I’ve got 6 ideas for a family vacation on a TINY budget! Let the good times roll!
These ideas can be used by any family at any time of year when you just need a fun adventure.
House Swap/ House Sit
There are opportunities all over the world to house sit or pet sit in exchange for free accommodations! Some of these sites will pay you for your work and some work on an exchange or points system. Most do require you to offer up your place as well.
So with free accommodations, you can get to know a new location near or far. Look to see what is close to you, you might be surprised.
You can also advertise yourself to your friends! Tell them you and your family are available to house sit this summer. They already know and trust you! This could be a really cool way to go on vacation for (almost) free. Try to find someone with a pool!
Use your normal grocery budget and plan some great meals, explore new playgrounds and parks in the area, get some books from the library and it will be a really memorable trip.
Drive
Print out a map, or grab one from a rest stop. Draw a 2 hour radius around your house.
We often travel North and South from our town, but we rarely travel West!
Looking at the map this way can help you find a new place to explore.
When you have decided on a location, check out Hip Camp to find a low cost camping location. If it is not a great season to camp, make it a day trip.
Up the fun factor by choosing a great soundtrack for the road trip! Our drive to grocery pickup is always special because of the music!
- Roll the Dice
If you are feeling adventurous try this!!
Print out 3-4 of these blank die, one for location, one for lodging, one for food and one for activity. Fill out the dice with a few ideas of places to go, things to do and things to eat!
Here are a few ideas to get you started!
| Location | Lodging | Food | Activity |
| Downtown | Hotel | Fast Food | Stargazing |
| Beach | Tent | Packed | Get Feet Wet |
| Family | Air BnB | Cook Outside | Board Games |
| Sleep in the Car | Watch Movie |
I did do something really similar for my family recently:
- Feast
Celebrate a Feast! If you have some vacation time, but no money to travel? Celebrate a holiday from a far off place.
Solstice
Dia De La Muerte
Boxing Day
May Day
Hawaii Admissions Day
Daughter/Son Day
There are several sites that I found that list holidays for everyday of the year! This is bound to be inspirational!
Grab a calendar and put the holidays you find on the week of your vacation, have a family meeting and choose one or two that you will celebrate.
Plan a party with a real tablecloth and party food! Watch a movie that correlates.
For example
| Holiday | Meal | Movie |
| Hawaii Admission Day | Kalua Pig | The DescendantsLilo and Stitch |
| May Day | Sandwiches and Fruit Salad Picnic | The Sound of MusicMary Poppins |
| World Kissing Day | Quiche and Hershey Blossom Cookies | Never Been Kissed |
| Family Literacy Day | Surprise Midnight Feast | Little Princess |
Oh man, that idea for a surprise midnight feast sounds really fun. Putting that on the calendar for my family!
- Christmas in July
Christmas can come at any time of year! Invite some family to visit and have another Christmas!
December is such a busy time for everyone, so a Christmas in July is a great way to just have fun within a familiar framework.
Of course it doesn’t have to be July and it doesn’t even have to be Christmas! Just choose a holiday to celebrate out of season, what about Easter in November? Half Birthday Party? Valentines Day in June?
Send Invitations
Building anticipation is a great way to make a vacation more fun for everyone. If you are planning a big holiday party, send physical invitations. You can find beautiful printable ones on Pinterest or make your own!
You can buy stamps at many 7-11 stores or buy them online. You could even hand deliver the invitations.
Make a cardboard tree
If you are celebrating Christmas, you are gonna struggle to find a tree in July! If you have an artificial tree, I encourage you to get it out and set it up. It will really make it real for everyone.
Take a big box and cut out two tree shapes and slit them so they fit together. This is a really fun alternative and the kids can help you decorate it!
Give secondhand gifts, or go to the bins.
Now, if we are focusing on a low cost celebration, you might be wondering about gifts.
Look around at what you have that might make a good gift. A wrapped cake would be really fun and unexpected, and a toy between brother and sister could be really meaningful.
If you want to go shopping, I recommend the Goodwill Bins! This is a store with long bins of donations and you dig through them and pay by the pound. I have a video about how I use this resource to get small prizes for my kids.
- Google Calendar Party
So in many cultures there are week-long festivals and celebrations.
What if your vacation could be a week-long party? Sound exhausting? Haha, here are some ideas.
Create a few events in Google Calendar. When you are creating the events you have the option to invite other people.
Then people can join you multiple times during your festival. Having other people to celebrate with can really make it a party.
This would work really well during a school break!
For example, a spring break might include:
- Scavenger Hunt
- Poetry Tea Party
- Ham Dinner
- Yard Clean up and BBQ
- Bingo Night
- Tie Dye Party
So just add these to your calendar and email them out to your family and friends. This way they can see all the fun things and join when they are free.
If you use Next Door, post a few on there! All the kids and families in the neighborhood are likely on break as well!
Tips for Making a Low Budget Vacation Fun
- Get Input
Make sure you talk to everyone in the family to see what they want to do on vacation. If there is no budget, you will probably not be able to do everything people want to do, but you might be able to do some of it!
- Plan It Out
There is a lot of research about travel stress. If you try to wing it, you are more likely to experience travel stress. Have a detailed plan (but not a schedule) for your trip. I wrote a much more detailed article about avoiding travel stress here.
- Talk It Up
Once you have your plan, talk about it. Every morning at breakfast or dinner talk about the trip and how many more days till you leave. Talk about how excited you are about the plan.
- Celebrate the Trip
Take picture of the trip and print them out! Get the most value from the trip by remembering it! There are lots of ways to document and celebrate. 11 Ideas here.
I hope these 6 ideas will spark a fun idea for you if you need an (almost) free family vacation!
