I charge my sims to travel since we don’t have cars.
Same world, different neighborhood: $3 per sim for the round trip bus ride
Non-vacation world: $20-$100 depending on where they’re going (per group for the “Uber”)
Going on vacation: $300 per sim child-elder for plane fare.
Toddlers always travel free and I have a map in my head of where the world are in relation to one another and I try not to let the sims travel where it doesn’t make sense for them to be.
I plan holiday meals. I try to always have a sims that’s completed the culinary aspiration for the forever fresh trait. Then I cook and bake all the time and stick it in the household inventory for special occasions. Sometimes I have so much food that it lasts for a few generations.
Harvestfest: Turkey dinner, salad, breadsticks, baked potatoes, iced tea, sweet potato pie and chocolate cake
Winterfest: Ham dinner, salad, veggie casserole, breadsticks, iced tea and punch, decorated fruit cake and winterfest cake
Pride: Usually BBQ ribs and baked beans (mod), burgers, hot dogs, elote, grilled chicken, lemonade, and 2 rainbow cakes, one decorated and one undecorated
Sunday family dinner: Rotate family favorites (Shepard’s pie, roast chicken, spaghetti, etc) salad, something that can be considered a side dish and random desserts.
When sims age up, they always have their favorite dinner, a confetti birthday cake (mod) and their favorite ice cream and a present pile. (They don’t really have favorites of course but for story purposes, I give them favorites)
I also use mods that add realism and those little things that the game lacks.
