For context, a few days ago I had a dream with a really intricate storyline revolving about a summer vacation in one of those classic coastal cities that come alive during the summer and I thought it would be interesting to play as in The Sims. I'd say it's sort of similar in terms of setting to The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Of course, in TS2 we have vacations with Bon Voyage, but I'm not entirely sure if that's the kind of vibe I'm looking for. If I'm not mistaken, vacations can last at most 1 week, which is actually fairly long in Sim days but in playing time still feels short for what I want to achieve. The parents should still be working while the teen/young adult kids should be enjoying their months of freedom. As for characters, there was a group of people from that place which I guess correspond to the "vacation locals" and then there was the group of people vacationing there which would be the "tourists". The locals have their own intra relationships and the tourists should enter this group - think group outings to the beach during the day and clubs/bars during the night. I guess this could be achieved by creating vacation locals (if I'm not mistaken they're a tad more work than regular townies but doable) and manually setting their relationships with SimPE while using the playable tourists to control the outings, but it feels a bit convoluted. Playable "locals" would give much more freedom I feel. There was even a romantic subplot, the cliché summer fling between the tourist main character and a local. Romance in this game is basically everlasting unless you actively go out of your way to break things off, so how would a summer fling be done? The physical setting itself is another question. This is a beach setting, but it's definitely not Twikki Island. It's urban, think Algarve or Mallorca. Apartments are widespread, and I don't quite know the definite answer to the question of apartments in vacation subhoods - are these possible? No ruins in the jungle here either, it's beaches, nightclubs, bars, restaurants, water parks, cinemas, you get the picture. The locals wear normal clothes.

With all this in mind, what are your thoughts on how something like this could be set up? Have you played a similar kind of story as this? Is a vacation subhood even the correct choice for this? On another note, only vaguely connected, how would one go about creating and sharing a vacation destination?

(I too have dreams that also have intricate storylines at times, so I understand the feeling of wanting to replicate them!)

I've never played with it, but perhaps ACR (Autonomous Casual Romance) would be the mod for the "Summer Fling" you're thinking of, and I definitely know that making vacation townies IS doable (I've made them myself, for playing in a clean, empty vacation hood).

I don't think you can have apartments in vacation hoods, so perhaps you could make a subhood with the details you're describing (bars, nightclubs, apartments, etc.) and maybe temporarily move the teens in with a relative who lives in said special hood. You could then make playable locals and there wouldn't be the issue of making Vacation Townies, just regular folks who live on your tropical paradise!

Lastly, Phae has these mods here https://modthesims.info/d/494515/le...ation-mods.html which includes a mod for a summer break!

(As for the vacation destination, if it's a true vacation hood, I do not know how to do that off the top of my head, but if it's a regular neighborhood to add as a subhood, there is some good info on that now)

You can put a beach lot in a regular hood, downtown, or shopping district if there's a viable spot on the map (Pleasantview doesn't seem to have any, but Bluewater Village definitely does). As for having the kids out of school, I wonder if the flex school in Simlogical's institution mods would work (or the prison mods for that matter, because I know you can put teenagers in prison, and perhaps you could use that mod without playing it out that they are in prison and use SimPE to get rid of the "went to prison" memory)?

I'd set up a subhood with all the things you want and play it that way. That would allow apartments and townies wearing regular clothes. If you want playable "townies" that don't have houses, just put them in empty lots. Just make sure all playables have a phone so your Sims can call them.

There's a hacked PC that allows teenagers to move out without an adult if you want them to be on their own.

@bnefriends is right about flexi school. I've used before and I don't think Sims need to do any work to keep their grade, it just stays the same as the last time they did any grade boosting activities iirc, though you could always use cheats/hacks. It keeps the school bus from showing up so no need to worry about skipping school. The institutional sign could also work but I haven't used it for school so I'm not sure. I could have sworn there were mods that let you set school breaks.

I've been playing my BV hood for ten years and I'm only now learning that I can put a little beach park in it?!

We learn things when we learn things.

