Packing and Road Trip

I used to over pack until I realize it always rains one day and I do laundry that day while the family fights over a puzzle.

It isn't like you are going to a deserted island if you forget one thing there are stores.

For meds, when I travel by car, I pack kids tylenol, neosporin, bandaids, and benedryl. That is enough to get through the most likely issues. If I need something else that I didn't bring, every town has a Rite Aid or something similar.

When staying in a place with a washer for a week, I bring 4 days worth of clothes, and do 1 wash day in the middle of the week.

You are going to spend most days outside on the beach, so you don't need much for toys - 1 sand kit with a shovel and bucket. I think a coloring book, crayons, the iPad, and 1 board game sounds like enough to entertain the 6 year old in the car and in the evenings if needed. A few (2-3) toys for the baby - small things that travel easily. When we go on beach trips, the kids are usually so tired at the end of the day that they just pass out after dinner anyway. The toys I bring barely get touched.

ETA: Oh, yes, and for number of outfits, 1 per day is plenty. You'll be in beachwear all day, and just need something to wear to dinner. So 4 outfits per person, plus swimsuits and PJs, and wash on Wednesday.

I would rather do a load of laundry E or EOD than schlepp stuff there & back.
Tylenol, Benadryl, band aids, sunscreen. That's it.
O. backpack of toys per kid.
Most likely, there will be stuff at the house too.

I always think, oh there will be a store nearby...and I always underpack. Just take a few games/art activities and let your kids imaginations run wild playing around the beach house instead. Definitely bring a big bag of sand toys: pails, shovels, watering can, small boat, etc. Bring a kite. Bring beach chairs, beach umbrellas and towels. I would only bring medication you know you will need each day...if something comes up you can run to the store. You don't say how many days you will be there...maybe 5 days worth of clothes and 2 bathing suits per person is what I would do. My kids just live in their bathing suits when we go to the beach. My son tends to wear the same clothes over and over...I have to practically peel them off him when I am doing laundry.

My advice is: lay everything out on a bed that you think you need and pack half! Whenever I went to my mom's house I would pack 1 outfit per day plus some layers in case of cold and a jacket. Then I would wear the same 2 or 3 outfits for 2 weeks and wash the others. You will mostly live in bathing suits at a beach house anyway. I would buy a few never seen toys (I used to get party favor type toys) so you can pull some out as a treat or to keep them happy in restaurants. Regarding meds: benadryl for allergies, painkiller, first aid stuff. Remember you are not going to the moon, there will be drugstores there. Enjoy the vacation!

I would only pack Rx meds. OTC stuff, I would buy small packages if we needed them along the way.
Pack beach toys and one or two things to do if the weather turns bad - a couple of chapter books, a deck of cards, coloring books and crayons - all should fit into one grocery bag.
Pack three days' worth of clothes for each person. Wear the same clothes for more than one day of they aren't too dirty. Then you only have to do wash twice a week.

I'd bring tylenol and motrin, neosporin and band aids, suncreen and insect repellent. That's it. For any unexpected needs, you go to the store.

Let your 6 year old pick a few toys, and you pick a few and call it good. Don't forget the beach toys.

As for clothes, pack what can be mixed and matched. Only coordinating colors. Try to be able to make as many outfits as possible out of only 8-10 things for each person. As for laundry...you're already at the beach...you can put in a load to wash and go out, come in to eat, put it in the dryer, etc. It's not like you have to sit on the washer and wait on it.

Going to the beach I wouldn't pack many toys at all, just some sand toys and whatever keeps your kids busy in a restaurant if you plan to go out. The beach itself is a giant playground!
I never packed meds (?) but my kids didn't have any special needs or allergies or anything so I'm not sure about that. If we were going to be many miles away from civilization I would bring a basic first aid kit but if we were near a town, well, it didn't really matter because we could always run to the store.
I just packed my kids the same way I packed myself, LIGHT. Only the essentials! It's VACATION don't overthink it!!!

We travel a lot. If we have access to laundry I will usually pack enough clothing for four days. Except for socks and underwear I always pack for every day. We do laundry usually just once during the week. We often will also do it before we leave. I like to unpack clean clothes when we get home. I pack a few of the laundry pods (only time I ever use them) or buy a small size of detergent when we get there. You can often find them with travel sized shampoos and such.

