Top 5 Tips for Planning a Kid-Friendly Weekend Trip with School Back in Session

Labor Day has come and gone, summer is behind us, and our kids are back in school. This might spell “hibernation” for your travel plans, but that doesn’t have to be the case! It’s still possible to plan trips with your kids even though their lives are basically scheduled by your school district.

Keep reading if you’re interested in learning about some tips to make traveling during the school year a little bit easier!

5 tips to make traveling during the school year easier

Traveling doesn’t have to shift into idleness just because the kids are back in school. You may need to kiss the days of taking a trip on a whim goodbye, but you can still get away with a weekend getaway! Consider these 5 tips when making your plans:

1. Plan in advance

Planning might seem obvious for any trip, long or short, but it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Planning ahead of time means you looked over the school calendar for days off, read up on the school’s policy on absences, and gave their teacher a lengthy heads up of your trip. If you plan on taking a weekend trip, you might not need to put in this much effort. However, if you were hoping to make it a long weekend, these are the first steps you would need to take!

2. Know what you’re going to do

According to USA Today, if you are planning a weekend trip, then it’s important that you already have your plans mapped out. Going into your trip unsure of what you’re going to do can create stress and waste time. Some things to think about include:

Where are you going to stay?
How long will it take to get there?
What are you going to eat?
What are you going to do to stay busy?
Where do you want to go while you’re there?
What will your kids want to do?

Knowing things like this in advance will help you focus on the fun and quality family time you want to have on your mini-vacation!

3. Establish rules

A quick trip with the family can already feel stressful and will be even more so if you don’t establish your expectations for your kids while they’re there. Letting them know what’s okay, what isn’t okay, and what your plans are for your trip is going to help them mentally prepare for the trip, too, and fewer meltdowns equals less stress!

4. Stay close to home

A vacation doesn’t need to happen somewhere exotic. One Travel recommends weekend trips are best spent closer to home. It can mean that you just drive a couple of hours north to stay in one of your favorite little towns for a couple of days! If it’s somewhere that you’ve been before, letting your kids pick out what you’re going to do increases the fun and gets them more involved with the vacation, too!

5. Relax

When your hopes are to get away for the weekend with your kids in the middle of the school year, going somewhere more relaxing is likely going to be the ideal destination. A place where you can explore leisurely, spend quality time together, and unwind from your busy life is going to provide your family with more benefits than a hectic, high-tourist vacation in an exotic location!

How we can help you

Country Inn of Two Harbors is located conveniently along the north shore in Minnesota and we’re always ready to help you enjoy a weekend getaway up north. Fall is an excellent time to take a trip to Two Harbors, especially since the leaves are already starting to change color. Whether you love hiking, exploring fun shops, eating good food, playing a few rounds of mini-golf, or just relaxing by the pool, you can find all that here when you stay with us!