My Go-To Tips for Traveling with Little Kids

If there is one thing my husband and I have gotten pretty good at over the last four years, it’s traveling with little kids.

We have a four-year-old and a two-year-old, and we recently got back from the best family beach vacation. It was about a four-hour drive away, and in just a couple of weeks, we’ll be packing everyone up again—this time for a trip that involves a flight. Between road trips, plane rides, and family vacations, we’ve traveled with our kids pretty frequently throughout their lives, and I feel like we’ve finally gotten our system down to a science.

Don’t get me wrong, traveling with little kids will probably never be completely effortless.  But I’ve found a few things that make preparing for a trip feel so much easier.

So if you were my girlfriend sitting across the table from me asking, “Okay, what do I pack? What do I bring? And how do you get everyone out the door?”—these are the tips I would give you.

1. My Number One Tip: The Golden Packing List

 I am very Type A. I like a plan, I like to be prepared, and I really don’t like forgetting things.

I would definitely consider myself an overpacker, especially when it comes to the kids. Little kids require a lot of stuff, and there are certain things that just make traveling with them easier.

My number one tip is simple: keep one master packing list.

I keep ours in the Notes app on my phone. Normally, I’m a pen-and-paper type of girl, but I love using a shared note for two reasons. First, my husband can access it, too. As a mom, I feel like there can be so many things floating around in your head that only you are responsible for remembering. Having everything on one shared list gets it out of my head and makes packing as much his responsibility as it is mine.

Second—and this is probably the biggest reason—I never have to completely recreate the list. At this point, this note is basically my husband’s and my holy grail when it comes to traveling. It’s a big, extensive list separated into categories: toiletries, kitchen items, things for my son, things for my daughter, pool and beach supplies, and bigger items like a stroller. At different stages, we’ve also had things like bottles and pumping supplies on there. The best part is that it’s a running list that grows and changes with our family.

For our most recent beach trip, I went through and checked off things we didn’t need, like pumping supplies or winter coats and gloves. I don’t delete them because we may need them again for another trip—especially with another baby on the way! I simply check them off as if they’ve already been packed. Then we only check off the things we do need once they’re actually in the suitcase.

So every time we travel, we’re not starting from scratch. We just open the list, edit it based on where we’re going, and start packing. It makes things so much easier.

2. Start With Everything Clean

This might sound a little crazy, but I like to do all of the laundry right before we leave. I want everyone’s clothes clean and put away before I really start packing. I like doing this for myself, too. That way, I have the full selection of everything we own and don’t get halfway through packing and realize, oh shoot, they need more underwear. Now I have to wash it and come back. I prefer to have everything clean and ready so I can just pack once and be done.

I do the same thing with things we’re bringing from the kitchen. If we’re taking specific cups, snack containers, or anything else for the kids, I want those washed and ready before I start packing. It’s a small thing, but it makes the entire process feel much more efficient.

 3. Have a Grocery Plan Before You Leave

We always bring snacks for the actual travel portion of the trip, whether we’re driving or flying. But when we get to our destination, there are certain things our kids always eat. Milk, yogurt, their favorite granola bars—you know, the staples that can make a new place feel a little more familiar.

Before we leave, I either make a grocery list of everything we want to pick up when we get there or, if possible, I go ahead and schedule a grocery delivery. That way, I’m not standing in Target in vacation mode trying to remember what else we need. It’s already figured out before we leave the house.

 If I can have groceries delivered shortly after we arrive at our Airbnb or vacation spot, even better. I would much rather do the planning beforehand than spend precious vacation time trying to get organized once we’re there.

 4. Keep Some Activities Just for Travel

 Another thing that really helps us is having activities that feel fresh and exciting for the kids.

For our recent beach trip, I brought a few books and activities that they hadn’t seen before for the car ride. We also have iPads that they really only use when we’re traveling, so getting to use them on a plane—or during part of a long car ride—is a pretty big deal.

I know a lot of people recommend buying new toys and activities for every trip, and I love doing that here and there, but I don’t think it’s necessary—or realistic—to buy a bunch of new things every single time we travel. Instead, I keep a separate travel activity bag. It’s a big toiletry bag with smaller toys, activity books, and things that they don’t regularly have access to at home. They know it’s for traveling, so even if the toys aren’t technically brand new, they haven’t seen them in a while. Every once in a while, I’ll add something new to the mix, but mostly I just rotate what we already have. t’s an easy way to make things feel exciting without spending a fortune every time we take a trip.

 Do the Prep Before the Vacation So You Can Enjoy the Vacation.

I think that’s really the theme behind all of these tips. Do as much as you can before you leave. Make the list. Do the laundry. Plan the groceries. Pull out the activities.

Obviously, you can’t plan for everything when you’re traveling with little kids, and there will always be something unexpected. But for me, doing the prep work ahead of time means I can spend less of the trip getting organized and more time actually enjoying it.

Our kids are still little, and traveling with them definitely comes with its own kind of chaos. But I truly love getting to experience new places with them and make these memories as a family.

So if you were sitting across from me asking for my best advice on packing up a family with little kids and getting out the door as smoothly as possible, this is exactly what I would tell you.

 And now I want to know—what are your best family travel tips? Is there something simple that makes traveling with kids easier that I need to add to my routine? Please share!

That’s all for now. Safe travels! XXX, McKenzie