Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

What makes holidays with kids easier?!

85 replies

SGB7 · 19/02/2023 06:19

I’m setting up 10 self-catering holiday apartments in on the South coast of Devon, and I’m desperate make them as family friendly as possible as when my own were little it was always so hit and miss.
What would make your holiday easier with babies / pre-schoolers (and older ones)?

OP posts:
TheBirdintheCave · 19/02/2023 22:26

As a parent with a child in reusable nappies, a washing machine, clothes airer or washing line (if there's a garden) is always something I look for in a holiday apartment.

wishing3 · 19/02/2023 22:30

Sleepless1096 · 19/02/2023 06:56

What you really want as a parent of small children is for your older babies/toddlers to be able to roam and expend energy safely while you look on exhaustedly with a glass of wine. Any set-up where you're constantly having to run after your children, stop them doing things or hurting themselves or you don't have them in sight is stressful.

My baby isn't on the move yet and my oldest is 5 so a bit more sensible now, but when the older one was younger, I would have loved somewhere safe, enclosed, baby-proofed, with very few ornaments or sharp edges. Stairgates over the kitchen and at the head/foot of any stairs (the Baby Dan ones are great and don't look too intrusive). A small fenced garden area with a small slide, playhouse or climbing frame in it. Baths are preferable to showers, but if you only have showers then definitely provide a large tub of some sort so children can be bathed in the bottom of the shower. Definitely a box of toys for kids to pull out and explore (boxes are better than having the toys on display as few kids can resist the lure of a box). A decent mattress in any travel cots (though I don't mind bringing our own sheets/bedding for cots). Personally I preferred travel cots to wooden cots in holiday accommodation as they have soft sides and my DC tended to sleep better in them (the Red kite ones are ace and very affordable), whereas wooden cots tended to feel a bit strange and scary to them.

Everything should be wipeable and preferable no carpet in kitchen/living-room. We once ended up in a holiday let with cream upholstered chair seats (they weren't in the pictures!) and I was so paranoid about our toddler eating on them that I ended up making them eat on the kitchen floor the entire stay, which wasn't great.

And make sure you have a list of what you're providing so families know what to bring themselves and what they can leave behind.

This covers it for me too!

Bunnycat101 · 20/02/2023 07:59

like a few others blinds is one of the big things for me. Small cutlery and plastic cups/plates another. I don’t think you need expensive high chairs- the ikea plastic one would do the job and be easy to clean. I’d also not stay anywhere self catering with kids without a washing machine. You might also want to do separate beach and home towels to help keep them nicer. If you’re close to a beach you may want to think about set-up in the hallway so you don’t end up with sand everywhere. It would also be good to have somewhere to dry wet beach things.

absolute ideal would be a safe space for little ones to play outside.

I think this set of cottages has basically cracked the family friendly test so worth looking at re what the competition might be.

tredethick.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiArsefBhCbARIsAP98hXRcjqr4vkLTtalTnBeAUbnIz_8IyhB_xUahHI6E2L7yxqrgztM-y4gaAjdcEALw_wcB

Bunnycat101 · 20/02/2023 08:03

Other thing that’s helpful is a family toilet seat and stool. I’ve found it really annoying in the past when I’ve had toddlers who were independently using the toilet at home but needing a lot of help on holiday because the toilets were really high with no stool or option for a smaller seat.

fivetriangulartrees · 20/02/2023 08:18

Haven't RTFT but...

Furniture with rounded corners, high chair that has been cleaned, a washer dryer. Avoid gaps (e.g. between beds) that toddlers can fit in but adults can't. No spindly 4-foot tall plant stands. Stairs that are filled in, not open (forgotten the word for that). Spotlessly clean, including in places an adult wouldn't usually choose to sit and eat snacks in (e.g. wardrobes).

On a recent holiday I was very grateful for kind maintenance staff who brought us lots of extra sheets and took away ones the poorly kids had vomited on and insisted on remaking their beds for us even though it wasn't their job. ("Don't be silly, you don't want to be changing sicky sheets, you're on holiday!")

No bowls of fucking pot pourri!

User4670 · 20/02/2023 08:23

The small night lights that are just bigger than a plug socket are handy to have for any night time awakenings in a strange house

Yawningalldaylong · 20/02/2023 08:23

As above, haven't Rtwt but

Think in age groups, babies, toddlers etc and list items so it's clear what you offer on your website (presuming you have one).

We've always managed and adapted with as little as possible but the hardest times were the newly toddling/wobbling when everything was a hazard to fall on and there was nowhere safe except the pram.

AGoldenNarwhal · 20/02/2023 08:59

I second @fivetriangulartrees on the no pot pourri. I had a very unpleasant night with my then 18 month old when they swallowed a few pieces in an otherwise child-friendly holiday let. They had diarrhoea and tummy ache, but I didn't realise at the time quite how toxic it could be or we would have been straight to paediatric A&E!

addictedtotheflats · 20/02/2023 09:03

Taking a grandparent 😂

Gwen82 · 20/02/2023 10:34

addictedtotheflats · 20/02/2023 09:03

Taking a grandparent 😂

Depends on the grandparent!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page