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Holidays

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

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Original poster

What to do with kids in evening when on hols!?

29 replies

ThatBeachLyfe · 28/08/2023 10:27

Want to book a holiday for early Sept once kids are back in school. I have a 1 and 3 year old. Love the look of some of the TUI Sensatori resorts but they don't have evening creches/babysitting options. So when the kids go to bed at 7pm what do people do? We used Mark Warner a couple years ago with DC1 and dropped him at the evening creche at 7pm where he fell asleep and we collected him at 10pm after we'd had dinner and drinks and this was lovely so we could have some adult time. Do families with young children just drag them to dinner and keep them awake a bit longer? Or is it a pipe dream to think we can have this kind of holiday with two small children. Do we all eat at 530 and spend the evening sat in the room/patio? Genuinely interested in other people's experiences..

OP posts:

Ellemeg82 · 28/08/2023 10:34

I think at those ages you either do one of 2 things...

You go out for dinner and hope the kids stay up late or fall asleep in the buggy. Maybe have an afternoon nap/siesta so they can stay up later than normal.

You put them to bed at 'normal' time like 7pm and have wine and room service on tbr balcony.

Flowers94 · 28/08/2023 10:45

We just take our kids with us on a night, hotel usually has a kids mini disco after tea and then they normally run around with other kids and the younger ones fall asleep. We just take them back to the room when we’re ready and they go straight to sleep x

cocksstrideintheevening · 28/08/2023 10:46

Depends on the sort of child you have. Mine would never sleep through a meal in a buggy. They went to bed at a normal ish time and we sat on the balcony.
Caravan holidays worked well at that age too so we had a deck and kitchen

Toddler101 · 28/08/2023 10:48

We're going away in early September too. All routine to go out the window as we'll be on holiday so we'll take it as it comes and deal with the aftermath later 😆 2yo and 4m old.

BitOutOfPractice · 28/08/2023 10:49

Eat early ish and hope They’ll power through. This is why we always had a villa / apartment / caravan when they were tiny, rather than a hotel do you could sit somewhere for a drink when you got home.

Youcancallmeirrelevant · 28/08/2023 10:51

We madr sure we booked hotels with apartment style rooms on the ground floor ideally. So babies to sleep in the 'lounge' area, and then we would sit out on out patio playing card games etc, and one of us would keep popping ovet to the bar to grab the AI drinks.

We also never go on holiday just us, always go with friends with kids, and get rooms next to eachother.

Emmacb82 · 28/08/2023 10:52

We haven’t been abroad for a few years so just basing my experience on uk holidays but we generally all have dinner together a bit later than usual and then go for a long walk or arcades etc to tire them out so they go straight to sleep once back in the hotel/caravan. Then we would stay up and have a drink together on our own. Ours would never have fallen asleep in a buggy so that was never an option and to be honest I would never fancy putting them in a crèche or getting a babysitter so we’ve always factored them into our plans.

deplorabelle · 28/08/2023 10:52

We used to have lunches out with the kids then cheese and wine in the hotel room for dinner. If you keep the kids on UK time you can be out a little later before bedtime (ie their bedtime is 8 or 9 local time = 7 BST)

PerspiringElizabeth · 28/08/2023 10:52

Villa/apartment/suite so you have space, eat early or room service, then Netflix 😍 that was our preference but we like not having to be around other people’s kids who are allowed to stay up (absolutely fair enough!), so we opt out 😄

CremeEggThief · 28/08/2023 10:57

You don't put them to bed at 7 on holidays.

You do the same as the locals and other holiday makers and take them out with you for the night.

I remember a lovely night on the Costa Brava when my DS wasn't quite 3 and we stopped at a playground on the way back to the hotel. It was full of kids playing at midnight, and even better an ice cream kiosk was open, so we all had an ice cream too (2nd dessert)!

How brilliant was that! 😍

BananaStraw · 28/08/2023 11:02

CremeEggThief · 28/08/2023 10:57

You don't put them to bed at 7 on holidays.

You do the same as the locals and other holiday makers and take them out with you for the night.

How brilliant was that! 😍

Couldn't afford to take my children abroad when they were little, but i remember lovely camping holidays from 50+ years ago when we did exactly this sort of thing. Kids of all nationalities playing together well after dark. Loved it!

Colinswheels · 28/08/2023 11:05

With younger kids usually did early dinner as a family then the hotel entertainment / bar till as late as they were happy staying up - usually 8 or 9. Drinks on the balcony when they were in bed.

Cantstaystuckforever · 28/08/2023 11:07

If your kids are decent at daytime naps and not too fussy in the evenings, then I'd do like @CremeEggThief says. With my 3 I do a big buffet breakfast, play around, lightish lunch, then an afternoon quiet time of at least an hour after lunch where they can nap or listen to audiobooks or read books (older ones) but no screens, often they fall asleep. This is also my adult time to recharge/read!
After an hour or two we might head back outside for beach/activities, then we have a late snack to tide them over until we eat dinner late and the kids can run around afterwards (or play on tablets at the table if there's nowhere appropriate for running around, or other kids) for a bit, wander home and look at stars, and sleep at similarish times. If you go to a hotel or resort with other kids, there will be a lot going this, so you won't be alone. (Personally I don't enjoy the all-inclusive experience, so don't go to places with mini-discos etc, but still find plenty for them to do).

