Planning an all-inclusive vacation with kids
Have you always wanted to go on a tropical vacation and bring your kids along? Maybe you’ve already been but either solo or with your partner. You might have been putting off your family getaway somewhere warm because you feel like it might be more complicated.
Let me tell you, you are missing out! Of course, it might take you a bit more planning than usual, a bigger budget of course, but this vacation is going to bring you a lot of memories to cherish for the rest of your life. There are so many reasons to bring your kids on vacation with you. Not only for the memories but there are many benefits for them as well. You can read all about the reasons why you should be traveling with your kids!
I can assure you, this dream tropical destination is worth it and I can help you to plan it out! Whether you are going with your kids or extended family, here is my helpful guide to planning an all-inclusive vacation with kids!
planning an all-inclusive vacation with kids
If you want to travel the world with your kids but you aren’t comfortable yet, starting with planning an all-inclusive vacation with them can eventually get you there.
Starting small will build up your confidence to go bigger someday.
Planning an all-inclusive vacation with kids is ideal because all-inclusive means just that, everything is included. Well, almost everything. But basically, the plan you will buy will include, airfare, transportation, hotel, meals, and drinks.
By choosing an all-inclusive vacation, you won’t have to worry about anything other than choosing the resort and the dates of your liking.
Budget
While planning for your vacation budget, you will have to consider an amount for everyone going on the trip. You might plan a maximum amount per person or even a maximum amount for the whole family.
Depending on the package deals, sometimes kids under a certain age will pay less than an adult. So having a family budget might end up giving you a better deal for your money.
In the end, whether you plan an overall amount or choose how much per person you are willing to pay, it’s important to consider how much you want to spend for that vacation. If you have a specific resort in mind, you might have to plan your budget according to the price they charge.
For example, in the Dominican Republic, there is a Nickolodeon resort. It looks amazing for families. However, the price for one week, for 2 kids and 2 adults was almost 10 000$ CAD. It would’ve been great but in the end, it was just way above what our budget was. You don’t want to ruin yourself either by going on this vacation so make sure to budget considering your financial situation.
If this is the type of experience you want, you will have to plan your budget according to that.
Make sure to include an amount in your budget for activities once at your destination. The all-inclusive package will include your airfare, transportation to and from the hotel, the hotel, food, and drinks for the time you will be there. If you want to go on excursions though, those are not included in the price you will pay.
So when you are planning an all-inclusive vacation with kids, and you want to go out on excursions, have an extra amount planned so you can cover the excursions fees for everyone.
Amenities
If you are traveling with your kids, amenities at the resort are important to take into consideration. While kids usually love going to the beach and swimming at the pool, sometimes having other activities to do with them will be nice too.
There are a lot of family-friendly resorts out there! Some of them have small water slides, water parks, pools for the younger kids. There are so many different options!
Consider a resort with amenities for the age of your kids. This way they will experience many different things directly at the resort.
Family-friendly hotels will also offer minor things like high chairs in the restaurants and buffets for example. Sometimes you can even borrow some carts to make your walking around the resort easier as sometimes with kids you have much to carry around.
Location
The location of the resort might be important or it might not be considered at all. If you know your kids get fussy while on long car rides, you could choose a resort closer to the airport where you won’t be on the bus for hours.
This might be important for some and not important at all for others. Depending on your situation, choose a location that will work for everyone and with which you are comfortable traveling the distance.
Kids club
I believe that most of the family-friendly hotels have kids’ clubs. This can be great if you want to have a little night out just the parents or even just a couple of hours without the kids during the day.
They have many activities planned for the kids, games, and play areas for all ages.
You just drop your kids at the kids club and the staff there will take care of your kids while you do what you planned to do without them.
This can give a little break on your vacation to have a little, me-time or some couple time.
Start your planning process
While I like to be spontaneous sometimes, traveling with kids might be a little more difficult to leave on a whim with a last-minute deal. I need a bit more preparation but it is totally doable. If the deal just shows itself and you can do it, why not!
With kids in school though, I prefer to plan ahead. I always verify with my kid’s teachers how it’s going at school and if they think there might be exams in the approximate period we are planning the vacation. I wouldn’t necessarily delay my vacation plans because of that but I can move dates around and make it work for everyone.
Now that you have a better idea of what an all-inclusive vacation looks like, how can you plan that vacation with your kids to make it the best one yet? Here are all the steps I take when planning an all-inclusive vacation with kids!
