17 Fabulous Staycation Ideas

What the heck is a staycation, anyway? Most folks probably know that this is the abbreviated term for a stay-at-home vacation? Believe it or not, more folks are taking the time to enjoy the benefits of staying home and appreciating a less complicated, more affordable lifestyle than ever before. However, there are times when the staycation might be unintentional. As in, your friends are headed out to a super cool beach getaway, and you’ve elected to decline because either finances have gotten in the way, or you have a huge load of work to do or an upcoming exam that requires more brain power than you can even begin to imagine mustering.

Sound familiar? I’ve found myself caught up in these situations before. Logging on facebook doesn’t help matters, either. Especially when all your friends are taking feet selfies while sitting on a beach in Peru and enjoying the super-cool break you only get to sit back and dream about.

So what do you when faced with a staycation?

For me, the solution comes easily. This blogazine takes up a large part of my time. Most of the contributors are my good friends. I love working with them. In fact, I plan on taking a week off from life in June so I can head out to Utopya (a book convention for indie authors). Taking care of business while blogging is very different from handling the off-duty surprises of life while working in a corporate environment. So, I’m looking forward to my “working” time off. LoL

I’ve been faced with the perils of being left at home while all my girlfriends have moved on to the party. I know. It sucks. Big time. Nevertheless, I have discovered many ways to enjoy that sudden burst of “me time”. Hopefully, you can use some of these fabulous staycation ideas to ease the pain of viewing your friends’ group selfies.
1. Catch up on the local music scene – During both the spring and summer, the Bull City (the nickname for my hometown) has tons of live music action going on in our newly remodeled downtown area. Exploring the historical aspects of my city and seeing the way the engineers have redesigned everything is like walking into a whole new place. Take a look at the waterfalls in this Dressin.com collaboration post. Many more of my outfit posts will be shot from inside this area, so stay tuned.

2. Visit an art/nature museum – This mini trip is great for the family. We have a trip to the local zoo planned in a few weeks.

3. Step outside your comfy zone – Have you been wanting to find time to begin a new running schedule? What better time is there to do so than during a staycation? This is also a great time to mall hop. There are no less than 10 newly built/renovated malls in my area. Sometimes I simply pick one outside my city, grab the kids and hit the road. You never know where you might wind up.




4. Get a mani-pedi – I usually do my own. But sometimes I like to step outside my comfy zone (see step 3 above). Plus manicures come in all sizes, shapes, flavors and cost levels. I love getting the Hollywood manicure. Yeah, these can be a bit costly, but they’re so very worth the time and money. Treating yourself to one of these lovelies every so often won’t hurt. You are worth it!

5. Wine tasting – Just make sure you have a DD among your group.

6. Experience a Movie in IMAX –  Until I attended one of these, I wasn’t convinced that I was going to enjoy myself. 3D sucks. You know what I’m talking about. Those glasses. The blurry screens. That sickly green tint. However, IMAX is a totally different world. This is truly a case of you must see/experience the moment to understand what I’m saying.

7. Have a Movie/TV Show marathon at home – On my to-watch-again list are the following shows: the Borgias, Borgia (yes, they’re 2 different shows), Star Wars, Sex and the City and Jurassic Park.

8. Coffeehouse scrabble – Coffeehouses are like mini homes these days. The atmosphere rocks, and the smell of coffee all around the area just puts my senses on heavenly overload. Why not invite some friends over to play a few rounds of your favorite board games? Yes, they still sell these at Toys-R-Us. 😀

9.  Exotic restaurants… These also come in many varieties these days depending on your geographical location. Pick a spot that you’ve never visited. Make sure the restaurant serves a type of food you have never tried before. I always enjoy discovering new places to eat.

10. Beach Trip – If you live on or near a beach, then invite some friends over, go out and have fun. My friends who live on the beach tell me how they get tired of the same scenery everyday. This baffles me. I’m at a loss for words every single time I hear someone tell me the beach is boring. Horrors! For me, beach life is the king of staycation ideas. So I dug a little deeper into the psychology of the response from my beachy friends. Some of them told me that I would be tired of the scenery too if I had lived on a beach my whole life. I still say… No way would I ever feel that way!

What was my response to them? I instructed them to think of what living means. Hanging out with friends and taking time to enjoy the things and places  you love. What better way to freshen up a stale scene than to experience your home through the excited eyes of a friend? Try it. I promise it works.

11. Photography Trip – This one is new on my list, something I’ve really been enjoying over the past year. I took the Capture My Life in 52 Weeks Class from the talented ladies of A Beautiful Mess and fell in love with photographing everything. This obsession encourages me to travel all over the place. There’s nothing as amazing as a snapshot taken at the perfect moment. Especially when the photo includes shots of nature.

12. Take an Acting Class or any class outside your comfy zone. Your local arts council has tons of fun classes waiting to be discovered. Most of them have ongoing dates. Try one and then impress your friends by telling them what you did.

13. Go on a Quest – One of my favorite adventures is finding castles and abandoned plantations hidden throughout my state. I find this to be a ton of fun. And yes! Pictures will soon follow.

14. Tackle a Gardening project – But make it fun. Something like painting your flower pots or creating a container garden. Save the hard stuff for a later date. LoL

15. Try a Yoga Class – Not everyone has tackled yoga. What?!!?! My favorite type of yoga is Vinyassa Yoga, a combination of strength training and meditation. There’s a style of yoga for everyone. No excuses!

16. Paintball – These games/sessions come in themes nowadays. You can fight zombies during a simulated apocalypse or find yourself chased by orcs in middle earth. To me, either of those things sounds awesome!

17. Meditate – Yep! I’m suggesting that you should do absolutely nothing for a day or two. Spending quiet time inside a comfy place that has no cell phones, Internet or hundreds of other daily distractions has become a crutch for me. In fact, I make a conscientious effort to steal time inside days of peace and quiet so I can catch up on reading or coloring (yes, they have books for adults… aka big kids) or just listening to the waves of the ocean rolling inside my headphones.

What are some of your staycation ideas? What fun and mischief do you find in your backyard?

**The Article 17 Fabulous Staycation Ideas First Appeared on LiveWellBeFabulous.com**

Photos Credit: Viktor Hanacek of PicJumbo.com