Busy mums last minute Easter Holiday planning tips

Easter Holiday Planning tips for busy mums

The Easter holidays are upon us. 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 doing some Easter Holiday Planning to work out how you and the kids are going to spend time during the school holidays is time well spent – even if you have left it to the last minute.

Have an Easter Holiday planning meeting – with yourself

Start by asking yourself a few questions.

What activity or outings have you promised to do – but not managed to date?
What would the kids like to do? (This is not necessarily the same thing as you would like to do!)
What worked well in the last school holiday?
What didn’t and why was that?
What changes can you make to avoid these pitfalls?
What things do you or your holiday carers most enjoy doing with the kids?
What is your financial budget to spend over Easter?

List your Easter Holiday planning ideas

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

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.

The key now is to put this outline plan into action. Grab your diary and work out how the above ideas fit in with what you already have planned over the next couple of weeks.

How much you are planning to spend

Note the mention of 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, remember you don’t always need to spend money to have fun.

It is good for children to realise that you don’t have to the latest latest gizmo or visit a theme park to enjoy yourself.

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)
Make your own Easter decorations
Stock up on cake mixes and make sure you have eggs, butter and flour in the house for impromptu cake making activities.

Make something ordinary special

Life does not have to be all action packed. 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.

Follow it up with supper, a snuggle up on the sofa with the duvet and a DVD.

This is a great way to make something ordinary special – and perfect if you have just got home from a long day at work and children have been with their child minders.