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Summer is here (yay!), and that often means planning a fun family vacation with our boys to a new and exciting destination. Or does it? We always enjoy getting away as a family and visiting new locations, but we’ve also enjoyed plenty of fantastic summer staycations that our boys have loved.

What exactly is a staycation? The details can vary for each family, but basically, it’s a wonderful and inexpensive way to spend time as a family, enjoying all that your hometown has to offer. And in some cases, you never have to leave your house!

Top five benefits to creating a summer staycation bucket list

There are many benefits to creating a summer staycation bucket list. Here are our top five:

1. Staycations are less expensive. Traveling as a family is costly. After taking care of monthly expenses, funding kids’ sports and activities, paying medical bills, and putting food on the table, there’s not always money left for an expensive family vacation.  Planning a summer staycation is budget-friendly and can be tailored to the needs of each family.
   
2. Staycations are more convenient. Summer travel can be complicated and challenging. Finding affordable flights that fit into your schedule is not always easy. Doing laundry and packing for the family is time-consuming and inevitably, at least one item will get left behind. Booking activities in advance requires hours of research and planning. Planning summer staycation activities are quick, easy, and doesn’t require a lot of packing or planning.
   
3. Staycations allow everyone to get a good night’s sleep. I don’t know about your family, but when we travel, we usually try to find the cheapest option and often share one hotel room. That doesn’t lend itself to any of us getting much sleep, let alone getting quality sleep. There’s nothing worse than overtired, cranky kids (and parents!) on vacation. Summer staycations allow everyone to get a good night’s sleep in his or her own bed most nights and ensures that everyone is rested and ready to have fun during the next day’s activities. And if for some reason someone doesn’t sleep well at night, there’s always an opportunity for a guilt-free nap the next day.
   
4. Staycations are much less stressful. Travel can be challenging. It’s no fun for anyone when having to deal with flight delays, long car rental lines, huge crowds, or unexpected weather conditions. Stress creates tension and frustration, which doesn’t lend itself to a relaxing time together as a family. Summer staycation activities allow for kicking back and enjoying time together without all of that undue stress.
   
5. Staycations provide lots of flexibility. When planning a big vacation, it’s often necessary to plot out each day’s itinerary. Each day’s agenda needs to be planned out to ensure that everything fits in. Various unforeseen circumstances can affect those plans. Inclement weather can result in a canceled outdoor activity. A family member’s illness may lead to a trip to a local emergency clinic, putting any family plans on hold. When planning staycation activities, you can pivot if something doesn’t go as planned. You are in your home, and you have access to more options than when you are in an unknown city where you might end up stuck inside a hotel room.

Boredom be gone!

A summer staycation bucket also list helps eliminate the “I’m bored” syndrome that kids often experience during school breaks. Even if we can’t leave the house on a particular day, we always have other options to choose from like board games, jigsaw puzzles, or movie marathons.

Summer staycations for every age

Our boys are teenagers now but we’ve been doing summer staycations since they were preschoolers. As they aged, our kids’ interests changed but there were still plenty of options for summer staycation bucket list activities. Of course, depending on the ages of your children, the choices you make for your summer staycation will vary.

Who says summer bucket lists have to be written on paper?

We found that the best way to create a summer staycation bucket list is to create an actual “bucket” list. When our boys were in preschool, a neighbor started a tradition with her girls that inspired us to do the same.

When coming up with the list of activities that we wanted to do during our staycation, instead of writing them down on paper, we wrote each activity on a clothespin and clipped it to the top of a bucket. Hence the name “bucket list”.

It’s an inexpensive and fun way for the whole family to get together and create a list of staycation activities you’d like to do each year.

Creating your own summer staycation bucket list

Supplies needed to create your summer staycation bucket list

• One inexpensive, plastic bucket
• Two dozen clothespins, the ones with flat edges so you can write on them. (less or more depending on the number of children in your family and the number of activities you are planning)
• A few black fine point markers
• An assortment of colored markers in lighter colors

Creating your summer staycation bucket list

Distribute the clothespins

Provide each child with his/her allotted number of clothespins and a permanent marker. It’s up to you to decide how many clothespins each child will receive. *Note – for younger children who haven’t yet learned to write/spell, you may want to complete the next step for them.

