Last Updated on July 27, 2021 by JigsawPuzzleGuru
The past year or so has been one in which all of us have had to get used to a more “restrictive” lifestyle. We’re told where we can and can’t go, with who and how many people and the list goes on. Even as the vaccines roll out and the pandemic starts to subside, we still face limits on our vacation and travel options, mainly in the interests of our safety as the virus continues to spread or re-emerge in other parts of the country or world. This has led many to pursue an alternative – the staycation.
Of course, the 2020-2021 pandemic doesn’t have to be going on for people to decide that a staycation is a good idea. It’s also just an excellent way to save money and enjoy family time without the stresses of travel. Whatever reason you have for taking your staycation, one of the most enjoyable and stimulating kinds you can take is a puzzle staycation, and that’s what we’re talking about in today’s blog.
Table of Contents
What is a Staycation?
A staycation is a way of spending time off without actually going anywhere in particular. There are many ways in which people enjoy these staycations. For example, many families spend the time at home playing games, working together on a home improvement project, playing sports, and more.
Others might stay within their hometown but go to a local hotel to enjoy some luxury and fine dining. Because it’s so close to home, it falls within the realm of a “staycation.” As long as you don’t live the place you commonly live, it can be thus called. Next, let’s move on to the specific category of a “puzzle staycation.”
What is a Puzzle Staycation?
As the name suggests, a puzzle staycation is when individuals and families stay in their homes while enjoying various puzzles. In fact, puzzles make up the bulk of each day’s activities. While readers of our blog know that we love the humble jigsaw, this is just one of the things that a family could do on a puzzle staycation. We’ll cover more on activities in the next section.
A puzzle staycation puts puzzles front and center when it comes to a day’s activities. The day goes on as usual, and you’ll eat, drink and sleep as expected, but the difference is that your day’s objectives become focused entirely on satisfying puzzles.
The Most Fun Activities to Do During a Puzzle Staycation
Below are some great family-friendly puzzle activities to work on during your puzzle staycation. We’ll begin with our personal favorite, the humble jigsaw:
Jigsaw Staycation
Depending on the length of your staycation and the size of the jigsaw puzzle that you have on hand, you may have to use up most of your puzzle staycation time completing a jigsaw, possibly two. Some puzzles are incredibly challenging. Our advice to staycation-goers is if you are working on a complicated puzzle with no clear picture to work from, perhaps stick to the goal of finishing one during your time off. If there is a box and distinct image to follow, then you might get through more.
3D Jigsaw Puzzle
Perhaps you’d like to try something together that’s a little less traditional and a little more “in-depth” (literally). If so, then a 3D jigsaw puzzle is a fantastic alternative to the conventional flat puzzle model. You can get some that build up interesting shapes like spheres and cubes, or you could get something a little more intricate like a cathedral or famous landmark model. Why not try your hand at building a 3D puzzle version of the city of King’s Landing from the HBO Series Game of Thrones? Such puzzles and many more do exist out there.
Giant Jigsaw Puzzle
One more candidate for the jigsaw world has to be some giant mega-project that you will likely need every waking hour of your staycation to complete. Kodak has one such project that they call “KODAK World’s Largest Puzzle.” It has a stonking 51,300 pieces in the box and depicts 27 different wonders from around the world.
Color Your Own Puzzle
BIC may be very famous for its ball-point pens, but they also create some rather nifty craft and puzzle products. Perhaps the most fun product to do is their Geo-Fun Color Your Own Puzzle kit, where you put together a simple geometric puzzle (each kit has four puzzles) and then use the 20 coloring pencils, eight fine liner pens, and the four quick-dry gel pens to color in the patterns on the puzzle anyway you want. It’s a great way to get kids creative, and at the end, you can easily frame and mount everyone’s puzzles to see what everyone came up with.
Other Fun Puzzle Staycation Activities
What you and your family enjoy depends entirely on age and puzzle experience, of course. Here are some more alternative puzzle ideas to fit in between all the jigsaws and Geo-Fun creative puzzling:
- Crossword puzzles
- Rubik’s cubes – you could race!
- Word searches
- Cryptic crosswords
- And many more
Top Benefits of Taking a Puzzle Staycation
To some, a vacation where you stay in all the time might not sound like fun. However, there are many benefits to taking such a puzzle staycation.
First of all, you save a lot of money. Investing in puzzles is relatively cheap. Unless you buy the above-mentioned 51,300-piece Kodak puzzle at a step of $559.99, you otherwise don’t need to spend a great deal on your staycation. Many jigsaws you can find in thrift stores and local toy stores, and they don’t cost too much. Crosswords, Rubik’s cubes, and whatnot are also very cheap and easy to buy online or in your local area. It’ll undoubtedly be more affordable than flights, taxis, hotels and various service charges.
Second, you spend time with family that’s both enjoyable and productive. It’s great to spend excellent, safe, quality time with family at home. Doing puzzles together brings you all together and gives you common goals over which you can bond and become closer. You don’t lose any time to stressful travel getting to and from airports, or enduring endless “are we there yet?” from the backseat as you trek across the country in the family SUV.
The time is also productive because you exercise your mental faculties and problem-solving abilities and help your kids to do the same. So at the end of it, whether you’re home alone having this staycation or whether you’re with family, your mind is all the better for having spent time solving complex problems and overcoming mental challenges.
Finally, a staycation is safe and easy. You will indeed lose the sense of adventure that you get from a real overseas or distant vacation. However, you can still have an opportunity to do those things in the future. In times where money is tight, or the outside world uncertain, a staycation gives instant comfort, security, and the benefit of enjoying every moment of your time off without losing hours and hours to stressful journey times and worse. Take the negatives out of downtime by enjoying some time at home with family. Not all happiness and joy is found outside of those walls you call home, you know.
Enjoy your puzzle staycation!
