What? A 13-hour road trip with a 3-year-old, 2-year-old and 2-month-old!? No! I thought to myself as we booked a much-needed family trip that would take us on an adventure in our car.
The trip went better than planned (minus permanently losing the car keys, but let’s not get off topic). There is a certain joy and appreciation of minivans when you have three kids. Here are my tips for making any road trip with littles work:
Have Food On Hand
The first thing you need to tackle is snacks. I found a basket at the dollar store that fit perfectly into my front console area. I packed a solid day’s worth of snacks into it for the kids and made sure to have a variety. I also packed a separate tote bag with snacks for most of the trip so we wouldn’t have to do too much extra shopping. Let’s face it: littles are apt to not eat a lot at restaurants or on the road while on vacation because there is just too much new stuff happening, so snacks are really crucial.
Second, for my dear formula fed baby I packed his own reusable shopping bag of extra bottles and formula plus some dish soap to wash them when needed. If you don’t want to hassle washing bottles on the road, I recommend getting the pre-made bottles that come usually in 2oz or 8oz size that you can buy disposable nipples for. This is a dream because you can just dispose of it when the baby is done eating. I learned to keep this bag within reach of the passenger seat or to have it be easily accessible to make the whole process more efficient.
Be Ready to Entertain
Third, is the need for entertainment. This is so crucial. We do not have a fancy entertainment system with DVD player in our van. Also, our 2-year-old does not want anything to do with movies or technology at all. My family has a Kindle that we let our kids share with movies and games on it. Save this excitement if you are going to be driving after dark but before bedtime.
I got the kids new little bags with a zipper. It can be cutesy little backpacks or purses or pencil pouches or larger cosmetic bag. I stuffed these things with little notebooks, pens and crayons, and other little trinkets from the dollar store. You might consider packing two bags, as you will need new stuff to put in there for the way home to keep things exciting. Some other things I handed my kids throughout the time in the car was: a toy magnifying glass, plastic toy bugs and a little container, a page of stickers and a book or board to put them on, picture books, magic ink coloring books with the magic color marker, and various other small toys.
Map Out Your Planned Stops
It can be hard to figure out where your next meal is coming from on the road, and eating out can get expensive. We tried eating at places like Costco since we had a membership and we knew the food would be fast and inexpensive. Or we did drive-thrus. Drive-thrus work great because you don’t have to waste time getting everyone out of the car or waste time waiting for everyone to eat at a table. I recommend having little trays or shower caddy with compartments or some form of a plastic bin to put each kid’s food into to make it easier for them to hold onto and eat from. We timed our long stops around the baby. Try to find a park or rest area with green space or worst case, for inclement weather, find a fast food place that has an indoor play space.
Make Sure to Pack These Items!
- Pack a vomit bag! What? Yes! This is crucial even if you don’t expect it. Add a bag with Clorox wipes, paper towels, and plastic grocery bags.
- Pack towels! Even if you don’t anticipate needing them at your destination pack at least two towels. They can be used for many things.
- Pack your kids clothes in a plastic drawer organizer if you have space for it! We had a smaller one with 3 drawers and each kid had an assigned drawer. It was super easy to grab a change of clothes out for a kid when needed. This was also super easy for during the vacation, we didn’t have to unpack the kids’ clothes or have piles lying about and we just threw all the dirty clothes into a trash bag for the way home.
What are some road trip tips that you have?
