Family vacations help create core memories for parents and children. However, without the right destination ideas and planning, your fun family trip can quickly become an expensive excursion. Everything from hotels, transportation, meals, activities, entrance fees and more adds up — especially when you’re spending a week or more on vacation.
When planning this year’s getaway, consider the following family vacation ideas on a budget to keep you financially on track while still having fun with your loved ones.
1. Become a Hometown Tourist on a Staycation
No matter where you live, there are plenty of staycation ideas you and your family can take part in. A staycation is when you act like you’re on vacation in or very close to the place you live. You can choose to save money by staying at your home or make it feel like even more of a vacation by spending a night or two at a hotel.
Despite spending time at or near home, make sure you avoid your normal routine and chores. Instead, opt for vacation-style relaxation and resetting. You should also take this opportunity to explore places and attractions close to home that you haven’t been to before to further make the experience special.
2. Explore Our National Parks
National Parks offer a trifecta for vacations: gorgeous locations, educational opportunities and positive effects on conservation awareness efforts. As a bonus, many National Parks are free to enter or have free entrance days, making them a must-visit for cheap vacations with the entire family.
You can even choose to make visiting National Parks an annual family tradition and strive to visit all of them. Make this easier by grouping a few parks together and turning the adventure into a road trip.
3. Stay Nearby Larger Activities and Attractions
When you want to take your family to a larger activity or attraction while on vacation, but have a strict budget to follow, there are still options available to you. For example, many parents want their children to experience the magic of a Disney vacation but are afraid the cost is out of their reach.
Believe it or not, there are ways to save when planning a trip to Disney. First, as a AAA Member, you can access exclusive discounts on Disney Parks tickets . Then, you can plan your stay strategically.
This means staying on resort property for only part of your stay or opting to stay off-site for your full vacation. Off-site accommodations are more friendly for budget family travel, often without the markups of staying at property resorts.
The same is true for Universal and attending other major events .
4. Plan Fun Family Weekend Getaways
When you need last-minute family vacation ideas, weekend getaways are the perfect option to include a bit of travel within a shorter timeframe. Because of the reduced time, the vacation won’t cost as much as a full week-long trip, allowing you to stick to a tighter budget.
Weekend getaways can include driving to a new destination a few hours away from home or taking a short flight further away. Go for a standard two-day weekend or include an additional day or two for a long weekend.
Make a list of destinations that your family can easily travel to for a weekend getaway, then prioritize that list based on the level of interest in the destination, cost, activities, etc. As you cross off the destinations on your list, remember that you can plan multiple weekend getaways throughout the year depending on your budget — and some destinations might be less expensive to visit for a weekend in the off-season.
5. Venture Out to Sea on Family-Friendly Cruises
Cruises are the ultimate family-fun vacation with something for everyone. While many see cruises as a luxury experience, with the right planning, they can actually be an affordable vacation. To start, do your research and look for the best deals, like booking with a AAA Cruise Partner to make the most of your membership discounts.
Beyond the discounts you can find on cruises, the ship and what’s included in your voyage also make the trip affordable compared to other vacation destinations.
When you choose to vacation on a cruise, you get access to all of the amenities, dining, activities and entertainment on the ship — plus any excursions on any of your ports. Often, access to these is all included in the price of the voyage, meaning you’ll spend less out of pocket while on your trip. Just be sure to make any necessary reservations ahead of time to avoid scheduling issues while on your cruise!
6. Relax on a Family Beach Trip
Few things are as memorable as a classic family beach vacation. Parents and older children can relax to the serene sound of the waves crashing along the shore while younger children make sand castles.
Many beaches are free to the public, so it’s important to arrive early to secure a prime spot to soak in the sun not too far from the water. Plus, if you’re staying at a hotel with private beach access, then you’ll likely have less competition and a sparsely populated beach.
Here are some beach accessories to bring with you to save on unnecessary rental costs:
- Towels
- Beach chairs
- Beach umbrella
- Floaties
- Sand toys (i.e., shovels and buckets)
- Boogie boards
- Insulated cooler
- Drinks (specifically water!)
- Lunch and snacks
- Sunscreen
- Sunglasses
Make sure you bring enough supplies to last your entire stay.
7. Make the Most of Miles Traveled on a Road Trip
Opting to embark on a road trip for your family vacation gives you the ultimate flexibility and ability to stick to a strict budget, especially when saving with fuel rewards from Shell or Love’s (you can even save on diesel fuel for RVs at Love’s). Road trips are also the best way to experience some spontaneity on your family vacation whether you’re driving your own car, taking a rental from Hertz , Dollar Car Rental or Thrifty Car Rental , or journeying in an RV.
