Are you intimidated by the prospect of a long weekend at home with kids? Never fear! You can make the most of a long weekend with kids with these simple tips.
I cringe a little every time I see that we have a long weekend with kids coming up. It’s not that I don’t love my children or spending time with them. I do on both accounts. But my kids and I all thrive on routine. And a long weekend means a break from that routine. Routine upheavals are scary. That’s why I tend to do much better with long weekends with my kids when I know how to handle them.
After several years of long weekends with my kids, I have developed what I think is the best way to make the most of a long weekend with kids. We aren’t doing too much and we’re not sitting at home doing nothing all weekend. We are making the most of it, and we are thriving on long weekends! If you want to make the most of a long weekend with kids, I have what I think are great tips to pull this off. Read on to learn more!
How to Make the Most of a Long Weekend with Kids
Plan
I like a plan. Maybe too much. But whether you’re like me and you like a plan or you’re the opposite of me and fly by the seat of your pants, I wholeheartedly suggest you at least have a skeleton plan when faced with a long weekend with kids. If you leave a long weekend entirely up to chance, you’re liable to waste it. And no one wants that.
Flexibility
Even with your plan in hand, you also need to approach a long weekend with kids with a heavy measure of flexibility. Long weekends are to be enjoyed. And no one enjoys being a slave to a minute-by-minute schedule.
Example
To illustrate this point, let me give you an example. Many many years ago before we had kids, my husband and I got a military ticket to visit Disney World. I grew up only about an hour and a half or so from Disney World, so I had never spent more than two days at the most magical place on earth. With a military ticket, however, we had four days at Disney World ahead of us when we started our trip at Magic Kingdom. I had made a plan, but a loose one based on my lackadaisical visits to Disney World as a child. Early in the first day, we were walking through Frontierland, heading to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and passed a family that looked absolutely miserable. Sure, it was hot, but their misery was obviously more than temperature related.
When I began to investigate the reason for their misery further, I realized that the mom of the family was stressed out and barking orders at her husband and kids. She was beside herself because a ride they had ridden had gone down for technical reasons while they were on it, putting them about 15 behind the schedule she had meticulously mapped out on a laminated note card. She was so upset and so focused on the laminated note card that she didn’t realize her family’s misery at all.
The moral of the story is this: don’t be a laminated note card mom. Have a plan, sure, but be willing to pivot when life happens. Is the weather not cooperating with your plan for mini golf? Go to a trampoline park instead (although please don’t tell my husband). Is your family having fun at the pool when you thought it would be time to leave to go get ice cream? Stay at the pool and get ice cream another day. There is fun in flexibility, folks (she says mostly to herself).
Balance
When you’re making your plan for your long weekend with kids, strike a balance between having things to do and having downtime. Schedule an activity or two per day, and leave the rest of the time to chance. Don’t think you have to do grandiose activities every day, either. Running through the sprinkler in the backyard absolutely counts.
Long Weekend Activities
If you’re looking for other ideas of activities to do to make the most of your long weekend with kids, I’ve got some examples for you. But don’t think these are the only things you can do! Use your imagination!
Zoo
My kids love the zoo, but it’s such a time commitment that we don’t go very often. Because of this, the zoo is a perfect long weekend activity.
Museum
The same thing goes for our local museums. We have a ton of options near us, but we tend to save these activities for long weekends or staycations.
Hike
A long weekend with kids is a great time to take a hike! Just make sure you pack sunscreen, water, and bug spray. And wear a hat!
Playground
My kids will take any excuse to go to the playground. We often stop at the playground on the way home from school when the weather is nice, but they will still want to go over a long weekend.
Pool
Everyone’s favorite summertime activity in my family is headed to the local pool. We always go to the pool when we have a long weekend, the trouble is making sure we fit in other activities too!
Movie
If your kids have the attention span to sit through a movie, this is a great activity for a long weekend with kids. If you don’t think your kids will sit through a whole movie at the theatre, grab some snacks, make a blanket fort, and put on a movie at home. Movies are especially good long weekend activities when the weather isn’t cooperating, whether you stay home or go to the theatre.
Crafts
I don’t know about you, but I have so many unmade craft kits in my house. I buy them with good intentions, but we never seem to have the time to actually do them. With the extra day that a long weekend provides, though, we have time to tackle a craft or two. We love Skillmatics kits around our house. This poke in art kit is one of the kits languishing on our shelves that just might get done over the next long weekend.
Experiments
I’ll put at-home science experiments in a similar category as crafts. I love to collect them, but we very rarely actually do them. Both my husband and I have college degrees in Chemistry, so it makes me sad that we don’t do more experiments at home with the kids. I was so obsessed with growing crystals as a kid (and the gem section is still my favorite part of any natural history museum), so I’d like my kids to grow some crystals and get hooked too!
Games
My kids are in their game era these days, so we play a lot of games around my house. That doesn’t change over a long weekend. If you’re looking for an easy game that kids of all ages can play, check out Eye Found It. I’m looking to add more versions of this game to our collection because it’s such a hit!
Cook or bake
Why not take the extra time of a long weekend with kids and put them to work? Cooking and baking is fun with kids, and it accomplishes a necessary task. Two birds, one stone! If you need tips for how to bake with kids, I’ve got you covered.
Everyone gets a vote
You are not the only person who has a long weekend, your husband is not the only person who has a long weekend, and your kids are not the only ones who have a long weekend. Because the whole family has a long weekend, make sure you’re considering everyone in the family when you make your plan to make the most of a long weekend with kids.
Every member of the family deserves to do something they want to do over a long weekend. Poll your kids and your partner to determine what everyone most wants to do. Then make your plan for your long weekend with kids to maximize everyone’s requests.
Mix it up
As I alluded to in my list of activities for a long weekend with kids, I like to use a long weekend as an excuse to mix it up and do things we don’t have a chance to do on a regular weekend. I get excited about doing something out of the ordinary, and so do my kids. What you to do mix it up over a long weekend with kids can be large or small. On the one hand, you can take a day trip to another town a few hours away. On the other hand, you can do an at-home science experiment or craft project. Heck, even going out to eat is a good way to mix it up over a long weekend with kids!
Manage expectations
I’m saving the most important tip for making the most of a long weekend with kids for last. You’ve got to manage your expectations. Long weekends with kids aren’t relaxing. They aren’t opportunities to catch up on sleep or act like a sloth. But that’s OK. You can have an enjoyable long weekend with kids even if it’s not very relaxing. If you set your expectations to be realistic and you use my tips, you’re sure to have a wonderful long weekend with kids, whatever it is you do!
Other posts
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I hope these tips have helped you make the most of a long weekend with kids. What do you like to do over your long weekends with kids? Let us know below or over on Instagram @sarainseason.