I have told DS16 that he is welcome to bring home any of his friends that are unable to go home for Thanksgiving. We are a 3 1/2 hr drive from his school. I’m lucky that he tends to keep a small group of friends, but we do have a good bit of space, so if the guest list grows, that’s fine too. He’s been speaking with quite a few students from the NE, California, Texas and the Midwest, so it may be a real possibility. When we married, because of our jobs, my husband and I often were unable to travel on the holidays. We began to celebrate with neighbors , then their families joined in , and some years we had 50 participants . Those remain some of my fondest memories. The best part is many of those families are waiting with open arms to welcome prodigal son DS16 back to where it all began 
Great story @palm715 . Now I have anecdotal evidence for my son that he may indeed end up with a cougar. I always told him that he would end up with one, it helps that he’s attending a school whose mascot is a cougar and is 60% female .
We are about 4 1/2 hours away from Houston. Depending on traffic. My SIL and MIL both live in the area and I have a friend that lives close too. The small breaks may be spent with them rather than us driving back and forth.
Since we’ll be visiting for parents weekend in late October, we’re thinking D will spend Thanksgiving in South Hadley or in the vicinity with her local (new) friends. We’re playing it by ear, actually. If she’s terribly homesick we’ll fly her home.
I love these stories about meeting and bonding with other families and friends over Thanksgivings away. Thanksgiving is a big holiday for our family, always hosted by us, so we plan to bring them home for six days, if you count those days generously–Tuesday through Sunday. (And D16 loves decorating and does a marvelous job. We always put up Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I do not like decorating, so I have other ulterior motivations for bringing her home. 
) I’ve learned that it’s smart to book direct flights over Thanksgiving and winter break due to possible weather problems and also to minimize travel time. This year, I had to use one airline to get home and one airline to get back to get reasonable prices and flight schedules! S13 elected to stay in Boston his freshman year and regretted it, probably because he tried to do his own little mini Thanksgiving with friends rather than going to someone’s house.
S will be able to come home but D actually didn’t mind staying at school over Thanksgiving as her friends would host Friendsgiving and they each brought a dish to share. She made friends outside the dorms so they had a house to go to. Reading all the flight logistics makes me glad S refused to apply further than 2 1/2 hours from home.
I no longer have any capacity, financially/logistically/emotionally, for air travel for this family. (BT,DT when I was young and before TSA.) So I’m delighted D16 will be at school only an hour’s drive away. She can even take public rail transit between college and home.
I’d be fine if she joined the family of a classmate for Tgive in fall (if it didn’t require a standard commercial flight – a gratis private plane/pilot trip would be ok by me – again, BT, DT). She’s planning on study abroad, so I assume I’ll have to deal with commercial air travel at some point.
I really don’t like outsiders in my personal space at home (introverts, represent!), so if she (a proud extrovert) wants to share a Tgive feast with new college friends who are stuck at school, I’ll book for a dinner at a restaurant or hotel.
How timely. I just booked D16’s thanksgiving flight home. She’s flying first thing Thursday (home by noon) and going back Sunday night. It’s a short break but worth it.
I was able to use miles, so my scam (er, plan) of cycling through credit cards with big travel rewards is working. And you all are right to be concerned about availability. By booking now she’s on nonstops which I always default to when flying to Minn in winter.
We still have to figure out when we will go visit her – DH is not going to drop off – possibly closer to spring when we’re dying for warmth here. (D16 will stay at school for a 3-day October break they have.)
I actually found good times (free with miles too) for Christmas but will wait to see if she has other plans. ASU has some international holiday trips that she can use a stipend toward. Not sure if freshman usually go, or if I want her to go this year, but I’ll wait on that.
Other than that this is our big week … senior breakfast and grad rehearsal Wednesday, senior party Wednesday night, her grad party Saturday and actual graduation Sunday.
She’s already working a ton at the amusement park. I fear we will hardly see her this summer and remain in disbelief that high school is days from being over.