However, some planning is still essential. Use a road trip checklist to pack all of the essentials and make sure you’re ready for whatever you encounter on the journey.
Pass the time in the car by creating a road trip playlist full of each person's favorite songs and playing classic road trip games like the license plate or iSpy.
8. Embrace the Great Outdoors While Camping
Camping is perhaps one of the most affordable family vacations you can take. Whether you’re a newbie who dreads roughing it or a seasoned survival expert, camping as a family is a great bonding experience. It allows everyone to get some distance from the digital world.
Come prepared for your camping trip with plenty of tinder and supplies to make a fire. Camping is the ultimate budget-friendly family trip with low accommodation costs and the ability to control food costs by bringing your own. In addition to regular camping activities like sleeping in a tent, eating around a campfire and stargazing, there are other outdoor activities for families on a budget to keep everyone busy during the trip.
7 Steps to Plan Your Unforgettable Family Vacation on a Budget
Now that you know the options for different family vacation ideas on a budget, it’s time to plan the trip of your choice. Here are the seven steps you should take to plan your vacation:
1. Create Your Budget
Before you can start planning your vacation details, you first need to create a realistic budget. Make sure your budget includes an accurate reflection of what you’d like to spend and an absolute maximum of what you can spend on the total vacation.
To maximize your budget further, divide it into sections. This way, you’ll know how much you can spend on accommodations, food, activities, transportation and souvenirs.
2. Choose a Location
Now that you know what you can spend, you can see what locations will fit within your budget. Then, you can further narrow it down to plan and book based on your family’s preferences.
If you’re planning an international trip, ensure you know all passport and visa requirements to avoid any rush fees. Apply for a U.S. passport at the post office. Passports are valid for 10 years and take between four to six weeks to process. If you need an expedited passport , utilize your AAA Membership to save as much as possible to get your documents in time for vacation.
3. Book Your Stay and Transportation
Once you’ve chosen a destination for your family vacation, it’s time to plan the details. This starts with researching and booking your stay and transportation. Since these are usually a bigger expense, look for ways to save money on travel and make the most of your budget.
For example, is everything within walking distance where you won’t need to rent a car for the week, or can you drive your own car throughout your stay instead of flying to your destination? Once you’ve determined that, you can also look at specific tips to get cheap hotels that will save you hundreds of dollars on your stay. You can then reallocate those savings to other parts of your vacation.
4. Plan an Itinerary
While you don’t necessarily want to plan every second of your trip, basic itineraries are a great way to keep track of your vacation spending. Start by making a list of everything your family would like to do while on your vacation, then prioritize that list into three categories: must-do, would like to do and maybe if we have time.
Once you know the must-do things, you can decide when it makes the most sense to do those things and make any necessary reservations in advance. Make sure to get everyone’s input so they all feel heard and have something they’re looking forward to on the trip.
5. Search for Activity Discounts
Activities can add up, especially on a week-long vacation. When planning your itinerary, make sure you’re searching for discounts to save as much as possible.
AAA Tickets will help you save on admission to many amusement parks, waterparks, sporting events, and more. Also, look for discount days or age-related discounts to save additional money on ticketed activities. Planning a vacation outside of peak season often lowers the total cost of the trip too!
6. Join Rewards Programs
Many travel-related companies offer their customers a free rewards program. Whether it’s preferred hotels , airlines or rental car companies, signing up for the program is worth it for the perks involved. Simply, when you’re a rewards member, you earn points whenever you book through the company, which you can use to save on other bookings. Loyalty to a specific brand often pays off, as you’ll accumulate more points.
Many rewards programs offer their members small perks, such as a bottle of water, a cookie at check-in, or even free upgrades because of their loyalty.
Being a rewards member also makes it easier for companies to search the details of your reservation should you encounter any issues. Oftentimes, they’ll credit you with additional points because you encountered issues.
7. Monitor and Stick to Your Budget
It’s very easy to get into the spirit of being on vacation and completely forgetting about your budget. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you so you aren’t coming home to unexpected bills you didn’t account for and now have to make sacrifices to cover.
Make the Most of Your Family Vacation Budget with AAA
Family vacations create core memories no matter where they happen or how long they are. Planning family vacation ideas on a budget doesn’t have to be difficult, especially with AAA discounts to help.
Let the above ideas and tips inspire you as you plan this year’s trip to make it the best yet with the help of your AAA membership . What matters is that you’re spending quality time together and having fun as a family.