What does everyone budget yearly for vacations for a family of 4? I’m having sticker shock!
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I think it depends on what you’re looking for...We go away each March break and I’ve reluctantly come to accept that with our travel styles and preferences, it will be $1000 (CDN) a day no matter what we look into (Disney, all inclusive, cruise, skiing...).
We usually also do a much more budget-friendly family trip in the summer and that can be done for under $1500 for about 5 days.
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@charm55: any chance you'd share some of your budget trip ideas? I'd love two or three ideas of places to go and ways to keep it under 1500
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@MrsSRS: we go to Prince Edward Island each summer which is a short drive for us. We tent and make most meals so that’s super cheap. We usually splurge on one set of tickets to the local theme/water park but other than that we enjoy the very many free activities at the campground. We also explore local beaches and the National parks. Kids each get $20 total to buy a souvenir. It’s very low key but the kids have a lot of fun!
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@charm55: thanks! Sounds awesome. I think I'm one or two more years out from camping being fun and manageable since I solo parent and need them a little older. Can't wait!
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@charm55: ugh yah it sucks because to get anywhere we need to fly and just the price of 4 tickets is EASILY $2000us and that’s before hotels/food/activities. So I guess we just need to be saving more! And budgeting like minimum $5000/yr??
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@gotkimchi: we did a fun budget trip last summer by driving to a small city near us. It wasn't anywhere fancy, but we had a blast at the kid museum, hotel pool, restaurants, local candy stores, picnicking, and just not having to do anything for work or school or chores. So, yeah, I guess budget more or reframe what you're thinking of as an acceptable vacation?
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@MrsSRS: we did take a road trip this year to at Louis which was fun but still cost more then I expected! Between the hotel food and activities it was 1600 for 4 nights
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@gotkimchi: if you did St Louis you might like Omaha. We saved some money by packing a cooler full of picnic lunches, doing breakfast at the hotel, and restaurants for dinner.
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@MrsSRS: cool thanks! We had talked that maybe we’re just at the point in our lives where we drive places for awhile
my parents drove us to Florida every year for many years while we were young. Guess this is middle age lol
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Our budget is around 10k/year for a family of 5. We fly 2-3 times per year to visit family or friends, so that takes up a lot of the budget. When staying at hotels, we use credit card points (chase sapphire and amex bonvoy)
Otherwise we rent giant homes via VRBO etc and split the cost w family/friends -
@ChitownRo: I just opened a chase sapphire for the points so I’m hoping that gives us some options
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@gotkimchi: We both have Southwest Visa cards and earn enough to buy 3-5 round-trip flights each year. This is one of the only ways we’ve made farther travel possible. But I think the key is looking at what airline you fly the most and getting a rewards card that aligns, same with points for hotel stays or other travel expenses.
We usually end up spending about 5k/year between one bigger family vacation and a couple more shorter/closer trips. We are saving up points now to get out to the PNW to visit DHs sister and fiancé. My brother is also engaged and I’m crossing my fingers wherever they have their wedding (probably destination style in 2021) we can get there on Southwest!
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We have done 2 weeks for 2k easily, staying at hotels and eating out. It really depends on where and when you go. If you track prices on flights, be somewhat flexible on dates and can leverage miles or points then that’s the best but even one of those will make a big difference. If you give more info on what you’re looking for I can help with ideas.
if you’re willing to cook on vacation then even better, although for me personally that’s where I draw the line. 
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I feel like all our $ we would spend on vacation, we're spending on plane tickets to visit family. Like... easily 3-4k a year. Sucks.
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@Baby Boy Mom: i think this is probably the problem, that we’re generally pretty restricted on dates between work and school so we can’t be too flexible to get the best price. We’ve also never had points until now for hotels or flights and I’m hoping that might be a game changer
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@MrsADS: ugh with you - we usually pay to visit both families (who are 3 hours driving apart) twice a year. Between tickets, rental car to drive between, airport parking, the Airbnb required at one family, it’s easily 2/3 of our travel budget. And next year we have to buy 5 tickets for Christmas instead of 4!
We have done one immediate family trip the last 3 years. It’s about 4 hours drive and we spend most of the budget on the resort and spend most of our time there which saves on activities. And I cook almost every meal to save money, but it’s also just convenient when kids are napping and getting tired early and not easy to take out. I figure it’s a season and eventually we’ll go farther again but right now only driving and a condo/house type setup seems doable.
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I made a similar post several years ago when I had sticker shock planning our first fam vaca! And that was before we had to buy any kids plane tickets. We too are limited to high demand vaca times (I’m a teacher) so that makes it difficult. We’re actually planning a trip to Hawaii right now for right at the end of school year. I’m budgeting 5k out of pocket for fam of 4 flying from East cost. Plus have the equivalent of $1400 in CC points going towards the plane tickets. We do the Chase CC “trifecta” which helps us amass more points and put all purchases on cards that we pay off monthly. I don’t think I would have felt like we could afford this trip if we didn’t have the chase points to reduce the cost.
