Top 10 Money Saving Travel Tips for Families
Anyone with kids knows that they can be expensive, like really expensive. Traveling can also be…not cheap. Kids & travel together is enough to scare anyone away from venturing out. But traveling with our little humans doesn’t need to break the bank. These are our top 10 ways to save while giving your family an unforgettable vacation.
1. Choose Naturally Free Activities
Yup, if you want to save money, do free activities. No brainer, right? Theres so much to be said for free activities since the possibilities are vast. Chances are that you can find a free activity in the area you're visiting.
Naturally free activities are a huge win. Beaches, pedestrian bridges, lakes, playgrounds, monuments, parks, parades & festivals can all be exciting ways to spend a day out as a family. Nature is often a go-to free activity which provides hours, or days, of fun.
Sometimes you need to think outside the box. An unexpected free activity we just experienced was a developer open house. They had a row of open houses and drew people in with a "burger battle". Free gourmet burgers from local restaurants, cold drinks, decatant gelato, balloons and even a caricature artist.
Research your destination and I’m certain you can find amazing free adventures.
2. Find Free Options for Paid Activities
I love this since I’m a sucker for a deal. And who doesn’t like to get free stuff and save $$$? To start, look for activities you want to do and check if they have free days or what the requirements are for free passes. Don’t be shy, it’s totally worth a phone call.
The Army Museum in Paris was free the day we visited. It's also free for those under 18, disabled people and a caregiver, as well as veterans and active military. Other museums in Paris are free on the first Sunday of every month. The San Diego Zoo is free for kids in October while Glenbow Museum in Calgary is free the first Thursday of every month from 5-9pm. Most places will have a free admittance option. (Except Disneyland, but if you discover a way you’ll be my bestie for life! Shoot me an email.)
This tip is especially important if you have children with "disabilities" since many places will give a free pass to a "disabled" persons caregiver. Cineplex and Landmark movie theaters in Canada give a free pass for someone accompanying the person with a disability Access 2 card. Calaway Park, the Telus Spark Science Center and Calgary Zoo also give free passes to the caregiver. Anyone in Canada with special needs should have one of those cards. Head over to their website to get an Access 2 Pass Card and see the venders.
3. Stay Where There's Added Benefits
Breakfast included, waterslide, play area, shuttles, etc. Finding somewhere to stay that includes extra entertainment can save major dollars. Instead of buying breakfast every morning we eat the breakfast provided by the hotel. Since it costs our family around $50 for a fast food breakfast, eating at the hotel would save our family $700 over a 2 week vacation.
The same can be said for picking a hotel with a water park. A pool, water park, game room or play structure can add days of entertainment at no extra cost. And even better, it’s right down the hall - which saves on travel time, transportation costs, food, etc. Oh, and how could I forget the convenience of an afternoon nap? Priceless. A few days of our vacation my kids chose to stay at the hotel and swim over going to Disneyland.
4. Consider an AirBnb or Vacation Rental
Staying in a hotel with a large family can be pricey. With four children many hotels will want you to book 2 rooms. Twice the cost of lodging? Um, no thanks! AirBnb's are a perfect solution for families. If you haven't heard of this option I guarantee that you'll want to. Download the ap or head over to AirBnbs website. It only take a minute to sign up and it’s crazy exciting to look at all the cool lodgings around the world (they even have a whole section for treehouses!). Ok, now I’m distracted. This is the AirBnb we stayed in when visiting Paris and it was amazing! I definitely recommend staying here.
Here’s some ways that AirBnb's can save you money and sanity.
Washer and dryer on site - This means you can pack less clothes and save on luggage costs.
Kitchens - Find a grocery store and buy food and snacks for your stay. Make food in the kitchen and enjoy home cooked food at a portion of the cost of eating out.
Free Parking - have a vehicle? make sure to select the "free parking" option on amenities to save on the cost an hassle of finding somewhere to park.
Private pools, waterparks or yards for the kids - Free entertainment and somewhere to spend down days.
Bed and space for everyone. We love staying in hotels that have separate rooms. You can put a baby down for a nap, or kids can play while we have some much deserved quiet time. On AirBnb you can select the number of beds and see what type of beds they'll be - bunk bed, king bed, air mattress, pullout couch, etc.
5. Pack Food & Picnic
Eating out can be insanely expensive. It's even more painful when you're feeding 6! A tiny bag of tomatoes was about $8 at Disneyland. We can’t afford to spend money like that since my wish for a Scrooge McDuck money pit never came true.
I love eating out and hate doing dishes so this isn’t the easiest tip for me to follow. I know it can save me money, however, I don't even like cooking at home so why would I when Im on vacation? Each person has their own comfort level with cooking and packing food on vacation. Some people I know find a local grocery store and buy all the food they’ll need while never eating out - yep, that’s a good way to save big. Im often on a cooking hiatus while vacationing so thats not my style. Instead, I prefer to buy snacks, drinks and ingredients to make basic sandwiches. I find it a huge savings to buy our own and it can ward off ravenous little monsters when spending the day out. Breakfast is usually included with our hotel or we eat food from the grocery store. We eat out for one bigger meal, either lunch or dinner, and the other meal is grocery store food that doesn’t need to be cooked.
