Homecation

No vacation this year (we are, after all, British and the snob in me wants to shout HOLIDAY!).
Not even a staycation (Stayiday?!?) where you holiday in the country of your residence. When I was a kid that used to be called a HOLIDAY too but there you go. Move with the times.
This year, our summer holidays will be a Homecation (or a Homiday. Hah!).

So how exactly do you have a holiday at home?

• Erect a tent in your back garden, and play in it all day, attempt to sleep in it then retreat to your warm comfortable beds at the first sign of rain.
• Don't do any laundry or housework (hmm, as normal then).
• Takeaways or restaurants for meals, maybe with the exception of breakfast which would have to consist of a full english for me and a series of cereal variety boxes for the kids over which battles will be fought and I will eat the unwanted box of Shreddies (not frosted or cocoa).
• Wear flipflops.
• Day trips obviously.

And there in lies a problem. The cost of a day trip to anywhere on my kids summer bucket list is at least £100 including tickets, travel expenses, snacks, and if I spend that through the holidays on all the days out they want, it would be the same cost as a week away (albeit on a budget).

If the Mr was able to take some time off in the summer holidays we would definitely have a holiday in the UK, maybe camping or a cottage rental, just to be able to get away and have a change of scene.

THAT is what a holiday is for me, as my Mother would say, "It's new walls to look at, isn't it." She knows how to live. New walks to take, new places to go, new sights to see, the excitement of an adventure. New experiences and new friends to make at the beach. But NEW.

So, a homecation, for it to actually feel like a holiday, needs to include new things and places, which is somewhat challenging if you are actually in your own house.

So I have a few more ideas.

• We could all swap beds. Actually The Wee One does a fair amount of bed roulette as it is. I rather fancy a night in the top bunk. Not sure how any one else would feel about sleeping in the cot though.
• Change the pictures around. 
• Perhaps move the furniture around in the lounge. 
• I've been talking about decorating the boys bedroom so maybe a change of wall colour would add to the effect of a homecation.
• We should hire lots of old films from the library, like the ones you find in old holiday cottages, ones that you would never choose to watch unless you were really desperate and are then pleasantly surprised when you manage to watch the whole thing through without nodding off once. 
• I should probably add a couple of slightly torn paperbacks to the bookshelf too, and an old chess set with a pawn missing.
• Send postcards. Actually we could make some (kills another hour or so).
• Take lots of holiday photos. I think I have that one covered.
• Eat ice creams at 10 in the morning, and eat fish and chips out of the paper sat on a bench. I may wash it down with a flask of tea, prepared hours earlier.
• Finally we need a strange musty odour found at the back of the kitchen cupboards to complete the holiday cottage feel.

You don't have to go away to feel like you are having a holiday, and I know that we will have a fantastic time. At home. I'll send you a postcard x

If you are Homecationing this summer, what are you doing to create the holiday atmosphere?