Share your favourite holiday memories with Haven: you could win £100. NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

We've been asked by the team at Haven Holidays to find out MNers favourite memories of holidays!

Please share on this thread your memories of the first time you took your own children away (if you have been lucky enough to have been on holiday with your LOs): where was it, what was it like for you and for them?!

And what was the equivalent one with your parents? How do you think they compare?

What did you do on your holiday when you were a child compared to what your children do on holiday these days?

What's the strangest holiday souvenir you've ever seen or treated yourself too? Maybe a model donkey from Spain? Or some weird drink that tasted good when you were away!?

Add your thoughts and memories on this thread and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £100 voucher Love2Shop voucher (an excellent chance to stock up on the pre-holiday essentials as the vouchers are accepted at 20,000 stores including Boots, W H Smith, Debenhams, Halfords and Matalan). Prize draw: Monday 31st March 9am.

Please note comments made on this thread may be used by Haven on their pages on Mumsnet, in social media or possibly elsewhere.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

PS for everything you need to know to make the most of your Haven holiday. From outdoor experiences for the whole family to on-site restaurants for the fussiest of eaters do check out the NEW Haven pages on Mumsnet

we used to go camping every summer holidays and drive from scotland to the south of england then ferry over to france. it was amazing, i have fantastic memories of sleeping in the car using the back of the car like a bed with my brothers , something you could never get away with now. i remember the tinned chicken in white sauce we used to have every night that tasted so good, and mums home made buns, enough supplies to last us 2 weeks. i remember going to really fab campsites where we were left to roam free all day, getting lost in the woodlands, going down huge tunnel slides, obstacle courses in the lake, going out swimming far in the lakes, all with no supervision.... there is no way you would be allowed to do half the stuff we did then without a guide. i have brilliant memories. hmm souvenirs... i don't remember collecting one specific thing, but i did like collecting badges and postcards from everywhere i went!

I remember being on holiday with my dad, his gf and my sister, we went to Skegness I was 14 and snuck out early on our final morning and sat on the beach with my holiday romance and we watched the sun rise. I havent been on a proper holiday since. I havent seen a sunrise as beautiful since either.
Ahh fond memories...

Please share on this thread your memories of the first time you took your own children away (if you have been lucky enough to have been on holiday with your LOs): where was it, what was it like for you and for them?!
Our first holiday was at Center Parcs and was a bit of disaster :( I ended up in the hospital for the entire holiday and got out in time to go home. Our favourite holiday as a family has to be Disneyland Paris!! My daughters eyes just lit up everytime we met a character. She also loved the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride and now demands that we all call her 'Brave Little Pirate Olivia Turner'

And what was the equivalent one with your parents? How do you think they compare?
We went on lots of camping holidays and center parcs :) We have being going to Center Parcs since for around 15 years and I love it everytime :)

What did you do on your holiday when you were a child compared to what your children do on holiday these days?
Truthfully, what we do is still very similar! We try to keep active on holiday and do whatever activites we can find. Swimming, Cycling, nature walks....we're not ones for sitting by the pool.

What's the strangest holiday souvenir you've ever seen or treated yourself too? Maybe a model donkey from Spain? Or some weird drink that tasted good when you were away!?
Strangest holiday souvenir....a mobile phone case....
It's not what I normally see as a souvenir but it was only 2 euros and it was just so darn cute :)

My favourite memory so far with DS1 (2.5) is a day at the beach where he learned to love jumping in the waves with his dad holding his hand. Up until then he had been afraid of the waves but with a lot pf patience he found the joy in jumping in breaking waves.

My childhood vacations were mostly to the seaside in a rented cottage. They are gentle and relaxing memories.

My husband and I want to teach our boys to love the outdoors and being active. I think our parents did that for us and it's what we hope to pass along to them

Ou first family holiday was to Cuba, which in hindsight probably wasn't the best idea with an 18 month old. The plane journey was horrendous! despite that, we had a lovely time and the highlight was definitely introducing our daughter to the water. Watching her turn into a little water baby was magical. These days we prefer to stay closer to home as we now have two children under four. We find that we can have just as much fun holidaying in the UK without the travel stress.

