Our staycation

Khannie

So we're having a "staycation" this year. We were looking at holidays abroad but because the youngfella is over 12 (an adult :rolleyes:) and we have 3 kids now most package holidays were prohibitively expensive (mostly they wanted us to use 2 rooms). Rental accommodation in Ireland was mad money in August too.

Anyway...I just thought I'd document some of the stuff that we do and / or get ideas from people. Might help others in the future too.

I bought this book for cheap. Some good suggestions in it. I'd be prepared to loan it by post to anyone who wants it. Well worth the fiver odd I paid for it anyway.

First day: Funtasia in bettystown. Good fun. Nice indoor play area for the kids. Fiver in to that (per head) for an hour. Everything else is pay as you go (amusements, stuff like that). Pretty decent. Would be better if you were making use of the beach but we got there a bit late. I'd recommend eating before you go. Food there is moderate and expensive enough.

Lullymore park yesterday: Really good day out. A long car drive for us (around 90 minutes each way). Very good value if you get there early and make good use of the day. We brought a packed lunch / picnic. That worked out great too. 25 euro for the lot of us (2 adults, 12 year old, 3 year old and baby).

Today and tomorrow: Bouncy castle. Mid week rates are much cheaper. We got it for the 2 days for 80 euro with a bit of haggling. Expecting big things from this. My legs are wrecked already. I'll update later on how much use we get out of it. We partly wanted this so we could chill out ourselves a bit / let the kids entertain themselves.

If anyone has any experience doing this or any suggestions please shout.

smelltheglove

We're not going away ourselves this year, I just couldnt fit it in at all never mind the money. We've had a few beach days, we've been to Glenroe farm and we've taken the boat to Wales for a day. We dont tell the kids where we are going in advance, this adds to their excitement, all they know is they are going on a magical mystery tour.

Yesterday someone mentioned to me there is a butterfly farm in Straffan which I intend to visit. We've had trips to the cinema also and then the kids have had friends sleep over. So far theyve had a great summer never mind the fact that they havent gone on holidays, we'll be heading off somewhere this afternoon with them for a few hours but havent decided where yet.

Moonbeam

Malahide castle
http://www.fortlucan.com/
The history museum
Glendalough
Clara Lara
Bray

It does depend where in the country you are.

http://www.coillteoutdoors.ie/index.php?id=39&no_cache=1

It must be hard to come up with things to suit the 3 age groups.

cynder

Just to say we went to majorca last september for 1 week for 2 adults 3 kids (the kids age was up to 16) and it cost 1495 that was in the viva sunrise.

I looked for majorca for next year all inclusive for 2 weeks end of august for 3400. lagotel - falconholidays.ie If you want self catering its 2600.

If you look around early enough you can find a good summer holiday for 2+3.

I went to funtasia in bettystown and i hated it. I thought it was very tacky. Then again it was 2 years ago things might have improved.

Moonbeam

That sounds like an awful lot of money for a holiday! I suppose as the years go on I will have to get used to it.
Hiring holiday homes in Ireland can work out well too,esp with Supervalu cards for the discount.
http://www.supervalugetawaybreaks.com/index.cfm?area=ebooking&action=introductionpage&bookingstep=1&menuid=502&campaignid=0&campaigngroupid=2

KittyeeTrix

grindelwald wrote: »

Just to say we went to majorca last september for 1 week for 2 adults 3 kids (the kids age was up to 16) and it cost 1495 that was in the viva sunrise.

I looked for majorca for next year all inclusive for 2 weeks end of august for 3400. lagotel - falconholidays.ie If you want self catering its 2600.

If you look around early enough you can find a good summer holiday for 2+3.

I went to funtasia in bettystown and i hated it. I thought it was very tacky. Then again it was 2 years ago things might have improved.

The Viva sunrise in Alcudia was absolutely beautiful!!!

We brought our family (2 adults and 4 kids) away for almost 3 weeks 2 years ago to Torremolinos for a grand total of 1,600. We booked the accomodation online from a rental agency and did our own flights.........................
We used www.homelidays.com for the accomodation and it was brilliant. Locations worldwide. My sisters and I have used it numerous times

Cheap as chips for almost 3 weeks:D

Tabnabs

grindelwald wrote: »

Just to say we went to majorca last september for 1 week for 2 adults 3 kids (the kids age was up to 16) and it cost 1495 that was in the viva sunrise.

I looked for majorca for next year all inclusive for 2 weeks end of august for 3400. lagotel - falconholidays.ie If you want self catering its 2600.

