The only Summer Holiday Planner you need this year is BACK!
This is my 7th Summer Holiday Planner and the 5th year that can buy the printed A3 poster version (free download will be available as usual).
The key to a successful Summer Holiday is in the planning. Nobody, that’s parents, children and clients,  will react well to overwhelm and boredom! But I have you covered, with tips on how to prepare your business for the summer, how to juggle the children AND a colourful Summer Holiday Planner thrown in for good measure!

Preparing Your Small Business for the Summer Holiday: 

• Organise Your Inbox: Staying on top of and keeping your inbox organised is a good start pointing, stick to the 4D technique daily to reduce overwhelm (Do It – Delete It – Defer It – Delegate It). Use an email autoresponder too, this takes the pressure off you and gives a clear directive to anyone who emails you.
• Mass Email System: There are so many automation processes you can set up so that your small business runs smoothly even though you are taking a well-earned break.  A mass emailing list is simple to set up, individuals can opt-out if they wish at any time and most platforms provide insights into who has interacted with your email. A mailing list drives traffic to your products/services and helps increase sales. GMass allows you to send mail merge campaigns with an automatic follow-up, keeping your customers up to date with any news/availability/services/promotions throughout the Summer Holiday.
• Start A Fresh In September: July is a great time to audit your to-do list. Are you really going to do it? Have you moved items from list to list, month to month then the answer is more than likely no. The summer holiday is also a great time to reboot and clarify your small business goals.  I always find once I stop “working in” my business the magic suddenly happens.  I feel inspired, invigorated, and raring to go in September.
• Schedule: A simple but key time management tool, which helps you to;
  Free up headspace
  Free up time
  Keep your content consistent
  Work smarter – not harder
  Schedule content for Facebook, your blog, and populate your X (formally known as Twitter) feed. Keep your social media active and drive traffic to your blog/website by keeping things ticking over nicely. It also means you can spend a small amount of time (5/10 minutes a day) responding to comments rather than getting sucked into a social media black hole. The Summer Holiday Planner contains content/awareness days throughout July – September to help make scheduling that little bit easier.

A Working Parents Summer Holiday Planner:

Why do I create these Summer Holiday Planners? Having a Summer Holiday Planner provides everyone (parents and children alike) with a clear understanding of how each day/week will pan out. Agreeing on a routine and setting expectations for you and your child/children during the summer holidays also helps things run smoothly. Using the Summer Holiday Planner you can fill days with something to do this limits the chance of unnecessary spending and/or feeling at a loose end.  It’s a tried and tested method that I’ve been doing since my children were little and even though they are grotty teens having a visual planner still helps keep us all on track. During activities/days out, try to provide the children with 100% of Mum, I call it a trade-off others refer to it as “filling their cup”. If you give the children quality time where it’s just about them no phones you will find them much happier to provide you in return with time where they entertain themselves enabling you a chance to work.  If like me your children are older now and planning their own social lives use these days to catch up on work and the days they are around are all about them. 

So What Do You Get On Your Summer Holiday Planner?:

• The whole summer is nicely laid out on one A3 poster.
• Dated from Monday, July 15th to Sunday, 8th September 2024.
• Colour coded months make the planner easier to navigate and use; July – Green, August – Purple, September – Blue.
• Contains content/awareness days to make scheduling your social media easier.
• 6 inexpensive and fun activities to tick off and inspire.
• In collaboration with Lemur Landings and SPLASHDOWN.

Grab your FREE download or purchase a gorgeous A3 printed Summer Holiday Poster for £5 (including FREE P&P) via my shop.
BUY NOW

6 Summer Holiday Activity Suggestions:

There are 6 activity suggestions on the planner to give you a few ideas for things to do that are fun, inexpensive, and rewarding for both children and parents.

1. Networking Playdate: Get together with your small business friends and children somewhere they can play and you guys can talk. Having like-minded people to discuss business with will help keep you calm and reduce overwhelm from trying to do too many things at the same time.  If you are Dorset based we are Netwalking on Wednesday 14th August. We meet at Potterne Park (free parking) and walk to Moors Valley for a play and picnic.  Walking we know is good for health and well-being, add talking to your friends plus the children and everyone is getting a handy dose of fresh air, exercise, socialisation, and brain space.
2. Visit A Soft Play Centre: This is always one of my go-to winning situations. See the great thing about soft play is the children are thoroughly entertained for hours without the need for Mum (or Dad)! Take Lemur Landings for example not only is there a soft play frame but digital climbing walls and a role play area, something to suit everyone.  There’s usually free WiFi and somewhere to get a drink, plus plenty of seating, which makes soft play the perfect remote working office this summer holiday! (Love this picture of Megan aged 7 part of the Lemur Landings marketing material!)
3. Visit A Waterpark: Who doesn’t love a waterpark? It’s flumin’ great fun! Splashdown has two venues, one locally to me my kids have been sooooo many times!  Splashdown, Poole is easy to find on Tower Park, and home to 13 thrilling indoor and outdoor flume rides and 3 under 5’s splash zones. Fun Fact for Valentine’s Day many years ago before we had children David and I went on a date there! The second venue is idyllically placed on the English Riviera, Splashdown Quaywest, the UK’s BIGGEST outdoor waterpark with spectacular views and 8 adrenalin-pumping flume rides, plus new aquaplay arena for children under 12. You’ll be flumin’ back for more!
4. Holiday Scrapbook: We’ve been creating holiday notebooks for years we were on Good Morning Britain back in the day (July 2015!) talking about our holiday scrapbooks. You can stick momentos in, I love adding photos using my HP Sproket, bus tickets, and sweet wrappers.  Being portable holiday notebooks are great for car rides and aeroplanes, we used to do a tally of what counties we had visited, animals we’d seen etc. Perfect for our Corfu Adventures.

   

5. Go To The Library: Libraries are great FREE resources. Libraries are a great opportunity to encourage your children to read over the summer as who doesn’t love a bit of competition? The Summer Reading Challenge used to be one of the highlights for Megan she’d regularly demolish 10 books in the first two weeks, and aged 15 her love of reading hasn’t changed. Plus your local library is a wealth of activities and events with the added bonus of free WiFi perfect for a spot of email inbox organisation.
6. Go Fishing: Mine are always up for a spot of fishing, especially when the weather is gorgeous and David selects somewhere where we’d definitely get a couple of bites. The wait between catches is short enough to keep the children engaged but long enough to build up anticipation and excitement. I always think of fishing as an equipment heavy activity, which it can be but if you are rocking up to the lake for an hour or 2 with the children you don’t need much. We took 2 rods, a landing net, a picnic & blanket, and the best boilies for carp fishing.  Of course, the best part of fishing is taking a photograph with your prize catch after battling to reel him in.

Don’t forget to share this post with any working parents or small business owners, working from home or juggling the summer holiday. I’ve have really enjoyed producing this Summer Holiday Planner and just want to say “Thank You” for all your continued support.
We’ve got this!

This post complies with my Disclosure Policy.