When looking at a family vacation idea for this winter, we found Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine Texas. This resort has an indoor water park and other activities for the kids. When you first start looking at it, this trip seemed out of our price range, but I have found several frugal ways to make this trip affordable.
The first thing we are going to do is make reservations. If you use a discount code on their site, you can get rooms for as cheap as $149/night. We will not get a special room because our family will not be spending much time in the room anyway. To get a good deal, we will be choosing to go during the week and not over a holiday. We are going to stay two nights so that the kids have plenty of time to play.
Our activities while we are on vacation will all be done at Great Wolf Lodge. After paying for our room, you can use the water park for free. It has several slides and areas for the smaller kids as well. They also have a story time each night that is free and the kids get to go in their pajamas. One other thing we will do while we are there is the arts and crafts at the Cub Club. A few of these are free and some cost a small amount of money. When we first check in, I am going to get a schedule and we will make it to the free ones or the cheapest craft they offer.
Eating out can be really expensive on vacation. The rooms at Great Wolf Lodge have a refrigerator and a microwave. My family does not usually eat a large breakfast so I plan to bring along cereal bars or muffins for breakfast each day. I will also pack snack items such as microwave popcorn for the evenings so we can save money there as well.
This vacation could end up costing over $1000 easy if you were not frugal about it, but my family will be able to take this vacation for about half of that price just by being careful about how we spend the money. Your family can take vacations but you have to be willing to give up a few small things to enjoy a good time that is affordable. It is worth it for the memories!