Amanda Collins

A staycation is a holiday you take close to home: you keep your own bed, skip the airport and the hotel bill, and spend your budget on activities instead of getting there. That is the whole promise behind cheap staycation ideas for families, and in a city like Edmonton it is a promise that holds … Read more

Most cheap vacation ideas fail for one reason: they cut the wrong things. Families cut the memories, not the logistics. The result is a week that costs very little and feels like very little too. Search for cheap family vacation ideas that don’t feel cheap, and what you actually need is a system for deciding … Read more

Road trip vs flying with kids is decided by two numbers: how far you are going, and how many seats you have to buy. For a family of four leaving Edmonton, driving stays cheaper up to roughly 1,200 kilometres, and flying only wins on cost past that or on an international route. Flying wins on … Read more

Is Disney World worth it with toddlers? Yes, but only if you plan the trip around your child rather than around the rides. Walt Disney World delivers enormous value for a child roughly 18 months to 4 years old, provided you commit to four to five days, stay at a Value or Moderate resort, skip … Read more

If you only read one paragraph before you book, read this one. The cheapest time to go to Disney World is the stretch from roughly mid-August through mid-September, once summer school demand drops but the heat has not fully broken, with mid-January through early February running a close second because schools are back in session … Read more

Is Great Wolf Lodge worth it? For a family of four with kids roughly 3 to 12, yes, provided you book at least 60 days out, take a midweek or Sunday-to-Thursday night, and treat the booking as a two-day water park trip rather than a relaxing holiday. Book it at a weekend walk-up rate with … Read more

Updated for Every spring, the same question lands in our inbox: are theme park season passes worth it for families? The honest answer is that they are, but only for a narrow set of households, and the difference between a smart buy and money you never get back comes down to one number: how many … Read more

Yes, a zoo membership is usually worth it once your household will realistically walk through the gates two or more times in a year, and the deciding number is not the membership price alone. It is the number of people who need a ticket every single visit, because a membership covers the whole household while … Read more

Short answer: yes, but only for a specific kind of traveller. A reciprocal museum membership pays for itself when you are a family who visits three or more participating institutions outside your local exclusion radius in a year. If your museum time happens in your own city, it is a net loss, and I will … Read more

Camping with kids on a budget works in reverse from how most gear lists are written. Instead of starting with a shopping cart, you start with a short list of things that decide whether the trip succeeds, and you actively delete everything else. Families who do this end up with less equipment, a garage that … Read more