We often make the drive down from Indiana to Florida with two little kids, a baby, and two dogs in tow. 😅 I’d be lying if I said it was a piece of cake, but we do make necessary preparations in order to make it a *tad* easier. I will say that the last trip we made, was the easiest yet!
There are two types of people when it comes to traveling long distances… the people who split it up and stop at a hotel for the night, and the people who drive straight through, until they reach their destination. When it was just my husband and I, we would cruise through the night, no problem. Now that we have littles, we stop for the night, even if its midnight, to have everyone stretch out their limbs for a few hours, and get a continental breakfast before we hit the road again.
Here are some of the *lifesavers* we found helpful on our trip.
Bring a Tablet or iPad
I am not a huge advocate for giving littles screen time. However, the exception to the rule, is when we are traveling. That way it holds their attention for too much longer, than if they are used to having the device in front of them. I always have a few of their favorite shows/movies downloaded and a couple new ones they haven’t seen yet. New movies always grip my little’s attention for the whole duration if they are good! If only using one device for multiple kids, we love this iPad car holder and headphone splitter. These headphones my littles seem to really like too!
Surprises every hour
I always stop into the Dollar Store before we leave on a trip and grab a handful of goodies. I surprise my kids with a little trinket, every hour or so that we are on the road. I have no shame in using bribery as a tool in my back pocket, lol. If you are flying, then these are great for when the device doesn’t hold their attention, or if your little one is too little for a show (been there).
Stopping at parks to stretch
Rather than stopping at rest stops, we found it way better to stop at a playground, park, or field near the route to stretch legs and expel energy. Traveling with our dogs too, we’ve found that people are more likely to pick up dog poop near these places than rest stops. 🙄
Here are some of the items I ALWAYS have in the travel bag:
- Water Bottles— always have a leak proof one, because they are always going to be dropped, thrown, or end up on their side. We love these. We also bring our mega Canteen we got at Walmart to refill any bottles on the road. Nothing is worse than being really thirsty, and being out of water.
- Snack box--I love filling these up, then the kids have fun spinning it around to get their snacks out. Once it’s empty, we can fill it back up at a stop. We have no end of snacks on road trips. 😉
- Coloring— There are so many good ones out there. We LOVE these Doodle pads we got for the kids. They are great for on the go, or even to throw in the diaper bag to have a restaurants. I personally love the Color Wonder markers and pages, Imagine Ink’s, and Water Wow painters are amazing for the car or plane! Bonus, they aren’t messy!
- Stickers— Stickers are a great time filler for restless toddlers, to young kids (4-7). We have gone through SO many over the years. Some of our favorites are these Melissa & Doug Puffy Stickers, Create your own Animal Faces, and even grabbing a sticker book, and letting them go wild.
- Baby Spinners— Windows, tables, highchairs, and more. These have a suction on the base, and as the name suggests, spin! Here are some we have.
- Squigs— Similar to the spinners, we love these because they suction to a window or table, and you can build on with them. Grab them here.
- Travel potty— We have this in the trunk compartment for *just in case.* Luckily we are past the potty training stage, but in the past we have used it if we can’t find a bathroom, or those gas stations are just too gross. IYKYK.
- Portable charger— If you’re on the go, and you run out of juice for anything (phone, tablet, Sound machine, etc.) it’s helpful to have a charging block, that doesn’t have to be plugged into anything. Especially if you might be flying. It’ll change the way you travel.
- Portable Sound Machine— We’ve had this one for 5 years. It hasn’t given up, or lost its ability to soothe a baby on the go. Amazing. Bonus, is it helped keep our big kids asleep when they fell asleep in the car. White noise is a life saver for little babes.
- Headphones for grownups— Hear me out. My husband once told me to ignore the whining or asking for more “things” when I knew they had everything they needed (snacks, activity, tablet, etc.). He suggested I put on my noise cancelling headphones and do something I wanted to do for a half hour. It was incredible, and I highly recommend. Otherwise you are their servant, and they will see you as such. Lol.
Tell me what would you add that’s not on the list?! Always looking for more ideas!
XO,
Holly
Making Beautiful Messes 