A Grand Celebration
/By Nancy Julian, VIP Concierge
Childhood is fleeting, memories last.
If you’re like many grandparents you like to spoil your grandchildren with gifts you couldn’t afford to lavish on your own children. How long do these gifts last before they are broken? Discarded? Forgotten? Would you like to give something that will be held onto and cherished for years to come?
Give the gift of celebration of family with a trip for all. Remember when you were young and your kids were growing fast, but the budget just didn’t stretch for a nice family vacation? How much would you have appreciated a box under the tree with a trip included? Can’t afford the whole shebang? Be a catalyst and help as you are able.
Start off by planning ahead as much as you can, and narrowing it down to something all involved might enjoy. Of course, a theme park visit, cruise or beach vacation can pretty much guarantee smiles all around. Depending on work schedules you may have to enlist the help of one of your adult children to make sure days off can be had. Or just LIE about it.. “Hey, we were thinking of taking you to a cabin for a week, what days would work for you? Can you put in for those days off?” then when the box is opened at Christmas, SUPRISE! The cabin is on a cruise ship to the Caribbean. You get the idea.
Depending on the size of the group you want to take and tendency to discuss/argue/be indecisive, plan it all out. “We’ll have dinner here, do whatever you want for lunch but make sure and meet up for the show at…” And that brings up another point for a successful multi-generational trip. You are not attached at the hip! Plan for ‘away’ from the group time, naps for littles and oldies, freedom to experience things the entire group doesn’t want to do. Have you ever tried to shuffle a group of 18 through a crowded theme park? I have. Give yourself a break and allow freedom.
What’s the purpose of this trip? Memories. That’s it. Make some. Spend some alone time with each child as well as each of your adult children. Relive moments of times past and memories made from their own childhoods. Did you go to the same locale when your kids were kids? Re-create a favorite photo in front of the castle or on the beach. And create some new ones with each family group, each kid and the whole group. It’s easy to not think of these things while the moments are happening, so go into the trip with memory making in mind. When you get home, be sure and scrapbook or create an on-line photo book of your family celebration to give as a gift for a future occasion. You’ve gotten two great gift ideas! You’re welcome.
As you well know, kids grow and go, but you have a chance to not only create great memories for yourself, but for your adult kids and their families and for your grandkids as well. Year and years in the future the special times, and the grandparents who went with them, will be happily remembered.
