Friends find way to solve holiday boredom issue

Most families can’t afford to fork out much to keep the holiday boredom at bay, although a new report has found that parents will still spend an average of £414 per child on entertainment during the summer holidays.

But even spending that sort of money doesn’t cover most of the free holiday time – and that’s where 101 Things To Do On The Holidays might be a big help.

Rather than being adult ideas about how children can keep busy, this is a book written by children for children. The authors are Anna O’Donnell, who was 12 when she wrote the book, and her best friend Tessa Wilson, who was 13.

Anna, now 13, says: “We’d done all the usual stuff that you do in the school holidays – going to the beach, sleepovers, hanging out with friends – but we were getting bored with that, and we thought about what else we could do.

“So we made a list, and our goal was to get them all finished before the end of the holidays. We had 100 things on the list, and when my dad suggested the book idea, we added another one for 101 – and that was to write your own book.”

Ideas in the book include having a human wheelbarrow race, a paper plane contest, putting make-up on a friend while blindfolded, writing a letter to the Prime Minister, inventing a secret language, or spending a whole morning saying only “yes”, “no” or “hello”. All the ideas were the girls’ own, and the pair say they took only about two hours to write them down. They then spent the whole of their holidays – eight to nine weeks in December and January – trying them all out.

Tessa, now 14, says: “It was all really good fun – a wonderful experience.

“We just thought up weird things that you might not usually think of doing, that would be great fun.”

The girls’ shared favourite is connecting a friend’s freckles with a pen, like a dot to dot.

After Anna’s father John sent the ideas to a publisher and they took the book on, the friends had to spend a few months re-writing some of their ideas so they were relevant to any children, not just those living locally.

Already a master at self-promotion at the tender age of 13, Anna points out: “These things aren’t just to do in the holidays – most are indoors and can be done on rainy days, so they’re great ideas for any time of the year – like on a weekend after you’ve done your homework. They’re great to do to have some fun with a friend, and on your own.”

The pair, who met at school, are proud their book is now in the school library, and plan to write other books. They’re discussing new “top secret” ideas.

“We’ve had so much fun doing this book, we’d definitely like to do another together,” confirms Anna.

Her mother, Sue O’Donnell, says she’s a very proud parent, and points out: “I don’t think even the girls realise how unusual it is to have a book published when you’re so young – it’s fantastic for them.

“The girls didn’t set out to write a book, they just wanted to write a list of things to do during the holidays, so the fact that it then became an actual book was an easy process.”

101 Things To Do On The Holidays is published by Hardie Grant Books, priced £7.99.

Holiday costs parents £379

A RECENT poll found that parents expect to spend about £379 a week on entertaining their children during the holidays, with fuel costs, attraction entrance fees and eating out topping the list.

And while families were not asked what their exact budget for the holidays would be, one in five said the school holidays would leave them in debt, with the average overspend being about £558.

Costs included an average of £306 on petrol for day trips, £234 on meals, £174 on summer clubs and £162 on souvenirs. The research, carried out by satellite TV service Freesat, questioned 2,000 parents with children under 12.