When I was a child, our family rarely took vacations. I grew up in an unusual family with six children, three of them having special needs. That alone discouraged my parents from taking us all on trips. But in addition to that, it was common in those days to just cash in the vacation days for family needs rather than using the funds to travel.

Courtesy 123RF/My Make OU

Over the years, I remember a few times going to our grandparents cabin up north, but those times were few and far between. I have fond memories of those trips, and wish there would have been more of them. But I understand how difficult those trips were for my parents.

Recently, I’ve heard my dad say how much he regrets that we did not more vacations. I’m sure that’s a common regret for many.

Vacations With Extended Family

When my husband and I began to raise our own family, we wanted to be able to vacation. In the early years, we took our vacation time to visit family who were living far from us. Visiting family provided and enjoyable getaway, as well as stay within our meager vacation budget.

We were even able to fly rather than drive over that one Christmas where we only had to pay for four seats and there were seven of us on the flight. Yes, they allowed our 7-year old son to have one of the three little ones sit on his lap since we had run out of adults laps. One of the many benefits of having a toddler and twins just sixteen months apart.

Creative Vacationing

But the day came, when we realized that vacationing on our own as a family would bring a multitude of benefits, so we began to explore alternatives for family trips.

I agree with Master Card that these times are priceless and should be a priority for the family, yet necessity required us to have a budget and stick to it for our vacations.

So if you are on a limited budget, and still want to create great get-aways as a family, here are some low-cost options:

1. Stay with family or friends. This may not always be optimum, but if others welcome and can accommodate your family, this will cut down on cost. Make sure you have the freedom to go off on your own as a family and explore. Trading housing for your vacation with friends from another city makes it mutually beneficial.

2. Take up camping. This was one of our best choices. It allowed us to take longer trips and not be dependent on another family for housing. But since neither my husband or I had done much camping growing up, we had a lot to learn. So we found a family of veteran campers who was able to get us up to speed fairly quickly. We learned much about working together as a family, preferring one another, and dealing with adverse circumstances (rain for days in a row) when we took up camping. Some of our funniest vacation stories and biggest blunders took place at the campsite. These were experiences we will never regret.

3. Try a Staycation. Vacationing at home does require some discipline as well as some creativity, but if done right, it can be just as fulfilling as a trip away. To do this, we had to unplug from our phones, vary who prepared meals and cleaned up, ignore laundry and housework, commit to time together, and plan daily adventures that were new and different. Anything routine or connected to “usual” life had to be put on pause. Consider even having your mail held during your vacation! Following these few guidelines allowed us to be refreshed and have fun as a family even though we had not left home.

The important thing is that you make it happen. Whether you fly or drive, camp or stay in a hotel, cook your own food or eat out, visit family or do a sight seeing trip, vacationing is a wonderful way to build family memories and unity.

Taking family vacations tells your kids you love them, that you love having a family, and that you love spending time with just them. Though it may be a stretch to save finances for the trip, or to take the time away to do it, take regular vacations. You’ll be so thankful you did.