With Labor Day almost here (I swear I just turned my wall calendar page to August … and now it’s already time to buy a PTSA calendar), we thought we would share some family staycation tips. For those of you ran out of time to plan a Labor Day trip or just decided to relax at home, we talked to some other working moms about their best family staycation tips.
Psst: On the “real” vacation side of things, we’ve talked about the easiest vacation resorts for working moms, three companies that rent baby gear for travel, vacation planning, flying with kids, and tips for using Airbnb with kids. We’ve talked about staycations before over on Corporette, as well.
1. Make sure you’re on the same page about what the weekend will look like. That advice comes from J. Whitley, whose kids are 4, 6, and 11. “For us, the most important thing is making sure we’re all on the same page before we begin,” she says. “I’m DOWN for getting out of the house at 7 a.m. and driving two hours to an awesome hike/tour/festival/getaway/amusement park, etc. My partner and kids? Not so much. They’d all prefer to sleep late or watch TV for the morning, have brunch, and then go somewhere around 3:30–4:30 in the afternoon and stay late. More than one weekend has been spoiled because of miscommunicated expectations/wishes.”
Which family vacation resorts have you tried and enjoyed? Are there any you’ve tried that you wouldn’t? Which is your kids’ favorite? When you want to have a fun family vacation but don’t want to do a lot of planning, where do you go? Which do you think are the easiest family vacation resorts for working moms?
New parents learn very quickly that going anywhere with a baby requires a lot of “stuff.” If you’re going out to dinner and bringing a diaper bag packed with supplies, that’s not so bad, but family vacations are another story. If your destination is nowhere near friends or relatives with baby gear that you can share or borrow, you’re likely to find yourself with a long list of things to take with you: carseat, stroller, baby carrier, Pack ‘n Play, etc. That can be a huge hassle, especially if you’re 
I’ve mentioned before that I’m not great at planning family vacations. Now that J is in kindergarten, though, the school year feels a lot more constraining on our schedule… and I realize it’s only going to get worse from here on out. In order to try to force myself to plan vacations, my husband and I just picked a few things we know we want to do, are divvying up the planning work, and we’re trying to block the year out ahead of time so we know what’s what, with school schedules and other major dates in there.
I was just talking with one of my mom friends about my best tips for flying with kids and thought it might make an interesting discussion over here. So ladies, what are your best tips for flying with kids? Have you found that different things worked when they were babies, then toddlers, then kindergartners and beyond? You may want to check out previous tips for using 
