Birthdays are a big to do in our home. My husband and I love to celebrate each other and we love to get a chance to just be a couple again.  Every year for our birthdays, my husband and I decide on a theme. Some of our themes have included: our favorite magical places (Harry Potter World and The Shire), places never seen (Grand Canyon and Nassau), Casino Royale, etc. This year, we decided that our theme would be staycation.

I know what you are thinking... staycations don't sound relaxing. My fear was, that I would just look around and see all of the things that needed doing. What worked for us? We decided to lay down some ground rules and hold fast to them. These rules were imperative to us staying local but still feeling like we were on vacation. We created our rules based on the things that are important to us, and the types of things that we miss doing as a couple.

1. The kiddo still had to be with the grandparents for the weekend.

2. There had to be at least one day trip outside of the county planned.

3. We could come home but couldn't sleep at the house.

4. No working!

5. There had to be at least one fancy dinner and one movie.

The great thing about having a staycation is it takes all the guesswork out of what to do. When you go to a new city you spend lots of time looking at reviews of the best places to eat, play, and sleep. Being on your home turf is a game changer. We already had all of our favorites!

For my husband's birthday, we decided to stay at a local bed and breakfast that specializes in English breakfast and even hosts a proper English Tea. My husband spent time in England and loved it! He also doesn't drink coffee so the tea was a BIG deal! Our fancy dinner was at a local Italian restaurant where we actually had celebrated our first anniversary. It was nice to get a chance to get dressed up and go out! The next day, we saw a superhero movie that my husband had been dying to see. His out-of-county trip was to Dave and Buster's, he is a huge arcade nerd but had never been, so this was right up his alley. Did we come back to the house? Absolutely, though we did try and limit it! When we came home, we watched some TV, mostly the Olympics, and took time to read in our favorite spots. The important thing when we came home, was to hold fast to the do not work rule!

I would highly recommend giving a staycation a try! It is all the comforts of home (literally) without the daily hustle and bustle! Don't we all need that in our lives?!?

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