If even hosting up to five guests at your home this Lunar New Year sounds dreadful, do what some of us have been doing all those pre-Covid years – go away.

Oh, but you can’t because, like what one friend sagely declared, you want to keep your nostrils virginal for as long as possible. Which means no pre-flight or post-vacation swabs.

Try one of these kooky staycations instead. Psst… if you take Jan 31 (Monday) off, you can have a super extended weekend staycation, and still have Feb 1 and Feb 2 to recuperate for your 572,019 video meetings the rest of the week.

Have a staycation with manatees

Don’t feel paiseh if you don’t know what manatees are. They are marine mammals also known as sea cows.

And Mandai River Wonders will let you get up, close and personal with them now with a two-day-one-night staycation. In the day, go on a River Explorers Guided Tour, meet a mystery animal and say hi to squirrel monkeys. At night, tuck into a set dinner before settling into a tent set up at the Amazon Flooded Forest, home to the manatees.

It will definitely be more relaxing than entertaining your cousins who leave sweet wrappers and peanut shells all over your clean designer terrazzo floors.

Stay inside the ocean (well, almost)

If you are more atas and don’t want to snooze in a tent in a “forest”, splash out on one of the 11 Ocean Suites at Resorts World Sentosa. Each two-storey suite has an upper level with an outdoor patio but it’s the lower level that will enchant you with its view of more than 40,000 sea creatures. Just don’t be shy when you are having a private moment and a giant stingray pops up before your bed.

Sleep on water… in a boat

Your parents can do the cruises-to-nowhere. You will do something more adventurous, like sleeping on a berthed yacht at the Punggol Waterfront. Jo’s Place Boat Stay will let you and three other guests have the entire boat to yourself for the night. There’s even a bathroom on board so yes, you won’t have to beg the neighbouring cafes for loo access.

These containers aren’t for cargo

You’ve slept around… in the Raffles, Andaz, Capella and Fullerton. Now up your hotel cred by bunking in a container hotel. Yes, the shipping cargo kind!

The Container Hub does a mobile, pop-up container concept and currently, its two container hotels are located at Haw Par Villa.

Each “hotel” comes with a patio and a fully functioning kitchen – so you don’t have to nibble on bak kwa only – and has two queen-size beds so four of you can stay over. Most importantly, there’s Wifi, air-conditioning and a bathroom with a bidet because TBH, who wants to feel cham during the Lunar New Year?

This one’s nothing like your secondary school camp

And if a container-cation doesn’t meet your standards of roughing it out in the open, set up camp outdoors. We aren’t talking about your Outward Bound School variety though.

Companies like Glamping City and Glamping Society will set up a tent for you at selected locations like Kranji Farm Resort, Swiss Club Singapore and even Changi Airport, complete with inflatable beds, portable air-conditioners and the all-important fairy lights. You can also top up for a picnic basket, balloons and more decorations.

Pretend you are camping… in your own home

Warning: this option won’t let you hide away from your visiting relatives because you will still be at home. But if you are extremely Covid-kiasu, Glamping Society will come over to your place and set up a mini campground – you can pick from themes like Galaxy or Tropical – that can consist of anything from two to eight beds. It’s like your childhood sleepover but just many times elevated.

This article was first published in Wonderwall.sg.