the Holiday Inn staff had signed a birthday card for her and it really helped make her feel special.

LOCATION

Planning a staycation starts with staying local. Take a look around your own city area and find a great attraction or two that you would like to visit, then you can search for a hotel nearby.

Holiday-InnThe Holiday Inn website allows you to type in a point of interest on their search form so you can find hotels nearby. And, the Holiday Inn website also has a ‘Local Guide’ tab that tells you the distance the hotel is from popular destinations. For example, the Holiday Inn Seattle Downtown hotel was only half a mile from the Space Needle and Experience Music Project.

DINING

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Food is a huge part of life with kids, so knowing that there are restaurants nearby that your kids will enjoy is a big factor for planning your staycation. A big plus for staying at a Holiday Inn hotel is the Kids Stay and Eat Free® program, which can help families save money on dining.

ROOM SPACE

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Think about how much time you’re planning to spend in your room and plan accordingly. Are you planning a movie night? Perhaps book a room that has a separate living room with plenty of sitting area, or perhaps you all like to cuddle when you watch your movie, so be sure to book a king size bed. And if you want to enjoy some popcorn with your movie, be sure your room has a microwave.

BE PRESENT

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Once you’ve gone through all the work for planning a staycation, make sure you let yourself be present with your family! It’s a great time to practice some distance from your electronic devices and get back to the basics. Now is the time to remember how to talk to each other and make an effort to engage and have fun together. Staycations are great times to reconnect since in many ways you’ll feel at home and not have the added stress of travel to your vacation.

Our family truly enjoyed our special staycation at the Holiday Inn Seattle hotel! It was a perfect family getaway, especially before the hectic holiday season. I hope you’ll plan a fun staycation for your family to help enjoy your home city and each other.

Take some time to play tourist in your own city! Here are some tips for planning a hotel staycation for your family.

Tips for planning a family staycation

Thank you to the Holiday Inn brand for hosting our family for our one night staycation in Seattle. Our family enjoyed our simple getaway with your friendly and familiar hotel brand.

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Kate

Wednesday 2nd of December 2015

Love it! Love all the tips you provided throughout---like letting the hotel know that you were celebrating a birthday--how sweet of them to have a card for your daughter! We haven't done a staycation with the kids yet, but I imagine it would be a lot of fun, especially as they get older. Also think it would be fun to travel to a close-by city like Tacoma or Olympia!

Kimberly

Wednesday 2nd of December 2015

Thanks so much Kate! We had a lot of fun just hanging out together, catching dinner at a new place in the city, then watching a movie in the room. I was so much less stressed since there wasn't a lot of packing and planning involved, so it really allowed us a chance to get away and reconnect!