https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 06 Apr 2026 04:52:32 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation/page/2#post-2752669 Tue, 27 Jun 2017 20:50:29 +0000 peachykeen 2752669@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We tend to take one big international trip a year (usually 2-2.5 weeks). We cover flight costs and sometimes lodging with points (though we're more likely to stay in reasonably-priced local places) so we really only have to pay for in-country transportation, activities, and meals. I would say we spend between $1-2k depending on the country and how many cities we're visiting.</p> <p>I know this will get more expensive as the kids get bigger though... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation/page/2#post-2752659 Tue, 27 Jun 2017 20:01:20 +0000 Finfan 2752659@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We only ever vacation to see family. Our only expense to see mine is gas (big enough house for us to stay for free). We have to stay in a hotel in Chicago to see DH's family and it's usually around $1,000 for gas and hotels. Rarely do we stay a full week there. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation/page/2#post-2752505 Tue, 27 Jun 2017 13:21:32 +0000 petitenoisette 2752505@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The airfare if necessary is so variable so I'm not going to include that though usually we have enough travel rewards to pay for at least one ticket. I try to spend $150 per night max for lodging and we stay in Airbnb's these days. We usually have one meal out a day, one meal in and then something quick/cheap. Food still is easily $100 a day. Lastly for activities it depends on the place but our last trip to San Diego we spent about $500. So that's $1750 plus transport for a 5 day trip which is sort of our sweet sport right now (gives us the weekend to recover when we get home!)</p> <p>That's for a family trip just us 3. We do two other 5-7 day long vacations every summer with family/friends that are much more economical where we spend maybe 2000 total for both. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation/page/2#post-2752485 Tue, 27 Jun 2017 13:04:45 +0000 tramdoof 2752485@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I second the joys of travel hacking. We have had some really wonderful experiences because of strategic credit card use. It's not just for people who already travel a lot, though that helps. But I also second @sunny's point. It is also not for everyone and really requires staying on top of your relationship with credit. We live on the east coast and have family on the west. This year, we have used points to go home multiple times, plus a thanksgiving trip to Hawaii, and Easter trip to Israel and in a few days a trip back to Europe, where we used to live. Usually we strategize where we want to go that year and then map out how much we can expect from points and budget the rest per month. This year was a particular big year for travel as we were TTC and wanted to fit a lot in before the baby arrived. But I would say we spent about $2000 out of pocket on each trip all inclusive. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation/page/2#post-2752452 Tue, 27 Jun 2017 11:44:17 +0000 sunny 2752452@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If we need to fly, it probably ends up being $4000-5000 for a week. I aim to cover either the airfare or hotel with points so our out of pocket cost would be lower. We went to Hawaii 2 years ago for a week and spent just a fraction. It was awesome! I think we spent maybe $1000 for the week on everything -- airfare, hotel and food -- we had miles for airfare and most of our hotel nights. We even stayed at an amazing hotel that was normally $500+/night... I want to go back one day!!!</p> <p>This year we are spending $4000 on airfare alone because we're visiting family in Europe. :shocked: Luckily we won't have too many expenses once we arrive since we'll be staying at their family cabin.</p> <p>Just to caution people about the travel hacking -- it is deeply rewarding to get so much "free value" out of trips, but it can also be time consuming, frustrating and possibly NOT FOR YOU if you carry credit card debt. No amount of points will ever be worth paying 20%+ credit card interest! So if you're not credit card debt free, this isn't for you. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation/page/2#post-2752396 Tue, 27 Jun 2017 09:38:27 +0000 StrawberryShortie 2752396@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@808love: We do a really similar thing! We sit down at the beginning of the year and say "okay we want to go here" Then we split up the cost and put some away each pay...</p> <p>it builds up so fast! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation/page/2#post-2752388 Tue, 27 Jun 2017 09:15:49 +0000 Mrs. Dolphin 2752388@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaG: @TRAVELLINGBEE: Like @lawbee I also travel hack and we only really need to budget for expenses like activities and local transportation and food. Even though I don't travel for work as much as I used to, I still have plenty of points and miles because of travel hacking. For example, we put our daycare expenses on our credit card which is almost enough for two free roundtrip tickets to California (from DC) in a year. We put almost all of our expenses on various credit cards to earn points and miles.<br /> I did a series on travel hacking on hellobee, which includes links to many great resources: <a href="http://www.hellobee.com/2017/01/30/have-children-will-travel-traveling-for-free-using-points-and-miles-part-1/" rel="nofollow">http://www.hellobee.com/2017/01/30/have-children-will-travel-traveling-for-free-using-points-and-miles-part-1/</a><br /> <a href="http://www.hellobee.com/2017/03/14/have-children-will-travel-traveling-for-free-using-points-and-miles-part-2/" rel="nofollow">http://www.hellobee.com/2017/03/14/have-children-will-travel-traveling-for-free-using-points-and-miles-part-2/</a><br /> <a href="http://www.hellobee.com/2017/03/15/have-children-will-travel-traveling-for-free-using-points-and-miles-part-3/" rel="nofollow">http://www.hellobee.com/2017/03/15/have-children-will-travel-traveling-for-free-using-points-and-miles-part-3/</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation/page/2#post-2752366 Tue, 27 Jun 2017 08:22:40 +0000 StrawberryShortie 2752366@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@travellingbee: We do a smaller trip every other year and a big trip every 4-5 years<br /> Small trips<br /> (like flying to BC for 5 days or a week in Florida in an AIRBNB) including airfare around always around $4-5k CAD</p> <p>Big trips (Disney, Europe etc) are 10K+ depending on where we are going and for how long. