Vacation ideas with small children

In My Humble Opinion
21

For the OP, my wife and I traveled a lot before having a kid and our vacations were most often like the ones you describe (go, go, go). Now we’ve had our kiddo on three week-long vacations in the last year. The Pacific Northwest (fly + hotel and condo rental), Mexico (fly + resort), and most recently the camping road trip. I would recommend all three trip types for families. We don’t try to tackle too much and know that having a flexible schedule is key. Plus just lots of planning. Oh, and even though you’re doing less you’ll still be completely worn out at the end of the trip.

For the PNW trip we were visiting family and were able to buy some essentials online or via craigslist (to be resold or donated) so we didn’t have to haul a stroller, car seat, etc. Some cities also have businesses that will rent you that stuff. This trip involved some driving day-trips, hiking, and standard city sight-seeing. The kiddo is pretty happy in the stroller and in the hiking pack and really only gets antsy when in the car for too long. Our rental condo had a kitchen so we often did breakfasts in, got lunch out, and then dinner was dependent on the day’s plan.

For Mexico I think if we do it again we might go all-inclusive just for the sake of ease and it probably would have been pretty close in terms of cost. This time around we were in a standard resort hotel but had them put a fridge in our room so we could stock up on some essentials the day we got there. The kiddo loves the pool and beach and Mexican food so it worked out well.

Most recently, camping with the kid was pretty easy. Most meals were at the site but we got a few lunches while out and about. Normal bedtime was pretty much shot due to the long daylight hours. Our campgrounds were on lakes so more swimming and beaches to keep her busy and we did some hiking as well.

22

Another vote for some sort of cabin/beach cottage vacation. This works really well for us (but I am biased because I liked that sort of vacation BEFORE being a parent, coincidentally it works for a 3 year old, too).

Points to consider:

  • don’t go anywhere SO rustic you can’t easily get to a cafe/diner/burger stand, because some of the joy of being on vacation is deciding you don’t want to cook anything
  • find a area close enough to a city or attraction area that you can plan one day of “going to see stuff.” This could even be a mix of an adult-ish thing, like a museum and a kid thing, like a zoo. Have two plans, one for rain and one for shine.
  • bring a new toy or activity in case you get rained in for a day

Other than my rainy day emergency activity, I’m pretty minimalist when it comes to having a 3 year old. I don’t pack that much for a vacation. I give her a bucket and send her out to collect rocks in the yard, this is a great activity for hours while I am relaxing on the porch. When she was a baby, she played on a blanket in the shade while I was relaxing on the porch.

You might hate this idea depending on your social style, but I’ve had okay vacations with another family with kids around the same age. The kids entertain each other. The parents can trade nights of going out to an adult meal, or depending on your dynamic with the other couple, the guys can go play golf one afternoon and the women can go play tennis on another afternoon (GAWD that was so sexist and heteronormative, but whatever, you get what I’m saying, you can break up in different ways let the adults do some grown-up activities). To be honest, I am not really that social so vacationing with another family is not my absolute ideal, but for an occasional thing, it does mix things up nicely in terms of logistics.

23

The people that I know that have small kids love, love, LOVE Great Wolf Lodge. It’s and indoor/outdoo megawaterpark. Water slides, pools, on and on. I think they even have rooms that they’ve made up to look like you’re camping out (for extra). I don’t know where you are, but I googled them and it looks like they have them all over the country.

24

Come to Thailand. Seriously. The locals will coo and fuss over white kids. Just about any restaurant you walk into, the waitresses will all fight to become their babysitter. Exotic and cute (the kids, not the waitresses. Although them too ;)).

25

I have three boys now 15, 12, and 8. Family obligations required us (still do) us to take our main vacation in a cabin in the woods every year. I love the family and the place we go is an amazing beautiful inexpensive well kept secret (so I’m not telling you where it is).

but the cabin ugh! or a beach cottage, bleah. Oh yay, keeping house and cooking meals just like at home except without a dishwasher or baby gates. For camping, add very uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. Those toddler years I came home from vacation seriously needing a vacation.

