These school holidays have made me reminisce about my own childhood holidays where mornings ran into afternoons and living without an agenda was the order of the day. School holidays were the best! While kids live for holidays, as a parent I’m now privvy to the flip side of holidays and find myself taking a looong deep breath on break up day. Three weeks! Let’s do this!
I am lucky to feel as though I had a great childhood and would love for my kids to have a similar experience. This means that I’m doing my best to create space to make memories doing similar things while strengthening our family bond.
Here are a few of my favourite winter holidays memories that didn’t cost a cent and are the times I remember most clearly:
-Pyjama days doing nothing much at home in our pjs and slippers
-Puzzles in the lounge (in front of a fire) – we often would build a great big one as a family that took a few days
-Collecting pine cones for the fire
-Board games – Monopoly, chess with my Dad (he was trying to make me smart) and Uno
-Impromptu puppet shows behind a sheet with all the soft toys
-Writing letters to penpals and notes to friends, all folded up in an intricate paper heart (If only I remembered how to do this!)
-Lots and lots of reading snuggled up with my hot water bottle – I especially loved Enid Blyton and the Bobbsey Twins
-Building forts with blankets, cushions and chairs
-Hanging out with our neighbourhood gang of friends and making up our own games, silly songs and putting on plays for our long suffering parents
-Walks around the block after a heavy rain wearing boots and jackets with some puddle jumping, I’m sure
This was the life! Wouldn’t it be great to be a kid again and not have to adult for a few days?
Well, this youth month Travelstart invites you to #BeAKidAgain and you can win some amazing prizes for taking a trip down memory lane – weekly winners will win flight vouchers worth R1000 and the grand prize is a trip for two to Zanzibar to escape winter plus a minidrone! Just imagine a trip for two (without the kids) to a tropical paradise with beautiful beaches and exotic cuisine. The winter months are a great time to visit Zanzibar if you want to enjoy balmy temperatures (winter temps average 21 degrees) and experience the bustling holiday atmosphere.
All you need to do to take part in the Paper Jet Challenge is make a paper plane, take it for a spin and submit your best flight video to social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), tag Travelstart and #BeAKidAgain, and nominate 3 friends to enter. The competition ends on 7 July, so don’t waste another minute! You can create your own paper plane or download a paper jet template from the competition page.
Coincidentally as I’m writing this post, Kira is watching Peppa Pig (she’s home with a barking cough today) and the paper aeroplanes episode has just come on – the kids use Daddy Pig’s newspaper to fold some paper planes and then they charge outside as a family to fly their planes. I think it’s time for us to do the same and perhaps I’ll also set aside some time for a bit of travel dreaming on the Travelstart website to look at Flights to Zanzibar.
*This post was written in collaboration with Travelstart.