7 Ways to Have A Cheap Family Vacations

It’s that time of year where you are beginning to plan your family vacation. The trouble is with the high fuel costs, and the overall increase in hotels, and resteraunts it gets very difficult to plan an affordable vacation. Well follow these 7 ways to Cheap Family Vacations.

1. Creative The first thing you need to do is be creative. Can you have just as much fan at an amusement park that is 60 miles away as one that is 600 miles away. Can you have as great a time using a friends cabin on the lake as you can renting a hotel at the lake? If money is tight with a little creativity chances are you can plan an excellent family vacation close to home.

2. Beach Campgrounds Beach campgrounds are very affordable and an excellent source of entertainment for the whole family. Whether the beach is on a lake or on the ocean the kids will have hours and hours of fun on the water while you can relax on the beach and enjoy a good book. And usually you have only a few minutes of walking back to the campsite. Whether you pitch a tent or bring your RV this is a very affordable and enjoyable holiday for the whole family.

3. Treasure Hunting Vacations This may be one idea that has never crossed your mind but it is an absolute blast. We use to take our kids every couple of years on a treasure hunt vacation. They were always eager to return. There is something intriguing about looking for that treasure. Even modern treasure hunting has some of the characteristics of treasure hunting in the past. There is always that unknown factor that keeps you hooked.

You’ll need to start by buying a couple of metal detectors. Start looking early and you should be able to pick up a couple of used ones for a very reasonable price. You don’t need anything with too many bells and whistles. Keep it simple.

Then you need to dig out those maps and find some old ghost towns or even a beach works great. You can either plan day trips or you can plan camping trips. The kids truly love the adventure and believe me you can find some pretty cool things!

4. Camping Camping is always a great way to spend your holidays and even with the increased costs of camping sites it’s still one of the most affordable holidays around. Whether you have an RV or prefer tenting your choices for camping are unlimited. You can go from the beach to the forest where you can enjoy wildlife.

You should buy the Woodall’s directory which gives you listings of all the campsites in North America. It provides their rates, and it also tells you what facilities each campground has. As well the directory is full of useful information about things to see and do. It’s well worth the money!

5. Beachcombing This is just the greatest vacation especially for children that live in the city that don’t always get an opportunity to spend time on the beaches. A beachcombing vacation is just what it says. You spend your time combing the beaches looking for treasures like old bouys, wonderful shells, beach glass, driftwood, old fishing items, or whatever other treasure you can find. You can either camp in the area or rent a hotel but camping is the cheapest. In many of these areas you may even be able to pitch your tent on the beach for no fee.

6. Festivals Festivals also make a great vacation. Whether it’s a music festival or a carnival most are designed for family entertainment and can work out to be quite an affordable vacation. Music festivals often provide camping for a reasonable fee.

7. Boondocking For some this is a known term for other they’ve never heard the word. Well let’s start by saying it’s cheap and great fun. Arizona is a popular state for boondocking. You find your own piece of sand and you park your RV for free. Don’t expect any amenities though. No water hookups, no washrooms, nothing but open land. You’ll need to stop in towns occasionally to refill your water and dump your sewer. But the scenery is great, there’s lots to do out in the open and very few restrictions, and best of all it’s cheap.

We could go on forever but this gives you some great starting points. From here let your imagination run wild.


Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.