Taking a weekend away without breaking the bank

When you have a family of 7 it is much more expensive to do anything. Going out to eat suddenly costs astronomical amounts, even at fast food places. there are many ways to save, as simple as dollar menu over those kiddie meals, but I'll get into all that in a later post. Taking a reasonable weekend away is difficult for families our size because many hotels don't have rooms that accommodate 7, which sometimes means two rooms and double the price. We are taking the kids away to an indoor water park this year for two nights, and as notoriously expensive as they are it is possible to have a somewhat reasonable trip. The first expense is the actual indoor water park hotel. We have three to choose from, a very small free one that requires two rooms, and two large expensive ones that require either two rooms or extra tickets. at $40 a pop that's a lot. for us the most reasonable way to do it with 5 kids is to get a family loft with a water park package. We found a deal on Groupon for a discount rate on the family loft that includes 4 tickets to the park. This means that with the baby so young we only have to buy two water park tickets.

The gas money to get there is a necessary evil, as is the loft and tickets. The best way to save money on this particular trip is on food. I always pack snacks on a road trip anyway. That saves on stopping at least once. I'll bring snacks and drinks for the trip, and peanut butter and bread for PB sandwiches, and probably cold cuts and cheese for sandwiches for lunch at the hotel room. This is great for two reasons, number one more time at the water park! number two saving money, between the bread and peanut butter for us it will cost about 5 bucks, a trip to fast food even eating off the dollar menu will cost at least $15 for all of us. Our family can live on sandwiches for the two nights, but we will probably eat out at least once, maybe at a sit down dinner, maybe at a fast food, maybe one of each. when going out to eat at a 'real' restaurant we try to go to a kids eat free day. Then hubs and I get a meal and we can let Diva (My 12 year old daughter) get an adult meal so we get three free kids meals for the three older boys. The baby gets to share a little of everyone's. If we can't go to a kids eat free we will usually have the three boys the Diva and the baby share two or three adult meals if it costs less then buying them each their own meal, or we buy bulk (if its available). We also give the kids the lower priced options, and we drink water, as drinks at restaurants are so overpriced.

The rest of our trip should be fun for the kids without ever leaving the hotel room, because the room will likely have cable (which we don't have at home) and the kids get their electronics pretty much whenever they want on the trip (the electronics are usually very limited at home). With the access to the pools and slides limited to one day this trip is not for everyone. Our kids will be disappointed they cant go to the water park all the time, but when we do go it will be so much fun!