Medications I pack a bottle of Tylenol for the kids and any prescriptions. I always take a thermometer and a basic first aid kit. If we aren't going to get in early enough to shop that night I also pack one bottle of sunscreen. Otherwise I just buy what we need if we need it. I would only pack enough diapers to get us there and through the first day or so. Then we would buy a pack when we got there. Same with snacks. Pack enough to get there and the first day then hit a grocery store.

For our 4 and 6 year old I tell them which bag they can pack with toys/books/coloring books and they pack what they want to take. I will monitor a little and make some suggestions. It is always a bag that they can carry. If it doesn't fit in the bag, it doesn't go. I always figure they are also going to buy a souvenir or two and we don't usually don't have much down time to play with toys from home. When our kids were just a year I would pack a small bag with a couple of their favorite toys but not much. One year olds are pretty good at entertaining themselves with an empty water bottle or anything else they can find. I also stopped trying to pack beach toys. They are so bulky and you can usually find buckets and shovels for just a couple of bucks when you get there. We always offer them to someone on the beach when we are ready to leave.

I really try to get clothes for everyone in one large suitcase and a smaller carry on sized suitcase for toiletry things and odds and ends. Then we try to limit it to one backpack for each of us.

I pack my kids one outfit/day plus at least one extra outfit. If I was going to the beach then I would pack more stuff that can be worn twice instead of "new" outfits every day because most days the kids are going to be wearing swimming suits and a cover up for your daughter and probably won't be wearing actual clothes much of the day. I would have at least two swimsuits for each kid plus a pair of sandals and a pair of tennis shoe type shoes for each kid. Maybe two pairs of jammies for the baby cuz they are messy. :)

I would only take one bottle of either motrin or tylenol, which ever one you use more. Anything else you need you can easily get there.

As far as toys I sometimes over pack on this too because I get worried but honestly we almost never use half of what I bring. I would pack a lot of books and a few card games because they are easy, small and fairly light. I would pack the coloring stuff for your daughter and a few loved toys for the baby and then a bunch of beach stuff. You'll want to take at least some beach stuff because it will be easier to have it already and not have to go to a store and it will be cheaper. You can always add on to your stuff once there. Remember you will be at the beach and probably going around town to do stuff too so your at home time to play is limited.

I would also throw in a small thing of laundry soap so you don't have to buy any (I put it in a ziplock) and a stain stick. Mostly I just stain stick stuff and throw it in the suitcase to wash at home.

I JUST got back from a week long beach vacation with three kids - ages 21 months, almost 6 and almost 8. I definitely overpacked clothes, shoes and toys. I would pack water shoes, flip flops and tennis shoes. I would bring enough toys to entertain on the way, but not so much at the house. Their favorite toys at the house were balls, cars, workbooks and empty water bottles (swords!). We rarely wore clothing during the day (just suits and coverups) so I really could have packed clothes for 2 days and then just washed!! We did pack 2 suits for each person in case one was drying and that was a great plan.

Make sure to take Baby powder with you and leave outside the back door to put on your dry sandy hands/feet. It wipes right off!! Has to be dry, though.

As far as meds, I took 1 bottle of Kids Motrin and 1 Tylenol. Ended up having 1 kid get tonsillitis and strep so I used 1 entire bottle. Didn't need any infant for the baby but took just in case. I also brought Hydrocortosine and ended up putting on my bug bites! Bring lotion, bandaids and EXTRA sunscreen. We all brought sunscreen but went through it quickly (especially the spray kind). Don't forget bug spray, too.

My kids are perfectly able to wear a pair of shorts or a hoodie for more than one day. If we're at the beach, we just cut back on laundry completely. They are in swimsuits most of the time. Pack a little extra for baby. We had those wetsuit type swimsuits (from knees to neck with zip down front) for our toddlers. They lived in them at beach (with a swim diaper on underneath). I would just hose everyone off at end of day.

We tend to just bring swimsuits, a couple of pair of shorts, maybe one pair of pants (if it gets cold at night on beach), couple of tee shirts, and 1 hoodie. Throw everything in laundry machine mid way through week. I tend to bring it all home with me to wash rather than do second load. We just do a big load first nice day home and hang to dry.

Meds - just Tylenol/Advil in case you have a fever or pain in night. Anything else you can pick up. I tend to have those in my purse anyhow. Bandaids (also normally in purse).