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation/page/2#post-2752340 Tue, 27 Jun 2017 07:32:48 +0000 mrsbookworm 2752340@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We usually do one "big" vacation and several long weekends in a year. However, since we're temporarily living in Europe, we're taking advantage and traveling more than usual. It's offset by the fact that my husband's company pays our rent. So this year, we went on a cruise, a long weekend in Paris, a trip to Disneyland Paris and are heading to the Mediterranean for two weeks in August. I'll be sad when this adventure is over! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation/page/2#post-2752089 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 13:21:11 +0000 Littlebit7 2752089@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We vacation 2-3 times a year but a lot of it is offset by using my husbands miles and hotel points. He travels a lot.<br /> We typically do an outer banks vacation, a ski trip, and some other type of vacarion.<br /> We don't spend a ton on stuff, and although we live in an expensive area, we underspend on our housing/car/buying stuff (based on our household income and what the "experts" say we should spend per month)<br /> We love to ski and go to the beach. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation/page/2#post-2752063 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 12:38:35 +0000 Mrs. Sketchbook 2752063@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <br /><p><i>This comment has been deleted by the original poster.</i></p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2752039 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 11:44:34 +0000 808love 2752039@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: Oh! I thought I was the only one. :) I have to save per month otherwise I would go off track and make all kinds of luxurious decisions that would offset other things. Also taking multiple trips makes things a little more costly if we go over on each one.<br /> @catlady: Yes, I have to account for DH decisions in my budget. (He's so predictable and can be expensive when it comes to food.) lol<br /> @looch: So glad you prioritize the rest time! It is so important! </p> <p>I also think of it like, what percentage when looking at overall annual spending budget, is reasonable to allot for vacations. That's how I justify it. :happy: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2752022 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 11:02:34 +0000 catlady 2752022@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I feel weird saying this but we don't generally have a budget. We tend to pick a trip, and then I try to get the best deals I can on it. For example, this year we are going to Disney and I got a great deal on our resort and tickets, and we will pay approximately 50% for our flights by using credit card points.</p> <p>In the past, I used to budget down to the last dollar (like, I'd say we can spend exactly $500 on this and no more) and we saved money but it drove DH crazy. We had a few miserable vacations before he said no more. So now we only book trips that we know we can afford at full price, and I get my "budgeting" fix out of the way by looking for discounts in other ways. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2752020 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 10:56:54 +0000 looch 2752020@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@808love: I think we kind of do that...on the years when we do our trip to visit family in December, we do a smaller vacation as a family that year. We have a general idea how much the airfare will be and we just make the assumption that we will only do one family vacation that year and the budget for that is usually in the same ballpark year over year (or at least it has been, considering we did the same kind of trips). We do tend to choose a destination, and then I'll see what it costs in the timeframe that we want to go. I usually downgrade rather than upgrade and then I make it work in the budget.</p> <p>Vacations are important to me. I have worked hard, I am going to play now too. There were plenty of years where I didn't go anywhere. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2752019 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 10:54:03 +0000 gingerbebe 2752019@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@808love: I think plenty of us save the way you describe it's just a matter of how that money is apportioned. For instance, we have a travel/holiday budget that includes all travel and gifts and holidays and it's a massive line item in our budget. But if it's a bad year for lots of holidays where we need to travel for family visits or if someone has a major birthday or wedding, or if you're on maternity, things get shifted around. Just because I saved and budgeted $5,000 for travel doesn't mean I get a $5,000 vacation that year. Some years I save that much and go nowhere. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2752001 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 10:09:51 +0000 808love 2752001@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I find it interesting nobody budgets for travel the way I do. I budget what I deem appropriate to save per month and put it in a travel account. (Just a separate block on my spreadsheet.) I take from that. The balance determines what vacation I will take and how much to spend. Comparing round numbers with different sized families might not be helpful to determine how much or how little or how often. Looking at how much disposable (or necessary income-depending on how you look at classifying a vacation) per month would be a factor. If I had a car loan I wouldn't vacation as much for my budgeting purposes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751999 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 10:03:14 +0000 gingerbebe 2751999@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@travellingbee: Well, I was multiplying what we spend by 7 days, but we have never taken a full week trip. With kids I find 3 nights/4 days to be the point at which we get the best results in terms of their cooperativeness, parental exhaustion, and getting the kids back on a routine when we get home. We usually spend the bulk of our vacation money on visiting family. We stay with my ILs for Christmas every other year and those flights cost like $1500 with a lap infant. My parents are in LA (we are in NorCal) but we can't stay with them so we have to get a hotel - so those trips home end up costing like $2000. This past year we had to do Christmas in Michigan and go home in May for my brothers wedding (with wedding gift money and outfits, etc) so we are pretty broke for vacations this year. :(</p> <p>We are doing a long weekend in San Jose at the end of July because DH has a work conference. We ended up spending like $1800 for a VRBO bc the Bay Area is so expensive and because we got a much bigger rental to accommodate some friends who are going to tag along to help me wrangle the kids while DH is at the conference. We are probably packing a lot of food and snacks in the van and our expenses will be like admission to the children's museum or Happy Hollow Zoo. And luckily my husband can deduct a lot of the lodging as a business expense so it ended up being not too bad.