Ideas for a staycation…literally at HOME

[Tiredforfive45]

DH and I have decided that we don’t want to travel anywhere this year, even within the UK. Prices are sky-high and we have just moved into a house that we would like to spend money on.
However, we would like to create that ‘holiday feeling’ at home for a full week on a budget of about £500. So basically, having fun, not worrying about normal responsibilities and eating fairly badly

We have the following ideas:

Ask our regular cleaner to come and do 1 hour every day, more as a maid service than a cleaner (she is wonderful and has agreed to this already and is glad of the extra cash!)

Evening meal out / takeaway each night

Breakfasts of pastries, fruit, fresh juices and Prosecco

Lunch either at cafes or crusty bread/ cheese/ hams with watermelon and ice cream

Swimming every day. Booked into 4 different pools, so each only visited max twice.

Wearing sun cream. Every day even if it’s miserable. Just so we smell of holiday.

Kids staying up late. DH and I drinking wine from early evening.

Once kids in bed, DH and I to sit out and play cards / travel board games then watch films.

‘Day trips’ to zoo and museums and 2 mornings at the beach.

Can anybody suggest any other things we could do to recreate a holiday experience?

Not really got any idea because what you have is fab. Just wanted to say this thread has made me smile. How lovely is this :)

Clean sheets every day (put on by someone else)?
Make your own mini-bar?
Could you afford a chef one night on your budget?
Make a point of watching the sunset together.
Send postcards
Order newspapers you wouldn't normally read
Make a souvenir together

I have a feeling the op was looking for serious answers but some of these have been very entertaining nonetheless!

Hire a car at the airport and then drive home on the wrong side of the road?

Take a local vineyard tour where you (and somehow the kids too) manage to get sloshed then have to drive home (ideally on the wrong side of the road)

Hire a sunbed for the week, lie under it for a whole day and experience that memorable sensation of sunburn as you lie in bed crying in pain all night?

Fill up a paddling pool then ask your dc (or even better, someone else's dc), to crap in it just as you jump in?

Leave some prawns in the sun for 48 hours before tucking into them? Or perhaps just undercook some sausages on the barbecue? Then sleep in a tent that night at least 100 metres from your bathroom?

I think this is a great idea!

We did one day at home, one day out. Our days out were:

Cadbury's world
West midlands safari park
Go ape
Twin lakes
Alton towers
London (science museum & bus tour)
Swimming in a large slide park pool

When at home we got a large paddling pool, push bike rides, lunch at the pub, walks in local parks, McDonald's and a couple of duvet days

If you pop into Tesco/Co-op/Spar don't forget to haggle and ask the teenager on the checkout what their best price is! 😁 Be rude not to.....

I am NOT going to lower the tone of this gorgeous thread by suggesting a blazing row on day 3 (followed by making up!) But I will suggest buying some local souvenirs to "bring back" for friends and family. Or just to confuse the neighbours! 😁

Ah yes. Sangria, real books (rather than kindle), real newspapers (rather than online) and crisps are all great ideas.

Love some of the others too.
We considered a hot tub but think it would eat up too much of the budget.

Might find some cheap sunbeds though…

We’ll also only go to SPAR or mini Tesco (every day, obviously) and no bigger supermarkets!

Watching the sunset is a great idea.

Sprinkle sand all over the floor and in your bed sheets.
Either lemon Fanta or a pint for your mid morning drink
Hang your wet towels out your bedroom window (in the absence of a balcony)
Get your neighbours to shout and sing football songs outside your window at 3am
Buy yourself a selection of faux leather bracelets and maybe an anklet
Take a ride on a bus around the local countryside for a day out, stopping off at local villages
Have a blazing row with your DH after too much Sangria
Wander round your local shop in flip flops and a bikini

Hope you have a lovely time!

When you go to the spar make sure that you have an assortment of coins and examine each one carefully, regularly checking the total on the till before handing over a tenner.

Pack all your bags on the first day and sit doing nothing for a few hours with the children chorusing 'are we there yet?'

Only live in the clothes you can fit in a suitcase.

Have a fabulous staycation.

I just wanted to say what a lovely idea this is. It’s made me really happy! Enjoy yourselves. I would echo other posters with the stuff like not watching telly and playing games in the evening. Eating outside for every meal?

Loving sending postcards idea!

Get someone to come and give you massages!

@Aroundtheworldin80moves 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 that proper made me laugh

Get a big box (or designate 1 unneeded room) in which to shove everything that reminds you of bills, admin, house maintenance issues etc and have it all hidden away for a week. The biggest difference between a week at home and a week of holiday is the constant reminders of all the things that need to be done.

Lay in the garden and read if the weather allows.

Go to Aldi or Lidl straight after swimming still wearing your bikini with a beach dress thrown over. Buy crisps, beer, olives, cheese, bottled water and ice cream. If you go to Lidl soon, they might have some stuff leftover from Spanish week.

Replace all your frying pans with the cheapest non stick ones that you can find and make sure there are only metal spatulas available.

A holiday braid/wrap thing and a temporary tattoo. Walk about in a broken flip flop and attempt a fix using whatever is in your bag.

Put Netflix into Spanish/French destination of your choice.

Wear nothing but flip flops all day until the arches of your feet are killing you,

On the first night set off the fire alarm at 3am, and then have lots of confusion as to if you need to evacuate the whole house. (This actually happened to us. No fire, just someone smoking in bed)

Paint your face red, but leave the outline of your shades, for that true Brit abroad look

Ask a neighbour to periodically try and sell you some sunglasses when you are in your garden

Love this! You definitely need orangina, with paprika or peanut flavoured crisps

Join a guided walk/city bus tour/river cruise of your local town/city - act like a tourist on your own doorstep. I've done this and found it really interesting.

'We’ll also only go to SPAR or mini Tesco (every day, obviously) and no bigger supermarkets!'

If you're on holiday it's got to be Lidl surely!

'Eating crisps on your bed, wrapped in a towel after having a shower'

A million percent this. This is all my holidays.

We just had a staycation last week. We organised trips out on three of the days, one to the coast, one to a castle and one to a monument we were both interested in. The rest of the time we chilled out at home, sitting in the garden and just treating it as a break. We deliberately didn’t do any DIY or home organisation stuff.