I have a weird little neighborhood called Turpitudia which I set up as a tourist destination (um, specifically a sex tourist destination, though there are plenty of things for kids to do, too.) The map has lots of beach locations and I set all the seasons to spring and summer. A portion of the map is set aside as the main tourist area and is all community lots and some hood deco apartments, and another portion is the real town, where the playables live. All the real residences are there, as well as a few downmarket community lots such as undeveloped beaches and a grubby little general store. The unowned community lots in the main tourist area, in contrast, are all very upscale and tourist-oriented, with plenty of restaurants, developed beaches, night clubs, and other entertainment venues. Owned businesses are also in this area.

The playables are played with a set of rules that makes them mimic the locals at a vacation destination, such as making their livings only through OFB businesses or freelancing. Certain townies and all the NPCs are also designated as "local," and assumed to be filling necessary roles that the game doesn't allow playables to fill and living in the deco apartments in the main tourist area, and are made over accordingly. The vast majority of townies are tourists, and also made over to reflect that. Townie children and teens are assumed to be tourists until local children bring them home from school, when they get a local makeover.

The sex tourism designation is accomplished by putting CC items such as the sexy shower and casual woohoo mattresses in back rooms, behind bushes, etc., so that each unowned community lot not designated as Family Friendly is also a place of casual assignation. The locals, when uncontrolled, are of course as likely to use these facilities as the tourists, which is dealt with in the rule set for playing them, with lots of anti-jealousy potions and so on. (I don't play with ACR.) A different kind of tourist destination would require different emphasis on the community lots, different cc, and different rules for the locals.

Turpitudia is a main hood, but there's no reason not to append a non-BV subhood which the main hood playables only visit during "long weekends" or "Summer vacation" or whatever, as a day trip destination. Bluewater Village, which has plenty of beach space, would do the job; you could move the Bluewater playables to the main hood, run them with a "locals" ruleset and change their businesses to suit, or townify the lot of them. Turpitudia is inhabited primarily by Bluewater Village sims, moved out of Bluewater to their new homes and new businesses, and they don't need much tweaking to make them suit the role.

Something I have seen done successfully is holding "summer camp" for children in BV neighborhoods. It's a little tricky to set up, involving temporarily moving kids in with a host adult, who takes them on a BV vacation. Yes, it's expensive! But you can have a blast setting up a summer camp lot with lots of child-centered recreation, hobby, and crafting items and letting them run wild, interspersed with occasional outings to more traditional vacation lots and "educational" sites. Including a second adult or teen camp counselor reduces the number of participating kids, but also makes community lot visits less hard to coordinate, as you can safely leave the kids whose energy levels are too low for an outing behind under the counselor's supervision. Kids earn badges and gain skills, but more importantly they have lots of time to make friends, establish rivalries, and have fun. Far more than the vanilla game allows them.

@Peni Griffin, I love the idea of a summer camp, thank you for mentioning it!

I am always playing outside the box. A few mods can make a range of things possible. If it's convoluted is another matter. For example I have played a children's summer camp.

1) I would use a 'shopping' sub hood. Vacation hoods have rules such as how long sims can stay etc. You want as much flexibility as possible to do what you want for as long as you want.
2) There are a couple of summer holiday mods but honestly the Simlogical instution sign works just as well with less potential for clashes. The main benefit the holiday mod is it works automatically should you the player forget it has turned to summer and let/sent the kids to school. The sign has a few patches if you have not used it before, you apply the patch you wish to have. I use the patch that allows walk to school/work. Very useful if you want a sick day, holiday/vacation/any reason you do not want a sim going to work or school. I use this sign a lot.
3) I would make regular townies or playable sims and then assign those you want to turn up. The Simlogical meeting controller lets you 'enroll sims' Very much like their playable school that I use all the time and love. You then click the wall token and 'start meeting' and all the sims you enrolled with pop onto the lot controllable. Only you can't access their inventories which is the only downfall of it.
4) To set up relationships I would use the simblender. No need to open SimPE that is more of a fiddle.

I play a bit like Jo, but without the mods - (it may not be as good as hers, but here it is, nevertheless).

A camping ground and a hotel in a subhood.

Sims will go for a weekend - taking the kids or the teens for a trip.

