Five Top Tips for Single Parent Holidays

These are times of economic uncertainty and hardship for a lot of families, but more so for the single parent who is often making one salary stretch as far as two would.  With many families finding holidays more difficult to afford nowadays, single parents may be finding it even more challenging.  However, in order to help you make your budget stretch a little further, here are some top tips for single parent holidays on a budget.

1. Specialised Travel Agencies

Nowadays, there are plenty of travel companies who specialise in dealing with lone parent families, offering affordable holidays both in the UK and overseas.  Many traditional style travel agencies will offer single parent discount deals that are designed to make the holiday more affordable when there’s only one adult travelling.  Look online and see just how many offers are available that could suit both you and the kids.

2. Team Up With a Friend

Why not team up with another single parent friend of yours and combine the cost of a holiday?  This is a great way of making sure the kids get a great holiday and you’ll have some adult company for yourself too.  Make sure that it’s a friend who has kids that your kids really get on with to avoid any holiday disasters and tantrums.

3. Escorted Holidays

Some holiday companies now offer 'escorted holidays'. The holidays are in family friendly 4 and 5 star hotels and resorts and the family will be escorted by a host who will remain with you throughout the holiday to offer information, help and support.  There will be plenty of other single parents at your location with dinner billed as a “great social time for the group”.  Although the hosts are responsible for the group (rather than an individual family), they will arrange private tours of local attractions if requested.  They’ll often play with the kids but are not childminders or babysitters and your kids are always your own responsibility.

4. Useful Guides

Netmums has a great single parent holiday guide that’s free to use.  The website also has a dedicated single parent section where you can communicate online with other single mums and dads.  Netmums really is a valuable resource for all parents, with help and advice on such a wide range of subjects that it’s mind-boggling.

5. Activity Based Holidays

An activity based holiday is always a great idea because it’s likely to keep the family group together and you get to spend some real quality time with the kids.  There are loads of suitable activity holidays, both in the UK and overseas.  You could go camping, hiking, climbing, sailing, surfing – in fact, there’s no end of really cool stuff that you could all learn together.  Perhaps you have a favourite sport or pastime that the kids are eager to get more involved in.   If you’re not the sporty type, then why not look into another type of activity holiday – perhaps archaeology or a farm holiday.  Craft holidays are becoming more popular (and more widely available) as holiday makers flock to learn new skills like pottery, painting, music, fibre crafts and a whole host of other new and traditional construction techniques in a variety of media.