Honestly, $500 to $600 per person for a week's vacation during the last week in December (Christmas/New Year's Week) isn't going to get you much. If you want to fly someplace (anyplace) you are going to use up a minimum of half your budget and if you wanted to go someplace "warm" you'll spend all or more of your budget just on airfare. Likewise, I doubt you'll find a week long cruise at that time of year that you can do for $600/person and even if you did, they will all be in either the Caribbean or southern hemisphere o you'll have the added costs of getting to the ports

Your best bet would be go someplace within driving distance of your home so you save on transportation costs or perhaps take a series of day excursions to nearby museums and points of interest.

I agree. I was coming to suggest a warm weather destination like Mexico or Hawaii, but even looking at airfare alone from Illinois would put things well over your budget.

It's probably not what you're looking for but can you go somewhere in driving distance like Nashville? It's a bit warmer and should be within budget. Or embrace the cold and go north to Wisconsin or Minnesota if you like skiing or similar.

Otherwise, even the budget airlines to Florida would take a big chunk of your budget. For a cruise, you would want to get to the departure city a day early so you're not SOL if you're delayed getting out of Illinois (always a risk in this area in winter). You're looking at probably one of the busiest weeks for people to want to go south and/or take a cruise so prices won't likely be cheap.

Why not do a week in Chicago which has something for everyone? I live in Illinois too and think that with the restaurants,museums,shopping and special events you could keep yourselves very busy for a week.

Thank you everyone. You've given more some things to think about. I could up the budget but I wanted to still have presents for the kids. I will talk with them and see what they say. I was thinking maybe a road trip. Just a little worried about the weather.

If you're up for the drive, what about New Orleans? It will be much warmer and there will be loads to do (and eat!).

Anywhere along Costa Rica's Pacific Coast would fit. The rainy season would have ended regarding a month or so before, and temperatures can be warm, the weather beautiful

Depends on how much time you have and on your budget.You can plan your trip for SriLanka, Cheap and best for beaches. Sri Lanka is known for its natural beauty and beaches.

While Costa Rica is lovely, the airfare alone would take up the entire budget.

We have one week.

You'll get a lot more info on the US forum so you might want to ask your question again there (with more info this time). Your interests would really help... for some people cities are great and for others it's boring and they want to go hiking in the mountains, some people like beaches and others don't. I assume you want to go somewhere warm but many people like to go to even colder areas in the winter.

Also are you in the northern part of Illinois around Chicago area or are you in the middle/southern areas? Chicago - New Orleans is about 13 hours but from south of I-64 it's only about 8-9 hours. Chicago - Tampa is about 17 hours but again from the southern bit of Illinois it's only about 12 hours. It helps that you have four adults who are probably able to share in the driving (at least the long stretches of highway).

Nashville, New Orleans, Dallas or Houston, or northern Florida. You can get to any of those in a reasonable days drive time (especially if you're in southern Illinois rather than northern) and then have 4 days at your destination and a day for cushion/recovery at home. All of those places should have hotels in various price ranges to help fit into the budget (though I bet New Orleans is pretty expensive at that time of year, but still worth looking into).

Thank you for your advice. I have delisted my post. I appreciate your info.

Relisted

If you're thinking New Orleans you could also look at taking the train. Train fares will be at their cheapest this far out.