I recently traveled with my two kids to visit family six hundred miles away. While there, my sister saw my luggage and commented on the one bag that contained all that crap that a three-year-old, a five-month-old, and their mama might need for a five day trip. With her encouraging, I have decided to share what I have learned about efficient packing with children.
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| This is the bag post-trip. If you are interested in the bag, it can be found at Large Utility Tote |
2: If laundry is an option at the place where you are going, pack even less.
3: If packing diapers, pack them into your travel bag with the clothes. By putting them in with the clothes, you are constantly freeing up more space in the bag for the things you are surely going to accumulate on your travels
4: Embrace the idea of clothes as pajamas. A pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt can be used both for sleeping and also as a backup outfit if needed. You can plan for the kid (or yourself) to wear them on the drive home, eliminating an entire outfit from the bag.
5: If a single outfit requires its own special pair of shoes, pick a different outfit.
6: Baby shoes, while cute and a natural cause of "aww", are useless. If the kid ain't walking, the shoes are just taking up space.
7: Skip the awkward sized toiletry bag. Wrap your toothbrush in a paper towel and throw it in the bag. Pack just the basics.
8: Duffle bags are a lie. While unzipped, they seem to fit all your things, then you go to close it and its like putting sausage back in it's casing. Stick to rigid shapes if possible. It also is easier to get to what you need.
9: Make it multi-purpose: hydrocortisone works on burns, bites, hives, and sores. Skip single purpose items.
10: Accept that you may need to stop at the drugstore. To pack for all types of possible injuries and ailments is stressful and demands a lot of space. Pack one type of pain reliever/fever reducer (sans box) and hope for the best.
*I also had a diaper bag with changing mat, bulb syringe, my wallet, phone, etc. and bag that contained my pump and supplies.
**From this trip I learned that I should have packed sunscreen and bandaids. They were the only two things I needed by did not have. Next time I will pack only the lotion-style sunscreen (the spray kind leaves a smell on clothes packed nearby) and two bandaids just tossed loosely into the bag.
***If you want specifics, here is what was in the bag.
For me:
1-dress
1-pants
2-shorts
1-gym shorts that were worn as pi's but could be regular shorts if need
1-pair of jeans
5-shirts
1-bra
3-unies
2-socks
1-pair of sandals
1-swimsuit
1-book
1-ipad
1-charger
1-sweatshirt
1-zipoc bag of vitamins
1-small tube of hydrocortisone
1- hair straightener
For the toddler:
3-shorts
1-pair of pants
5-tshirts
4-undies
2-socks
1-pair of shoes
1-swimsuit
1- one cup sized pyrex with medicine
1-sweatshirt
For the baby:
5-outfits
1-pj's
3-socks
1- cardigan
1-pack of diapers
1-pack of wipes
1-swimsuit
1-bottle of infant tylenol
1- container of formula
1-bottle
