Packing Tips for Traveling with Kids or Large Parties
Tiffany Morse
2.25.21
I love planning and packing for a trip. It makes me giddy to think through all of the details and how they will all come together to make a perfect trip. I think and solve the puzzles how to work things out for the adventure. It is important to think though all of the major parts of the trip and all of the people who are going and what they need.
1.) Pre-packed plastic drawers-Don’t forget to use packing tape to tape them shut.-Pre-packing these drawers with snacks, fans, batteries, stickers, tattoos, and sunglasses makes things so much easier. I love pre-packing these and then putting them in your room and taking off the tape. They are already, ready to go and be used. You can even label them to make it easier to remember what is in each.
2.) Shoe Box by the door-There was a trip to Walt Disney World when my kids were ages five and two. I think we spent more time looking for shoes on that trip than we did in the parks. So I sought out creative solutions and this one is creative, inexpensive, and easy. Go to the nearest Dollar Tree and purchase a cloth pop up cube. They can be folded flat until you need them so they do not take up a lot of room. When you get to your destination set up the cube by the door , but not in the way. Each night when you come though the door, take off your shoes and put them in the box. This makes them so easy to find in the morning.
3.) Box on Dresser for Magic Bands and Sunglasses-We used the box that the MagicBands came in. We also kept sunglasses here to kept them from getting lost.
4.) Clothes prepared and labeled for morning and evening each day-I had two outfits for each child for each day, a morning and an afternoon. You can put them in 31 pouches, or gallon ziplock baggies labeled with the name of the child, day of the trip and park on each. I also put all of the accessories for each outfit into the pouch or baggie. These are lifesavers and make it so easy to tell your kids to get dressed quickly.
5.) Small toys to keep kids entertained in parks-small and a new one each day-This is more for younger kids. I used to go the Dollar Tree or Party City and find small prizes for a dollar or less. You can find little bottles of bubbles, or little cameras that are easily held. You can also wrap these up and give them to your kids as little surprise gifts each day.
6.) The Uh-Oh Bag new or favorite snacks or toys that don’t require electricity. I have had to pull out the Uh-Oh Bag when we were stuck in traffic for hours outside of Atlanta. We had gone through all of our snacks, the DVD player in the van broke, the laptop needed to be charged, and the batteries died of the hand held games. We had about ten minutes of uh-oh, then found the bag. I pulled out the chocolate chips(their favorite), coloring books(my kids were little), glow sticks, and juice boxes. Suddenly all was right with the world and we finally started moving again. I will not lie, the moving again was lovely, but until then the uh-oh bag helped.
7.) Individual Snack Boxes-I let me kids decorate their boxes with stickers. Then I would let them pick their own snacks from a pile I had pre-selected. They loved having their own choices and getting to eat them on the road.
These are some of my favorite packing tips. As my kids have grown older, I do different treats and surprises for them as well as some things for the road trips. I also love to have little surprise gifts for each day that coordinate with what we are experiencing on our adventure that day. Doing some thinking ahead of time, solving puzzles, and working through challenges are some of the many things I love helping my clients with to build their dream vacation. For more information, please contact me at: tiffm@wishesfamilytravel.com, follow me on https://m.facebook.com/tmorse.wft/ , or IG at: tiffanym_wishesfamilytravel, call or text at 678-770-4144. I am looking forward to helping you get ready for your family’s next adventure.