Summer
is a popular time for family vacations.
With the increased hassles and costs
associated with airplane travel, families
are taking to the roads in droves for
their summer trips. For you 40-something
Divas, this thought may conjure up images
of station wagons with wood on the side,
old campers, and sophisticated car games
such as “I spy something red…”
Even though today's vacation involves
SUVs, minivans, and in-car television,
movie and computer games, the acoustical
sounds within the vacation vehicle remain
the same throughout the generations
… tunes of “Are we there yet?”
and the ever popular
“How many more minutes?” When
the real answer to this last question
is 28,800, you better be prepared! Don't
sweat, DivaPam has a summer solution
for you!
Scour your local resale stores and yard
sales for a picnic basket or insulated
cooler (see photo of the one used in
this example for $1 at a yard sale)
and fill it with car games and other
TODs (time occupying devices).
DivaPam put together the following vacation
basket for her family:
Insulated
cooler type basket (2 feet wide,
1 foot tall and 1 foot sides)
for $1 at a yard sale
Harry
Potter™ card game set (never
opened—yard sale purchase,
75 cents)
Bingo
game (never opened—Habitat
for Humanity purchase, 50 cents)
Hi-Ho
Cherry-O™ game (a nostalgic
game for parents and the kids
still love it)—gently used
at 50 cents at a thrift store
Imagination
Unlimited creative thinking kit
for $1 at a yard sale
Small
version of Trivial Pursuit™
(like new) for $1 at a yard sale
A
mini marble checkers/chess set
(a real splurge at $3) at a thrift
store
A
Crayola™ washable marker
set and mini white board kit in
a small zippered portfolio (25
cents at a thrift store)
Various
assorted coloring books, activity
books, crayons and a large calculator
(for the parents to figure out
how many seconds there really
are in a tortuous road trip) and
a portable hand held tape player
with headset from the local dollar
store (totaling $6)
2
insulated beverage bottles (Thermos™-like)
for 50 cents each at Habitat.
A
large $1 canister of Wet Ones™
from the Dollar store for sticky
hands and faces and for spills)
Total cost of this sanity saver: $15.50
So whether
you put one together for your own trip,
or as a lifesaving gift for a loved
one, begin scouring for TODs for a family
vacation basket and change the tune
from “Are we there yet” to
“Are we there already?!”
“How many more minutes?” When
the real answer to this last question
is 28,800, you better be prepared! Don't
sweat, DivaPam has a summer solution
for you! 