If you look around early enough you can find a good summer holiday for 2+3.

For that kind of money you would be far better off renting a house/villa/apartment. We are looking at doing this and it's €400 for the flights (two adults and infant), €100 for car rental for the week and up to €500 for a nice apartment near the sea and with pool. Have a look at http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/ and read the reviews on properties from others who have stayed there.

Nevyn

This is dublin Heritiage week so there is a lot on around the country.
http://www.heritageweek.ie/

How many of the sites around the country have they been at?
Make a list and see what you want to go to and what is achievable.

cynder

fluffyorganic1 wrote: »

The Viva sunrise in Alcudia was absolutely beautiful!!!

We brought our family (2 adults and 4 kids) away for almost 3 weeks 2 years ago to Torremolinos for a grand total of 1,600. We booked the accomodation online from a rental agency and did our own flights.........................
We used www.homelidays.com for the accomodation and it was brilliant. Locations worldwide. My sisters and I have used it numerous times

Cheap as chips for almost 3 weeks:D

We are just back from the south of france spent 3 weeks there, accommodation 1200 flights 700 and car hire (ford cmax) 429, it was a keycamp holiday. i must say i do prefer hotels, ive booked egypt all inclusive for may next year, cant wait.

I dont like villa holidays as i prefer having other kids around for my kids to play with in the pool in the kids clubs and during the night entertainment. we met a dublin couple and my 11 year old made friends with their 12 year old and now they are facebook friends and my daughter has even visited them up in dublin as they live round the corner from her aunt. You dont make friends like that on villa holidays or holiday homes. Over in france we kept their daughter for the day and they kept our daughter for the day, they weren't into the night entertainment so we took their daughter with us up to the entertainment and dropped her back when it had finished.

3 k is a lot to spend on a holiday but if its all inclusive its worth it as you would spend 1500 on food and entertainment in 2 weeks anyway (well we would).

We have (free)access to a holiday apartment and private swimming pool in fuengirola in spain but for the reasons above we have never taken the people up on their offer (which is there year round) we also have year round access to a holiday home in kilkee which we will use when we have time (owned by the same people, (my sons godfather)). So we could have a cheep as chips holiday but would not enjoy it as much as a holiday in a hotel. I like my luxurys!



Depends what people are into, i only do weekend trips in ireland, top place is youghal in co cork its lovely (i grew up there) we stay at the quality hotel redbarn (they also have holiday homes). that way we have the beach and can go to fota island.

Did you stay at the viva sunrise?

toe_knee

Just back from Lough Key. Brought my 8 year old son up for a few days. 22 euro per night for a family tent. He really enjoyed it. There were plenty of kids around of different ages. This was his first time camping and he can't wait to go again. To be honest I really enjoyed it as well and am looking around the interent today to see where we will go next
http://www.loughkey.ie/

sarahlulu

We stayed in the viva sunrise a couple of years ago and loved it, great for kids.

This year though, I couldn't face bringing three kids through a busy airport, and the delays that seem to hit me every time I fly anywhere!! So we hired a fabulous holiday house in Kerry and we had the most terriffic week, definitely the best family holiday we have ever taken.

Khannie

Bouncy castle update: Went down a treat today. Lots of bouncing. I'm half expecting a lie in tomorrow. There was a brief period in the afternoon that it wasn't used but mostly it was in use throughout the day with various friends over and what not. We're having adult friends (plus children) over tomorrow for drinks and bbq and bouncing. I'd say it'll come into its own then. No major injuries either.

My legs are really wrecked. I expect them to be very sore tomorrow.

toe_knee wrote: »

Just back from Lough Key. Brought my 8 year old son up for a few days. 22 euro per night for a family tent. He really enjoyed it. There were plenty of kids around of different ages. This was his first time camping and he can't wait to go again. To be honest I really enjoyed it as well and am looking around the interent today to see where we will go next
http://www.loughkey.ie/

That looks super. Very seriously gonna consider it. Cheers.

grindelwald wrote: »

I went to funtasia in bettystown and i hated it. I thought it was very tacky. Then again it was 2 years ago things might have improved.

Nope! It's very tacky alright. Mostly the kids had good fun in the indoor jungle play area and that only set us back a tenner.

Tabnabs

toe_knee wrote: »

Just back from Lough Key. Brought my 8 year old son up for a few days. 22 euro per night for a family tent. He really enjoyed it. There were plenty of kids around of different ages. This was his first time camping and he can't wait to go again. To be honest I really enjoyed it as well and am looking around the interent today to see where we will go next
http://www.loughkey.ie/

Recommend Morescastle Strand in Wexford, very child friendly and right beside the beach.

