Easter Holiday Ideas for parents

Easter is very early this year so actually although the kids have only just returned to school after half term it is time to be thinking about the Easter Holidays.

Remember Poor planning in corporate jargon with the odd swear word thrown in means poor performance. e.g Not as good a Easter holiday as you had been anticipating!!

Whatever your circumstances or the age of your kids, holidays can be a challenge in a whole variety of ways.

So spending half an hour working out how you and the kids are going to spend time over Easter will really help everyone to have a great Easter Holiday.

So grab a notebook and embark on a quick Easter planning meeting with yourself. Start by asking yourself a few questions.

1.    What activity or outings have you promised to do – but hasn’t happened yet?
2.    What would the kids like to do? (not always sadly the same thing as you would like).
3.    What worked well in the last school holiday
4.    What didn’t and why was that?
5.    What changes can you make to avoid these pitfalls.?
6.    What things do you most enjoy doing with the kids?
7.    What is your financial budget to spend over Easter?

Once you have answered the above questions, being as honest as possible, draw up an outline plan of your ideas, making sure you incorporate your thoughts on how you can avoid some of the challenges of previous holidays.

And if you are one of those Mums whose own wish list goes to the bottom of the pile, do make sure you include something you would like to do over the Easter Holidays too.

Of course the key now is to put this outline plan into action. So grab your diary and work out how the above ideas fit in with what is already sitting in the diary over the next few weeks.

Note I mentioned financial budget. School holidays can be an expensive time, visiting theme parks, swimming pools and the cinema do not come cheap. If you are trying to stick to a budget then remember you don’t always need to spend money to have fun.

Here are some ideas of how you and the kids can have fun without spending a fortune.

Make a camp in the garden.
Go for a walk and take a simple picnic (whatever the weather).
Play hide and seek with the kids.
Hold a treasure hunt or a scavenger hunt. (Check out our ideas on the website under Entertainment)
Stock up on cake mixes and make sure you have eggs, butter and flour in the house for impromptu cake making activities.

If all else fails and everyone is grumpy, a good old fashioned bubble bath can be a real mood shifter, as the afternoon ends and little people get fractious. Maybe followed by supper and snuggle up on the sofa with the duvet and a DVD. A great way to make something ordinary special – and perfect if you have just got home from a long day at work.