Only children at Christmas

I'm an only child, and my parents weren't very proactive at arranging for me to see friends when I was younger, and I definitely got bored and lonely. But a bit of boredom isn't a bad thing really, and I deliberately plan some dull days for my son (also an only) to give him a bit of time to decompress and do his own thing.

I think this school holiday is trickiest, because so many people with larger families were / are busy seeing different family members for the whole holidays. When I was older, I had youth orchestra courses straight after Christmas every year though, so the pre-Christmas quiet time was a nice break before that.

I grew up as an only child (much older ‘half’ siblings).

Honestly, I look back at my childhood as a bit boring. My mum was SAHM but I’d used to beg to go to holiday camps. So much so that I’d ask for my Christmas present to be a week long holiday camp for Easter. I’d do every extra curricular activity/sport to just get me out the house - even Sunday school! I used to be super jealous of kids that had to go to a childminder/wraparound care.

I agree that the problem seems not so much your DS being an only, but that your DH is not doing much to occupy him - eg cinema, ice skating, out for lunch, seeing Christmas lights, meeting up with wider family, even watching Christmas films or doing Christmas activities at home. Will you see any wider family at any point, even if they don't have DC? That being said, nothing wrong with him doing a holiday club if he wants. DD is an only and did lots when she was younger.

Post-Christmas play dates. Pre-Christmas activities with DH.

I always think these pre-christmas days are difficult, so much build up and then a couple of flat empty days waiting for the big day. I have two DC but my sister has an only and she used to plan lots of activities in the holidays, though not holiday clubs. We got together so the cousins could play and there was always a cinema trip.
If the cousins aren't available how about your DH taking him to the cinema? And plan some meet ups later

Mine’s an only. She meets up with friends, we meet with wider family. But she also appreciates the downtime of being just the three of us.

Mine is an only. We are always busy doing family things at Christmas so he doesn’t really get bored. He’s also tired after the long winter term so doesn’t mind staying in a lot. In the other holidays we do make an effort to arrange play dates or do activities like swimming etc.

How old is your DS and does he play computer games? Obviously you can have way too much screen time but my DS is nearly 10 and we do allow him to play certain games (Minecraft mainly) online with friends so he is socialising in a sense, they chat to each other over their headsets.

Can you arrange the play dates with his friends from school/hobbies?
Two weeks as him and nobody else his age couod be quite a long time for everyone!

It depends on the individual, only you know your own child. Mine is happy without any holiday clubs over winter break.