A few years ago, when our eldest kiddo was almost 9, Dan and I decided we wanted some more one-on-one time with them, and also that we wanted to prioritize experiences together. We felt like our family had plenty of toys and other stuff, and we felt like our kids were growing so fast. With our busy family life with 6 kids, as well as work and other responsibilities, we thought it would be amazing to start a birthday trip tradition with our kids.
At What Ages Do You Do a Kids’ Birthday Trip?
We decided wanted to do 4 trips with each of our kids kids (2 with each parent) before they left home. We settled on doing them at ages 10, 12, 14, and 16. I know the last couple years of high school can get so busy so we figured we’d get them in a little earlier!
Why Do You Only Do A Trip with One Parent?
This is largely due to logistics! With 5 other kids, it would get quite complicated (and expensive) to figure out care for the rest of the kids. Plus, there’s something special about the dynamic of one parent and one kid – it really puts the focus on the child instead of the parents talking and the kid jumping in. I love letting my kids lead and really getting that special one-on-one time.
Where Do They Get To Go for Their Trips?
We decided we would let our kids choose the destinations, within reason! Ages 10 and 16 are bigger international trips (up to a week), while 12 and 14 are shorter, domestic trips (typically a weekend or long weekend).
Since we moved to London last year, we decided that “domestic” could include a lot of Europe, since there are relatively affordable flights and you can get a lot of places more quickly than we could’ve gotten to New York from California.
So far, our eldest chose to go to El Salvador for his 10 year old trip, and Paris for his 12 year old trip. We’re still trying to work out the timing for our daughter to go to Brazil for her 10 year old trip, and she and I visited Athens for her 12 year old trip! Our 3rd kiddo has chosen Japan for his 10 year old trip, so we need to get planning!
Who Does the Planning?
They do! The best part of these trips is letting them take the lead in figuring out what to do, where to eat, and how to structure the time. Both my older two picked cities they were interested in, and enjoyed some great food, too. It’s so fun to see what piques their interest!
What’s the Budget?
We don’t have a set budget for these trips, but we try to keep things within reason. For the further trips, we either look for a flight deal or use airline points through a credit card to make it possible. We’ve also used points for hotels, or booked an Airbnb. Our kids haven’t tried to do anything really extravagant; of course, just doing the trip is a big privilege, which they fully recognize, and haven’t asked to do anything big that we wouldn’t do when traveling on a budget as a family. It’s actually really sweet seeing their expressions when I offer to get them an ice cream or a soda all to themselves – it’s not something we usually do and they’ve both been surprised and grateful. It’s so fun!
What other questions do you have? I’m happy to answer!