Consider implications for international travel
When planning an all-inclusive vacation with kids, chances are, you will probably be traveling internationally. With that being said, traveling abroad means you’ll have a couple of extra steps to take to go on that vacation.
First off, you will have to obtain passports for everyone and pay for them as well. If you already have them, you don’t have to budget for this. However, if none of you have a passport, make sure to check the cost of getting a passport for everyone. You’ll have to consider that amount while planning your dream vacation.
Traveling internationally, you’ll probably take longer flights which in the end might end up in longer travel days.
Since you are entering another country, you will have to go through customs when you enter the country as well as when you come back home. You will have to wait in line to get through. Sometimes, you can be waiting for a while.
While traveling abroad, check the health requirements. Some countries will require specific vaccines to enter the country. You’ll have to follow all the entry requirements to be allowed to enter the country. This means every single family member. Make sure to check that everyone has the correct immunization.
Consider the language barrier as well. In most Caribbean destinations, employees will speak English on the resort. If you go outside of your hotel, locals might only speak their language. So consider if you are comfortable with that.
When considering travel, you’ll have to determine if for your family it is worth taking these extra steps to go on the trip. Are these extra steps worth it for your family and if they are not, maybe consider going on a trip within your own country.
I know that for me, these extra steps are worth it in the end.
Choose the best kids-friendly all-inclusive resort for you
Make yourself a list of what you would like to find at the resort that everyone will like. Or even have everyone make a list and compare notes.
With that in mind, you’ll be able to consider everyone’s demands. You might not be able to find the perfect match but at least you can try and find something for everyone at the resort.
Do you want an infinity pool, a swim-up room, specific a la carte restaurants, a waterpark, specific activities, excursions, a kid’s club, and the list can go on forever.
Find yourself a kid-friendly resort with great activities for them but also for yourself. You want to go on a family vacation, yes, but everyone has to appreciate their time there.
Choose a resort
Once you’ve chosen a destination you want to bring your family to, now is the time to choose your resort. Think about the location of the resort, the beach, activities, food, and ambiance.
Start by deciding how many stars you want your hotel to be. I tend to go to either 4 or 5 stars hotels while traveling to the Caribbean.
You’ll be able to refine your search with those criteria in mind. Take out the list you guys made with what you would like to find at your resort. From there, look at the list of resorts that comes out. Compare each of them and find the one that has the best fit for the whole family.
Take a look at the whole deal. Overall price, number of stars for the hotel, flights, amenities. Once you’ve settled on the one you like, go ahead and book that dream vacation with your family!
When booking an all-inclusive vacation, I tend to book directly with a travel agency. So if something were to happen regarding my reservations, they will be the ones taking care of everything.
Choose a location
As I said earlier, choose a location that fits your family’s needs. It would be amazing to drive five hours and stay in a treehouse resort somewhere in the middle of nowhere but is it something that will work for every family member? This might be an adventure better suited to travel to without kids or when they are older.
Think about the distance from the airport depending on the age of your kids too. You don’t need to have a resort next door from the airport but you don’t want to be driving for a couple of hours either.
My kids get antsy when we drive for over an hour and a half. It’s possible to drive longer but it’s nice if the resort is about that time away from the airport.
Since you’ve been traveling for a couple of hours on the plane, it’s also nice to get to your resort quickly. I think one hour, one hour and a half is perfect. That way you’re most likely to be outside the city limits, away from the airport but not too far that you spend the whole day traveling.
This way you get to take advantage of the beautiful resort you’ve chosen on your first day.
Everywhere I’ve been, this was about the amount of time we spent on our transport to get to the hotel.
Beach
If you are planning to make the most of the beach while on your all-inclusive vacation with your kids, choose a resort where you will have direct access to the beach. You might think this is something funny to say but there are some beautiful resorts out there that don’t have direct access and you either have to take a short shuttle ride to get to the beach or have to walk there.
It might not be a big deal to walk a couple of minutes to the beach. But remember that you will probably have a little bit more stuff to bring along with you to the beach while traveling with your kids. Towels, shovels, buckets, snacks, water bottles, sunscreen, are just a couple of examples of what you might be bringing with you to the beach.
I personally try to limit what I carry to one beach bag and our towels provided by the hotel. So I don’t have too much and we can easily walk around the resort if we needed to without having too much stuff.
Some destinations are not known for big beautiful beaches either. When we went to Jamaica a couple of years ago, we had beautiful beach access. However, it wasn’t a beach to take a long walk on the beach. It was a very small beach.