Toys - we skip mostly, because we're on the beach. We bring buckets and a badminton set, kites, that sort of thing. I want it to be a vacation from our ordinary life, so we bring vacation toys (cheap) and easily foldable/stowable. Ours all go up top on our pod (then blast it later to get sand out). Stick our beach chairs up there too.

We do bring board game (2 maybe) and a pack of cards. And books. Everyone reads on the beach. Oh yes, pack beach umbrella too :)

Good luck and have fun :)

Take the clothes they wear, 2 more sets, and something for going out. That's it. Wash the clothes mid week. If your kids are like other kids they'll be at the beach a lot and won't need a lot. Let her pick a few things to play with after dinner if you're going to be staying in the house instead of going back to the water.

I'd go minimal and buy stuff there if I needed it.

Take Tylenol, Motrin, and something for immediate allergic reactions. I carry Benadryl in my purse all the time.

What more do you need? Is the house near a town? Then you have access to anything you need.

We went to Boston for a few days a couple of weeks ago ... I have a 2 yo and 4 yo. I took coloring books, crayons, a white board and markers for each, 2 iPads, Color Wonder, Go Fish cards, 8 little cars, 1 doll and her bottle, and some of the things included here ... http://www.learnwithplayathome.com/2014/12/diy-kids-hotel... .... "Tape town" was a huge hit in the afternoons. I used colored masking tape from Walmart. I bet tic-TAC-toe would be fun for the 6 yo.

As for clothes, I took one full outfit each for every day, wrapped together as a complete outfit to make it easy to grab in the mornings, plus 2 backups and 2 sets of pjs and only 2 pairs of shoes ... 1 that slipped off easy for the car ride and evenings and 1 for lots of walking. For your 1 yo, I'd take a few diapers and buy a small pack for the week when you get there. As for meds, just take what they HAVE TO HAVE. if you need something, someone can always run to the store. A small first aid kit would be good too.

Have fun!

ETA - forgot to mention, I also let each kiddo pick 1 small (under $10) toy from the store to have on the trip. They liked having a little something new and different. We only used the iPad's after nap time in the car (it was a 12-hour drive) and in the mornings while I got ready for whatever our fun thing for the day was.

Whatever you would use/wear on a daily basis. Add bathing suits, beach towels, beach bag, sunscreen, Tylenol. I am sure you will be by stores if you forget anything. Make a list. Take anything that kids sleep with. If I am going somewhere where I have a washer/dryer, I pack for four days and do laundry. If I am going for a week or 10 days I pack for four. Since you will be at a beach house, chances are bathing suits will be the dress of the day.

Comment about the washing machine thing. I have traveled A LOT and the best thing to do is take clothes that are interchangeable. Everything goes with everything. If you're gone a week. Take 4 shorts, 2 pants,5 tops. On the 4th day do your washing. For a family of 4, should be two loads that you can easily do one evening. Less stuff makes things much easier. Have fun!

When we go to the beach we tend to wear our swimsuits 90% of the time. So for a week I would bring a couple of swimsuits, a couple of shorts and t-shits, one pair of long pants and a hoodie per person. You're at the beach, so it's not like you all need to be dressed up and super clean! When we go to the beach we would normally just bring a few beach toys (water guns, shovel and pail), books, a deck of cards and some colouring in case it rains, which is the only time we are in the house. For meds I brought a small bottle of children's Tylenol. Make sure to have lots of sunscreen and insect repellant. I don't know where your beach house is, but when we travel we never seem to be too far from a drug store, so I don't worry about bringing everything, just in case.

Don't over think things. Try to just plan and go with the flow.

You don't need to take all the meds in your house. How frequently do you use all the meds in your house? As for toys, the beach house will be a new adventure for them to explore and play. I don't see a need to pack toys they see daily when they are going on vacation.

We don't do road trips but we do fly a lot. I pack lightly and wear clothes that are interchangeable with each other to make different outfits. Hubby and I typically share 1 suitcase and daughter has her own suitcase.

Another thing we do is go to a local Target or Pharmacy and pick up what we need when we get there.

In the past, we would ship a box with water toys to the hotel and it would be waiting on us when we got there.

Relax, go enjoy your vacation!!