We took our son to Egypt when he was 8 months old - it was for our honeymoon. If I had known how much he would embrace the sunny climate we would have gone further afield! He loved it! and all the locals loved him too.

We now have three children and go to centre parcs every year, infact we have just got back. I can't even explain how much the kids loved it. They love the pool, the parks, the sport and just being there as a family is utterly priceless.

When I was little my Uncle owned a huge house in Cornwall which he rented out to students, so was empty during the summer holidays. The whole family on my Mum's side would all pile down to stay, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. We would spend our time rock pooling, going to the odd visitor attraction and eating endless Cornish Pasties, as well as exploring the overgrown garden and playing hide and seek.

My husband and I now take our own children to Cornwall every year, with his parents, Grandma and siblings, who are just starting to have their own children too. Now we have to rent out big converted barns or farmhouses but we still go rock pooling, the kids still play hide and seek, and we still eat our own weight in meat filled pastries!

The accommodation is simple, the weather is unpredictable, and we have to cook our own dinners but I wouldn't trade our holidays for all the posh hotels abroad in the world.

Our first holiday with DD was around the Black Forest region and visiting friends near Stuttgart in Germany. We took the ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam and then drove. DD was only six months but she took everything in. The driving was a bit gruelling, especially for a little one in a car seat but we were impressed with all the motorway services as they all had somewhere for little ones to crawl about and play. The best thing was watching DD sampling all the different foods - we even ordered her her first meal at a restaurant and she was showered with attention which she adored. When I was growing up our family didn't have much money and the majority of our holidays were camping. We never went on holidays as babies. I was five when I. Went abroad (the only family holiday abroad that I've had).we went to Majorca and I'm afraid the only real memory of that holiday was of wetting the bed! My mum and dad took us camping a lot. There was nothing better than finding a lovely secluded spot somewhere near a river and swimming and cooking on an open fire. To this day I always sleep so well in a tent! I think that the major difference between the holidays I had with my parents and the ones that I take my children on is money. We will be able to go further afield and we will be able to afford activities. This being said, I will definitely be taking the kids camping too. There is something so great about the more simple things in life! And as for souvenirs... I'm terrible for picking up pretty stones. I have some lovely stones from our honeymoon in New Zealand and also some volcanic rock from mt versuvius. My husband just shakes his head. In Prague we had lots of cocktails. I loved mint julep. It just tastes of holidays to me now.

Please share on this thread your memories of the first time you took your own children away (if you have been lucky enough to have been on holiday with your LOs): where was it, what was it like for you and for them?!

Ours was a £9.50 Sun Holiday with DD around 18 months, to Camber Sands. We all had a great time, and DD has loved caravan holidays ever since.

And what was the equivalent one with your parents? How do you think they compare?

Can't remember, but we only ever went away for day trips in this country, or do DF's country of birth where none of us could speak the language, so I don'd have many happy holiday memories from my own childhood.

What did you do on your holiday when you were a child compared to what your children do on holiday these days?

As a child I sat in the car with siblings while parents went into pubs - nowadays we take DD everywhere with us. DD loves caravan holidays - one of our favourite was at Haven Wild Duck - but I never went on any as a child.

What's the strangest holiday souvenir you've ever seen or treated yourself to?

DD brings home anything - mangy feathers from the beach, any "treasures" she can find.

Strangest souvenir I brought home? A boyfriend. That was in 1993 - celebrated our silver wedding last year.

Memory of childhood holiday - melamine plates and cups in the Sprite Alpine caravan. I can still remember that caravan smell over 40 years later. That and the strange instruction to "make yourself small, you're in a caravan".

Took dd1 to S of France at 4 months - where dh and I met. She had an uncanny knack of sticking her fist in people's Kir then sucking her fingers..... Very un-mny I know but she's 20 now and doesn't seem to have suffered any ill effects.

Thanks for all your memories - am pleased to say funkyfreks wins the £100 Love2Shop voucher! Well done