Because I don't use mods, Sims can stay as long as they want too.

Of course, they don't think of it as a vacation - but they (and, of course, I) have fun anyway.

I like using the vacation hoods too - but it is expensive, this way, my poorer sims can also have a bit of fun away from home.

(

I utilize summers for vacations, camps, and family bonding.

I have two subhoods meant to be used as 'weekend getaways' with more unique features not found in my main hood or downtowns. One is a desert, the other is semi-tropical, so Twikkii-Lite basically. Both have motels or campgrounds sims can use during their stay, of course they could stay longer but at that point I might as well go on a proper vacation in one of the vacation subhoods.

I also do a summer camp scenario, the camp is owned by the camp director, it's in the woods (thanks lot adjustor!) and using the mod by phaenoh that sets second quarter as 'no school' I teleport and move in my child campers, and one teen counselor and then turn aging off for the summer while they run around and learn skills and socialize with their peers. It's quite a fun time. Here's a video tour of my camp for reference, stocked with a swimmable lake, bunkhouse, dining hall, hot spring, arts n' crafts hut, log rolling, etc.

Another scenario I love to do is for elder grandparents who might not have a good relationship with their grandchildren because they don't visit often, is do the same mechanism where I move in and add to the family the grandkids at the grandparents' home, turn off aging for the summer so all the cousins and the grandparents can bond. When the summer is over I go back to their parent's houses and teleport the kids back. If you play in rotation this also lends an opportunity for parents to get a break from kids and date or do some romantic activities together!

In addition to the above, grandparents who have vacation homes can do that with their grandkids in a vacation scenario instead of a regular hood/subhood aging off one.

If I were you I'd make a shopping subhood for your beaches and apartments, locals can live there (and limit community lots to 'local walkbys'), you can make your own, you can put in Adults ripe for summer 'flings' and just pretend it's not a part of your main hood, your sims can visit there for however long your game will let you (since you can't save progress while your sim is out on non-vacation subhoods.)

I've done that too. I have one beach house/camping lot on a lot zoned community and had sims stay the weekend. Although I have included toddlers as well so that part is a mod. I also have a cheap motel in a sub hood.

@joandsarah77

I actually have that mod - but have not actually sent any toddlers on vacation yet (too many twins )

Always had a hotel in my main hood - since I got BV and placed the two in the bin there. Heck, I still use them, ugly or not.

(I simply did not get around to using the school mods yet, especially with the hood building the past 2 years - I may start a school this year. One of the plans is to try out some mods I have not used before).

@Justpetro you have a mod? I'm shocked. *joking*

Yeah, I would probably not take twins either.

There is a school vacation mod:

https://modthesims.info/d/494515/le...ation-mods.html

Another way to do this would be to place the institutional sign from Simlogical on the lot, it prevents the carpool and school bus coming, but doesn't let grades, work performance etc decay.

You could also download the "flexi school" from Simlogical, changing kids to this school means that the school bus won't show up for them and their grades are frozen.

My mother ran a business off of one in Bluewater in her game.

Great idea! I've been needing business ideas for a sim lol. Did she use the bandatron and they just swim and stuff ?

She built a beachfront restaurant, but I like your idea too. She named it Sweet Bluewater Bay, an idea she got after I showed her how I replaced the ads on the in-game TVs with real ones and a Sweetbay Supermarket ad came on (this was ten years ago lol).

I too use Inge's Flexi-School to simulate the long summer school holidays/vacations. I love having the kids and teens at home and able to do fun things, instead of the grind of school and lots of homework. For Sims (and I suspect in Real Life too) school can be good for meeting other kids and making friends, but it can turn into a grind that simply stops childhood and adolescence from being fun. For my Sims, I have Jenflower's Homework Sometimes Faster Fun, so at the very least my kids have some days without homework.

Now I also have some kids, mainly teens, who use the school changer to never go to school, but I'm drifting off-topic. The somewhat ambivalent attitude towards schooling that I share with some of my Sims really deserves a thread of its own.

Equally off topic, but yes I work for a school and I'm all for homeschooling. Education should be fun, not a time sink.