Traveling with kids: vacation packing tips and tricks

SUMMER!!! I have a major love/hate relationship with Summer vacation. I LOVE it because my kids are home all day…and I HATE it because…my kids are home ALL DAY!! It is fun and busy and crazy and messy and unscheduled and JUST TOO DARN SHORT!! But my favorite part… the travel.

My goal for the Summer is to create as many memories as I possibly can in those 10 weeks, so that when the dark days of January roll back around, we can have NEXT SUMMER to look forward to.

Since we have spent all sorts of days on the road already this Summer between camping and short over night roadtrips, I thought I would share my FAVORITE travel MUST HAVES. None of these items are MIND BLOWING, but they will make travel (especially with kids) way less stressful!!

First up…Packing Cubes. These puppies are perhaps the most life changing items of them all. My husband believes in carry-ons only…no matter where we are going, and these help us stuff WAYYY more into a small suitcase than you would think is humanly possible. PLUS, when you get to your location, you can keep everything organized. My worst nightmare is when my kids open their suitcases…dig to the bottom….removing and wrinkling EVERYTHING in between…just to find a pair of socks. With cubes, we can put like items together and make life MUCH simpler. For example, use a small cube for undies and socks, a medium for shirts, a medium for pants, and a shoe bag for two pairs of shoes. BAM…no more digging around for a toothbrush that is now stuck to the ONLY pair of pants you brought for a 4 day trip…just a random true life example.

Another fun use for the packing cubes is when you are sharing a suitcase. Pop each person’s items into one large cube, throw all the cubes into a large suitcase (in case you are lucky and get to check a bag) and then everyone dresses from THEIR cube when at the hotel. Such a small change, but SUPER helpful!!

Ok…if you are a person who can crawl into bed without removing your make-up and NOT lay restlessly on the pillow unable to fall asleep until you get BACK up and remove your make up…then you can skip this one. BUT if you are like me and have to go to bed all clean as a whistle…these Face Wipes are PERFECT. It seems redundant because you COULD just get a PACK of wipes…why not just throw in a pack and call it a day??? Well let me tell ya why…convenience. When I travel I am ALLL about convenience. PLUS I want to ALWAYS come home with less crap then I left with, so that I can fit in all of the NEW crap that I bought on vacay. You can throw a handful of these in your make up bag, throw a couple in your purse for when you feel all icky on the plane, throw a couple in the beach bag for when you get sand all stuck in your sunscreen…soooo many ways to use them!!!

Collapsible water bottles are such a genius idea. I know a lot of people use them when biking and hiking and such, BUT… I am not really THAT kinda traveler:) I am more just in it for the food…true story. But I use these collapsible bottles for plane rides and all day amusement park days. Since you cannot take a full water bottle through security and you do NOT want to buy a $6 Evian in the airport, just toss one in your purse and hook one to each kid backpack. Then once through security, you can fill them up at the water filling stations easy peasy.

When we went to Hawaii in January we had a MAJOR kid drama when Little E forgot to dump out his Minecraft water bottle and had to decide whether to leave it behind (which was breaking his heart) or go back through security and dump it and get in line again (which was breaking his father’s heart). NEVER AGAIN!!!

Ok this one is only helpful if you have little ones OR anyone in your travel group who gets HANGRY. I shove these small fruit leather into EVERY nook and cranny of our travel bags. They are flat and small, and cheap, but can take the edge off when in a bind. These things saved the DAY on our SUPER rainy trip to Disneyland. Each time we were stranded in a super long line and emotions started to flare…I just pulled out a handful of these and changed the mood (I imagine myself in cape and carrying a magic lasso when I think back on our trip to Disneyland btw). Fun fact…if you group them by flavor and pull out a new flavor EACH time, kids (and husbands) get excited EACH time and look forward to whatever flavor is next. This combined with the Headbands app are vacation savers.

I am not gonna lie, until recently I thought people who carried a neck pillow were just straight up silly. BUTTTT I am a believer now!!! After a mechanical problem with our flight to Nashville and a RIDICULOUSLY long layover, me and Toddy Toddster were forced to join the neck pillow nerd club AND the “we spent WAYYY too much on our neck pillows in the airport” club. Just trust me…they REALLY do make a difference!!!

And last on the list…a travel backpack. I wish I was cool enough to pull off a fanny pack…I really do. But since I now carry a neck pillow everywhere I go…I just cannot add insult to injury with the fanny pack as well. But I CAN stand behind a good back pack. I have made the mistake of taking a large purse on vacay and I WILL NOT be making that mistake again. You can carry a backpack while pulling your luggage AND your kids’ luggage (because we all know that no matter how many cartoon characters or flashing lights a suitcase has, your littles will get sick of carrying their own suitcase 10 seconds after entering the airport). You can carry a backpack around Disneyland and still have 2 hands free for churros…trust me you will need them. You can carry a backpack AND a kid…for when their legs mysteriously stop working halfway through the airport. Honestly, I am thinking of switching out my purse for a backpack permanently because I SWEAR I am starting to get lopsided from carrying that heavy thing around (I realize I sound like my Grandma when I say that….but I think she might have been ON TO SOMETHING!!!).

I love that this one can be used as a purse with the additional straps as well. It isn’t super small, so you will not look like you borrowed your daughter’s bag. And the best part is that it has the anti-theft pocket in the back, so that you do not have to worry about anyone stealing your snacks …or money or whatever:) Plus Under $25 is my goal for any purse…so win win (yep I am a cheap purse girl ALL THE WAY!!).

I hope you get to run away for a quick getaway before Summer flies by. We still have a few more quick roadtrips before we have to start waiting on the school bus and doing homework all evening again…eck. Comment below with any travel tips that you have and I will compile them into a readers choice blog post. PLUS I love hearing everyone’s tips and tricks…people are just so darn smart:) Happy Travels!!

Don’t forget to pin this for later!!