@MidwestMomTo2 Enjoy your crazy week! Wednesday is going to be crazy emotional here- Last student council meeting ever followed by getting my cap, gown and yearbook
@readingclaygirl thanks! Hope Wednesday goes well for you too.
I just ordered a wireless printer for D16 to have in her dorm. $29.99 on office depot’s website. Free shipping too. I don’t have the link but just asked for price low to high and it’s the first one that comes up.
@livinginLA - looks like a great deal. I like HP printers. One thing I learned to watch for is the type of ink cartridges they use & if by some chance they are ones that can be reused.
I bought my son a similar printer and then found my son’s school has it set up so printers can’t be on the network nd now have to figure out what kind of cable to buy. sigh. I’m wondering if he might be able to bluetooth or use his phone hot spot in a pinch to connect to the printer too though. Count me in as an advance flight purchaser. I bought a whole bunch of tickets the day SW opened fares through the holidays. At least it’s easy to change them if they aren’t right as none are close to the holidays except Thanksgiving and if they get cheaper I can use the credit for spring break flights. I’m so hopeful my D17 ends up at a school with the quarter system too so they can be off at similar times because the breaks and begin/end are so different for semester schools.
It’s just not in our plan to cover multiple $500+ trips each and every year. That’s what the holiday flights to and from school and Seattle seem to go for. This was something D knew when she insisted on going far away for school. Her cousin actually grew up here and they are very close, D knows his fiance well, and it should work out fine for her to spend at least one TDay with them. After that we’ll figure it out.
D has both tomorrow AND Tuesday off because there was apparently an unused snow day they need to burn off. She’ll have one day to put the final touches on her senior project, which is presented on Thursday night. The following week is our crazy week. Unbelievable that it’s so soon.
Good luck to your DD16 @sseamom.
Wireless printers are on the ‘do not bring’ list for D’s school.
Packed up the unused tablecloths, streamers, and confetti from graduation. I’ll think of it as a head start for the 2019 party. Ha!
Valpo has an entire week off at Thanksgiving!! :x <:-P 
Have not booked any flights…D16 has requested we do not come for parent’s weekend in late September because it is too soon. She has a fall break, 4 day weekend, in October so we will probably head up for that instead. Not sure what we are doing for Thankgiving, but suspect that we might all fly to grandma’s house in Ohio instead of flying her home to Texas it only Wednesday - Sunday . Christmas break is 5 weeks Dec 18 - Jan 17. Springbreak for 1 week in March. Because it’s a Catholic school there is Easter break, a 5 day weekend, in April, not sure what to do about that one…seems silly to fly her home when classes are ending a month later! Hoping the dorms remain open or maybe we will send her off to visit a HS friend at another uni instead!
Have not booked move-in/orientation in August 24 yet either. Waiting until we get back from pre-orientation June 19- 21 and we get some more info. Think we will fly into Chicago and drive up to Milwaukee, it is cheaper. Only plan on flying in and out of Milwaukee when it is just D16 flying alone.
@cheeringsection - my kids have always had full week thanksgiving break here in Texas, it’s the best! People always throw a fit when the school board tries to change the calendar to a short Thanksgiving.
@labegg when DS got to the part of deciding that included looking at the academic calendar he much preferred the full week at Thanksgiving and 2 week spring break at VU. Christmas break is shorter than at other schools he considered but that was a plus too because he does not want to miss out on snow. We rarely have more than a dusting here in Dec and early Jan.
My memory is that we were told there is reliable public transportation from Chicago airports to Milwaukee. Your DD may become comfortable flying into Chicago all the time before she graduates. Zip car may be an option as well. I know it is between Chicago airports and VU.
The extent of my trip home planning has been blocking out the Friday’s before breaks so I can drive up and back. Not a big monetary investment but time instead. Looking forward to that catch-up conversation in the car before he gets home to the GF and others he wants to visit with.