Vacation at Home: How to Create the Ultimate Staycation Experience

Blue tent in the backyard

Vacations may be a fabulous way to re-energize your soul, but travel can empty your wallet and eat up your time. The cost of flights, hotels, and logistics may create stress in the experience even before you have a chance to unwind. What if you could forget about all of that chaos and use your home in Northern Virginia as your own personal getaway?

With staycations, you get to recharge without leaving your hometown, and you get to turn your apartment or home into your own personal oasis of tranquility. With some creativity and zero-travel cost, continue reading this article as we discuss how to enjoy the best staycation ever.

Why Staycations Work for Renters & Owners

Staycations offer the opportunity for lower travel costs and stress, while also taking full advantage of what you already have: your home. For renters, staycations offer freedom from planning the perfect travel getaway and dealing with disruptive renovations. 

To staycation at home, all one needs to do is move furniture around, add a touch of temporary and/or removable decorations, and relax. For landlords, a happy tenant interested in spending time in your property is worth its weight in gold, because tenants who want to be in their leased property tend to renew leases longer, and the cost of turnover is lower. 

To make sure your tenants are happy and staycations are of no detriment to your property, you can hire a property manager to oversee all activities in your investment. Many real estate professionals recommend Northern Virginia property management as a way to maximize property performance.

Couple enjoying a movie night in their backyard

10 Staycation Ideas to Transform Your Space

Forget about taking a flight and packing the luggage. If you’re on a budget, these 10 easy staycation ideas will let you unwind without leaving the city.

1. Backyard (or Living Room) Campout

With little effort, convert your space into a campsite. Outside, set up a tent or hang a hammock between trees. Inside, make a fort by using blankets draped over your furniture. Throw up some battery-operated fairy lights to get the effect. 

To keep the real camping experience, roast marshmallows (only over the stove safely watched!) or simply make no-heat s’mores. Download the “Skyview” app to use your backyard or floor in the living room to identify constellations. 

Share ghost stories from childhood or make up some new ones together. Also note that any local libraries, such as Fairfax County, lend out camping gear for free, and you just need to return it after you enjoy it, as they ask.

2. DIY Spa Day Retreat

With a little creativity, you can elevate your bathroom experience to that of a high-end spa. First, diffuse some lavender or eucalyptus essential oils to help fill the area with a calming aroma. If you’re doing facials, make a simple nourishing mask using honey and yogurt, or just put chilled slices of cucumber on your eyes for puffiness. 

Run a warm bath with Epsom salts for sore muscles, and if you’re feeling it, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil for extra aromatherapy benefits. You could even set your mood by playing natural ambient sounds or soft instrumental music for a restful environment. 

One couple activity to enjoy together on an evening like this is to take turns giving each other a hand or foot massage using coconut oil, when you are “in the zone”. If you’d rather retreat on your own, turn your focus to mindful breathing or gentle stretches instead.

3. Be a Local “Tourist” Day

Experience your city from a different perspective by finding hidden gems in your area. Start at sunrise while there are fewer crowds; Gravelly Point is great for plane watching, and Huntley Meadows Park is good if you want to take pictures of wildlife. 

You can also grab a gourmet picnic from a local deli like The Italian Store (which does sandwiches well) in Arlington. You could also use your phone to take pictures of hidden architectural details or do a scavenger hunt looking for historical markers. 

Look for things to do that are free, like the National Arboretum and its bonsai collection or the rooftop terrace space at the Kennedy Center. Then end your day at Jones Point Park overlooking the Potomac River at sunset.

4. Themed International Movie Night

Turn your living room into an exotic escape with a movie. Choose a country, and set the scene. For example, for Japan, you can watch Spirited Away, drink matcha tea, and eat sushi from the grocery store. 

For example, for France, watch Amélie, have crusty baguettes and brie. Very easy decorations can be made, like cut-outs of Eiffel Towers from cardboard, or folding origami cranes. You can even dress for the occasion using scarves or clothing from your closet. 

