Top 10 holiday essentials

I don’t know about you, but I spend most of the year waiting for my holiday. When I’m not on holiday, I’m thinking about holidays. So, here are our top 10 holiday essentials as demonstrated by Lia.

 

1. Beaches

This one’s for the girls. For them, a holiday is all about building sandcastles, splashing in the waves and running around on the beach. The Mark Warner beach resorts tick all the boxes. Whether we go to Greece, Sardinia or Corsica the beautiful beaches will be perfect for our coast-loving children and their buckets and spades.

2. Fabulous food

We are a family of foodies. Back in the day, my husband and I loved going to fancy restaurants for exciting meals. These days, the girls tag along too. Holidays are the perfect opportunity for trying new tastes. Mark Warner restaurants serve freshly sourced local food and international cuisine in fabulous settings. Perfect.

3. Swimming pool

Every week, we go swimming as a family. It’s something we’ve been doing ever since the girls came along and it’s an hour a week to have fun together with no distractions. On holiday, there’s nothing better than relaxing in the pool. We play ball, chase each other around the pool and have a brilliant time. Mark Warner resorts have family pools that are also big enough to swim properly in. My husband and I could fit in some lengths in the morning and the girls could swim every day too.

4. Evening fun

My husband and I rarely spend any time on our own. I work in the evenings at home and it’s rare for us to go out together. So the listening service for young children that Mark Warner offer would allow us to spend a rare evening together. We could put the children to bed and there would be someone to monitor them and let us know if there were any problems. This would allow us to have some much needed time as husband and wife rather than mum and dad. For older children, Mark Warner run music clubs, dinner and games nights depending on the children’s ages.

5. Activities

We’re a really active family and lounging around on a beach for a week just wouldn’t be for us. But Mark Warner holidays have plenty going on, including a fitness programme and the opportunity to play tennis and go mountain biking. Just the sort of things we’d need to be doing if we were staying somewhere that served amazing food!

6. Childcare

Both of my girls are incredibly sociable. They love nothing more than making friends and playing with other children. They’re just the right age for the Mark Warner Mini Club, where they could go for six mornings or afternoons free of charge. They keep the children busy with indoor and outdoor activities from wave jumping to dance. The girls would love this and it would give us a chance to get stuck into some of the sports on offer for adults.

7. Watersports

My husband and I love to be around water. For us, beaches aren’t for lying on, they’re the platform to get into the sea. So a holiday with watersports freely available would suit us down to the ground. Mark Warner offer a variety of watersports including sailing and winsurfing with tuition free of charge. You can also pay for more specific tuition in these sports, or to get involved with different watersports on offer at the resort.

8. Time to relax

Whilst our holidays are all about being active, it’s great to have some time to relax as well. When we’re at home, I struggle to find time to read a book or just take some time out. The kids clubs and childcare would give me the opportunity to unwind, safe in the knowledge that the girls were having fun.

9. Accommodation

Our house is a bit of a nightmare at the moment. We’re very slowly doing it up bit by bit. Currently we have an unfinished kitchen with no floor, no carpets anywhere and no bathroom floor either. It would be amazing to go on holiday and know that the accommodation was perfect. Mark Warner have family rooms meaning the girls can go to bed in a separate room and we don’t have to creep around trying not to wake them.

10. Family

When it comes down to it, a holiday is all about family. Time for us to be together, enjoy each other’s company and not worry about anything else. Mark Warner are family friendly so everyone has a holiday to remember. In years to come, I want the girls to look back fondly on their childhood. Holidays are all about making memories.

Our holiday mood board

I thought it would be fun to create our mood board as we were going along making our video. So we got the felt tips, scissors and glue out and came up with this.

But when I looked back at the photos, I knew they had to be what made up our mood board. So here it is, the finished article. I hope you’ll agree that Lia has done a rather fabulous job of acting out our top 10 holiday essentials.