Creating Emergency Bags for Your Children
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The following is written by LifeasMOM contributor Lauren:
photo source: Nasa
My husband and I are preparedness-type people. It’s difficult for me to imagine being unable to feed my children in the event of a major disaster. So I want to be as prepared as can be.
While we have enough food and water for an unexpected event, I think our most valuable resources are our emergency bags.
Why stock an emergency bag?
It is very unlikely that we’ll ever use our emergency bags. In fact, I honestly hope that we never need to! But in the event that we must leave our house quickly, we have a loaded 3-day bag that will help make life more manageable. Whether it is a natural disaster such as a tornado or an event such as a fire or prolonged gas leak, my family can survive with their emergency bags.
I consider these bags to be insurance for us. While I hope to never use them, I want them available in case we do find ourselves in need.
What should you stock in your emergency bags?
When making emergency bags for your own children, the contents of each bag are going to vary greatly. My baby’s bag looks very different than my 6 year old’s bag, for example.
To decide what the bags should contain, it is best to sit down with pen and paper. Brainstorm about what your child needs over the course of a typical 3-day period. Which of those items do you consider essential? Make a list and then buy all of your items.
Here’s a detailed list of the contents of our emergency bags to kick-start your own ideas:
The Baby (9 months):
20 diapers, full container of baby wipes, Infant Motrin, small bottle of baby wash, burp cloths, baby blanket, 6 onesies, 3 pairs of long pants, 2 pairs of zip-up pajamas, 3 pairs of socks, sunscreen, baby food, bottles with formula (even though I exclusively breastfeed), 6 bottles of water, 2 small teething toys, infant cup/bowl/spoon, small flashlight, $20 in small bills
The Toddler (2 ½ years):
8 pairs of underwear, 3 night-time diapers, 3 pairs of shorts with shirts, 2 pairs of footed pajamas, 3 pairs of socks, shoes, 3 small hairbows, brush, toothbrush/paste, small container of liquid soap with washcloth, 9 bottles of water, food, sippy cup, sunscreen, Motrin, Benadryl, 2 small books, large Ziploc bag, small flashlight, $20 in small bills
4-year-old:
3 pairs of shorts and shirts, 3 pairs of underwear, 2 pairs of pajamas, 3 pairs of socks, shoes, 3 hairbows, brush, toothbrush/paste, liquid soap with washcloth, 9 bottles of water, food, sunscreen, Motrin, Benadryl, books, notepad with small pack of colored pencils (no crayons-they melt!), large Ziploc bag, small flashlight, $20 in small bills
6-year-old:
3 pairs of shorts and shirts, 3 pairs of underwear, 3 tshirts, 1 pair of pajama pants, 3 pairs of socks, shoes, baseball hat, toothbrush/paste, liquid soap and washcloth, 12 bottles of water, food, sunscreen, Motrin, Benadryl, maintenance asthma meds with spacer and Rescue inhaler, books, notepad with pencil, deck of cards, large Ziploc Bag, small flashlight, $20 in small bills
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How to Make Your Children’s Emergency Bags
Each individual in your family needs an emergency bag. It’s important that each person have their own bag since they are stocked based on age and specific needs. Follow these tips when building your bags:
Choose a different color bag for each child.
Assign your child a bag color and make sure they know which color is theirs, if they’re old enough. For example, my son’s bag is blue and he knows that he is responsible for it. If your Bags are different colors, you can quickly see at a glance if any are missing.
Brainstorm what the bags should contain.
When brainstorming necessary items, remember that the goal is not luxury here. One or 2 small toys could be helpful, but a whole art/crayon set is over the top. Think in very practical terms: What does my child need? (Food, medicine, clothes)
After buying your items, pack your bags carefully with your children.
Making emergency bags is an excellent teaching time for your little ones. Go over reasons you would need to leave your house in an emergency. For preschoolers, count each item to make sure there are enough available. For older kids, let them help you decide what actually goes in the bags. Make them as responsible for their own items as possible.
Store your emergency bags in an obvious place.
