Packing Tips for Short Road Trips with Kids
We have just returned from two weekend trips in the past two weeks, and I never cease to be amazed at all the “stuff” that goes with us. It isn’t like we are traveling to third world countries without drug stores, grocery stores, etc. if we forget something, but it is just easier to pack the car full of “things” that I know that we will need.
Because we make frequent weekend road trips, especially at the end of the year with the holidays, we have our packing routine down. This makes trip preparation that much more pleasant.
Suit Cases
For the kids’ clothes, I use the gallon size Ziplock bags to hold one entire outfit per day. For the preschooler, I pack one pair of undies, one top, one bottom, one pair of socks per day. For the toddler, I pack one top, one bottom, one pair of socks, and the number of diapers that I think we will need in a day per bag. Kids have accidents, and when I know that we will not have access to a laundry machine, I pack a couple of extra outfit bags. Because the clothes are packed in zippered bags, I can squeeze out all the air and stack the bags easily into the suit case, which saves space and also makes clothes easy to find once we are at our destination. When we come home, I leave the zippered bags inside the suit case so we reuse them until they break.
Another thing that I keep in the suitcase is a drawstring wet bag. (Ours is just the $7 Bummis Waterproof Tote Bag that we had used when cloth diapering our babies.) There is nothing more disgusting to me than throwing dirty, sweaty clothes back into a suit case and mixing clean with dirty clothes. We leave it near the bathroom at the hotel, and all dirty clothes go right into the wet bag. This way we can just toss the bag into the car (or into a suitcase if flying), ready for washing when we get home.
Clothes do acquire a special “something-something” smell when inside a suit case. The suit case also starts to pick up that special “something-something” smell if dirty clothes have been inside it. To combat this, I put a scented dryer sheet inside the suitcase, or if I come across a nice perfume ad in a magazine, I sometimes pull that out to put inside the suit case. Musty suit case smell problem solved! (I also store our suit cases when not in use with the dryer sheet or perfume ad.)
I keep a pair of flip flops for everyone and a roll of quarters inside the suit case. The quarters come in handy for laundry machines and vending machines at hotels. The flip flops are nice to have inside the hotel room, and if the bath tub looks questionable, the flip flops sure come in handy.
At home, we keep the kids’ medications in a bin that make it easy for me to dump into a zipper bag, ready to go into the suit case without having to think. I also keep a piece of paper with current dosage information inside my wallet so it is there when I would need it.
The kids’ toiletries are also in a bin in the bathroom. It makes it easy for me to grab the lotions, body wash, shampoo, tooth brushes, and tooth paste to be tossed into another Ziplock bag at the last minute.
In the Back Seat
If the car ride lasts longer than one hour, our kids inevitably need snacks, and snacks also mean making messes. I keep the “cleaning supplies” behind the driver seat so that whoever is in the front passenger seat can easily access it. The cleaning supplies include wet wipes, tissues, small plastic bags for holding garbage, and extra zippered bags to hold messes that require sealed containment. Behind the driver seat, I also keep an insulated tote bag with snacks (usually cut up fruit, goldfish crackers, bread rolls, cheese sticks, dried fruit, pretzels). We have SIGG water bottles and sippies, but I find that the toddler does not know how to use those very well by himself in the car. He cannot get the bottles opened and closed which causes him to shake and throw, creating an absolute wet mess. Instead, I buy the pint-size water bottle with the sport bottle cap that come in the 6 packs just for the car ride. For whatever reason, these water bottles work best for my kid.
Between our two car seats, I stash toys that the kids can easily grab. I have learned on trips that if the older one has a marker, the younger one needs it even if he doesn’t know how to use markers. Typically I try to put any duplicate toys from home. We looked at buying one of the kid trays that fits over the car seats, but I read a study a while back that some of the fitted activity trays are potentially hazardous during car accidents. I instead give my daughter a clip board with a pen or marker tied to it. This way she can draw without losing her writing instrument, and the clip board can be tucked away when she’s bored with it.
For car rides longer than three hours, the portable DVD player is my absolute best friend. We have noise canceling headphones that the kids use, purchased originally for plane rides. We can keep the volume low on the DVD player to protect their ears because the noise-canceling headphones block out road noise, and hubby and I do not have to listen to the kiddie DVDs.
My kids have their favorite pillows and stuffed animals. We do allow each one to bring their baby pillows and one stuffed animal, that stay inside the car until we reach the hotel, grandma’s house, or wherever that we’ll be spending the evening. I am far too paranoid about having to replace irreplaceable lovies, but having the lovies with us in the car is a must.
Waterproofing
Out of habit from our tent camping days, once a year, I buy a bottle of waterproof spray that is sold either in the outdoors section or next to the Scotch guard. Our suitcases, backpacks, stroller, and shoes get a good spray down, but this has to be done on a relatively cool and dry day so that everything can be left outside to air out for a few days. The waterproofing spray is fume-y, but the effort pays off in the event of rain. It certainly helped us keep everything drier as we sloshed through San Antonio over the weekend.
That is pretty much all that we need for a quick weekend getaway.
For other great tips, check out this older podcast from Musing Mommies about traveling with kids and our previous article on air travel with children from ABIA.
What other tips do you have for traveling with kids for a weekend getaway?
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