If Christmas is your favorite season and you like to travel then this is a post for you. We took our first “Christmas” Vacation last November and I fell in love with the idea. Let me back up a little and explain why we decided to travel during the Holiday Season. I work in education so I get a lot of time off during the Holiday’s. These are separate from the vacation days that I earn throughout the year and can take (generally) whenever I want. My husband however works in Real Estate and generally gets 1-2 days off for each Holiday. We decided traveling on and around Holiday’s would give us more quality time together while not having to use all of our vacation days.
Last year our travels took us back to Pigeon Forge, TN for a stay with The Inn at Christmas Place. You can read all about that trip in my last travel post: Christmas in the Smokies.
This year we will be spending (the week before) Christmas with the Mouse. Mickey Mouse that is! We’re heading to Disney World and could not be more excited. I will have several posts detailing our week long trip. Some things we are most excited about are: EPCOT’s International Festival of Holidays, the Christmas Tree Trail at Disney Springs, self-touring the Disney Resorts to see their Christmas Decor, and of course visiting the parks.
For the rest of this post I’d like to talk about other places that would make a great Christmas Vacation as well as look at what it would cost to travel to them. People spend a lot of money during the holidays buying gifts so I understand that budgets may be tighter than normal so I am also going to give a few tips for affording Holiday travel.
How to afford a Christmas Vacation
1. Create a Christmas budget. Know how much you are going to spend on all your gifts and stick to that budget.
2. Set aside a small amount of money each month for Christmas gifts. My company has a “Christmas Club” where you can choose to have a certain amount taken out of your paycheck every month and you’ll get one check with the total amount at the end of the collection period. So from November until the following October you are saving up Christmas money. Your company may offer something similar but if it doesn’t you can always create your own savings account with the same purpose. This way you aren’t “missing” a part of your monthly income while also trying to travel.
3. Don’t wait until November to start Christmas shopping. You can buy Christmas gifts anytime of the year and put them away in a closet or your garage (I have a large air tight box that I use). This is a great option for people who don’t want to save or have trouble keeping money in savings because they want to spend it.
4. Forgo buying presents for each other and take the trip instead. While we are still buying presents for other family members this year we decided not to buy for each other. We will use that money for buying and doing things on our trip instead of having gifts under the tree.
5. Pick a place where can make payments on your trip. We booked our Disney trip last January and have been making small payments out of every paycheck throughout the year. Disney has a very good cancellation policy so if anything changed we could cancel the trip and get all of our money back (Within our 30 days til travel window we could still get everything back except the $200 booking fee). If you can’t make payments directly to your location you can still choose an amount of money to put away out of every paycheck until you are ready to book your trip.
6. Be mindful of your budget constraints when choosing a location for your Christmas Vacation. Consider the cost of air-fare if your preferred location isn't within driving distance.
Where to go on a Christmas Vacation
I've researched several options in different areas of the United States so hopefully something will be near you and in your price range. I have visited some of these locations and the others are on my traveling bucket list. The estimated costs listed are for two travelers since I priced how much it would be for my husband and I to take the trip (this means air-fare and ticketed events are counted twice in estimates). The cost of the trip will vary depending on where you live since some of these estimated costs include air-fare, if you are within driving distance it could be substantially cheaper.
Asheville, NC
Perfect for a weekend getaway where you can visit the Historic Biltmore Estate. There are several different holiday packages available including Candlelight Christmas Evenings. Because the price is the same I would choose between either seeing it at night or seeing it at day. Regular Holiday admission ranges from $55-$75. You could stay on-site at the Biltmore but you could also save money by staying in a hotel nearby. This trip is within driving distance for us and would cost approximately $500, staying off-site.
Pigeon Forge, TN
This is a trip we have actually done. As I've mentioned a few times, we stayed at The Inn at Christmas Place. We attended two different dinner shows and an interactive museum during our stay. This trip cost us around $1,000. You could save money by staying at a cheaper hotel, Pigeon Force, Gatlinburg & Sevierville have tons of options and you could spend $100 or less per night. We could have also chosen to see just one dinner show which is another way to cut costs and make the trip even more affordable. This trip is in driving distance for us, so no air-fare is included.
Santa Claus, IN
This is a town self-described as America's Christmas Hometown. As you can imagine it's Christmas all year round in Santa Claus, IN and there are festive activities galore. Some activities are open all season and others are one day events so take a look at their event page before planning your trip. One event that really sticks out to me is the 12 mile driving Christmas light tour for $15 per car ($11 with a coupon). You can also visit President Lincoln's childhood home located nearby, admission is only $5 per person (or $10 per family). You can even take a night-time Candlelight Walk, at no additional charge, to experience frontier living in it's truest form. This trip would cost us approximately $1,300 including air-fare.
New York, NY
This is a trip I would want to center around one of the Holiday Parades (either Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade or Macy's Christmas Day Parade). For me it would also include seeing the Rockette's performing at Radio City Music Hall, but you could substitute that experience with a Broadway show if that's more up your alley. This trip would cost us approximately $1,500 including air-fare.
Jackson, NH
Home to the Christmas Farm Inn & Spa which has recently gone viral on social media when it was featured in a video by Country Living. You can stay in everything from a room at the inn to a cottage. Rooms can be as low as $99/night during peak season. You can even take a Journey to the North Pole via train ride, but it books up fast! 2017 trips are already sold out but you can join the 2018 waiting list now. There's also a ski resort nearby. This trip would cost us approximately $1,500 including air-fare.
Walt Disney World
We will be spending a full week at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL this year and when we arrive we will have already paid for our lodging, our meals, and our park tickets. The only out of pocket expense we will have will be souvenirs that we choose to purchase. Our trip cost $3,088, the estimated fuel cost is $60 round-trip. We did not go the absolute cheapest route, we could have booked this trip for as little as $1,700 for the week (without a dining plan). If you shorten the trip to being 4 nights without a dining plan it could be as low as $1,400, both of these estimates include 4 days worth of park tickets. The less park days you have the cheaper it will get. Not having a dining plan gives you a little more flexibility with where you eat and how much you spend per meal, but this will be an out of pocket expense during your trip. The advantage of having the dining plan is that you have an all inclusive package and have no necessary expenses once you are on site. There are tons of variables that go into a Disney vacation but you make the choice for how much you want to spend and can do it for as little or as much as you choose. I will have many more posts discussing our Disney trip after it happens where I will go into much more detail.
Would you take a "Christmas" Vacation?
Estimated Costs include gas or air-fare, lodging, meals, & ticketed events-all for two travelers.
Since we try to book as early as possible to keep costs low I am looking at air-fare costs as far in advance as possible so I am looking at the 2018 flight calendar. If you book that early be sure to check your airlines cancellation policy and do invest in travel insurance. You can definitely find cheaper airline tickets than the ones I have estimated but we fly out of a very small airport with limited options. If you can fly out of larger airports, like Atlanta, with multiple airlines you can find cheaper tickets.