Look for a hotel with a kitchen, or at the very least, a mini fridge/freezer and microwave. This makes preparing and storing food easier. Make sure to use a cooler bag and ice packs so your home prepped food will stay fresh. If you don’t want to lug one when traveling, order a cooler bag and icepacks on amazon when you get to your destination and have it delivered right to your hotel. Even if you give it to the hotel staff when leaving, it’ll still save you a great deal of money.
6. Be Flexible with Destination or Timing
When we went to Paris we travelled for the purpose of attending my brother in laws wedding. It was a destination I didn't choose, but didn't complain about either ;). When planning our next vacation we're in charge of the destination and when we’ll go. I want to find an inexpensive vacation option where we can explore, relax and have fun together. Although I’m a Disney girl at heart I know not every trip will include the Mickey magic. Using the West Jet app I searched the cost of different locations for the time of year we're able to travel. Several inexpensive options came up and I’m starting to investigate options around those flights.
Some cities are much cheaper to fly to, stay in and have more free activities. Picking a destination with lots of free activities will obviously save money.
There's also options like Sell Off Vacations, where you can grab last min vacation packages they're trying to unload. If you're open to different destinations you can discover parts of the world you wouldn't have travelled to before, while saving money.
7. Go When They’re Young
Children under the age of 2 usually fly for free when sitting on a caregivers lap. We did an 11 hour flight (plus a layover) with a 1 yr old in our arms and it was totally doable. Depending on the flight length and the child's disposition you can definitely get away with purchasing one less ticket. Since Leo is a crazy active -almost- 2 year old, I don’t think we’d brave that trip with him on our laps right now. I’m sure a shorter flight would be easy to manage. It really helped to have him in the stretchy Boba Wrap, which is one of my top baby gear for traveling.
Most theme parks, museums and events have a free age; often its 0-3 years old. Choosing to travel and explore while kids are young will save money and can give you a much needed adventure while having family bonding time.
8. Stay Where a Vehicle Isn't Essential
I thought there would be no way we could go on vacation without a vehicle, but I was wrong. Not only did we save tons of money from not renting a van, we also discovered much of the city we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. We walked the majority of the time and it was wonderful for our family. We also enjoyed using public transportation. The kids found it so exciting to ride the Metro (aka subway) and we loved not needing to find parking. If you can get away with not renting a vehicle, then do it! This tip mainly works if you’re staying more central and close to activities or there’s a shuttle (like to Disneyland).
9. Skip the Souvenirs
Or at least go light on them. Ok, full disclosure - this is a suggestion from someone else since Im terrible at reigning in my greedy inner child. I love souvenirs! Im a sentimental person at heart so I love having items from places Ive visited. But in all reality the stuff we buy we could have done without. Not only does it cost money but you may end up staying awake all night trying to get your ridiculous amount of stuff to fit into suitcases nowhere near big enough, paying for an extra suitcase at the hotel giftshop as a last resort and then paying for extra luggage on the flight home. $$$ Yep, thats a real life experience you can learn from.
My sister has a genius method to reduce how much they buy, especially at amusement parks like Disneyland. She tells her 4 kids that they get one souvenir while there. Each day they can look at gift shops and think about what they want. On the last day they walk around and get the item each person has chosen. This allows the kid (and adult) to truly think about what they want after looking at all the options. It also helps reduce the "I need this toy" meltdown that happens when each ride ends in a gift shop (thanks for that Disneyland).
She also allows her kids to pick an experience they want to have. One of her daughters picked Ariels Grotto while another wanted to build a remote control car. Experiences may cost money but they'll stay with you forever and cost nothing to bring on the plane.
If you're looking to save money, skip the souvenirs all together.
10. Make the Most of Season Passes & City Cards
It's hard to believe that season passes can be less expensive or more cost effective than a day pass, but that can be the case. For example, we have an amusement park by our home and if you buy a season pass before the park opens for the season you can get 4 months of fun for the cost of a day pass. Anyone who doesn't buy passes early is kicking themselves later on. We get passes every year, especially since they have a great special needs program. Take a look at Calaway Park if you’re in the Calgary area. If you know a head of time where you'll be traveling look for deals on activities.
You can plan 2 vacations to the same location (within a year) and get a seasons pass. A friend of mine visits her parents in Florida about 2x a year with her husband and children. They buy seasons passes to Disneyworld so they can go as much as they want while visiting family.
Go Cards and City Passes also provide excellent saving. These multi-attraction cards are available in many major cities. The week before moving away from Toronto we realized we didn’t visit a bunch of the classic, go-to tourist destinations. We bought 2 City Passes and visited the CN Tower, the Toronto Zoo, the Hockey Hall of Fame and Casa Loma. Totally worth the money.
Visit Smart Destinations to see the 17 Go Card city options.
Visit City Pass to see their 13 city options.