Holiday Conversations: How to Start Planning your Summer Family Vacation Now
When everyone lives in different towns, cities, and states, it’s hard to start planning your summer family vacation together. One of the best times of the year to get everyone on the same page is when you’re all together for the holidays. Sometimes “together” means video calling loved ones to wish them Happy Thanksgiving or Merry Christmas, and it’s a sweet time to catch up. Wherever you are, putting summer vacation plans in your family's mind is the most important step. Here are four easy ways to start the planning process.
Make a Fun PowerPoint
When you're all gathered together watching movies, playing games, or simply socializing, this is the perfect time to share a quick, fun PowerPoint presentation of what your summer could look like. The best way to do this is through screen mirroring. Connect your phone or laptop to your TV via a WiFi connection or use an HDMI cord. This way, everyone can see the experience you’ve laid out for them on the living room TV, and it feels like a show.
The benefit to creating this ahead of time is that you can share it with everyone in your family via email or other apps you may use. This is especially helpful to those who aren’t there in person and who want to video call and listen in on the conversation. This will also streamline communication later.
Action Item: Create a fun PowerPoint presentation to share and send to family members.
Vote on the Best Week
Once you've given a fun overview of your time together, list the summer weeks on the screen. This is when you can vote on who is available on which dates and discuss how you can make it work. Because you may have ten or more different school and work schedules to work around, choosing these dates in advance is crucial. If you can ask everyone in advance, send them a quick email or text to write down available summer vacation dates. This will speed up this part of the family conversation and save time.
Action Item: Once you’ve narrowed it down, have everyone put it in their calendars immediately or save a reminder to add it once they’re home.
Share the Travel Itinerary
Regarding travel itineraries, having a simple template for everyone to follow makes it easy to know what to do in the planning process. Including average flight or transportation costs and arrival/departure dates reminds the family to book before prices go up. It is also helpful if some people want to leave or stay longer.
Will you have specific days during the vacation for celebrations or group activities? If so, communicating that now will allow all your family to plan other activities around those special events and alleviates any frustrations later on.
Action Item: Share the travel itinerary so expectations are set.
Set a Date for Final Decisions
Based on the family conversation, more conversations may need to be had or schedules checked back at home. If this is the case, leave a spot in your PowerPoint for when final decisions should be made, ie., week chosen, flights bought, etc. If someone in your family loves planning trips, make him or her the primary contact in this planning process.
Action Item: Set the tone for final decisions.
If you’ve planned well, this should take no more than thirty minutes. Dreaming together of what your summer could look like gets everyone excited for the next time they’ll see each other. Looking forward to something as valuable as quality family time is what subconsciously teaches your kids the importance of family.
Learn more about summer activities for families looking for Christian vacation locations by clicking here.