Make sure everyone in your family knows where your bags are located: your spouse and your older children. Store them in an area that is easy to get to in a hurry. Since they’ll contain food, your bags need to be stored inside in a relatively cool place.
Schedule dates to review your bags.
It is a must that you routinely review and inventory your emergency bags. Food expires, seasons change and children quickly grow out of clothes. Summer clothes are minimal help to your little ones if it’s 30 degrees outside.
For my toddler and baby, I review emergency bags once a month since they grow so quickly and their food issues change frequently. Once children reach the age of 4 or 5, I go through bags once every 3 months or so.
The most essential part of this step is writing your review time on the calendar to ensure you actually do it!
Does your family have emergency bags?
Have you ever needed to use them? What are your best tips for preparing and implementing emergency bags?
– Lauren Hill is the ‘Mama’ behind Mama’s Learning Corner, a site that features all kinds of educational ideas and tips as well as free printable worksheets. She is the mom of four young children and loves to learn alongside them.
I just saw this in Parents Magazine and thought about doing a blog post too. Is that where you got the idea? Great post — I think I’ll just link to yours instead! 🙂
Actually, I’ve had these for several years. Once we had 3 children, it got too hard to think of what we should grab if we had to leave immediately for some reason.
This makes it super easy!
-Lauren
Wow, nicely laid out post. We have lived through emergency situations where the power was gone for more than a week, but we have never “been on the run” so to speak. These would be very handy to be able to grab quickly.
I’m trying to figure out a way to work it with a large family, it seems a little overwhelming for our crew of six kiddos (9 y.o. and under) to have so much left in a “reserved” state that may go unused eventually. Any suggestions?
Polly – I only have 4 kiddos, but I struggled with that too.
Clothing was my biggest issue. I didn’t want to have a lot of money wrapped up in these bags if I could help it. So for the clothing portion of them, I only put in old/stained/faded clothes. As long as there are no holes and they have all of the seaming, buttons, etc they go in the bags. I’m guessing I won’t care how those clothes actually look as long as they are clean.
So with that being said, I use hand-me-downs that we receive and wouldn’t otherwise wear. I’ve also purchased from Goodwill on their cheap days to stock these bags too. Even with just my 4, the clothing costs can be expensive!
And it makes no sense to use ‘good’ clothes in these bags. If they have ‘good’ clothes, they need to be wearing them!
For some reason, I can handle the food/water issue easier. I literally see that as insurance, knowing that we are paying for it only to (hopefully) never use it. But I do try and buy those items on sale with coupons though if I can.
Once I could wrap my mind around it being insurance, I saw the whole reserve issue in a new light. I hope that helps. 🙂
-Lauren
For clothes, you could buy a size up, and rotate it into normal usage once they move into that size.
For food, we use foods with a long shelf life (a few years), then when we go through the bags, if any of the food is going to expire before the next time we plan to go through them, we pull it out, replace it with something else, and use the food that was in the bag.
Great ideas about the clothes, both in using hand-me-downs, nearly worn-out, or thrift shop purchases, as well as buying one size larger and rotating them into normal wear when the child grows into them. Just don’t put them away and forget about them 🙂
i do the same thing with one size up clothes. and we keep a list on the outside of the box where these items are kept as to when food is about to expire, so we eat it and buy new food to replace it back in the kits.
This comment comes way after this post but I agree with buying up a size for emergency bags. I’d also suggest adding or packing elastic so if pants are too loose or long that a small piece of elastic sewn in w/a few stitches in the back or sides or cuffs of pants can make a huge difference in wear & comfort. It’s a frugal & functional tool to add to clothes in advance or keep in a small sewing kit in your own bag, especially if your kids are long & skinny like mine. I use this w/shorts, skirts, pants, pj’s & even Halloween costumes.
Great post!
