Activity Bags for Family Fun
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Get out with the family with no fear of being caught unprepared. Pack these activity bags to ensure that fun is exactly what your outing holds.
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It seems that in our current culture, at least at my house, it’s all too easy to stay home. There are devices to look at and all kinds of distractions. And really, it’s such a lot of work to pack up the kids and get outside. Right?
Wrong. Now’s the season for getting out and about. Summer, of course, positively beckons you to load up the family and head out for adventure.
But, do you ever find yourself…
- at the beach or other fun locale, and the weather turns cold, and tshirts and shorts just won’t cut it?
- on a family field trip at a location where budget-friendly meals are a foreign concept?
- at the park for an impromptu outing and find that you have no balls or toys in the car?
- on a road trip without sufficient activities for the kids to amuse themselves with?
- on your way to a faraway special event only to find out that someone made it into the car without any shoes?
{FishMama waves one hand while shamefully covering her eyes with the other.}
This has happened to us more times than I can count. And I can count pretty high. Though I was once a Girl Scout, I often find myself woefully unprepared. That’s a bummer when you want to be out with the family having a good time.
The last thing you want to do is shiver in the cold, buy your kid new shoes when she has five pairs at home, or pay through the nose for a mediocre sandwich.
A few years ago, FishPapa and I came up with the Bag Idea.
The Bag Idea was that we would create lists of the things we might like to have on an outing and then create bags to hold all these items. Then, we’d try to keep the bags packed and ready to go at all times.
Over the years, the bags have changed shape, size, and contents, but they prove to be invaluable to make our family outings a little more fun and little less chaotic.
This tutorial is one I shared years ago as a way to make getting out with the kids easier for your family, too. We know from experience, now six years later, that if we have the bags, we will travel — a little more peacefully and enjoyably.
Here I present to you lists, bags, and even cute little tags to go with, so that when it’s time to repack the bag, everyone will know what should go into it. We’ll all be ready to hit the road — whether it be a road trip, the day at the beach, playtime at the park, or a simple picnic. And, Lord willing, we’ll be prepared!
Activity Bags for Family Fun
Consider packing these activity bags so you’re always ready for family fun:
A beach bag
A beach or pool bag, complete with towels, sunscreen, flipflops, goggles, beach toys, and whatever you need to make a day in the water fun and safe.
A picnic bag
Be ready for spontaneous picnics with all the serving ware, plus tablecloth or blanket. If you’ve got these tucked away in the car, you can easily pick up food at the store or your favorite take-out join and picnic without fuss or worry.
A bag of fun
Whether you’re on a road trip or just making an impromptu stop at the park, you can be prepared to have a good time with some balls, light sticks, sidewalk chalk, and bubbles.
Having supplies at the ready helps our family enjoy the great outdoors and other adventures a little bit more. I hope it does the same for you!
Do you worry that you’re squandering the precious days with your kids? Be more intentional this summer by planning simple yet intentional family fun activities. Grab your copy of the Summer Survival Guide.
Within its pages, you’ll find everything you need, and I do mean EVERYTHING, to be prepared for summer break, including printable activity bag tags and a tutorial for making your own activity bags.
Not only that, I’ve included 16 weeks of fun learning activities to do with your kids, a mom’s reading list, meal planning tips and tricks to make summer delicious and affordable.
Buy the Summer Survival Guide here: http://fishmama.com/product/summer-survival-guide/ and make the most of every summer minute.
What will you pack in your activity bags?
I, too, love this idea and post. Silly me, I thought I was “done with all the bags” when my kids were out of diapers. 🙂 I just have one more idea that might be useful. We live in FL where it is super-hot and I’ve had groceries spoil in my car while running errands. I’ve learned to keep a cooler in the car when I’ll be going to several stores. All the perishables go in and the frozen food keeps everything nice and cool. Definitely worth the piece of mind of not worrying about 4 gallons of organic milk going sour before you even get home.
Great idea on the cooler!
This reminds me I need to redo our LOP (lack of planning) box for our cars. I always kept extra pajamas for our boys, along with clean sippy cups, toothbrushes, underwear. Now that we’re beyond sippies and diapers, we can repack for “older” kids (they’re 4 and 7).