I used to travel with our kids a lot. I would bring childrens tylonal and allergy stuff and bandaids. anything more than that we would stop at a walgreens which is on every 3rd corner. So no need to stock an entire medical kit.

clothing. Like previous poster I would do laundry on the 3rd day and again the night before coming home. that way we came home with all clean clothes except pjs.

toys. if your 6 year old doesn't play with toys why pack them? ipad, a couple card games and some coloring books your set. and all of those fit in a school backpack. bonus she can carry them herself/himself. for the baby only a couple little things that you know are for sure a hit.

have fun!

If you are within 10 miles of a store, I wouldn't load up on meds. What's the likelihood of an emergency? What do you absolutely need on short notice? I'd say anything prescription, and Tylenol, and a thermometer. And sunscreen.

Baby - diapers and wipes, diaper cream. A few plastic bags for the car (diapers, trash). Estimate on the diapers and buy more there if necessary. Are you cooking meals in the house? Then you will be at a grocery store at least once when you get there anyway. 3 pairs pajamas, 2 swim suits, beach cover up & hat, 3 pairs shorts & shirts (or onesies, whatever is usual). Two favorite loveys or pacifiers, whatever is needed for comfort. Bottles & food & baby spoon. Jacket for cool nights. If your child is walking, get a good set of water shoes for the hot sand, something easy to put on sandy feet.

Older child - 2 pairs pjs, 3 shorts/shirts, 2 bathing suits for sure, cover up and hat. Jacket for cool nights. 1 Pair sneakers, 1 pair sandals or water shoes that will dry. It's absolutely nothing to throw a few things in a vacation washer - you won't be doing it all week because you don't have that many things!

Toys: 1 washable plastic tote or mesh bag for sand toys - buckets, shovels, sifter, sand mold for castle. A mesh or open bag lets you dip the whole sandy mess in the water to rinse off and drip dry before heading back home. Maybe a squishy water ball for tossing in the water. Find out what the rules are on the beach re inflatables, boogie boards, etc. Find out if the house has them - I've toted stuff to the beach house only to find that the rental has everything, including beach towels, chairs and umbrellas and noodles.

Buy a FEW new toys for each kid for the car, and pack ahead of time. Every time a kid is fussy, whip out a new toy. Same with coloring books or pads of paper for the artsy 6 year old. If the house has puzzles and games for rainy days, great. Many do. Otherwise, take a new 100-piece puzzle. I find them at the dollar stores all the time.

Get a few books, either new or from the library. Do not show the kids before you leave home. The joy of something new is great and you just don't need as much. Often you can borrow books at the public library near the beach house - another underutilized resource.

Put snacks in small containers, and take a small cooler for yogurt, sandwiches, etc. Don't buy water bottles - use a refillable bottle. Less clutter, less litter, less expense. Go easy on the juice in the car - it makes a mess. Again, water is great.

You already know that you overpack. Cut down by half. You are not going to Outer Mongolia - there will be stores. Get really good info on what's already in the house - I can't emphasize that enough. You're paying for it - use it!

not sure i understand what you mean about the meds. i've got two medicine cabinets stuffed with things we've accumulated over the years. why would pack them all just because they're in the house? i mean, beyond sunscreen and tylenol, why pack any of it? unless you're going to a beach on a desert island, you can go to the store and get something you if you need it unexpectedly, right?
only 1 or 2 toys each. we did the favorite wooby plus one. but we did bring a variety of books, a deck of cards and maybe a board game.
i'd pack 4 or 5 'sets' for each, ie undies, shorts, t-shirts. one pair of long pants (not jeans) and a long-sleeved shirt each just in case. but you don't need full armor for each and every day.
khairete
S.

I'd make sure you have Children's Tylenol so that you don't have to go out in the middle of the night to get any. And also bring Desitin and sunscreen.

Other than that, I wouldn't buy too much.

I'd just bring a few toys, but bring books to read for winding down time. Bring at least six changes of clothes because you'll probably use 2 a day. Wash all of the family clothes together to save on laundry. Just wash one load a day. That's not hard. Bring a small bottle of detergent with you if you have one so you don't have to pay beach prices.

I'd bring a baby blanket with you that your one year old is used to. It will help her sleep.

Have fun!!

