Getting ready for a trip? With the holiday season upon us, families find themselves packing the kids, the dogs, the food, the presents, and a partridge in a pear tree into the family mobile and heading out on the open road. Traveling with children can be a wonderful experience. But, it can also be worse than a root canal if you’re not prepared.
Experience has taught me that you don’t want to incarcerate yourself in a vehicle with one or more children without some advance preparation. That means entertainment and snacks. You’re on your own for entertainment. Our CD player busted a few years ago as did the travel TV/VCR combo. Our kids tend to entertain themselves. Or the GameBoy and DS do….
I concern myself more with infrastructure. You know, necessary items, those that prevent whining and those that help me in the case of a blowout — diaper, that is. For those, you need a few travel kits.
Last spring I found these very handy plastic shoe boxes with snapping lids. They are the perfect size to hold a lot of kid supplies in a compact package that also slips under the seat of the car!
One travel kit is for snacks. It includes paper products and nonperishable snacks. This box looks like a birthday party, doesn’t it? Junk food and Nemo, what a combo. Truth is the junk food was cheap or free (after coupons) and Nemo was a clearance table purchase. I suggest you first raid your pantry to see what you have.
- trail mix
- dried fruit
- fruit leather
- crackers
- cookies
- pretzels
- juice boxes
- peanut butter
- applesauce
Things to include in a Diaper-Changing Kit:
- diapers
- wipes in a ziploc bag (small size that is easy to refill)
- plastic grocery bags for disposing of soiled diapers (a lot of these bags will fit in a ziploc)
- diaper cream
- lotion
- hand sanitizer
With a little pre-planning and pre-packing, your road trip with kids can be a smooth ride.
What do you take along to make your car trip a pleasant one?
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I never ever ever leave the house without a change of clothes for my daughter- I keep a set of extra clothes socks underwear in the car at all times.
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I keep a very ugly diaper bag I got as a gift in the van stocked with sealed snack size food, changes of clothes for each of the kids and me, diapers, and wipes. I love this post. Great tip for moms!!
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My van has a drawer under the front passenger seat. I keep a complete change of clothes for both of my older kids, a small first aid kit, a few feminine items and a multipurpose tool (Leatherman). I also keep an old shoe box in the middle row (within my reach) of baby toys for my youngest and my older two keep toys in the small cubbies beside each of their seats. Maybe I should start keeping extra diapering supplies and a change of clothes for the youngest also (just in case I forget the diaper bag)…
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I am also a huge fan of a change of clothes for everyone. I have tried just packing spare kids clothes, but somehow that is the time when I get peed, pooped, or thrown up on. So I have learned to have spare clothes for me as well as the kids.
Oh and we always have a case of bottled water in the trunk. We never have to buy vending machine water, and we avoid the sugary drinks that way.
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One of the first posts I ever wrote was http://momsinneedofmercy.blogspot.com/2009/09/cruisin-along-in-automobile-surviving.html
I shared pics of the toys we bought to entertain our very young boys on our 21-hr trip one way to see my family in the Midwest (we live in the West now.) Play foam and Wikki stix were neat. Plus, splurging on the double DVD player that attached to the back of the front seats helped too!
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In our vehicles we packed a small diaper kit in an empty wipes container. A diaper, cream, wipes (in a baggie) and even an extra onesie will all fit into a wipe container and stores easily in the trunk or under a seat. If you're a mom with young ones and use wipes you don't even have to go buy another container to keep your things.
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We add carrot and celery sticks and use unopened ranch dressing packets to dip in.
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I have just been using what I call the 'art bag' in our car, for drawing supplies (crayons, markers, pens, pencils, notebooks, colorbooks, etc). And, there are always a few books in there too; but, I love the idea of the plastic containers for snacks and other items. The bag seems to overflow at times and get all messy, but the containers with lids seem ideal.
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My youngest is 7 years old, but I still keep the van stocked with a container of baby wipes. I just seal it in a gallon ziploc bag so they don't dry out, but they have been invaluable many times for spills, sticky hands, and getting stains out of clothing or upholstery. Another thing I would add for trips is a roll of paper towels for using as napkins, kleenex if needed, or cleaning up spills.
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What a cute idea…
sandy toe
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