So if you will be spending every single day, all day long at the beach, make sure to choose a destination and a resort that will have a beach for you.
If you prefer the swimming pool to the beach, choose a resort that has a pool to your liking rather than the beach.
Activities
If you plan to go outside of your resort while on your vacation, check what type of activities you would like to do with your family. You can choose a resort over another if activities are important to you and one offers some better-suited activities for your family, it might help you choose between two resorts.
You might choose a destination according to the activities the area has to offer. There are so many different ones you can do depending on the location and the resort itself.
Some hotels offer casinos on-site, you can go on a buggy excursion, visit some runes, go on a hike, visit a city, swim with dolphins, go to a beach with cute little pigs just to name a few.
Over the past couple of years, we did a buggy excursion which brought us to a beautiful beach and the trails were somewhat muddy, visited Chichen Itza, have been to Havana.
Looking at the activities and excursions the resort offers beforehand can help you determine if you want to go on an activity and if there are activities you can do with your kids. You’ll also be able to set a budget for excursions on top of your all-inclusive plan.
Food
Some destinations are better known for food than others. Check the reviews before you go to have a general feel of what people think of the food in the resort you would like to go to and the country you will be traveling to.
In my personal experience in the Caribbean, food was amazing in Mexico and Jamaica. It was good in the Dominican Republic. And it was OK in Cuba.
So if you are looking for a foodie experience as well as a really nice vacation with your kids, it’s good to look at this while choosing your destination and your resort. Even in the same country, you can have resorts where the food will be better than in another hotel.
This is why people’s reviews can help you a lot if food is something important to consider while planning an all-inclusive vacation with kids.
Booking your flights
When choosing an all-inclusive vacation, flights will most likely be in the package you book. Determine from which airport you want to be leaving from, and if you want to have a connecting flight or not. You might have to do a bit more research to find the flights that work for you with the hotel you want.
Sometimes, some destinations will only depart from some airports and might not be departing from your city’s airport. You’ll have to ask yourself if it’s OK with you to drive a little bit to get to another airport where you will be flying to your final destination or if you would rather fly somewhere that your city’s airport flies to directly.
So if you’re not too picky about the destination and you would rather have a direct flight leaving from an airport nearby, look at the departure from that said airport and choose your destination that way, you’ll then be able to choose which resort you want to fly to.
If you are OK with having a connection or even driving to a different airport to get to the destination you want you can do that too.
Just plan according to your situation. How old are your kids? How much driving do you have to do to get to the airport? How long will be your flight times if you have a connecting flight? How long do you have between your connection?
Connecting time between connecting flights is important to take into consideration if you have kids especially. You might have to go through customs at that destination, pick up your bags and recheck them depending on the airport. Having the kids in this whole process, especially if it is your first time traveling with them, might add a bit more stress. So ask yourself if you are comfortable in a situation like this or not.
Get passports for everyone
If you don’t already have passports for everyone, make sure you do so if you are traveling internationally. Make sure to do this in advance because passport offices most likely will have a certain delay to make the passports and have them sent to you.
If you already have them for everyone, make sure to check the expiration date on every single one of them. You wouldn’t want to get close to your trip and realize one of them isn’t valid. It is possible to get express passports made but there are extra fees and there are still delays to consider too.
Arrange transportation
Usually, transportation to and from your hotel is included in your all-inclusive package. The process is pretty simple. Once you’ve arrived at your final destination, you’ll go through customs, pick up your bags and follow the exit signs.
At some point, you will come up at the tour operator’s counters. Just go to your tour operator there and they will tell you which bus number to hop on. They’ll usually ask for your hotel and direct you to the right area to get on your bus.
If for some reason it is not included, you can verify with your travel agent for private buses you can hire to get you to your hotel.
I used to do this all the time back when I was a flight attendant. There are usually some well-known companies you can use to get to your hotel safely. Your travel agent will most likely have great recommendations for you if you need to book something.
You can also find taxis waiting at the exit but you will have to check their fares directly with them. From one place to another the prices might change. So before getting into a taxi, check the fares if this is your plan before you get in as to not get overcharged or go over budget from the get-go.
If your transportation is included, the day after your arrival, you will most likely have a quick meeting with the tour operator to have some extra information about the resort and amenities. They will also tell you what time you have to show up in the lobby on your departure day to catch your bus back to reality!
