I must say it is rare that we spend a long holiday weekend at home. More often we tend to plan a getaway somewhere - anywhere. However, this year Labor Day sneaked up on us before we knew it, and at the last minute, we made the decision to stay home and enjoy the opportunity to relax and just spend some time in our own part of the world.
So a few days before we began our long holiday weekend, I plotted out a plan for our Staycation, and I think we would all agree that it was not only fun, but also super relaxing. So here are a few tips for you when planning your own Staycation.
1. Get your house in order - literally. The last thing you want to do over your Staycation is laundry, or dishes, or well, any housework really. So a day or two before you begin your Staycation, get all those necessary unpleasantries caught up. The number one rule of Staycation is that there is no work to be done while you are "vacationing". It's a lot easier to make that happen if all the work is already completed!
2. Figure out where you will stay. That's not a trick. I know we are talking about Staycations here, but don't limit yourself to your normal routine just because you aren't traveling. Some people rent a hotel room locally. Others camp in their own back yards, or their living rooms even. We decided to move into our guest room for the long holiday weekend. Whatever you do, make it fun. Change it up!
3. Create a Staycation playlist for yourself. This could include your family's favorite tunes, or something more vacation "themed". For me, I knew it had to include "Holiday Road" and "The Girl from Ipanema". We threw in a few others- and bam!- we were good to go. Play your tunes in the car or at home to set the mood.
4. Make it special. Every night, our innkeeper (yours truly) provided us with turn down service, including mints on our pillows, and an itinerary of the upcoming day's planned activities. Every morning, our head chef (my hubby) made us a special breakfast.
5. Be a tourist in your own town. We all know there is fun stuff to do locally, but sometimes we run out of time to check it out. Make the time, and explore in your own back yard, so to speak. We visited the Johnny Cash Museum in Downtown Nashville, and tromped through the streets with all the other tourists. We even bought a couple of t-shirts for ourselves. :)
6. Plan season-appropriate activities for your family. Since it was a hot weekend, we planned to visit the pool, have a backyard movie night, and spend some time barbecuing. If you are staycationing in colder weather, think pajama day, endless hot cocoa, and fireside stories and games.
7. Make sure you make time for all your favorites. There is a special pizza place in Nashville that we love but don't really visit that often. So it was one of the first places we visited on our Staycation. We dined on their covered patio, took advantage of their two for one drink specials, and enjoyed our leisurely meal. After that, we made our way down the road for ice cream at one of John's favorite spots.
8. Take pictures! It is vacation, after all. Be sure to document your family and the memories you create on your special Staycation.
9. Enjoy your down time. Just like when you go away on vacation, make sure you make time to relax, whatever that means to you. We lounged by the pool while babydoll napped in the shade. Read a good book, take a nap. You get the idea.
10. Finally- remember, there is no work on Staycation. Some extend that rule to include no email, social media, etc. The idea is to enjoy your time away as if you were literally away from home. So no breaks to mow the grass or do the laundry. It can all wait until you are back into the swing of things after your Staycation is complete!