You can pause the film to discuss the cultural items you see. If you do not have access to streaming, many libraries have free international films to rent!

5. Culinary Adventure Night

Here is a way you can turn your kitchen into an international bistro: First, pick an international cuisine you are unfamiliar with, maybe Ethiopian (try making a doro wat stew), or Peruvian (make lomo saltado). 

Next, visit various ethnic markets, such as H Mart, to find authentic ingredients. The staff there will often give you lots of good tips about cooking. Try to prepare authentic dishes with the help of YouTube chefs, such as Maangchi, for Korean dishes. 

Play some music that fits the region with regional playlists, and decorate your space yourself; a red tablecloth will turn your kitchen into an Italian trattoria. If no one else is helping you, pretend to be on a cooking show with self-commentary and a cooking show challenge.

6. Family Game Tournament

Create some excitement in your home with an Olympics-style tournament that will appeal to everyone in your family. Set up some fun activity stations with things you have at home – challenge each other to stack plastic cups with chopsticks for a hilarious Minute-to-Win-It showdown, or organize a beanbag toss into laundry baskets for some old-fashioned carnival fun.

Take classic games to the next level by adding time limits or some new house rules to hasten the length of time playing Monopoly. Check out local thrift stores, like Unique, for game discounts, or look for free printable games online for immediate family fun.

7. Home Wellness Day

With a 3-part sequence, you can turn your space into your own holistic retreat. Begin with morning yoga (on YouTube, search “Yoga With Adriene” for 30 minutes) and use couch cushions for bolsters.

In the early afternoon, “spa station” with a DIY coffee scrub (1/4 coffee grounds + coconut oil) and cucumber eye pads. For your afternoon mental reset, try a “non-sleep deep rest” practice – lie down with your legs elevated against a wall for 15 minutes while listening to binaural beats. 

8. Luxury Bed-In Retreat

Turn your bedroom into a five-star hotel with easy improvements. You can begin with Brooklinen’s thirty-day trial for their amazing sheets, or you could elevate your current set with a $20 set of sateen pillow cases found at Target. 

Prepare a breakfast tray with pastries from Heidelberg Bakery and berries the night before. Set the mood with low lighting, perhaps a white noise machine (or a free app). Then enjoy a full day at home with physical books you picked up from Arlington Public Library, or get an audiobook from Libby (a free app).

9. Backyard Stargazing & Storytelling Night

Have a wonderful evening under the stars with nothing but blankets and imagination. Lay out sleeping bags or yoga mats, where you are having outdoor time, download a free stargazing app like Star Walk, and find some constellations. 

If you are indoors and you live in a city with light pollution, you can always cast some of NASA’s space images onto a white wall. Create your sleeping space cozy, tell childhood stories or create new stories, and use any glow sticks from the dollar store as “magic wands”. 

Finish everything off with your homemade moon pies (graham crackers and marshmallow fluff) and some warm cocoa.

10. DIY Home Theater Experience

You can create a high-end movie experience at home with a few tweaks to your living room. Start with darkening the room with blackout curtains or by using bedsheets to block the light. Then project movies on a wall (many public libraries lend projectors). 

Make a sofa cushion/blanket space on the ground for seating. If you want to make snacks like at the theater, pop real popcorn in a pan with a lid on, then toss with seasoning (try flavored Old Bay or sugar cinnamon). 

Upgrading the experience can include boxes of candy from a dollar store, and homemade “concession stand” signs. For aisles, cover a flashlight with a red cellophane scrap. Dimmed cell phones work too.

Conclusion

You don’t need to spend time wondering how to create the perfect travel getaway experience; you just need creativity. These 10 staycation ideas show that relaxation and adventure are fully possible at home. 

Whether you turn your backyard into a campsite, have a world-themed movie night, or enjoy a luxurious night of staying in bed, there are many ways to have an amazing staycation. 

For renters, there is no risk to the lease, and for landlords, content tenants mean they are happy and, hopefully, paying rent on time.

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