Sometimes you just need to get away from it all. But who says a family vacation requires a long road trip or expensive plane tickets? A stay-at-home vacation—or staycation—could be just what your wild bunch needs for a bit of rest and relaxation.

The best staycations combine the adventure of exploring the out of the ordinary with all the comforts of home. Here are a few ideas to make your next staycation splendid:

1. Treat your home like a hotel.

Give your family the B&B experience by creating a room service-style breakfast menu. List easy-to-make items like pancakes, eggs, fresh fruit, cereal, juice, or milk on a paper menu. It may be the same things your kitchen usually has to offer, but it feels fancy to check off your breakfast order from a menu the evening before. Plus, if you have set breakfast hours on the menu like the hotels do, it will encourage late sleepers to get moving for the day.

You can also make a fun snack menu for mid-day munchies.

2. Use your staycation to explore other cultures.

Skip your usual haunts and look for unusual ethnic market places and restaurants in your home town. You can pick one culture to explore or try to experience a rainbow of countries and cultural groups. Look for specialty meat markets or grocery stores. Or try out that Mexican, Italian, German, Japanese or Indian restaurant and order a variety of traditional plates for the family to share.

Don’t have much to choose from in your home town? Check your regular food market to see if they have an ethnic food section or have exotic options in the frozen food section. You can collect a few items to try. Then host a themed meal at home.

3. Take stargazing high tech.

Make your staycation evenings special by enjoying the great outdoors together. Download a stargazing app on your phone and prepare to amaze your family with your stellar knowledge. A free app like SkyView® lets you just point your phone at the sky for information on which constellations you’re viewing.

4. Host a family field day.

Use the warm weather to your advantage and engage in a little friendly competition between family members. Plan messy events like a water balloon toss or a watermelon seed spitting contest. You can even have coveted prizes for the participants, like a coupon for ownership of the remote control or a chance to get out of doing chores. Mommy blogger 7onaShoestring.com has some great ideas for kid-friendly games that are wet, wild, and fun for the whole family.

5. Get your thumbs green.

Visit a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm and then plan and plant your own small garden together. CSA’s are a great way to support local farmers and sample the freshest foods in your neighborhood. Find a CSA near you and ask if they do tours or have volunteer hours. Your family will get to see what a working farm looks like and can purchase some of the goods for your dinner. Afterwards you can talk about which foods and plants you liked the most. Plot out a small garden patch in your yard or grab some containers for growing. Visit your local nursery for seedlings, and try your hand at a little farming yourself.

These are just a few ways to plan your best staycation ever. What other ideas have you discovered?