Booking early is the key to getting the perfect holiday for your family, writes Joan Scales
How was your family holiday this year? If you can give it seven out of 10, then book the same thing again for next year. If six out of 10, you just need to change a few elements. Five out of 10 is about what you can expect when you have a group of different ages with varying expectations for family holidays.
The one big change in the past 10 years with increased spending power is an increased expectation for holidays. There was a time when a week or two by the sea was considered the norm. A camping holiday in France was the height of sophistication and flying anywhere positively Hollywoodesque.
Nowadays, babies have passports, if you have not been to Florida, you are a nobody, and in some circles sophistication lies in how far you went on holidays. Stress for everyone in the family.
More than one million Irish people go on a package holiday between April and June, mostly to Europe with the adventurous going to places such as America, Canada, Mexico and South Africa. Others will go as far afield as Thailand, Australia and the Caribbean.
Planning a family holiday can be stressful whatever the ages of the children.
With babies it's the worry of too much heat and getting the right food; toddlers are great with a pool but the grown-ups hardly get out; pre-teens want to do what the teenagers do; and teenagers bring another level of worry.
Finding the right combination comes down to picking the right destination with the right mix of activities for all in your price range and on dates that suit.
Fortunately now we have a terrific range of holidays available from Ireland, and not just from Dublin, but from all the regional airports too - Cork, Kerry, Shannon, Knock, Belfast and Derry.
Each year the main tour operators improve their packages and provide more activities to keep everyone happy. You can choose holidays that not only provide children's clubs but also activities such as soccer camps, performing arts classes, outdoor adventures, spas for mum and personal trainers for dad.
Falcon Holidays, the leader in family holidays, has gone one further with family villages where the range of activities include Stagecoach - a programme of dance, drama and singing for six to 15 year-olds - or soccer school with Football Association qualified coaches. In Italy, Keycamp discos for teenagers begin at 11pm, just like at home! And Canvas Holidays Buzz Clubs provide entertainment all day for teenagers and off-site trips.
The smaller, more specialist operators provide a wide selection of unusual holidays for families who want more or have become exhausted by the mainstream offers.
Sunsail Holidays enable all the family to learn or improve their sailing skills in Greece, Turkey or the Caribbean.
Or, for the more adventurous, Zara's Planet has the ultimate in excitement, such as river-rafting in Alaska, exploring the jungle in Belize, and horse-riding and hiking in Patagonia.
The key to a good family holiday is to choose the package that suits everyone and book early. Package holidays are the best value for families with many added value activities included or other activities available at a small cost.
Booking early is also the key to getting the bigger accommodation, child discounts, low deposits and dates that suit.Almost all the 2008 brochures are in travel agencies and on the tour operators' websites. And with the miserable wet summer we had this year, people are booking.
"This year with the weather so bad, people who might have held on for late deals were disappointed and have booked their 2008 holidays from the preview brochure. People hate that the children got little or no sun this summer," says Clem Walshe of Budget Travel.
The trend for booking early began about five years ago. While people were used to making their plans in January, families realised the benefit of getting exactly what they needed for holidays and led the vanguard. Other reasons for early bookings are free child places, free grandparent places, deals for one-parent families, free insurance and low deposits.