How to plan the school holidays with your kids' friends
A simple way to line up holiday activities with other families, so your kids spend the holidays with their mates instead of strangers.
Ask any kid what made a holiday activity great and the answer is rarely the activity itself. It's who was there. A pottery class is fine. A pottery class with your best mate is the highlight of the week.
The catch is that lining up plans with other families usually means a dozen WhatsApp messages, three people who "will check and get back to you", and a camp that sells out while you wait. Here's a simpler way to do it.
1. Start with two or three families, not the whole class
Big group plans stall. Pick the two or three families your kids genuinely click with and plan with them first. A small crew is easy to coordinate, and it's enough to make every activity feel like a social event.
2. Pick one or two anchor days early
You don't need the whole fortnight mapped out. Agree on one or two "anchor" days, a surf morning in week one and an art workshop in week two, say, and book those first. Everything else can stay flexible around them.
3. Share the plan, not just the idea
"We should do something together" rarely turns into a booking. "We've booked Zone Bowling on Tuesday at 10, want to join?" usually does. A specific day, time and link gives other parents something they can say yes to in ten seconds.
4. Book a few weeks out
Popular camps and creative workshops fill faster than you'd expect, and the families who plan together tend to book early. Two to five weeks before the holidays is the sweet spot: plans are firm enough to commit to, and there's still plenty of choice.
5. Split the driving
Coordinating with friends has a bonus most parents discover by accident: shared lifts. One parent does the morning drop-off, another does pick-up, and suddenly a working day with a holiday activity in the middle becomes manageable.
6. Leave room for unplanned days
The best holidays mix structure with downtime. A couple of booked activities a week, with beach afternoons and backyard days in between, keeps kids happy without anyone burning out, including you.
The easy way to do it
ParentPal was built for exactly this. Browse local holiday activities on the Northern Beaches, see which of your kids' friends are already booked in, and share an activity link straight into your group chat so other parents can join with a tap.
Plan your next school holidays with friends on ParentPal.
