Packing Children For Travel | How To Keep It All Organized On Vacation
with our first family vacation this month and more vacations scheduled for the year, i put some major time and thought into how i would keep everything and everyone organized while traveling. packing children for travel is a big job…babies have a lot of accessories. and to be honest, they need all of their accessories in order to keep themselves happy and content. and we are all about keeping everyone harmonious while traveling, the best we can. as we were packing for our first road trip with our two baby girls (2 years old and 4 months old), i initially found myself a little overwhelmed with the amount of things we needed to bring in order to be away from home for just a few days.
this post contains some affiliate links, which means i get a commission for items purchased through the link. thank you in advance for supporting my blog so i can continue inspiring you with our everyday.
when it comes to packing children for travel, it is really hard to travel light. and nor do you want to. because it is the worst to get somewhere and find that you left something critical to your day/schedule at home. yes, sure you can run to the store and buy whatever you forgot. but when you are on travel, you want to make the most of your time sight seeing and not at the local target. (let this be the only time i admit that i don’t want to be at a target).
for us, one of the easiest ways to keep vacation enjoyable is to stay as organized as possible when it comes to prepping and packing. if you ask my husband, he will lovingly tell you that i run a tight ship at our house and everything has a proper place. and even though he laughs at how happy organizational baskets make me, he does appreciate how hard i work to keep the house organized. it just makes our days with two babies run smoothly, as we always know where everything is at any given time. the same goes for travel. i like to keep everything as organized as possible in packing cubes so we can quickly grab what we need, whether it is a sippy cup, diaper, or fresh pair of clothes.
Packing Children For Travel | How To Keep It All Organized On Vacation
like me, my husband is a amazing list keeper. he keeps a list on his phone for “baby travel” that we made last year when we took our 9 month old to cabo for the first time. when we initially made the list, we literally sat down and went through her entire day, writing down each and every thing she used and, therefore, we would need to bring. it’s now a great reference list that we use, each and every time we begin packing for travel.
i purchased both girls a set of packing cubes for our trip to the outer banks and our future trips this year, as a way of keeping some harmony in the suitcases. and let me tell you, packing cubes are a game changer when packing kids. i love that they keep everything separated and organized so that we can find things quickly and easily when we are away. i love that shoes can be packed seperately from clothes so that the dirty shoe soles don’t get on their clean clothes and that all the bows and hair accessories are all in one spot. i love that each baby has a cube for diapers so we aren’t looking for the right size diaper when we need one or so we can quickly grab the cube of diapers at a rest stop for a quick change.
this was my first time packing for two babies for a trip, so it took some additional thought and planning as i did everything times two! i also really like the girls to either match or coordinate in outfits each day, not only because it is really darling but because i love getting candid family photos while traveling and having everyone coordinate is a simple way to ensure a cute picture, no matter where you are!
i started by laying out all of the girls outfits, and placing the coordinating bow on top of each one. laying everything out is just a very visual way for me to quickly see what i am packing. then i added pajamas, a pair of tennis shoes and sandals, some sweaters in case it got chilly, and their brush set. of course, then a cube for each girl for their diapers and ointment.
i then separated everything into individual cubes, putting all clothes together, bows and brushes together, shoes together, diapers together, and beach items together. these packing cubes made packing children for travel so much easier! and while we traveled, it made everything so easy. we never wasted time looking for anything, although i forgot the girls’ beach hats at home so that meant a shopping outing in the middle of vacation!
Packing Children For Travel Source List
while you don’t want to bring everything but the kitchen sink when traveling, it is also important to bring enough items to keep your children on their normal routine while traveling. in my opinion, if you are going to spend all the money on travel, you might as well ensure that your children are happy during vacation!