Create a family resort in your own home

Skipping out on going all out on a family vacation this year? Can't get away from work, the economy, or maybe you're staying home because the planned fishing/sand-castle-building trip to the gulf had a wrench thrown in it? Don't let cabin fever get to you - with a little imagination, you can have a fantastic resort experience right in your own home.

The first thing you need to get is fruity drink stuff. One of the coolest things I've seen is watermelon ice-cubes, simply made from watermelon juice - tastes great in just about any fruit juice and is tres pretty. Smoothies, sorbet-floats, fruit juice mixed with ginger-ale - there are a ton of great recipes for kid-friendly fruit drinks online that will take them far away from the boring juice boxes and make them feel like they're in the tropics. On the adult fruit-drink side, I doubt that I need to elaborate on that, unless you've been living under a rock. Your kid's drinks plus rum is all you need.

Second, you need beach supplies. Even if you only have a back garden or a balcony (which can be called a lanai, for vacay-psych-out purposes), you need to be outside, smelling like sun-tan lotion, in your swimsuit or slouchy shorts. Fill up a cooler with bottled water (yes, you must drink this in-between fruit drinks), get your fluffiest chick-lit book, and chill out. The kids can stay busy with badminton or croquet or a board game, while you escape to la-la land. Adding a little reggae or calypso music will heighten this effect.

Dinner - eat something you only eat on vacation! Don't do the norm...cook fish with Caribbean spices or make a pupu platter or something, but stay away from hot dogs and hamburgers, please. Picky kids are exempt from this (but picky grown adults are not).

Lastly, after dinner, break out the holiday lights from last winter and put them up in your trees or on your lanai. Turn them on, crank up the reggae/calypso, make some more fruit drinks, and dance your butt off. Get the whole family in on the hippie-love we're on vacation dance, and shake it like you mean it!

Repeat this ritual as necessary until you feel like the couple from the IKEA mattress commercial: