Here we are. The first day of the summer holidays. Are you full of joy at six weeks of freedom from the school run? Or dread at six weeks of finding things to keep the kids occupied? For me, it is definitely a little from column A and a little from column B.

So using our collective PlayPennies parents know-how, here's a selection of fabulous options and ideas that you can use to intersperse between the special treats you might have lined up.

If you're planning a holiday abroad for this summer, you might be interested in the Rough Guides available at WH Smith right now for up to 50% off.

• Plan your summer with 50% off the Rough Guides

While you can find most information, probably more up to date on line, trying to find an internet cafe or racing up the data costs on your mobile phone while you're abroad, having a printed book on hand can be sweet relief when your feet are aching.

The Rough Guides to … pretty much anywhere... start at £6.99 (was £13.99) for the guides to Croatia, Dubai, New York, Cyprus and Cape Town, the Winelands and the Garden Route and go up to £11.39 for The Rough Guide to China (was £18.99, so a 40% saving.)

If a holiday abroad is not on the cards for you, there's also a The Rough Guide to Britain (£10.19), which takes a detailed look at Britain's history, literature, politics and cultural life with increased coverage of outdoor activities and expert background on everything from King Arthur to the Edinburgh festival.

And if Britain's still too big, there's even a guide to London (£6.99). Even if you're a Londoner, it's a good book to own as there's so much to see and do in London, it's easy to miss out on good things and this could just give you the boost you need to get out and discover the city.

There's free shipping for orders over £15 too, so buy a couple, and happy holiday planning!

PGL run activity holidays for children - they are GREAT, I'll tell you more about them in a minute - and this Easter you'll get two activity holidays for children for the price of just ONE; marvellous!

• Click HERE to go on over to PGL

Years and years, and then a few more years, ago I used to go away on PGL activity holidays with my mum and dad. We'd all choose different activites to do and go our own separate ways for the day, you see PGL stands for Parents Get Lost!

Actually it doesn't, it stands for Peter Gordon Lawrence who set up these activity holidays for children w a y back in 1957 - although the PGL leaders will lead your child to believe that PGL stands for Pretty Good Looking (them, yeah right!).

For the last lots of years though, it really does seem like the PGL activity holidays for children really DOES mean parents get lost; you drop your child off at their chosen camp destination, you leave them there to have an absolute BLAST and go and get some peace and quiet without them for 4 or 7 nights.

My teenagers went on these PGL activity holidays for children for years; they loved every single minute of all the things they did and the new friends they made whilst they were there.

If you have more than one child it can get pretty expensive to send them both away, but this year if you book ONE of these PGL activity holidays for children they'll give you another one for FREE.

HURRAH! Peace and quiet for a week over Easter for, technically, half the price.

By the way...if you only happen to have one child then you could send away your little angel - aged between 7 and 17 - with their best friend and split the cost of the one holiday with the best friend's parents.

All the terms and conditions, camp locations and everything you could possibly wish to know about these activity holidays for children are on the PGL website.

Prices vary from location to location but for 7 nights you're looking at about £400 - this includes everything: food, accommodation, all activities, insurance, the whole sheebang.

Thanks to juseas at HUKD

Disneyland Paris 'Where the magic begins...'

• Click HERE to wish upon a star over at Disneyland Paris

Hmmm, 'where bankruptcy begins' could be more of an accurate description.  I love all the Disney characters but I've never EVER had any desire to go to any of the Disneyland resorts.

However, for lots of people it's a MUST-DO holiday experience but BOY can it kill the finances and require a small mortgage to make it happen! So hopefully this 50% off and kids under seven go free offer will help make some dreams come true and ease the monetary burden of it all.

Here's the low down...

You will save 50% on either two night/three day,  three night/four day or four night/five day stay at Disneyland Paris. Your package will include:

• Accommodation in a Disney hotel
• Tickets for the 2 Disney® Parks for each day
• Breakfast
• PLUS Kids under 7 stay and play free!

To take advantage of this deal you MUST book before midday on Tuesday 27 July 2010 and your holiday needs to be taken between today and the 30 September - there are some exclusion dates so please make sure you read the terms and conditions.

Now, I've been getting a 404 error page when I 'click to book' but there is a phone number you can call to secure your holiday with a real-live person no less! So if you want to dash off to Disneyland Paris, give them a call on 08448 008 898 (calls cost 5p per min from BT landline, other networks may vary).

Thanks to the porter over at HUKD!

I know I'm not the only person in the world with older children as well as a little one; the l-o-n-g six weeks of the summer holidays are beginning to loom large on the horizon and one of the best solutions I've found to retaining some summer holiday sanity is to ship the kids OFF somewhere else!

If your kids are too young for this at the moment, maybe you know someone with older kids - pass this on, they'll thank you for it.

• Click HERE to go to the YHA for full details

This is how it works - there are lots of camps scattered all over the country that offer different activites and cater for different age ranges. You choose the one that suits your child the best and book your place.

This is what your £49 covers:

• 5 nights away from home
• 4 days full of activities like quad biking, paint balling, archery, filmmaking, kayaking, choreography and loads more!
• Return transport
• All meals
• Separate camps for different age ranges
• From £49 per person

My big kids have been on similar acvtivity holidays for the last several years and they absolutely LOVE it! They get to be away from me, every day is action-packed, they get to make new friends and come home exhausted and very happy.

Go and read all about it over at the Youth Hostel Association website (it's so cheap because they're subsided by the Government - in case you were wondering) and places will fill up FAST so don't mess around, get over there pronto!

Thanks to The Plod over at HUKD!