The cost of everything from gas to groceries has gone up this summer. As a result of higher prices on the necessities, you may be looking for ways to keep to your budget and still have a little something to spend on a vacation. Instead of heading out to far-away places, consider getting away from it all in your own backyard. A staycation — a vacation spent at home — may be just what you need to have an affordable getaway from the everyday.
A staycation uses your home as your base of operations, eliminating the costs of travel and accommodations elsewhere. Perhaps most appealing thing about staycations is that you can customize them to be absolutely what you want them to be — your ideal getaway — whatever you deem that to be. It’s simply a combination of changing your attitude while incorporating some special elements to create a vacation ‘mood.’ The possibilities are limited only by your creativity and preferences. The trick is making the ordinary extraordinary, creating the illusion that you’re not just staying home but enjoying a luxurious getaway. Just like a traditional vacation, you want to see, hear, and experience different things on your staycation.
Consider these ideas for turning your yard into a Summer Staycation Destination:
- Decide on a theme: resort, camping, B&B…
- Find a secluded area, away from traffic or neighbors to host your staycation.
- Use plants to create privacy and ambiance — think fragrant and exotic.
- Consider lighting: solar lights, Chinese lanterns, candles, tiki torches…
- Complete the mood with appropriate music or sounds.
- Incorporate nature elements, such as water (fountain) and fire (chiminea or fire pit)
- Provide comfortable furniture like chairs, ottomans, chaise lounges, hammocks, swing seats…
- Set a luxurious table outdoors with real plates, glassware and silverware.
- Indulge your love of nature: feed the squirrels/chipmunks, fill bird feeders with seeds to attract your winged friends…
- Set up a convenient outdoor beverage center.
- Enjoy fun and games like horseshoes, badminton, croquet, board games…
- Prepare ‘splurge’ foods to make you feel pampered — fancy chocolates, champagne, lobster tails…
- Invite others and share any chores pertaining to cooking or cleanup.
- Gather books and magazines and take the opportunity to read.
- Pitch a tent and sleep under the stars.
- Plan and prepare ‘theme’ food to reinforce the flavor of your experience.
- Wear fun clothes and new shades.
- Create an at-home spa, complete with massages and mani-pedis.
- Rent movies and TV shows and take time to indulge in entertainment.
- Ride your bikes on a scenic ‘tour’ of the neighborhood or local park.
- Make an ice cream bar.
- Remember to take photos!
- Hire someone to come and mow your lawn and take out your trash so you won’t have to.
- Vary your daily schedule so you can lose track of time.
- Tell friends and family about your staycation so they won’t drop by.
- Hide your work.
- Silence your phone.
- Stop your mail and newspaper delivery.
The key to a successful staycation is two-fold: One, change up your routine and two, indulge yourself in special treats.
Staycations represent a different allocation of your vacation dollars. Consider major expenses such as outdoor lighting, landscaping, embellishments to your deck or a fountain long-term investments in your home’s amenities which you’ll enjoy for years to come, not just during your staycation. Invest the time and money you’d spend researching, booking and traveling to a far-flung destination to orgainze and stock up for a staycation. Costs associated with making your staycation relaxing and revitalizing are far less than the expenses associated with traveling and staying away from home.
What have you done to create a staycation?
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