Normally we do our nuclear fam vaca over Xmas or February break and then two much cheaper trips over the summer with other family or friends in a shared weekly rental (those trips are like 500-600 for the rental plus food costs that we’d be paying at home anyway).
Honestly growing up in a bigger family we never traveled except to see family and the ability to take “real” vacations is like half the reason I wanted to stop at 2 kids. So the price is worth it to me.
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@petitenoisette: yes the sticker shock! I’m going to have adjust my expectations to meet reality lol!
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We are on vacation now, so the panic is real! We usually have big years and small years alternating, but if we annualized it, I’d say about $7,000/year. We are doing two vacations this year (Hawaii and DL), plus a trip to visit family. My parents paid for our flights to Hawaii as a gift (and we all have Alaska credit cards so we can use a companion ticket for half of us for $100ish). It’s expensive, but we prioritize vacations. We also spend the “small” year saving for the big year (we didn’t travel at all last year). Luckily, traveling to visit family isn’t too bad (we usually drive the 12 hours once per year, and places to stay aren’t too expensive). But it’s a lot. A lot more than I think we spend...
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@Jess1483: I hope you’re having a great time! It def seems like $5000+ is what it’s going to take
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We are flying to Europe (Lisbon and Seville) for 9 nights and staying in 2 bedroom apartments downtown for less than $2500.
I find we save a lot of money by booking early and booking apartments. That way we don't have to eat out for every meal.
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@petitenoisette: Which chase card do you have?
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@Pollywog: where r u flying out of? We did Portugal earlier this year and it wasn’t that good of prices! We fly out of the Midwest which might add to plane ticket prices though.
@crazydoglady: we opened a chase sapphire preferred and got 60,000 bonus points which they say is worth $750 in travel/hotel
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@gotkimchi: I'm flying out of Dulles. I looked for the cheapest direct flight to Europe for a four week period on kayak.
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@crazydoglady: we have a chase freedom, freedom unlimited and sapphire reserved. Chase freedom has rotating categories where we get 5% cashback, only charge things within those categories. Freedom unlimited is 1.5% on all purchases, 3% for the first year (which we’re still in so gaining more points than normal). Then the sapphire reserve is 3% on dining and travel so we use for those expenses. We then transfer all the points to the sapphire reserve bc points there are worth 1.5x when you book thru their travel portal (which in my experience has same price as airlines and hotels). The chase reserve card has a high annual fee but it works out for us bc we spend enough in general and on travel to recoup the cost and more in points. Google “chase trifecta” if you want more info!
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@gotkimchi: There really is a lot to be said for VRBO, particularly if you’re traveling with friends or family. We like to do a posh family High-end resort vacation maybe every other year, but other times we’ve had a blast going with friends and renting a large condo/villa in a resort town (often even on a resort/timeshare property if we are traveling to a country where we would prefer to have the resort security) - you’d be shocked at what amazing places you can get, for example, in Mexico for around $250-$300/night split between two families (so down to $125ish each)! Once you’re in a lace like this, there are generally options to hire people to cook/clean/shop for you (way cheaper than going out every meal)...it’s a little more work upfront but worth it to get a really nice vacation for a bit less. And yes...for a family of 5, it’s EASY to spend $5K on flights/hotel alone (before food/activities), flying from the NYC area to places like Bahamas/Aruba/Turks, mostly staying at what I’d consider mid-range hotels (Hyatt/Hilton vs. Four Seasons/boutique chains).
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Since we usually are restricted in WHEN we can travel but we don't have any must-see's as to WHERE we go, I always use Google Flight's Explore feature to see what the cheapest places we can fly to during our dates. If you just put in your departure city, dates and # of people but don't fill in the destination, then click search and it will show you options everywhere. It's pretty handy!
And agree with above, the past two summers we have picked a city within 2-3 hours driving and spent 3 nights there. Very low budget with either a condo type hotel or VRBO, and just seeing the local sites and kid friendly attractions.
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@HappyBaker: that’s a great tip thanks!
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It reaaaally depends where, what time of the year, etc.
We just took a mini road trip for 2 nights for 4, kept it just under $800 including lodging, fun and food. Could have probably done this for under $600 if it was not during peak traveling times! But I have one in public school now so we don't have much of a choice!
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@graceandjoy: we did a road trip earlier this year and it was 1600 for 4 nights for everything so I think 800/2 nights sounds right. And I agree we could have kept it lower but it is a vacation right?!
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@gotkimchi: I went 12/26-12/28, and there were places where what I paid for 2 nights is the price of 1 night
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@graceandjoy: Oh man that is definitely peak travel times!
if you’re willing to cook on vacation then even better, although for me personally that’s where I draw the line. 
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