The kids haven’t stopped talking about our upcoming trip to Colorado. Owen asked to check out a book about Colorado from the library and we made a sticker chart to countdown the days until we leave. Della is quick to tell everyone we meet that we’re going to “Cowowado!” though it means absolutely nothing to her. When we lived overseas, we were really good about taking family trips frequently. But now that we’re in the states where it’s incredibly expensive to travel, and with Owen in school, we aren’t able to get out as often as we’d like. We planned this trip to celebrate our anniversary and because we need a change of scenery. And because we love Colorado. It’s always refreshing to get away from the daily routine every now and then anyway, we definitely need a recharge.
After our years living overseas, I have learned a lot about packing and traveling with kids. Or at least figured out what works for us. I get a lot of questions about traveling with kids so I thought I’d share my travel tips and tricks with you.
Normally I’m packing us up for an international flight and since this trip is only a long weekend, I had to work really hard not to over do it. The nice thing about traveling in the states is I can rely more on being able to buy anything I forget or didn’t pack enough of. When we traveled internationally, this wasn’t always the case. With the exception of wipes and diapers, things we commonly used weren’t always as easy to find.
I always start with a list. Generally it looks a little something like this…
CAR KITS
I always keep emergency kits for each kid in the back of the car. This is in case we have a blow out on the road. I learned this lesson the hard way one too many times. It’s SUCH a pain to dig stuff out of the suitcase in the parking lot of a gas station.
We also keep this potty seat in the back of the car and a pack of wipes in the glove box. We live in a really isolated area so Owen’s potty breaks are more often than not on the side of the road…this seat along with a pack of wipes and a disposable diaper bag is the ticket when your toddler has to go right NOW. I keep a small plastic tub for each kid clearly labeled on all sides with their names either on the floor by their seats or accessible in the back of the car. When we are on the road, this also saves me from having to use the diapers in my stocked diaper bag.
Each kid gets a change of clothes, pajamas, a pair of socks, diapers/pull-ups/underwear and Greta’s has a bib, hat, burp cloth, Mustela cleansing wipes, Mustela Hydra-stick, and disposable diaper bags. For the spare outfit, I bought a cheap versatile outfit off the clearance rack so I didn’t have to sacrifice something out of their closets. The pajamas are a worn out pair that have holes in the knees but still fit for Owen and a hand-me-down pair of Owen’s for Della. I keep these tubs in the car at all times, but always make sure they’re well stocked before a trip.
CAR ACTIVITIES & SNACKS
Since we’re driving at night, they’ll hopefully sleep the whole way there. But our way home will be during the day so I grabbed a few new toys to put in their backpacks and snacks to surprise them with when the time comes. I’ll also have them pick out a few toys and books to bring along.
backpacks // finger puppets // doodle boards // water bottles // buckle toy // wiki sticks // sticker book // magnetic maze
We are staying in a VRBO so we’ll definitely go to the grocery store to buy a few things to make meals at the house, but I don’t want to waste a ton of time at the store so I grabbed the snacks ahead of time. Hopefully this stash will last the whole trip!
I like these Reisenthel foldable shopping bags (I got mine in Germany) for food. We have one bag for the kids’ snacks and one for us. I also toss in a handful of plastic grocery bags to use as trash bags in the car.
I will also bring their lunch boxes with an easy high protein meal ready to go…boiled egg, cheese, carrots, peanut butter sandwich, crackers, grapes, etc.
PACKING CLOTHES
I have and love these packing cubes, we have three sets for our family. I pack for the kids first (during the day so I don’t have to tiptoe into their closets while they’re sleeping). I lay everything out on the bed so I can organize and sort. I make a stack of outfits for each kid for each day of the trip. I try to put the kids in matching outfits to make grabbing their outfits out of the suitcase each day even easier.
I find that rolling their clothes work best. I put the girls’ bows around their clothes so even Alex doesn’t have to worry about which bow goes with which outfit on which girl. It’s the grab-and-go method. 🙂 So in the picture below, there are three days worth of outfits for the kids (two on the left, one on the right) in the packing cube.
I have a separate packing cube for their socks and underwear, pajamas, hiking clothes, swimsuits and shoes.
I’ll put all of their stuff in their suitcases and use one large suitcase for Alex and I’s clothes. And yes, it does all fit in these suitcases!
PACKING TOILETRIES
I pack the kids’ toiletries with mine since they typically don’t have much. There’s no sense in having more than one toiletry bag.
I use this toiletry bag for the bottles of liquid…lotion, soap, hair products, etc. It has elastic loops inside to hold bottles in place and a drawstring at the top. If you pack it just right in your suitcase, you can keep everything upright for most of the trip and if it leaks, it’s contained in a washable bag.
Everything else along with my make-up will go in this case. The dividers can be moved to change the compartment sizes so it’s super convenient!
A couple of additional things to mention:
- I always pack an extra outfit for each kid in the suitcase in addition to the one in the car. I also keep an extra outfit for Greta in the diaper bag.
- Owen and Della wear the same pajamas two nights in a row assuming nothing disastrous happens (and assuming we have access to laundry).
- I bring neutral shoes for the kids so they go with multiple outfits. For this trip I packed their Natives, Toms for Owen and sandals for Della.
- Our kids don’t use iPads much for entertainment, but I usually download a couple shows/movies from Netlix for long car rides.
- We keep a corkscrew in our toiletry bag so we always have one no matter where we go.
- I always give the kids elderberry gummies because germs are everywhere so I am sure to bring them along when we travel too.
- I keep hand sanitizer in my diaper bag at all times.
- I bring an unopened pack of diapers for Della and Greta. They’re packed so tightly so it’s as compact as I can get them. If we burn through the pack, I’ll buy more.
- We don’t use a stroller often, but if I do bring one for this trip, I’ll pack the double Maclaren because it’s compact.
- If we have access to laundry and have room to pack it, I bring detergent pods and a bottle of stain remover. If you have kids, you understand why.
I hope this is somewhat helpful for you on your next adventure with kiddos!!