Holiday at Home - Premier Inn
- Anna - Mini Writers Club
- Mar 29, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 28
We had been looking forward to our February half-term trip, a long weekend at Bluestone in Wales. When Covid cancelled our plans, we decided that if we couldn’t go on holiday, we would bring the holiday to us instead.
When we visit Bluestone, we stay a couple of nights at the Premier Inn in Tenby before heading to Bluestone. It makes the trip feel that bit longer and more exciting. So we transformed our house into the “Premier Inn” and turned our bedroom into a family hotel room for a two-night stay.
Normally we would set off for Wales and stop at McDonald’s for breakfast once we cross the border. My children always stay in their pyjamas for the journey so they can eat their sticky pancakes before changing into their clothes for the day.
To keep that tradition alive, we packed our suitcase, which Benji insisted we put in the car so it felt like a real trip and drove to the drive-thru. We ate it at home (Sophie and Benji in pjs) and pretended to be at McDonalds.
Once we had our McDonald’s breakfast, we fetched the bags, and they got dressed for the day.
Then it was time to head to the “Premier Inn.” I had printed out some pictures I found online and stuck them to their play shop to turn it into a check-in desk. Benji took his role very seriously as the receptionist, asking for our details before handing over our room keys and a copy of the menus.
Room Keys (I screenshot and printed them).
We headed upstairs with our bags (and snacks!) to find our room. We had stuck a room number on the door to make it feel more authentic and we set up the fold-out bed to turn it into a family room. Benji opened the door with a big grin and they both ran in, jumped on the “new” bed, and started deciding where everyone was going to sleep.
Traditionally, after a long drive, we stick the TV on and Craig has a nap. After his long five-minute drive to McDonald’s, he was absolutely exhausted and decided he needed his traditional nap!
We wanted to make the room feel just like a real hotel, so we set up a little drinks area. We moved the coffee machine upstairs, put mugs, glasses, and biscuits on a tray and left a menu on the side. Sophie and Benji loved helping themselves to water and pinching the biscuits.
We stayed in our “hotel” for two nights. We had packed our clothes in a bag so no one needed to go back to their own bedrooms to get changed. Sophie and Benji also filled their backpacks with games to keep them entertained while we were in the hotel room. We played games, watched TV, and read books and magazines together. During the day, we ventured out to the “beach,” the arcade, and even went out for dinner in a “restaurant” - all carefully set up in our garden and around the house!
In true “staying in a hotel with kids” fashion, we put some drinks in the sink to try to keep them cool for later, once the children had finally fallen asleep. In the end, we ended up sneaking downstairs and watching TV in the lounge instead.
We bought some colour-changing battery-operated lights and placed them around the bedroom to recreate the purple lighting you see in the Premier Inn. I was worried it would be a nightmare getting them to sleep in the same room, but with the purple lights on, they actually went to bed quite quickly.
We always book the breakfast buffet for our last morning at the Premier Inn, so of course we had to recreate it as part of our holiday at home. We decided to stick with a continental breakfast, as a full English buffet just isn’t quite the same when you have to cook it yourself!
Once they had fallen asleep, I set up the breakfast buffet downstairs, ready to finish in the morning. I used our play shop to create a little cereal station, complete with plates, bowls, glasses, napkins, and cutlery on the shelves. I bought mini boxes of cereal and poured milk into a jug so they could help themselves. I also added yoghurts, bowls of fruit, and a jar of apple juice to finish it off.
I set up another area with the coffee machine and toaster. I put muffins, bread and pancakes into a basket so everyone could help themselves. We also bought frozen pastries from the supermarket and cooked them so they were lovely and warm.
Sophie and Benji absolutely loved helping themselves to breakfast. Having the toaster in the dining room was such a novelty! We ended up with way too much food, but we packed the leftovers into Tupperware and enjoyed them over the next couple of days.
They absolutely 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 a fun way to spend the holidays, I highly recommend trying a holiday at home!
I’ve created a pack full of activity ideas and printables if you would like to create your own holiday at home.
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This is utterly adorable!!! 💜💜 Thank you for sharing