Write down one activity per clothespin

Each child will write one activity on each of their clothespins. It’s a good idea to discuss each idea as a group before writing them on clothespins to avoid duplication and to ensure that the activities they choose are do-able and affordable. (We learned this the hard way!)

Categorize your clothespins

Once you have written all on all of the clothespins, you will need to decide how you will categorize your clothespins. In the next step, you will be color coding each clothespin with the colored markers based on category. We chose to categorize our activities by the amount of time needed to complete each activity. Our three categories were 1) within an hour, 2) a half-day, and 3) a full-day or more. You could also separate your clothespins by cost (free, less than $10 or more than $10), or you could categorize them in whatever way works for you. It’s your bucket list, so it’s up to you!

Color code your categories

Once you determine your categories, you will use the colored markers to color code each category. In our case, for any activity that required an hour or less to complete, we colored the flat edge of the clothespin green. For activities that took up to one half-day of time, we colored those blue. For those that took a full day or more, we made those red.

Decorate your bucket

It’s up to your family how you decorate your bucket. Some years we added stickers. Other years we just wrote on the bucket with markers. We always included the current year on our bucket so when we look back at photos later, we will remember what we did each year.

Clip your clothespins to the bucket

Once all of your clothespins have activities written on them and are color-coded by category, your kids can clip the clothespins to the bucket. It is super colorful and festive when it’s complete.

Putting your summer staycation bucket to use

To make it fair for our boys, when it is time to choose a staycation activity, they alternate taking turns. Because we categorize our activities by amount of time needed, whenever we have an hour or so to fill, we would ask our boys to go to the bucket and choose a green clothespin. Sometimes we have to adjust our choice due to weather and/or budget but most of the time it works just fine.

When we know we will have a longer block of time, depending on whose turn it is, our boys will go to the bucket and pick either a blue or red clothespin corresponding to the time available. It’s a lot of fun to anticipate and guess which activity will be chosen!

After we complete an activity, we drop the clothespin into the bucket. Then at the end of the summer, we dump the clothespins out of the bucket and reminisce about all of the fun we’ve had. We also make a note of the clothespins we want to repeat the following summer.

So many choices, so little summer

At first, it might feel a bit overwhelming to create a summer staycation bucket list. There are so many great activities to do inside and outside the home. Each year we first sit down to create our summer staycation bucket list we are reminded that summer will fly by quickly (doesn’t it always?) So we do our best to prioritise those activities that we REALLY want to do that year. It’s not easy but it’s always worth it.

We typically give our boys 12 clothespins each and suggest that they choose four activities in each of the three categories. That way, they would both have opportunities to decide what we’d do no matter how much or how little time we had available.

We live in central Florida, which means that some days are too stinking hot or too rainy to be outside all day. Luckily, we have plenty of inside activities on our list.

Making the staycation bucket work for your family

Our boys are less than two years apart in age, so it isn’t too hard to find activities that are fun and relevant to both. When creating your summer staycation bucket list, you may want to try to come up with ideas that will be enjoyable for all those in your family. If you have kiddos that range in age from little ones (who still nap) through teens (who sleep till noon or later), you could come up with separate activities. For example, you could choose activities for the little kids that take place in the morning while the teens are still asleep and conversely select activities for the teens while the littles are napping in the afternoon. The beauty of a staycation bucket list is that you have the flexibility to design it in whatever way works best for your family.

Our Top 5 Summer Staycation Bucket List Ideas

We’ve been making summer bucket lists for many years so I thought I’d share some of our favorites as inspiration for your family as you create your bucket! Below, in no particular order, are our top 5 summer staycation bucket list ideas. Some were part of our bucket list activities when our boys were small, and some are included on our list this summer!

Let’s go camping!

We love camping. If I’m truthful, the other members of my family enjoy camping, and I mostly grin and bear it. I’m a city girl at heart, so for me, my idea of roughing it is staying in a cabin with electricity and running water. I love being outdoors with my family and disconnecting from technology, but I also have a great appreciation for the comforts of home.

