Festive Budgeting Fun: Autistic Students on a Winter Vacation Journey

With holiday season right around the corner, I decided to make things extra festive with a fun winter vacation planning activity for the autistic students at Life skills club. They were familiar with the gift-giving, parties, food, music, and vacation associated with the holidays but not so much with the planning behind these occasions. To expand their scopes, I organized a winter vacation planning game in which the kids oversaw spending on a budget for a simulated winter trip.

As part of the planning, the kids were to make a packing list, research lodging/hotel costs, and find places of interests, writing it all on a sheet of paper. Their stay was five nights with their family members, and they had $5000 total to spend, excluding the cost to travel there. To make things fair, I created a Spin the Wheel with various cities, both domestic and international, for each student to have a vacation spot to research. The cities included Key West, Denver, London, Tokyo, and Boston. Once again, each volunteer was partnered with a student. The kids explored their city—considering the weather, attractions, and money they had to create the best vacation experience possible. Many students looked for fancy, five-star hotels and researched the most popular restaurants. They also looked up the most suitable clothing to pack for their vacation destination, which varied between the cities. After minutes of entertaining research, they decided to ‘buy’ each other souvenirs from their cities! It was amazing to see the students initiate acts of kindness, maturity, and accountability. They also felt extremely accomplished and independent as vacation planners and budget spenders. It was truly a jolly experience!