Make Your Next Family Vacation More Meaningful with These Service Ideas

This week we are joined by Melissa Draper to talk about fun ways to incorporate service into your family travel experiences!

This week we are joined by Melissa Draper to talk about fun ways to incorporate service into your family travel experiences!

I think that looking for service opportunities while traveling is such a great idea. It’s always good to give back to others around us.

Why would I want to do service while traveling?

Vacations can be great places to look for service opportunities because we’re away from home, which makes it easier to look outside ourselves.
When traveling, our stress levels are down and we don’t have as many things in our schedule.
Traveling allows you to meet new people and get outside of your regular routine!
Traveling is also a great opportunity to teach your kids about serving others.
And it’s fun!

Service ideas that don’t take too much planning ahead of time

Beautify the area! This can be as simple as picking up trash around the area that you’re visiting. A great place to do this is around parks or camping areas. You can teach your kids to leave everywhere better than you found it!
Leave positive notes on people’s cars. This one is so simple! All you need is paper and pens to write kind thoughts for others. Parking on vacations can be stressful sometimes, so you have the opportunity to make it a little bit better for others.
When eating out, look for people who might need some food. You can pay it forward and purchase a meal for another family. If you don’t want to spend as much money, you can buy people some treats or pay for the people behind you to get something like ice cream.
Grab the unused shampoo and conditioner from hotels and donate them to homeless or women’s shelters.
Offer to take others’ pictures! We’ve all been there when we want a family picture, but we feel bad asking others to take it. So be that helpful person for someone else!

Service ideas that take just a little bit of planning ahead of time

If you’re visiting a relative, ask if there are any service projects you can do to help while you’re there. For example, if you’re headed to a friend or parent’s cabin, ask if anything needs to be fixed up during your trip.
Set aside some space in your bag for items that you can give away to others. This could be as easy as bringing granola bars to pass out to homeless people. Maybe you could purchase some simple, small gift cards to pass out to flight attendants or hotel staff. You could also purchase some school supplies and donate them to a school in need.
Every community has a place where they welcome volunteers. This could be community centers, Ronald McDonald House, food banks, etc. where you can go and serve others.
Use the website justserve.com to find more ideas! Both Melissa and I love this site!
If you want to work on service within your own family, you can draw names before the trip, and the person you draw is your “secret service buddy”. This helps everyone to feel uplifted and look for ways to love and serve each other.

Service ideas with specific opportunities

There are many organizations that will take you on a trip solely for humanitarian purposes. Make sure to research the organization before you sign up! It’s hard work, but so rewarding.
Set aside a whole day of your trip to service! This could be one big project or lots of little things throughout the day.

If you want to hear more from Melissa, her personal podcast is ‘Do Something More’!