Sleepy

While our monsters enjoyed the Glenroe Farm (particularly good playground), for anyone near Wicklow I'd highly recommend the Kia Ora Mini Farm.

The kids get to pet loads of animals, there's a Fire Truck that gives them a spin around the farm and there must be nearly a hundred ride on tractors, tricycles, pedal cars etc. in a big play area beside picnic tables for mammy / daddy et al to have a freshly ground coffee / tea while watching the kids pedal around...

Absolutely brilliant day out.

Nevyn

Have movie night, make a mass of popcorn and drinks with ice and pick a move and settle in.
God to a different play ground, mine love comparing and contrasting play grounds to their local ones.
Maynooth's is good, right beside the train station and then there is a nice walk around the grounds
of the university, or there is the one in malahide castle or the one in Marlay park and the visitors
in the phenoix park. While the weather is good why not see how many playgrounds you can hit up.

pickarooney

Quite apart from the money, we find travelling any long distance with small children and getting them to adapt to new sleeping arrangements was just too exhausting. We only get a very limited bit of time 'off' per year and honestly it's just not worth it when you come out of a holiday even more tired than when you left.

So we've been doing this kind of thing - staying at home with a series of day trips over a few weeks and it's been much more relaxing. It's amazing the sheer number of places there are to discover even within a small radius. We're lucky enough to live in an area with fantastic weather and amazing scenery, but even in a place like Dublin, with a bit of imagination you can spend days disovering new things close by and not even scratch the surface of what there is to see and do. You actually do a lot more than you would on most foreign holidays which involve so much 'arriving' that you never get to really explore.

This year we're doing something slightly different - renting a big house with two other couples and their kids. The plan is for us to relay the child-minding so we all actually get some real free time to canoeing, fishing etc.

Moonbeam

Maynooth playground is great because there are 3 playgrounds for the different ages kids/teenagers, lovely walks along the Canal and lots of Ducks:)

http://www.heritageweek.ie/ might help with ideas.

Sleepy

The playground in Cabinteely is fantastic too.

metrovelvet

i have found it much cheaper to leave the country.

Sleepy

It certainly can be with Ryanair flights and last minute accomodation booking...

Hellrazer

Im going to jump in here with a recommendation for a really cheap family holiday abroad.

www.lifestyle-holidays.co.uk
Click on Castell Montgri.

This will be our 2nd year going to Castell Montgri in Estartit.
Last year we got almost 3 weeks there for 1100 euros for a family of 8 including flights
This year we`re going for a week and its costing us 880 for a family of 7 including flights--it works out cheaper the longer you stay.

Its a campsite in North Spain with facilities that I couldnt recommend highly enough--3 restaurants,3 pools,full evening entertainment programme for the kids,nightclub on site.Its also 10 minute walk from the main resort and the restaurants there are highly recommended aswell.

Right so why is it so cheap??

1.You pay for your accomodation "per unit" for example a 3 bed mobile home is a set price for the period and then you can bring as many people as they will take up to 10 in the larger ones--we brought our nieces for no extra charge except their flights--Now for anyone who thinks this is like that father ted episode in the caravan which is what we thought the first year we were going--this is way above that--these are way bigger than your apartment you`d get in a package holiday--most are 3 bed with a separate sitting/dining room/bathroom.You get a free gas BBQ for your stay with as many fills of gas as you use and you get a huge decked area for those late night sessions with all the furniture to go with it


2.There are no set arrival days so you just book your flights separate and then book the accommodation.Take this year for example.We saved over 400 on flights by going out on a Friday instead of Saturday and could have saved another 200 by going on a Wednesday but I couldnt get the time off work.

You can save even more by just using having carry on luggage instead of booking bags into the hold.

Oh yeah theres a Lidl across the road from the site and everything and I mean everything is dirt cheap--bottle of vodka-3 euro,10 pack of steaks for the bbq-4 quid.

We looked at a staycation this year but it was working out a more than we got this years hol for.

You really can do it much cheaper than staying here if you do your homework.

metrovelvet

I love Estartit. Damn you. I was keeping it my little secret!

Hellrazer

metrovelvet wrote: »

I love Estartit. Damn you. I was keeping it my little secret!

Its a great place altogether.And even if you just went for Harveys Restaurant mmm!!Coldest beer in the world,nicest food in Estartit and dirt cheap aswell.
Im feeling hungry now!!!


Metrovelvet have you stayed in Castell Montgri??