Ok, ok.
So I know I’m pretty much a self-proclaimed “simplest” and I don’t encourage the spending of an insane amount of money before, during or after vacation. BUT…there were a few small and simple gadgets that made our vacation go so much smoother, and I wanted to share about those here.
- Sound Machine. Being a parent has forever ruined me. I don’t know if I will ever be able to sleep in a silent room again! Every single noise makes me jump and jolt and bolt straight out of bed. And that’s not even the kids! One thing that we have learned to travel with is a good sound machine or fan. We either download an app or take this one with us. It’s an absolute lifesaver to get the kids to sleep!
- Power Cords in the Car. The last time I drove to PA (9 hours one way) by myself, I invested in this car power cord that can charge multiple things at one time. I could charge my phone, the laptop and pretty much anything else while driving! There is nothing worse than driving in the middle of nowhere and having a dead cell phone or battery on the kids entertainment.
- Laundry Bag. I always, always, always pack a canvas laundry bag inside my suitcase. All dirty clothes go directly into the laundry bag. Usually, I try to do laundry while on our trip, and the clean clothes go back into the suitcase. If for some reason, I don’t do laundry while gone, then the canvas laundry bag full of dirty clothes goes directly into my laundry room (and probably the washing machine) the second we get home. No sorting. No trying to remember if I actually wore those clothes and if they actually qualify as dirty. It takes up NO SPACE for traveling and it’s a lifesaver for my sanity!
- Pencil Pouch for Kids Collections. Our kids are natural explorers and love to pick up and collect things from all our travels! If your car looks anything like mine after vacation, it looks like we brought home half the shores of Lake Michigan! Sand, rocks, shells, pine cones, glass beads, tiny trinkets from Grandpa. Well, my solution is that each child gets a pencil case and ALL their treasures have to fit inside the pencil case by the time it’s time to return home! This also gives them a chance to have ownership of the things that they collected and not fight over that minuscule rock the entire 8 hour car ride home. Ok, let’s be honest…they will still probably do that.
- Kids Car Entertainment. One of the worst parts of driving for me during pregnancy is having to turn around to hand my kids things. There is something about the forward motion of driving while being twisted around looking behind me that makes me so nauseous! So my goal in the car is to give my kids things that they love to play with that will keep their attention spans for a long time. I mentioned before that we didn’t do any electronics this trip, so what did my kids do in the car? They both read a lot of library books. They love to look at pictures that I have printed off of them and all the people in our lives. This doodle board or a similar dry erase will entertain them for a few minutes. Tera loves sticker books or magnetic books. We love to listen to audiobooks or the radio. We play a lot of eye spy and just do a lot of talking while we are driving for miles and miles!
So what about you? What are your must-haves on family vacation? If you could only take a few things besides clothes, what would you HAVE to pack first? I’d love to hear if you have any travel tips or hacks that I am missing out on!