The alternative if your kids or you prefer a fixed schedule and don't nap, is to keep it fairly similar to home (luckily the extra hour forward for Europe means that at least dinner can move later an hour), and have evening free time - we did have to do this one year when my eldest wouldn't nap but also insisted on waking up with the sun, it was ok but a bit boring.

Cantstaystuckforever · 28/08/2023 11:10

Your hotel might also have a babysitter who could stay over while your kids sleep if you want to go out later one night - personally I'm a bit paranoid especially at this age so I haven't, but lots of friends have done this and found it good.

PassMeTheCookies · 28/08/2023 11:19

We went away in May. DS was 3 and we had a four month old baby. DS napped during the day (he'd dropped his daytime naps at home by then) and stayed up later. Baby just slept in the pram. We took a double pram and found that DS (3) would fall asleep if tired at night time or when out for a daytime walk. He also slept in much later than he usually would in the morning, which was a winner!

We found our routine went out of the routine on holiday, but they were absolutely fine when returning home.

TeaDrinker247 · 28/08/2023 11:21

Keep them on UK time. We’re currently in Greece so 2 hours ahead so if they’re normally asleep by 7 that’s 9pm here. Change their bedtime to later by 15mins every few days before you go and you could get a at home bedtime for 8 and 10 on holiday. It’s also warm so a nap also helps at lunchtime to push them through.
bet a lilo and take for any evening entertainment and let them sleep on that.

WhatWouldTheDoctorDo · 28/08/2023 11:33

Keep them on uk time, but we used to just book apartments with outdoor space when they were that age so we could stay up later and relax.

SoSad44 · 28/08/2023 15:29

Longer daytime nap after lunch, later dinner (time difference is in your favour) then either bed or do something like mini disco or kids entertainment. The younger one might nap in the pram. We sometimes split and one adult took younger one to sleep and other one took one child to a show/entertainment.

Italian kids are always up until 10/11pm in the summer months and have longer day naps.

LiquoriceAllsorts2 · 28/08/2023 15:40

Keep them on uk time so you can benefit from the time difference and let them have a slightly later bedtime so about 9 rather than 7 and just hang out in the room from that point.

PrinnyPree · 30/08/2023 17:15

I went to an AI called viva sunrise in Alcudia last September (although booked self catering and upgraded to AI at the hotel as it was cheaper that way) and booked their best room that had a hottub on the balcony (royal terrace?). Basically did dinner and mini disco with my 2 year old, then when he went to bed (at around 9pm local time) my husband and I took turns fetching drinks from the bar and sipping them on the hottub balcony. (Also had a video monitor with us incase we couldn't hear him wake up over the bubbles)

The hotel itself was great for kids, lovely little splash pool with slides, and the food was good, the resort outside the hotel wasn't much cop but the local beach 5 mins walk away was really nice and great for kids too.

Took a couple of bus trips to the old town and Puerto Pollensa when we wanted to get out of the hotel, but yeah the hottub balcony was great. _

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 31/08/2023 21:32

Give them a good nap in the middle of the day - it’s too hot to be out then anyway.

Then as pp have said, keep them on Uk time so they can happily stay up later.

I don’t have tinies like yours any more, but just come back from a holiday in a child friendly place with my DC. There were loads of kids of toddler age up and dancing or playing in the evening. Was really cute.

Danascully2 · 31/08/2023 21:39

Unfortunately mine seem programmed to wake up like clockwork at 7am or earlier regardless of when they've gone to sleep - but grumpy and awful if haven't had enough sleep... Also they don't fall asleep out and about with stuff going on, just get more and more wired and hyper. So for us it's self catered apartment and put them to bed at a reasonable time - we've tried keeping them up and they just get more and more impossible as the days go on as seemingly incapable of a lie in.... Cannot imagine in a million years they'd nap after lunch either. They're primary age not really little.

Carbonicalloy · 31/08/2023 21:42

We do mostly as people have described above, holidays are meant to be out of the usual routine and I really like having more time with kids so I like.letting them stay up late with us. But have also known a colleague who paid for a young adult family member to come on holiday with her when she had young kids. Family member brought a friend and they looked after the kids for a few hours a day plus (I think) two evenings so colleague coils go out for meal with partner.

it cost a fair bit of course to pay for the extra room, but not as much as the fancy resorts with crèches etc that she had used before, and it suited her kids more as they knew the family member and liked spending time with her.

Orangemoon8 · 31/08/2023 21:45

Why must they go to bed at 7? We just keep ours up until 9/10 then either go to bed together or sit on the balcony with a wine once they’re in bed. Time difference normally means they aren’t tired until 9/10 anyway.

BMrs · 31/08/2023 22:10

We went to Rhodes which is 2 hours ahead. So we kept kids on uk time and they were able to stay up until 7pm (uk time) so 9pm (Rhodes time) and then if not sleepy we managed to get another hour. Then still had an early night.

Took our iPad and watched Netflix in bed with shared AirPods. Living the dream! 😂

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