Melinda and I are just getting back from a media event in Galveston TX (will do a post on it soon) where we toured beautiful Galveston for a day and a half then spent the day on the new Carnival Magic and attended the Maroon 5 concert. While we were on this media event I realized that vacation is ridiculously expensive and I am not sure how anyone with more than one child can afford to go on one. Let me explain.
Galveston is a place where I would love to take the family on a three to four day mini vacation then board the Carnival Magic and set sail on a seven day cruise but we have just one problem, the cost. For the five of us it would cost well over 8k to do this trip between the airfare back and forth to Philadelphia, hotel stay and excursions while in Galveston. Then we need to pay for the cruise, shore excursions, souvenirs and drinking and spending money for the week.
Now, if you are still with me I will help you cut that cost in half with little to no effort at all. Now this example is for a family of five but will work for families of four or more.
Here is what you need to do:
- Evaluate your children’s behavior over the last 6 -12 months.
- Select the child who has had the better behavior and allow them to attend the current year’s vacation.
- Tell your other child/children who weren’t selected that their behavior over the last 6-12 months disqualified them from this year’s vacation and better luck next year.
- Let your child/children know that vacation is on a rotating basis and each one should get a year unless their behavior disqualifies them.
- Tell your child/children that they are unable to attend vacation two years in a row unless one child’s behavior is so bad that they get bumped to the bottom of the list. If you only have two children your child will attend two years in a row but three or more this will not happen unless you have multiple children that act a fool within the year.
The above example is only a model and individual results will vary. I have not been able to put my model to the test but am considering it for next year when Melinda and I would love to go back to Galveston and stay for a few days then take a cruise on the Carnival Magic for seven days. Like I mentioned above taking all three children most likely isn’t an option so we may need to implement this new model ASAP.
Now I know that you are thinking what about the children and their feelings and that they may lack family vacation memories when they get older but if the children acted properly throughout the year they wouldn’t be in this situation. Most kids that are in this program will grow up with memories of only certain vacations but that is part of being in a large family with multiple brothers and sisters. The lesson for children to learn here is to behave and they are guaranteed that they will get to go on a vacation every few years depending on how many siblings they have.
So there you have it my fool proof way to cut your vacation costs in half if not more but it does come at a price and that is the child’s feelings but like we tell our children all of the time anyway life isn’t fair plus being a parent is a job where tough decisions need to be made. If parenting were easy everyone would be having children.
Enjoy and let me know If the plan I mentioned above works for you.
