The following is a partnership with Febreze and SheSpeaks. All opinions are my own.
With six small children at home, traveling by airplane is cost prohibitive for us. I’m dying for a vacation, so I’m hoping we’ll be loading up our beloved minivan and hitting the road to sunny Florida this fall.
I’ll be honest. Surviving a long road trip with kids isn’t for the faint of heart. Need some tips and tricks to make it through the journey with your sanity {somewhat} intact?
Surviving a Road Trip with Kids
Let’s take a look.
Get Them Involved
While you’re getting everything together, ask your children’s opinion. Let them help pick favorite outfits or toys to bring along.
Older children can even help plan the vacation itinerary. My children love to look at travel books with me and consider potential vacation destinations, or look at animals that they’d like to spot while we’re visiting the beach.
Get Started Early
Maybe I’m a giant geek, but I like to get started packing early. If I do that, I’m much less likely not to forget important things like our favorite sunscreen.
My only problem with this? Keeping my children out of the suitcase.
Have you seen the BRILLIANT parenting hack about packing? Grab a gallon ziploc bag and put an entire outfit for the day – top, shorts, underwear, socks, hair ribbons, etc. When you’re on vacation, it’s easy to see what’s clean (the outfits still in bags), and you have an extra bag in which to store wet clothes, etc. This works especially well for little ones on beach trips.
Familiar is Fun!
Vacation is not the time to forget your child’s favorite lovey. If your kids have blankets, stuffed animals or books they simply can’t live without, you’d better bring them along. I limit my children to ONE special item.
Check out the Car
Before leaving on vacation, make sure your tires are in good shape,and that it hasn’t been six months since your last oil change. Breaking down on the road with a car full of children = miserable.
Don’t forget to make your vehicle comfortable for traveling. We take along our favorite music, pillows, and bring along Febreze car vent clips to dispel the odors from stinky feet and discarded garlic pretzels. (Find them easily at your local Walmart.)
Rachel’s favorite is the Gain Scent Island car vent clip. “Mom, it smells like the beach!”
We put one up front for us, and one in the back vents for the children as well.
Create a Time Line for Kids
What about this travel tip – an “Are we there yet” countdown chain?
Create a paper chain for the predicted hours of the trip, giving your children a visual reminder of how long is left. Simple, but so effective!
Be Realistic
Remember the days of hitting the beach for Spring Break?
You and your friends would load up the car and drive straight through. Not such an awesome idea with children.
General rule of thumb from a mom of many: add one hour for each child into your estimated travel time. So, my 13 hour trip turns into 15 or more with my crew. Not fun, but realistic.
Snack Smart
We grab our electric cooler, load it with sandwiches, and pack our favorite snacks. Much cheaper and definitely healthier than chips and drinks at the gas stations.
Potty Patience
Traveling with kids means lots of bathroom stops. Gas Station bathrooms can be the pits at times – you might consider a travel potty seat. Another good idea would be keeping hand sanitizer and wipes close at hand.
Having a change of clothes handy in the car is a great idea in case there’s a potty accident.
Activities and Books on the Go
My children love to color and draw, but I’d be a crazy woman if I turned them loose with conventional markers and crayons in the car. I’d be spending hours with my Magic Eraser cleaning off the seats.
Instead, we use our travel activity books and cards with wipe clean markers. (dry erase crayons work well on these, too!)
Here’s what we pack on a trip:
These activity cards are filled with mazes, puzzles and fun ideas for things to do to pass the time on a long car ride. Since they wipe off, they can be used over and over.
Maeve is not quite ready for the activity cards, so she gets her own little children’s travel activity book.
I’m a sneaky homeschool mom, so I’m always finding ways for my kids to review their lessons, even on the road. Rachel’s working on US Geography this year, so I’m putting these States and Capitals wrap-ups in our bag.
We also love sticker books for travel time.
Rachel LOVES the Sticker Dolly line from Usborne. These two are perfect for traveling!
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Since she’s not keen on sharing with her little sister, I picked up this one for our toddler Maeve.
How cute is this teddy bears on vacation book?
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The boys would rather practice their drawing skills with these doodle books – look how fun! I picked up travel pocket doodles and monster doodles for them to use soon.
Electronic Entertainment
We’re a plugged in family, but I try to keep electronic devices put away until a last resort on a trip. We’re be taking along a few of our favorite devices to keep everyone occupied.
DVD player
Instead of taking your ENTIRE DVD collection, what about letting your children choose 2 movies to bring along? One friend of mine even suggested stopping by Redbox as you leave your city, since you’d be able to easily return the new movie along the way.
iPad
It’s easy to load it up with your favorite apps and movies before you leave.
Some of our favorites for a beach vacation are:
Hush, Little Beachcomber
Why the Sea is Salty
Amazon Fire
I love the parental controls on the Amazon Fire – once the timer is up, you’re done for the day!
Audiobooks
Everyone LOVES audiobooks in our home, and they’re easy to load on our devices and phones.
Some of our favorites for road trips:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Boxcar Children
The Story of the World
Febreze and Walmart are partnering to provide one of my readers a $25 Walmart gift card – perfect for stocking up on Febreze car clips and other travel necessities!
To enter to win, simply leave a comment with your BEST tip for traveling with children.
This giveaway will end Friday, March 20th at midnight EDT.
Pack snacks and games when traveling with children.
My tip is to pack a busy bag for your kids, include games, books, snacks and a drink
It’s fun to make up games to keep busy. We like to play count the windmills.
My tip is to have games and activities to keep the kids busy.
We always make sure to have separate bags of snacks, toys, games, books, and their Kindle Fires. 🙂
I buy small new little trinkets (slinkys, etc.) and wrap them up as gifts for surviving X amount of hours.
Awesome content and ideas that everyone can follow through on their next road trip plans.