So, when we decided to take our boys “camping” during one of our staycations, we decided that we didn’t need to go more than a few steps from our own back door. We purchased a big, roomy 6-person tent, even though we are a family of four, to ensure that there was plenty of room for hanging out, playing games and sleeping inside.

Our “campsite” consisted of our tent set up on our screened in patio, complete with lanterns and sleeping bags. We enjoyed the cool “breeze” from the ceiling fan, and we were camping just steps away from the “mess hall,” (aka kitchen) when we wanted a snack. We’ve also set up camp in our dining room once or twice, which is lovely during those summer nights of blistering heat.

After turning off all the lights in the house so it felt like we were out in the middle of nowhere, we ate hotdogs by the light of our lanterns. Later, we made s’mores over our portable fire pit in the driveway and told ghost stories before turning in at night.

We camped out a lot at home when my boys were young, and for them, it was just as good as trekking out into the woods amidst all of the bugs and wildlife and anything else that might be lurking outside our tent!

Outdoor Movie Marathon

One of our favorite ways to spend time together is family movie night. For us, there’s nothing better on a Friday night than planning an evening at home with our bowls of popcorn, an assortment of snacks and cool, refreshing drinks in front of the big screen. During one of our staycations, we decided that we’d extend our movie night into a weekend-long epic movie marathon in the backyard.

We set up our movie projector, hung a bedsheet between two trees and voila, our outdoor theater was ready to go! Each of us took a turn choosing the movies. We watched some of our favorite old classic movies and checked out some new releases, too.

It’s not difficult to set up your own outdoor theater. You can simply hang a bedsheet on your patio, tie it between two trees, or project the movie right onto the wall of your garage. There are several affordable movie projectors available, like this one, so choose the option that’s best for you based on your budget and has the features you need.

DIY “Chopped” cooking competition

Our family has always enjoyed watching cooking shows on television. During one staycation, we decided we would set up our own version of “Chopped.” It’s relatively simple to set up. You can use the ingredients that you already have in your fridge and pantry. First, determine what the main ingredient will be (for example, every dish has to use chocolate as an ingredient). Next, divide up into teams. We usually pair one child with one adult so that we can ensure kitchen safety as well as the ability to complete more challenging tasks. Then, set the timer and off you go! We usually allow 30 minutes per dish, so there is enough time to prep, cook, and serve. At the end of the allotted time, everyone gets to taste the dishes and then vote on which one is the best.

Because we enjoy cooking, we have stocked our kitchen with an assortment of cooking gadgets. You don’t need any fancy appliances or devices to hold your own cooking competition, but some of our boys’ favorites include our mini food processor, our electric skillet, and our smoothie-making blender.

Family water balloon battle

One of our favorite ways to cool off in the summer involves water balloons and lots of them! We usually start off playing a simple game of “catch”. All you need is a bag of balloons, a bucket and a water source like a hose or sink faucet. First, we fill the balloons with water. Next, we divide up into teams of two. Then it’s “game on!” Each team member stands across from his or her partner. The team then tosses the balloons back and forth to each other, taking one step back after each successful catch. The team that catches the most tosses without breaking the balloon wins!

And then of course, when our game has ended, we run to the bucket of balloons and grab more balloons, and an all-out water balloon war ensues. Why is it that I am always the one who ends up soaking wet?

Volunteering together as a family

Volunteering is a beautiful way to bond together as a family while giving your time to help those in need. While this may not seem like an obvious activity during a staycation, we feel that it’s essential to teach our boys gratitude and demonstrate the value of giving back to our local community. There are plenty of volunteer opportunities available for kids of all ages. When our boys were small, they were able to decorate lunch bags to be used to pack lunches for less fortunate children in our community during the summer. Then, when our boys got older, we signed up to pack food in those lunch bags. A simple online search will provide you with a list of volunteer opportunities in and near your city.

What’s on YOUR summer staycation bucket list?

We’d love to hear all about your summer staycation bucket list plans. Please share them with us below so we can add them to our ever-growing list.

Happy Summer Staycation!