The saying comparison is the thief of joy is true. Make happy memories despite not going away on interstate trips, visit local attractions, make special experiences at home. You don’t have to spend money to make great family memories.

It’s tough. We’ve decided to let our children have a birthday party every second year, and save for a holiday on the years they don’t have one. Next year will be our holiday year and I’m not too sure how far we’ll be able to go given the rising costs of everything – I’m also trying to save up our frequent flyer points to help with the cost of airfares.

Staycations can be lovely. A simple weekend of going to the beach or a swimming centre and stopping for fish and chips on the way home. Or going on a family bike ride and getting an ice cream along the way. I really loved the little things like this as a kid.

I grew up not having fun holidays and my childhood was totally fine, we would spent time with family at Christmas instead.
Once a month check out your local events via Facebook event or the newspaper, most are low cost or free and can be really fun! We don’t need to travel overseas to enjoy life. I’ve never left Australia and am ok with that, we do live in the best country in the world.

This is a hard one but you can also have fun with your kids without the need for a lavish lifestyle. We grew up not having a lot either and barely any holidays and we still found joy in the things we did as long as we did it together.

It’s hard especially when it’s spalshed all over the Socials. The best thing would be ease yourself off them or mute when they do go away. Try not to compare. There might be other people who are comparing themselves to you saying how lucky you are to have a holdiay a year! It’s also important to note that you don’t know their situation or their financials. Remember that you only see the highlight reels on social media and some people are just trying to keep up with the joneses. They might have scrimped and saved to have those holidays too, they might be a once in 5 year thing – the point is you just don’t know. Stop worrying about others and focus on your family. Maybe find some free and exciting activities and do them more often or try camping for more low cost holidays

There are so many fun activities that can be done foe the kids at little to no cost. Don’t live for other people, do what is right for you and your family and try not to compare.

Local holidays can be absolutely brilliant too. Local holidays have been some of our favourite holidays.

There is never any point in comparing lives or wishing for what others have. Jealousy is a waste of time and I find it is always better to focus on our lives and making the most of each and every day.

You sound like a wonderful mother! Alot of children don’t actually appreciate the holidays their parents take them on.. most times even the parents don’t enjoy it either, they just try make it look like they had an amazing time.

I have a nephew whose parents work fulltime and get quite abit.. he gets alot and does alot, but he seems quite depressed. His parents booked a weekend in a hotel and he preferred staying at ours, playing xbox and board games together. Most kids just want to be loved and shown abit of attention. Don’t feel bad at all.

I honestly sometimes wonder how people actually afford to have these extraordinary holidays. And i wonder what we are doing wrong!!! Its so hard to see others having these amazing experiences and wishing it was you, I certainly feel that pang often enough. I try to seek out fun free experiences for things we can all do together, it doesnt always take the sting away but feels nice to do things with my own little team.

Going on expensive holidays just isn’t practical for most families. You may find going on multiple smaller holidays to be more practical, and fun for your family. There are plenty of places to go camping with or without amenities (many being free camp sites). Other people may have travel high on their priority list, and may make sacrifices in other areas to get there. People constantly post things on social media that don’t always reflect their real lives. Enjoy the time you can with your family, and if you are really wanting an expensive holiday, then you may just have to delay the time between holidays to save more.

Sounds like my childhood growing up. We had heaps of great experiences camping, and inly had 2 major holidays my whole childhood. I grew up to be a lot less entitled than others who had more.

This is one thing I hate about social media. How people use it to portray the “highlights” of their days/life and even create pictures that are only going to make others feel envious. They are often artificial, posed and in no way reflect the actual ENJOYMENT that people are having. I wish I could delete all such pictures and that people would stop posting! While I have had the luxury of interstate trips I must say they are the hardest work I’ve ever done and often not at all fun. I have far more enjoyed the local day jaunts to the park or beach or whatever was close, easy, fun, stressfree and didn’t hurt the pocket. Best memories ever. Don’t get sucked into FOM (Fear of Missing out) when you see the gorgeous people in gorgeous places; chances are they all just wish they were home. Love what you have. It is precious and you’re probably a lot better off in your own backyard so to speak. I know that is where we ended up being happiest.

You are being so sensible by not racking up debt to go on a holiday. Lots of people put holidays on their credit cards – but they don’t tell their friends that!! Enjoy your local holidays and don’t let anyone make you feel bad for not having a fancy holiday!