We had a holiday booked for February half term which was cancelled due to Covid, so we decided to recreate our holiday at home! We would have been going to Bluestone in Wales for a long weekend and we always stay at the Premier Inn in Tenby for a couple of nights before to make the holiday feel longer. So we decided to turn our house into the Premier Inn and our bedroom into a family room for a 2 night stay.
We always get up and leave really early. We head for Wales and stop at McDonalds for breakfast when we cross the border. Sophie and Benji stay in their pyjamas so they can eat pancakes (and get sticky) then get dressed for the day afterwards. So we started our holiday at home by going through the McDonalds Drive Thru to pick up some breakfast. We ate it at home (Sophie and Benji in pjs) and pretended to be at McDonalds.
We packed our bags, which Benji insisted we put in the car to drive to McDonalds. When we finished eating we fetched the bags and they got dressed. Then we headed to the Premier Inn. I printed some images that I found online and stuck them to their play shop to create the check-in desk. Benji pretended to be the receptionist and took our details. He gave us a copy of the menus and our room keys.
Room Keys (I screenshot and printed them).
We headed upstairs with our bags (and snacks!) to find our room. We stuck a room number on the door and set up the fold-out bed to turn it into a family room. Benji opened the door, they ran in, jumped on the new bed then decided where everyone was going to sleep.
Traditionally after a long drive, we stick the TV on and Craig has a nap. After his long (5 minute) drive to McDonalds, he was exhausted and needed his traditional nap!
We wanted to make the room feel like a hotel room so we set up a drinks area. We moved the coffee machine upstairs and I got some pots of UHT milk. I put some mugs, glasses and biscuits on a tray and left a menu and a door hanger on the side. I have attached a file that you can download - you just need to cut the shape out so it can hand over the door handle. Sophie and Benji loved filling their own glasses with water and pinching the biscuits.
We stayed in the hotel for 2 nights. We packed our clothes in a bag so they didn't need to go back to their own bedrooms to get changed. They also packed some games in their backpacks to keep them entertained while we were in the hotel room. We played games, watched TV and read books and magazines. During the day we also ventured out to the pretend beach, an arcade and for dinner in a 'restaurant' - all in our garden and house!
In true staying in a hotel with kids fashion, we put some drinks in the sink to try to keep them cool for once they had fallen asleep but in the end, we actually snuck downstairs and watched TV in the lounge.
We bought some colour-changing battery-operated tea lights and put them around the bedroom to create the purple lights that they have in the Premier Inn. I thought it would be a nightmare getting them to bed in the same room, but with the purple lights on, they actually went to sleep quite quickly!
They loved pretending to stay at the Premier Inn especially when we woke up and went downstairs for the breakfast buffet. If you are looking for something to do over the holidays, I recommend a holiday at home!
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