Vacation Ideas for Families With Teens

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Kim Tilley

Planning to go on vacation soon, but have no idea where to go with your teens? Writer Kim Tilley, editor of www.frugal-moms.com, shares some ideas from moms collected from the Frugal Moms message boards. Read on for some great tips!

Getting started
Planning a vacation with older kids can be tricky, particularly on a budget. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

1. Include older children in the vacation planning. Brainstorm with your family and listen to their input. Try to plan something everyone will enjoy, including your teen(s). Your teen may surprise you (hopefully in a good way!) with some of things he or she might like to do on vacation.
2. Take their interests into consideration. Does your teen love the outdoors? You might want to include some hiking, fishing or camping on your trip. Do they like history? You could visit a nearby historical site together. Do they love music? Something like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would be fun to visit if you live within driving distance. Do they love horror movies? Why not visit one of the many "haunted" houses nationwide. There are entire books dedicated to this subject, and you can sneak in some history as well. Does your teen like to read? How about going to the real life setting (nearby!) of one of his or her favorite books, such as the real bridges of Madison County or a boat ride down the Mississippi?
3. Create a sense of adventure about your trip. Get your teen (and the rest of the family) excited about the upcoming vacation by looking at it as a great chance to explore, get back to nature, learn new things and/or brush up on trivia. Make a game of it. A cross country drive becomes far more interesting if you stop at the restaurants with unusual names and/or signs (like the 50 foot dinosaur) or take a detour to see the world's biggest ball of twine. Fishing becomes more fun if you compete to see who can catch the biggest or the most fish. Hiking can be even more fun if you try to identify the local plants and animals.

Affording the vacation
One of our readers had a wonderful way of affording family vacations while getting everyone in on the annual spring cleaning:

"I am a single parent, and every year when we do spring cleaning we get each a room and go through stuff. What we will get rid of goes in a box for our summer vacation. We end up with enough for a major garage sale, and usually enough money for a great vacation. This year's is to go to Branson, Missouri. Kids are in for helping big time, because this way they get spending money for our trip. "

More advice from Frugal Moms
"We took our two boys, now 21 and 18, all over the United States (and Canada) on vacations during their "growing up years." Rafting in Colorado, skiing in Michigan, Disney-twice, Chattanooga aquarium and Biltmore in NC, deep-sea fishing off Bar Harbor, Maine, museums in Toronto.

I think the reason we could do all those trips on our salaries was because I budgeted for them. We saved all the money ahead of time and I made a daily budget for the family. The budget included meals, lodging (motels or camping), gas for the vehicle, admissions to places of interest, etc. I kept a ledger so I knew where we stood every day. We made deals with the boys that they would get a percentage of the money left over at the end of the vacation which really helped with the "I wants."

If it was a long vacation, say 2-3 weeks, we usually camped. If it was a shorter vacation, 5-6 days at Disney, then we stayed in an inexpensive motel just off the Disney grounds. I know this doesn't help with "where" to go but I hope it shows that you can go lots of places with good financial planning. Happy vacationing!!!" - FamilyCEO.

"When I was a teen, we went on a couple vacations with our family, and the best was when we didn't have to be around them all the time. (Remember being a teenager? )