In my car trunk, I have
an Emergency bag that includes water bottles;
also a First Aid kit;
a sleeping bag;
a vomit bowl with a lid that has a bottle of water and wipes in it for carsick kids;
a zip baggie with a roll of TP in it for nature calls between far-apart rural towns (take out the cardboard and the TP flattens to fit in the baggie better);
a ‘soccer blanket’ (fleece on one side & waterproof stuff on other side that rolls up) that comes in handy to throw across the backseat or trunk as needed when you have a dog along, have bought plants at the nursery or have wet muddy kids.
In the back seat, I keep a fleece blanket for those who think the AC is too cold.
My sister always kept a cooler between the seats of her van; she would put a cold pack and some juice boxes and snacks in it on the way to school in the morning, it stayed cold enough for snacking on the way home from school when the kids were really hungry and kept them from screaming for fast food as they passed the restaurants.
In a closet at home, I also keep a ventilated swimming bag with our suits, flips flops, coverups, chair-towels & clips, sunscreen, ear plugs/ nose clips/ goggles, and toys so even if we just head to a hotel that has a pool, I have that bag “already packed.”
I also a have a ‘church purse’ with different stuff than my real purse.
I have a travel make-up /tolietries bag with duplicates of my home makeup box, and a lingerie cube that has duplicates ‘newer/better’ of my underwear, slip, bras, hose, etc; When we travel, most of my packing is already done.
Most of my lifestyle seems to already be packed in boxes, tubs, bins or bags ha ha but makes it easier to clean up after 8 kids.
I use to have a big blue box that my husband made that fit nicely in the back of our truck. I kept it stocked with picnic supplies, extra clothes, snacks, first aid supplies, kids activities, science gathering containers and tools, drawing books, and art supplies (no crayons, they melt together). It allowed us so much freedom to just go and do. When we bought a new truck, somehow it didn’t make it into it. I think it is time I find it again, and get it back to where it belongs.
I find that these bags and boxes need to be continually refreshed.
I can not get the printable tags page to work for labeling the bags. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks for the help!
@Heather E., I simplified the link. Here it is as well: http://lifeasmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Bag-Tags.pdf
@Jessica Fisher, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I’m excited to begin making my bags! 🙂
Tracked back from your giveaway of a bag.
This post cracked me up – you are my grandmother reincarnated!
Mom of 5, grandmother of 13 she perfected her “bagling”. They lived in the basement until “their season” (like sleds, mittens, etc not needed in summer) but during their season they lived in the trunk.
I thought she was the awesomest grandma because she was up for anyTHING anyTIME.
So of course this is one trick we still use.
I usually keep a summer bag in the car, but completely forget about it in the winter, for some reason. Thanks for the reminder to keep supplies ready for anything that comes up. The tags you made are great!
This idea is aboslute genius! I hate going out places and wishing I’d remembered things. I can’t wait to put some of these together!
Being an active family, we are always on the go. I have an ongoing bag in my car at all times. In it I have at a minimum a change of clothes for each child, even the big ones, including sweatshirts. one towel a blanket/sarong, spare shoes(ussually flip flops from the dollar store). Flip Flops come in handy when someone forgets shoes or forgets shoes for after soccer games or a shoe breaks. (that happened to me at church). In the food and beverage dept we always seem to have water bottles both the refillable and throwaway types and I have an ongoing snack bag ( an oversize lunch bag that we refill for kids for after school and practices) As the seasons change I rotate what I keep in the car. Right now I have a spare set of soccer cleats and extra soccerballs, a spare leotard and a refereee whistle for daughter number 1 . I know that sounds like a lot to keep in the car but it all fits nicely in a small bag. But I do like the idea of a bag that zips closed. To keep it all contained.
I clicked over from Metropolitan Mama, and I’m so glad I did, because this is such a wonderful idea! I had a plastic bin in my car when my son was an infant w/ extra diapers/wipes, spare onsies and outfits, bibs, etc…but that just fizzled out over the past year or so. I’d been thinking about gathering supplies for bags lately, especially after an unexpected playdate at the beach. My poor son was buckled into his car seat wearing nothing but a diaper and one of my old t-shirts! You’ve inspired me to get going on this!
Welcome! Hope you’ll come back. We got all kinds of fun over here. 😉