I travel a lot with little kids. We bring a lot unless we fly. I alway pack meds: thermometer and children's Tylenol is a minimum, but I usually bring Benadryl too.
for summer I always pack 2 swimsuits (so always a dry one), a cover up, three sets of jamies (but two would work), two casual outfits and two summer dresses, a jacket and a pair of jeans, a tennis shoe, a flip flop or croc, and a dressy shoe, socks and panties one per day. I do one load of laundry mid week. each kid gets one car bag for toys and one more bag of toys for the house. I limit the toys to the size of bag i chose, not the other way around. Also a pool/ beach bag full of floaties, sunscreen, swim diapers, and beach toys.
then of course baby paraphernalia galore: baby monitor, travel high chair....

I bring kids Tylenol and allergy medicine. I also bring tums, a medical kit, and adult Advil.

I usually have one plastic container for toys, but this summer my kids can put whatever toys they want in their backpacks. I will put a few other things in my suitcase for our toddler (though she'd be happy just with my iphone!). My kids then have their own suitcases. I'll tell them to pack 4 outfits and fit whatever stuffed animals they can in there too.

I'd bring all of your clothes for the baby. We went to the beach when my toddler was 6 months.

Two swim suits for everyone is a must.

I don't know if you do a black out screen in your baby's room, but I always bring aluminum foil and masking tape in case too much light blasts through windows.

I would bring all the meds, let the 6 year old choose her own toys that she can reasonably carry in her backpack, and take 3 laundry detergent balls in a safe case so they don't get squeezed.

Figure out your packing based on the 3 detergent balls.

I have three kids a 2 month old, a 3 years old, and a 5 years old. If you have a week a head of time. I make a list in that week of what they and we wear, use, and what they play with and I pack that. I bring Tylenol and the syringes for them and band aids, so remember shampoo, tons of wipes, diapers, stroller, Bjorne, snacks and water. You're good! Have a great trip!

we recently went to the beach with a 3 and a 4 yr old. i packed one outfit per day and 2 extras for messes. they spent the entire time in swimwear and half the clothing went unworn.
i took an old backpack style purse and had the kids put a few toys each in there. sand toys were in a beach basket thing and were the only toys that were used.

consider packing some cool/ wet weather clothes. Some sweats and an anorak. I remember a number of family vacations as a kid where we went to a warm weather desitination, but the weather did not cooperate. Spent most of the vacation wearing the clothes we had travelled in.

Best,
F. B.

I've always just ever packed one outfit per day. plus swimsuits, pj's (not so necessary really), and maybe an extra outfit or a couple extra pairs of undies. one toy (or "fun") bag per kid. and not huge ones either. so each kid should have at most two bags. as far as first aid, I basically pack whatever I have - it doesn't take up much room. have fun!

We are leaving for our cruise soon and I have started to pack. It's 5 days on the ship and driving 2 days. I searched a lot on Pinterest and got crazy packing tips. Mostly it's getting clothes the same color schemes and mixing and matching. All my clothes I'm taking are black, white, gray and red. I have 3 casual capri pants and one dressy one packed, 5 casual shirts for the day (including a couple tanks) and 5 dressier shirts for the dinners. I also have 2 dresses (one for formal dinner but really we aren't doing formal). I tend to WAY over pack as well and even tho technically this is way more than I "need", I like the option to choose and not only have one outfit per day. I can also mix and match everything since they all go with each other. My kids are taking 3 shorts, 2 casual pants and 1 dress pant (or dress for my daughter) and 1 dress shirt for my son, the rest casual tops, probably 6 or 7. Same for my husband. The best advice I saw about packing for a cruise was that its casual and fun and no one cares what you are wearing. Probably true. And probably the same when you're on vacation.

I am taking Neosporin with bandaids, in case of scrapes or blisters, Ibuprophen, allergy meds and some cold capsules that I know work when we take them as soon as we start to feel bad. Also some Tums. Anything else happens to us we will just have to deal with it. lol

If you are close to Walmart I would not worry about anything other than the basics. I know how hard it is because I do the "what if's" also...what if we get diarrhea, or constipated, or a rash...you can't worry about all that.

My kids are older but I would take very little "toys". Coloring books and crayons and maybe some games they like to play but they should be busy doing things and tired at night. I hope you figure it out, I know how hard it is to take too much, it's overwhelming and most of it you don't use or need. Good luck!