Here’s my idea, which I never did (see family obligations above):

Find a nearish mid-size city that has a children’s museum. That will be a fun thing and it is also a marker of a family friendly place. Get a hotel in that city with a pool. Then spend your days doing family friendly fun exploring a new place.

For instance, if you found Marbles Kids’ Musuem in my neighboring city of Raleigh NC , you could probably spend a few hours every day there. (buy a membership, they are reciprocal to children’s museums all over the country) It’s a big museum with lots of stuff.

You could also go to the NC Museum of Art which has lots of stuff that might be interesting to kids and is free so you won’t feel bad if you have to leave after 45 minutes, and also has a huge outdoor section to run around in.

Also free and kid oriented is the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, with the slightly less kid oriented NC Musuem of History across a plaza.

You could find a different playground for every day, including Pullen Park which has a carousel and a train and paddle boats. You could go to the playground at the airport and watch planes land and take off.

There will probably be a children’s theater show going on somewhere and of course movies playing.

some hotels have a babysitting service or you might be able to find one through a connection or a service like Sitter City so the grownups can go out for a nice dinner a few nights while the kids are already asleep in the hotel room.

Doesn’t that sound fun? All in a place nobody thinks of as a tourist destination and I’m sure lots of cities have similar amenities.

26

We did it a few times when the kids were little (wait, we’ve done it a few times since they’ve turned into teenagers).

A week, or even a long weekend - with grandma and grandpa or cousins is the bomb to small kids (provided grandma and grandpa are not the useless sort of grandparents). And for mom and dad three or four days of uninterrupted sleep, meals brought to you by someone else where you only cut up your own food and don’t have to worry about food being thrown is delightful. Las Vegas and New Orleans are wonderful “we left the kids at home with Grandma” destinations. The thing I needed most when they were little was a break from being “on” 24/7 - and honestly, if I was going to parent and veg - that’s easier to do at home where all our stuff is.

If you are going to take them somewhere, determine what you need to get from it. When ours were a little older than that (four and five?) we went camping - but camping did not involve much sleeping - the tent was really hot, there were lots of flies and mosquitos. But neither my husband and I are great outdoorsmen.

We went to Disney World - we liked that and have gone there regularly - since they were 2 and 3 - but its a lot of go, and very little sit. It will keep them busy - AND its expensive.

We went to San Francisco and Monterrey with them when they were young (five and six?) The Monterrey aquarium is amazing.

We did a Disney cruise, but not until both were potty trained and old enough to enjoy the kids clubs. That gave us grown up time, kid time and family time.

A little older and they’ve done Washington DC and Germany, my daughter and I head off to England tomorrow - we just got back from Hilton Head - and at twelve she got on a plane by herself and was met by my husband’s cousin in New York City. (My son has become a stick in the mud - he’ll go fishing with Grandpa, but getting him on a family vacation is tough).

27

Seconded. I don’t know where the OP is located, but we have gone to a condo in Helen, GA every year for the last 35 years or so. Like a lot of mountain villiages, it has plenty to do within walking distance and plenty of space for kids to run around. Mine loved playing in the shallow river, moreso even than the pool. It helped that there is a small amusement park and mini golf nearby.

28

You really can’t go wrong with Walt Disney World. Your toddler will eat it up; and speaking as an adult who is a certifiable WDW fanboy, you and your spouse may eat it up, too.

Just remember to take it very slowly, and in very small chunks. Don’t try to take on the Magic Kingdom in a day, starting and 7:00AM and conclude with fireworks at 11:00PM with no breaks. Try it and you’ll be begging for death by Day 2. Instead, get up early and hit one or two big attractions, then take it easy and just wander around. Maybe go back to your hotel for an afternoon nap. You get the idea.

29

We’ve gone to the beach in Michigan the last couple years (Lake Michigan, used to do Empire, MI but now do New Buffalo). The first year, at age ten months or so, the little guy was terrified of everything. Would do nothing but cling to my shirt like one of those baby rhesus monkeys with the terrycloth mother.

