Vacations Blog

So you’ve taken the plunge and organized a family ‘get away from it all’ Christmas trip… but now you’re realising exactly what you will be ‘away from’ and are wondering how you’ll transport the ‘family Christmas at home’ experience to another country!?

Here are our top 10 tips for family friendly holidays at Christmas, to make sure you all have a wonderfully relaxing trip…

1. Involve the kids in the travel experience. Get out a map and show them where you are going. Talk about how many kilometres you are travelling - just like Santa Claus himself! Let your kids help pack their suitcases and even buy Christmas gifts for relations with whom you’ll be staying.

2. Make sure they leave a note at home letting Santa know of their temporary location so he can be sure to find them on Christmas Eve. If Santa is not able to hop down the chimney, let the kids leave suggestions as to an alternative way for their delivery. And of course, don’t forget to leave out a little tipple and a mince pie (or perhaps a local equivalent!) at your arrival point. He’s sure to be hungry after the extra trip from your house!

3. Discover whether the larger internet retailers deliver to your destination. You can even get deliveries gift wrapped. Just remember to plan for how you’ll send them home! Perhaps try to keep a suitcase or fold away bag in reserve and keep everyone’s bags to a minimum (at least you won’t usually need swimsuits at this time of year!) Try to plan gifts that are small and lightweight to pack.

4. If you can’t take all the gifts, talk about how children in Europe get theirs on Epiphany instead. Maybe Santa will accommodate your travel plans and leave smaller than normal packages, or perhaps leave some but with a note that there are still some more surprises waiting at home under the tree.

5. Ensure you create the same ‘Christmassy’ atmosphere they’ve left behind when you arrive - most properties will provide a tree, decorations, etc for holiday guests.

6. Bring some CDs of Christmas songs along for the journey to keep the festive spirit going en route.

7. Check out the local Christmas markets or plan to visit a theme park that opens during the holiday season. Train rides, tours of lights and visits to see Santa are some of the things you can expect to find no matter where you go on baby friendly holidays at Christmas.

8. Pack a small bag of supplies for your tots to decorate your holiday home. Or pop to the local supermarket on arrival to stock up on the makings of some Christmas biscuits or mince pies (though you may need to pack a jar of mincemeat from home!)

9. Before you leave, read about how kids celebrate Christmas in other countries.You can perhaps introduce some new traditions during your child friendly holidays, to take home with you for future Christmases.

10. Enjoy the relaxation that being away from your home environment brings - no racing around visiting friends and family, no sale shopping, no ‘let’s use the time off to decorate the spare room’ - just chill out and enjoy time as a family!