In early June of this year I was one of two moms taking five children (ages 8, 7, 5, 2, and 2) on a TWENTY hour road trip (one way) all in one vehicle. These are some Tips for Travel with Toddlers and Early Grade-schoolers that I learned from the trip.
Before the trip I put together a bunch of DIY’s & activities to take along. All are simple, inexpensive, and space sensitive. I have created a series of posts outlining those that you can link to below.
DIY Travel Entertainment for Kids
DIY Dollar Tree Travel Racetrack for Kids
DIY Dollar Tree Travel Tray and Supplies Caddy for Kids
TIPS FOR TRAVEL WITH KIDS
From experience TIPS learned from traveling 20 hours (one way) with another mom and our five young children.
Hotel bags
If you are staying in hotels along the way hotel bags are a must. This keeps you from having to carry in multiple bags while also wrangling kids. It also streamlines the time in the hotel as you are not having to dig through different bags for different things. When packing be sure to keep in mind that with kids if you think you need 2, pack at least 3 and maybe even 4. Our hotel bag(s) for myself, my 7 year old, and my 2 year old for an anticipated two nights in hotels included:
- 2 pairs of pajamas for each of us
- 3 pairs of clothes for each of us
- 3-4 pairs of underwear/socks for each of us
- Diapers & wipes
- Toothbrushes/Floss/Toothpaste
- Face wash/Makeup
- Shampoo, Conditioner, Soap, and Lotion or we just used the hotels
- Nail clippers/file, Q-tips, and Cotton balls
- Tylenol, bandaids, and Neosporin
- Extra pair of shoes for each of us
- Stuffed animals or special blankets for the kids
- Chargers for the electronics
- Swimsuits
- Grocery sacks for dirty clothes
- Vitamins
- Extra ziplocks
- Snacks
Water
Buy gallon jugs of water to fill water bottles. Much cheaper than buying single serve. It is kind-of impressive how much you will need with 7 people.
Snacks, Snacks, and more Snacks
Have snacks prepped in single serve packets or ziplocks for easy handout or try these baskets & liners from Dollar Tree to fill and send back snacks. We had SO many snacks and kept them in a bin on the floor in the front seat. Our most requested snacks included:
- Jerky
- Chocolate rice cakes
- Squeeze Pouches
- Veggie Straws
- Goldfish
- Cheeze-its
- Kind Bars
- Apples
- PB & Honey Sandwiches
- Teddy Grahams
- Nuts
- Yogurt Raisens
- We started with a cooler for refridgerated items as well with:
- String Cheese
- Yogurts
- Homemade Lunchables
- Carrots & Ranch
- Canadian Bacon
- Baby Bell Cheese
Ideally, go with the Flow
If you have the freedom to not set a rigid schedule I would advise just going with the flow of the trip. Even though it might save you money to book hotels ahead of time we didn’t. We just booked wherever we landed at the end of our travel day. Some days we pushed later than others and some days we stopped earlier. The fun in traveling in my opinion is when you can really enjoy the sites and stop often. That feeling of removing the pressure to be somewhere at a certain time is magical for me.
Breakfast
Traveling is really exhausting which is odd considering you are mostly just sitting. As a result, let the kids sleep in if you can and if they will. You can make up that time having breakfast at the hotel or grabbing and going from their selection. This also saves you money. If there is no breakfast offered have easy to transport breakfast items ready in your hotel bag or in the car. Ideas include:
- Bananas
- Apples
- English muffins
- Peanut butter
- Nuts
- Trail mix
- You can also take a small cooler for refridgerated items and then just refill ziplocs with ice at the hotel each night. If you do this items could include:
- Yogurt
- String Cheese
- Boiled Eggs
- Canadian Bacon
Lunch/Dinner
If you are traveling all day make sure to stop and get out for at least one meal. It breaks up the travel day just a little and allows you to stretch your legs. If you are organized enough and have lunches packed stop at a park and have a picnic to save money.
The other meal we generally ate in the car. The first day we had a cooler packed with peanut butter & honey and homemade lunchables. Our intention was to refill ice at hotel stops and keep refilling. We ended up abandoning this idea after day 2 as it was just one more thing to manage. It is a great way to save money and eat healthier though. Once our cold food ran out we went through drive-thrus or grabbed lunch at gas stations. You can usually find Lunchables, pre-made sandwiches or salads and hot items like pizza.
Bathroom Breaks
You will make lots of these. Make all potty aged kids try to go at all stops. Otherwise you will have to make WAY more of these. Limiting drinks to just mostly water is super helpful too. This didn’t apply to the moms because coffee. The kids also got other drinks on occasion but not lots.
Let them Run
Let the kids run every chance you get. Stop in locations with room to run such as playgrounds or parks. Many rest areas have lots of room and playgrounds available also. We hit a couple really cool scenic pullouts that had running room as well.
Keep them Entertained
Have LOTS of activities prepped and ready to go for when they get bored every few minutes. Have Electronics charged and ready to go as well. You will thank me.
Don’t Stress the Mess
Seriously you just can’t stress this or you will be a nervous wreck the whole way. At each stop as we were releasing the children we would have kids hand up garbage and we would grab some as we helped the littles out. Co-mom ended up vacuuming with a little car vacuum each morning as she and her 3 always beat myself and my 2 out. Thank you.
Seperation
With this many children this close to one another irritations are bound to happen. Co-mom brought one of these display boards and it worked great for seperation when they just needed a time out from one another. Also they can color on it while it’s up too. We should have brought 2.
Big Emotions
Expect them from the kids and probably also the adults. Add all the personalities and then mix in exhaustion, boredom, stress, anxiety, mishaps and there will be tiffs and big emotions. Use them as a learning opportunity on how we could have better handled that exchange. Do this with the kids too. Ha.
Patience
Don’t forget to take your patience. Seriously if you remember only one thing please let it be this. You will need it trifold.
Expectations
Leave these at home. The trip WILL NOT go as planned. There will be fights, disasters, unplanneds, hurt feelings, and disappointments. There will also be giggles, wow moments, pure joy, and memories for a lifetime. Best advice try to just live in the moment. Humor helps too.
Rest
Rest. Being on the road at naptime gets you a little further with the toddlers at least. It’s a good time to just hand out the electronics and all take a quiet moment. Their bodies and minds need the rest as well as needing rest from each other.
Let them be Kids
If you are super uptight this will be a miserable experience for you. I borderline on that so I had to put in the work to focus on the current moment and not stress the small stuff. Like really put in the work. The moments I could chill out and relax were by far the best moments for myself and likely for all the co-travelers.
What did I miss!?
I would love to hear if you try any of these tips and if so if they work for you!
HAPPY
TRAVELING