The second year, he’d sit in the lapping waves and play with the rocks and sometimes walk a little bit into the water, up to his knees. Last year (couple months shy of three) he would have tried to swim from New Buffalo across the lake to Chicago if I’d let him. We’re going again in a few weeks and I’m trusting he’ll still be enthusiastic about it. Helps though that the surf isn’t anything like the oceans and you don’t get all the salt water.

I guess this doesn’t help the OP much though for a spring trip. Far too chilly to get in there and enjoy.

30

I always say that zoos are the way to go with young children. Something for them to enjoy and learn.

31

Yes, but its frowned on if you leave them overnight (unless you’ve made arrangements beforehand). :stuck_out_tongue:

All these ideas are good, but the best ones are when you make compromises and both actively work to make them work. You take them to Christmas Village and Clark’s Trading Post and they don’t mind if you take them to the top of Mt Washington.

Dinner is a challenge; “Do you have a children’s menu?” will become second nature. Remember: waitstaff LOVE quiet well-behaved & respectful kids; Hellspawn not so much.
Budget your tips accordingly if you want to keep coming back. Nice kids are often forgotten, but “Oh Hell No, I Remember THAT Kid” can last a decade or two.

32

I think the OP’s kids are too young for Disney. They’d enjoy it to a certain degree - but they’d enjoy a trip to the county fair or the local zoo to about the same degree. You’d be better off waiting a few years until they’re old enough to really get the full experience.

33

Furious Marmot:

It can, if you try. My wife and I have taken long road trips with our entire family, and it’s been a blast, we’re hoping we can afford to do a biggie next year. The keys are:

  1. When possible, avoid day drives of more than two hours. Plan your day around things that are, if not in one city, at least not too patience-strainingly far apart. Do long drives at night to the next day’s destination.
  2. Keep the kids verbally engaged. You like National Parks, but think the kids would be bored looking at trees, or caverns, or geysers? TALK TO THEM, in that “kiddie excited” tone, and they’ll get caught up in the excitement. (Oooh - look at that big bear! Don’t his teeth look super-sharp up close?)
  3. Science Museums, Children’s Museums, Zoos and Aquaria can be fun for both adults and kids. For a big trip, I recommend getting membership in a science museum with ASTC reciprocity. There’s a childrens’ museum version of this, called ACM, but they recently switched from a free admission model to a half-price admission model. There’s also a zoos and aquaria version, AZA, but it’s much less inclusive than the other plans. Some institutions are members of all three, such as Dayton, Ohio’s Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, which my family has paid membership to for a dozen years or so. Well worth it.

St. Louis is one stop I’d recommend on a road trip with kids. The City Museum is a fantastic climbing and sliding and playing place, with varied and artsy visuals and even live shows sometimes. And the adults can climb also. (Just take turns watching the kids and doing the stuff yourself.) They have a good zoo, base admission to which is free. And the iconic Arch is a hoot - little kids love the odd elevator that takes you to the top.

34

Bolding mine. I would NOT recommend an ocean beach for small children. But a Gulf beach with calm waters is really great.

And as far as hot sand is concerned, the beach house on Anna Maria that we’ve been going to that I mentioned upthread has trees overhanging the water. Can’t beat that with a stick. :slight_smile:

ETA: I’ll second what Little Nemo had to say about Disney. Wait until the youngest kids are 4-5 years old, minimum, and they’ll get a lot more out of it.

35

I would rent a cabin in Michigan or do a VRBO in Hawaii. My in-laws have a 3 year old and an infant and we’re talking about renting a house in Hawaii together in January. They also dragged our nephew (then solo and 2 years old) to our wedding in Goa last year and he had a fantastic time.

My parents took a vacation to New Orleans the same year we immigrated to Canada (1981)-I was 2 and my sister was a newborn. We still give them the side-eye over that, but they insist it was a great vacation.

36

Mexicans do too, and it’s a lot closer. We didn’t hesitate to leave our daughter (age 8-10) with Mexican families that we had just met, to babysit while we went out for the evening. In fact, I cannot think of a third world country that would be any different.