</p> <p>We aren't going to be able to take a long fun beach vacation for a while - DS2 is 13 months and DH doesn't want to go to Hawaii again until the kids are 3 and able to use drop-in child care at a resort. 😜 He thinks it's a waste of money otherwise and not worth the hassle. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751987 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 09:34:54 +0000 Modern Daisy 2751987@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>When we aren't using miles or visiting family I think $2-5k for a vacation is reasonable depending on where we're going. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751983 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 09:31:16 +0000 raspberries 2751983@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We usually do one actual vacation a year - a week in the Outer Banks. We rent a 3-bedroom house for around $1500, then budget about $80/day for food (breakfast is usually fruit and cereal, lunch is sandwiches, then dinner out.) So around $2000 for food and lodging, then with gas and random activities (entrance fees, mini golf, ice cream, etc.), we usually plan to spend a total of $2500.</p> <p>Our other "vacations" are to visit family, and we stay with them, so they're a lot cheaper. (And not as relaxing, ha.) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751975 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 09:13:21 +0000 krispi 2751975@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We usually aim for $500 - $1500 per trip for travel and lodging (food is extra), but we might take 2-3 trips per year. With our daughter, we've only done regional driving trips so far, but we did do a couple's trip to Las Vegas earlier this year. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751972 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:58:49 +0000 lamariniere 2751972@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It's hard to say. It depends on where we go, but we've typically done a "big" vacation (2-3 weeks) once a year with shorter visits/vacations/long weekends throughout the year. We try to use points/miles when we can to help offset costs. But we enjoy traveling and don't do so many pricey activities or spend much on entertainment in our day to day lives, so we are more loose with the budget when in vacation mode. We took a fairly expensive vacation to Asia last year, but the rationale was that our oldest was starting school, and it would be the last time we could take advantage of off-peak travel for the next 15 years or so. :silly: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751970 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:53:22 +0000 DesertDreams88 2751970@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Before kids, we aimed for $100ish a day. Now with kids, it's about $150ish a day. We mainly do car trips + motels + national/state park hiking + city exploring; or fly to.visit family and friends and stay with them and do local things. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751957 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:39:07 +0000 MamaG 2751957@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lawbee11: I'd love to see the links too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751954 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:36:14 +0000 looch 2751954@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@avivoca: Yes, business travel ruins people! I always say that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751952 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:35:13 +0000 avivoca 2751952@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: Those, and also any hotel in a chain that has rooms that open to the outside. So some Choice hotels are okay because they have inside rooms and some are not. He's still mad about the time that we stayed in a Best Western in Florida that had outside rooms (that opened to a courtyard, so not a sidewalk). He stays in a lot of hotels for work and is super picky. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751950 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:33:29 +0000 looch 2751950@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@avivoca: outside rooms? Do you mean a motel, where the doors to the room go straight outside? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751948 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:30:29 +0000 travellingbee 2751948@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lawbee11: um me too!!! I don't know what this is, travel hacking… but I think I need to know! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751945 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:26:49 +0000 avivoca 2751945@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Probably around $1500 at the max. I aim to keep our lodging right around $500 or less, then gas. We either rent a car or drive ours and we only eat out one meal a day. I try to find hotels with breakfast included and also hotels that don't have "outside rooms" as my husband is extremely picky about that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751932 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:07:22 +0000 yoursilverlining 2751932@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I try to cover flights or hotels with miles, but it doesn't always happen. I also am not real budget-friendly on vacation; that stuff is for real life lol not fun vacation life. </p> <p>4k a week sounds about what we spend, assuming traveling in the US. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-much-do-you-typically-budget-for-a-family-vacation#post-2751924 Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:00:05 +0000 lawbee11 2751924@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Champagne: I'll post the blog links I used to get started on your wall :) We definitely could not afford to take some of the vacations we do without it! </p>