Backyard Vacations, Staycations and Cheap Holidays


Planning your Backyard Vacation
Get Organized

House Work
Get your house cleaned from top to bottom before you begin. For two reasons, the first is that when you do come in the house you don’t feel obligated to stop vacationing and start cleaning. And number two so that when your vacation is over, you are coming home to a nice clean house. Just get the house clean and you will feel like you deserve your vacation that much more. Make it a team effort, so that nobody gets stuck with all the cleaning. Or if you have a little extra money in the budget hire some help.

Yard Work
Take care of all the chores – mow the lawn, clean up the trash, put stuff away, water the flowers or any other simple chores. Then make a deal with a friend or neighbor so that they will do your yard work while you are on your backyard vacation, and you can do theirs, when they take a backyard vacation.

Budget
What is your total budget?

What do you need to buy?

Bug Screen, Tent, sleeping bags, groceries, beach balls, football, sun block, slip and slide? Can you buy some inexpensive gifts for everybody to start them out on their Backyard Vacation?

How much do you want to spend on gas?

How much do you want to spend on restaurants?

How much do you want to spend for a hotel night or two?

How much will you spend on camping?

What is left over? That is your daily entertainment budget.

Spend you money according to your budget. If you want to do an expensive activity, do free activities for a couple of days to build up your wealth.

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Getting Prepared for you Backyard Camping Expedition
Set up all your camping gear and test it out. Check your camp stove, fill the propane, test the lamp and flashlights. Make sure you have everything you need for a comfortable camping experience.

If you are going to spend a lot of time at your campsite set up in a cool way. Maybe you have an old couch you can bring outside. Set up a tarp to shelter you from the rain. A string of Christmas lights in the trees or on the fence will give it a nice ambience. Lawn chairs...guest chairs. Glasses, plates get it set up in a deluxe fashion. Treat it like it is a resort. Sure it’s a bargain resort, but hey it’s still a resort. Post a sign that says “Welcome to CLUB (Your last name here)”

Activity Schedule
If you think it through you can actually do a lot of amazing things in just a week. But having a schedule is really not necessary. Write down all the things you want to do on some individual pieces of paper. Put them all in a hat and draw them out as necessary. It will keep the spontaneity factor high and diminish “schedule” stress.

Get up early have breakfast and leave the house. Spend as much time as possible away from home. Restock your travel food and beverages every morning so that you don’t spend money for wasteful reasons. Your money should be spent on good times!

Backyard Vacation Party Ideas
You have to do at least one cool party for your Backyard Vacation. But, don’t get to caught up in the “perfect party” because it will just be way more work than one should do on vacation. Be casual - have fun.

Here is a quick checklist to get you ready:

Which party are you going to throw? See the Backyard Vacation Party Ideas for your idea.

Who will you invite?

What do you want to spend on this party?

What do you need to buy for the party?

Potluck or will you pay for everything?


Back up Plans

What happens if the weather turns? Take some time to make a list of things that you could in case of inclement weather.

All this information is really just to help you figure it out yourself. I mean really it is your Backyard Vacations. I know from years of being a fun expert that all of these methods work to help increase your “Oneness with Funness”. I wish you all the best._

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