Nothing in the packs needs to go to waste- I know a family who has a picnic at general conference every 6 months eating all the stuff out of 72 hour kits and then replaces it.
i grew up with a 72 hr kit and there were 8 in my family. we had a monthly to every other month “freshin up” on our kits when we would change out our water and food. clothes were often used and replaced as my mom did laundry because we just didnt have the money to buy extra clothes for the kit. Then we each kept our own bag in our closet. My kids also have a personal first aid kit (bandaids & hand sanitizer) and a wallet with their money, contact info and family photo.
I keep everything packed EXCEPT clothes in her bag.
It will only take a couple seconds to grab an outfit or two and some PJ’s (I DO have socks and some, larger than she wears, undies in there).
It’s easy to keep clothes for US in our bags, since we’re not growing anymore, but a kid…..
I don’t like having so much stuff that will go unused and expire as well so I have a purchased emergency kit from Costco in comes in two bags with some room to spare I priced matched if I had purchased all these things separately it was more frugal to go about it this way they I added money, deck of cards heat packs ( I am in Northern Canada) then one for my 5 year old son. I do not add any meds etc. I have a separate bag with toiletries, meds, nail clippers, tweezers you name it but I take this bag with us when we travel I never have to unpack it! It stays like that all the time If a medication like children’s Tylenol is going to expire soon I take it out and put it in the med cabinet to use and replace with a new one, All the bags are kept in our downstairs closet where we also keep our luggage and toiletry bag. In the event of emergency or travel it is all together in one spot. It is also close to a exit so it really can be grab and go. In each of our bags is a emergency plan like where we would go and who would we call if we got separated as well as extended family members list and their numbers. We have fold up water bottles and water tabs instead of hauling heavy water we do have water bottles in our pantry for at home emergencies but not in our take away bags. We also have proper emergency stuff in our car in case we are not at home when a emergency occurs and I like having changes of clothes, extra hats and mitts in winter and shorts and towels in summer I never have to worry about packing up when we are invited to someone’s house or pool I usually have whatever I need including some small toys.
These are great tips on getting started with emergency kits! Some other things included in our bags are copies of insurance cards, listed allergies and medical conditions, and family contact information in case the children get separated.
I agree, contact and other information is a must because heaven forbid, in certain situations you could get separated from your children. I have even heard it is a good idea to put their birth certificates and family photos in your own pack in case you have to prove to someone that they are yours.
Go to my more recent post for a printable of emergency contact info: http://lifeasmom.com/2012/09/make-24-hour-go-bags-for-your-kids.html
This post features a free printable to fill out with emergency contact info: http://lifeasmom.com/2012/09/make-24-hour-go-bags-for-your-kids.html
Thanks for this great reminder! I think we’ll do this as a school project. Though I do think it’s funny that “hairbows” are included as emergency items!:)
I thought the same thing, but if you have a young daughter, you’ll understand that deviation from the routine creates lots of drama, and certainly, not being able to properly fix her hair will add to the fuss. 🙂 In a time of stress and distress, managing the seemingly simple things can help avoid major meltdowns.
I have a love-hate relationship with posts like this. I love it because it is SO valuable and such wonderful advice. I hate it because it reminds me how horribly unprepared I really am. 😉 Thank you, Lauren, for the reminder and the great suggestions!
JessieLeigh, I totally agree with you.
Lauren, thanks for the post. My husband and I just got married a couple of weeks a go so I’m really glad I found this b/c I like being prepared too. Thanks for the tips.
Catherine
We have emergency items in a specific spot but not bags…includes wind up to charge flashlight and a wind up to charge radio. I think I’m going to have to make up bags too.
This really is a fantastic idea. We should all try to plan ahead more as we never know what tomorrow may bring. Like you, I don’t think I will ever have to use one but life is uncertain & nothing wrong with being a bit prepared. Thanks for sharing 🙂
This is a good idea! I’ve thought about a family bag before (ex. flashlight, can food, etc) but it does make sense for everyone to have one based on need. I especially like the $20 in small bills.
We have one, just for our boy, and it is for daily emergencies with a lot of diapers, blanket, some toy and one clothes change.
This is a great idea and for all the family
We don’t, but I am thinking that perhaps it is time that we do. I really liked the idea about the $20 in small bills. I really appreciate this – thank you.