Prepare the kids for the trip
I like to keep our travel plans a secret from the kids until we have booked them! I don’t want to get their hopes up by telling them we are going on a vacation and then something comes up and we end up not booking the vacation. So once we have booked the all-inclusive vacation, that is when I tell them where we are going and when.
Having official dates and information to give them is way more exciting for them than maybes. You can tell them in how many days we are leaving, what you will be doing on your vacation and they will start dreaming about their vacation!
You won’t have much to do to prepare them for this vacation. You can tell them about the trip, show them on a map where it is located and where you live, tell them about the flight, how long it will take, how long you will be on the bus to get to the hotel. Show them pictures of the resort you’ve chosen as well.
You can tell them about the activities you will be doing there too.
Purchase missing travel essentials
First off, check if you need some clothing for every member of the family. Especially bathing suits and summer clothes since you are going to be by the beach or the pool most of the time and the weather will be warm.
Look at everyone’s summer wardrobe. If you need to buy some clothing, do a little bit of shopping a couple of weeks before your departure. This way, you won’t be rushing to find something right before you leave. Summer clothing is also harder to find once the summer season is over. If you book early, you can already start shopping for what you know you will need.
Purchase travel-sized toiletries so it takes less space inside your suitcases. Buy multiple bottles of sunscreen to last you for the week. I like to bring some aloe and aftersun cream in small travel-sized silicone bottles.
Make a list of what you need to pack for your trip. Check what you already have and what you need to buy. I usually go to the stores a couple of weeks prior to our departure and buy everything missing.
There is so much going on a couple of days before leaving and if you have to take care of this, find some clothes, buy missing travel essentials on top of everything else, it will end up adding some unnecessary stress.
This way, if you realize you forgot something, you’ll only have one or two things to go back to the store for.
Packing your bags
Now that planning an all-inclusive vacation with kids is done, the only thing you have left to do is count the days until you leave and pack your bags to take the trip!
Here is a breakdown to help you pack! You can find a more detailed family packing guide here! You can even download my free checklist!
Casual clothing and resort wear
- Pants
- Shorts
- T-shirts
- Tank tops
- Sweater
- Dresses
- Socks
- Underwear
- Bra
- Pajama
Swimming wear
- Bikini
- Bathing suits
- Floatties
Footwear
- Flip Flops
- Sandals
- Shoes
- Dress shoes
- Water shoes
Basics and toiletries
- Shampoo/Conditionner
- Hair detangler
- Hairbrush
- Face cleanser
- Face moisturizer
- Contact lenses/Contact lenses liquid
- Makeup
- Toothbrush/Toothpaste
- Razor
- Deodorant
- Mirror
- Baby powder
- Wipes
- Q-Tips
Skin protection
Medicine kit
- Advil/Tylenol
- Allergy tablet
- Antibacterial ointment
- Bandaids
Accessories
- Water bottles
- Hats
- Sunglasses
Bags, luggage
- Suitcase
- Carry-on bag
- Daypack
- Handbag
- Wallet
- Dirty laundry bag
- Beach bag
- A clear TSA approved bag
Extras to pack
Travel tech
- Ipad/Laptop
- Camera
- Chargers
- Headphones
Essentials
- Passports
- Visas if needed
- ID’s
- Travel insurance
- Currency
Make copies of your passports
I always carry a copy of everyone’s passport with me in case we were to lose one or get them stolen. I used to carry a paper copy in my suitcase. You can still do it this way too if this is the way you are most comfortable.
With technology nowadays, I have a photo on my phone and I’ve also sent them in my email.
If we are very unfortunate and our passports are stolen or lost and my phone as well, I can still access them through email. At least I will have the information needed if we had to deal with the embassy in a situation like this.
I’ve never had to use these, but you never know. Better safe than sorry.
Prepare your home before leaving
While planning an all-inclusive vacation with kids, why would I talk about preparing your home you’ll ask me? Well, I add these couple of extra steps before we leave the house for a week, two or even three. This way, I can leave home being stress-free that something will happen while we are gone.
Before or while you are packing your bags, make sure to charge all the electronics you are planning to bring along. It wouldn’t be great to get on the plane, ready to watch a movie and your tablet is out of batteries. Before putting everything in your bags, make sure to charge them.
Before leaving the house, I always turn off the water, I lower the house’s heaters, shut off the air conditioning (during summer months) and also shut off the water heater. By turning these off, at least I know I won’t be having water damage while were away.
