Bargain Family Holiday

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Whilst your kids (and their teachers) look forward to the lengthy school holidays with glee, they can be anything other than relaxing for parents. Entertaining your children, not to mention their friends, can be a costly and quite frankly thankless task, but there is hope out there, and it could be cheaper than you think. What you need to do is to see what family holidays abroad are available at Holidays Direct.

There are some great package deal holidays now available with offers on children's places and deals for groups; so you can go and enjoy a bit of a sunshine and, if you play your cards right, some relaxation, for less than the accumulative price of six week's worth of burgers, swimming passes and DVD rentals. Call 0844 553 3500 for availabilty of holidays with
free child places.

Dig out those armbands!
Generally speaking the onset of the summer holidays throws up a whole host of bargain package deals, if you are prepared to leave booking until the last minute then it could quite feasibly be cheaper to go away than to stay at home. Make sure you have booked your holiday off work, dug out the armbands and washed the towels and you could be on your way to sunny Spain, Greece or wherever takes your fancy at the drop of a (sun) hat. Depending on the age of your children why not offer to take a friend along as well? Not only will this relieve you of some entertainment responsibilities whilst you are away, the grateful parents you have let off the hook for a fortnight may offer to look after your brood for a day or two upon your return.

Supervised Crèches
Many of the more popular holiday destinations now offer fully supervised crèches and play groups, quite often attached to a hotel. Tour operators carefully vet all of these services, and you may find that once the first few anxious minutes are over, your children are too busy with their new friends to embarrass you by the pool for the rest of the break.

With a bit of imagination you can actually see the school holidays as a great opportunity, not only to spend some time with your children, but also to get in a bit of relaxation for yourself.

Making the trip enjoyable for everyone!
Of course the summer holidays are generally fairly easy to fill as you can rely on the weather, but there are loads of destinations offering year-round sun that you may not have previously considered. The Easter and October holidays offer the perfect opportunity to jet off to some more exotic locations, and going out of the peak summertime season can save you a fortune. Many parents are anxious taking younger children on flights over a couple of hours, but with some strategic diversions (books, in-flight films - which are generally more engaging on longer journeys - and music) you may be pleasantly surprised at how peacefully the time can pass.

Top Tip: Choose your destination carefull considering with what your family want from the break

By choosing your location carefully even a spot of rain need not spoil your holiday mood. Many European resorts boast fascinating historical spots that people tend to overlook in the hotter summer months. Greece, Italy and Spain all have some fantastic monuments with some engrossingly gory stories attached to them; water parks and theme parks are also good back-up plans.

Festive Fun
The Christmas holidays are always a hectic time but if you fancy a change from the usual cooking/washing/cleaning treadmill, skiing trips are the perfect excuse for the whole family to have some fun together. Nearly all resorts will offer ski classes to children of all ages, meaning an instant source of entertainment for all. A great way to ensure everybody manages to have some fun on a skiing holiday is to go as a group of families; this way the more experience skiers can hit the slopes whilst others spend time with the kids and vice-versa.