Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Spring Break Staycation Ideas

DISCLAIMER: I am not very good at this blogging thing. More specifically, the sharing of documents or templates or PDFs. I like to make them, I'm just not great at sharing them on here.  But I am using 4shared.com & it seems pretty easy to just upload something for you to obtain it if you want but then some of the formatting isn't the same because I love to use fancy fonts & I don't know how to retain those within the document, so forgive me.  Use them as you want, I don't care. I merely share them in their elementary form to give you the stepping stones to fuel your own creativity for your own purposes.
ALSO! I do not take the week off to neglect chores or other errands.  We still fit those into our day & just schedule the fun around it.


So!! Spring Break 2013 was supposed to be an amazing adventure in Staycation history where we would travel to different locations & learn of different cultures, doing related crafts & activities & menus.  But, that didn't happen.  There just wasn't enough time for me to pull it off like I wanted to. Thanks to a friend from church my brain was inspired beyond my own Pinterest searching to do it right & do it BIG, but I think it will take a year of planing to make that happen!  

However, I did come up with this, thanks to Pinterest, my kids' requests & my hubby's creative additions. 

Spring Break 2013 Staycation Schedule
Total Cost: $99.00 (Plus supplies used from home & gas to go places)

Monday 
-Swimmin' Safari Pool Party on post (We are an Army family & there are always great activities (cheap ones!) for the kids to do while on Spring Break. We don't live on post so can't do all of them or do them everyday but we did take advantage of this one.)
-Dinner at Taco Bell
-Watch the Emperor's New Groove
-Play Chupacabra board game (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/120515/chupacabra-survive-the-night)
** Besides the pool party the night did have a South American theme. The kids love themes for some reason so as long as you say it's all themed or grouped together, it raises the fun to another level & it hardly took any work on your part, hee hee.
***TOTAL COST: $46.00
      Pool ($10), Dinner for 7 ($36), movie & game were free because we already had them

Tuesday
**It's CRAFT DAY so we are crafting objects & food!
- Tie Dye T-shirts and socks
-Make polka dot painted jars (http://pinterest.com/pin/83949980525968603/)
- Watch Ratatouille and make our own ratatouille

***TOTAL COST: $29.00
      Tie Dye Kit ($20 - Wal-Mart), We already had white T-shirts, but I did buy Socks for kids to tie dye      ($6.00- Wal-Mart, I just bought a womens 6 pack. They are just for at home so the kids can wear them like big slippers & some they will fit just fine.) Ratatouille supplies ($3.00) We already had most of the veggies but I did have to pick up a couple & besides the veggies there's not much to the recipe.  We already had the jars & paint & the movie to watch.

Wednesday
-A Very Merry Un-Birthday Mad Hatter Tea Party
**Wednesday is a Wacky sort of day so I figured a Mad Hatter Tea Party & Un-Birthday celebration would be perfect!
***TOTAL COST: $0.00
       We are using a birthday hat template (http://stuck-on-glue.blogspot.com/2011/06/its-party-hat.html) & decorating them with various craft supplies we already have.  We are using a tea set we already have as well as cupacke mix & various other snack & drink items we already have on hand. We will also choose to watch either the animated Alice in Wonderland or the newer one while we have our Very Merry Un-Birthday celebration.

Thursday
** It's Super Spy Day
- Pick a Spy Name & use it all day (There were surprisingly some great sites for picking spy names. I shared a few I liked.) -
- Super Spy Training (http://pinterest.com/pin/83949980526190612/)
- Blindfold Taste Test (Because spies need to be smart & secret about everything, even FOOD)
***TOTAL COST: $2.00
       Streamers & Red Curling Ribbon for Spy Training ($2.00 - Wal-Mart), Names are free & we are just using food we already have for the taste test

Friday
**Pirates for a Day
- Watch the Pirates: Band of Misfits movie (We live in a small town, near a small town that is slightly bigger & they have a great little local theater that also plays movies from time to time. During Spring Break they are offering a free showing of older movies with $2.00 concessions. Friday just happened to be the day they were playing the Pirates movie so we turned it into a day of playing pirates & what kid doesn't like to do that?!)
- Geocaching or Treasure Hunting as we call it
***TOTAL COST: $20.00
       Movies (free + concessions: $20.00) We have 5 kids & since we don't have to pay for the movie it's fun to have money to buy goodies so we are giving them each $4.00 to spend on concessions, Geocaching is Free! We gather little trinkets we find from time to time or small toys the kids don't want anymore in our geocache bag so they are always ready.

If you are interested in the brochure template I used in Microsoft Word I will place the links to download them from 4shared below.  Beware, I put them together in like 10 minutes but the kids thought they were awesome & have been carrying them around like they are gold & it keeps them off my back constantly asking what we are doing this week!

Spring Break Schedule for Kids who can Read: http://www.4shared.com/file/noMrpzqG/spring_break_schedule.html

Spring Break Schedule for Kids who cannot read: 
http://www.4shared.com/file/sZ8O0oM5/spring_break_schedule_twins.html