I also do a couple of other tasks before locking the door to leave. I make sure to empty the trash, the recycling, and the compost so we don’t come back to bad odors in the house. If we have dirty dishes in the dishwasher, I make sure to have them washed before we turn off the water to avoid, here again, bad odors.
Another step I take is watering all the plants.
I like to pay my bills before leaving as well. This way I don’t have to think about paying them on a certain date while on vacation. This way, I can be as stress-free as possible and enjoy the family vacation to its fullest.
For the kids, I make sure to notify the school and daycare of the time they will be away. We also have a cat, so we make sure to give her enough food and water for the week. We are lucky to have my in-laws one street away from us. So we have them come over to the house at least once to change the drinking water and make sure she is OK.
And last, make sure to lock the doors on your way out! If you are leaving in the summertime, make sure that all the windows are closed before you leave!
Call your credit card company
Take a look at the credit cards you will be using on your trip. Do you have to notify them when going abroad? If you have to, make sure to give them a call before leaving.
Back in my flight attendant days, I had notified my credit card company that my job involved traveling and that every single week I was somewhere internationnal and they still blocked it while I was in New York. It isn’t great to find yourself in a different country where your debit card doesn’t work, your credit card got blocked and you have maybe 10$ on yourself.
Call them, and let them know you will be traveling to this country and the dates you will be traveling. This way you will avoid getting your card blocked.
Since this happened, I’ve changed credit card companies and I haven’t had to notify them of my travel plans and it never got blocked either. I guess it depends on which company you are with. Check with them first and if they tell you you don’t have to call them, at least you’ll know for next time and you will avoid having it blocked while enjoying your beautiful vacation!
Review airport security procedures with the kids
Knowing what to expect can lower the anxiety levels of everyone. Traveling the world is amazing and worth the more annoying steps in the process in the end.
Going through security can be a little overwhelming when you don’t know what to expect. So preparing the kids for this will help everyone. They won’t only know what to expect but they will be able to take some of the steps on their own. This will help boost up their confidence to know that you’ve told them how to do it and that they’ve actually managed to do it without your help or with a little help.
Of course, this will depend on their age. If they are very young, you might have to help them out a lot but as they get older, they will be more and more confident to do the process by themselves.
So what should you expect at security? If this is your first trip, I will guide you through what you can expect. Some airports or countries might have different procedures but the basics stay the same around the world. And there is always someone who will be there to let you know what to do.
First, you’ll have to grab an empty bin and put your carry-on bags in them. Keep your boarding pass because they will probably scan it. Once your bags are in the bins, empty your pockets and take off your bulky jackets or coats. If you have a belt, place it in the bin as well.
Some airports will ask that laptops be taken out of the bag and placed in a different bin. There are also some airports that will ask you to take your shoes off as well.
Once everything is in the bins, you will line up to a metal detector. The agent on the other side will let you know when to cross the metal detector. If you beep, you probably have something you forgot to put in the bin. Most likely they will have you remove the item and get you to go through the detector again. They might do a patdown in some cases if you have nothing in your pockets.
Once that is done, you just go to the side and wait for your bins to come out of the x-ray machine, and you are all set.
I give a general explanation to the kids while waiting in line for security. This way they see what I’m talking about and they can also observe the other people doing it. As we are going through, I remind them of the steps to take.
Eventually, I am hoping they will remember it and do it without me telling them! Make them great little travelers!
While there are many steps to planning an all-inclusive vacation with kids, it is well worth all the effort you will be putting into your dream vacation. Traveling is good for so many reasons! Such as experiencing different cultures, cuisine, and way of life. You will be more adaptable to different situations, more resourceful as well.
I believe that traveling with kids will give them great advantages for their future by developing many traits that will be useful in every aspect of their lives.
On top of that, you will be spending some great quality time with your kids, away from the everyday routine where let’s be frank, we don’t necessarily have much time outside of work, homework, sports and our short weekends to spend much time appreciating each others company.
On your vacation, you’ll have time to do just that without every day’s distractions. All the great memories you will make will last a lifetime!
So go for it! Go ahead with planning your family vacation! Start smaller and make your way up! It is so worth it to travel the world with your minis discovering all the beauty this world has to offer along with you!
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I earn a small commission if you make a purchase through these links. I would never recommend anything I don’t personally love and use!
Here are a bit more tips and tricks to help you plan out your dream family vacation!
10 things I never travel without
10 things you should do before your next family vacation
7 reasons why you should travel with your kids
Family packing guide for the Dominican Republic
Travel organization gear must-haves to make your travels easier
