I wish you could’ve seen the panic that was packing for our first road trip with our kids to see family. Complete and utter panic because this military family had never (in over 7 years of active duty time together) been close enough to family to drive to them for a holiday. Plane trips? We had those mastered. (Need tips for those, check out the post HERE) But packing up our car to hit the road was terrifying.
I’m glad to say after a few more road trips with our kids under our belt, we finally are feeling confident about how to pack, plan and slay these long car rides. Here are a few things that work well for us.
Manage Your Expectations
This is always our biggest piece of advice for any travel trip with kids. Go into the trip knowing what the goal is – to get everyone safely from point A to point B. Would you love it if your kid took their nap at their normal time while you listen to your favorite podcast, OF COURSE! But, it might not happen that way, and that’s ok. Roll with whatever the day throws your way and remember that schedules are great, but when you’re all out of your element flexibility is key.
Give yourself grace and give your kid(s) grace. I promise you’ll look back and laugh about the craziness in the future.
Car Safe Toys/Entertainment
We don’t have tablets for the kids, but if you do, load those bad boys up and let ‘em rip during the ride. Jen loves Yoto as a screen-free entertainment option as well that is very easy for little kid hands to work, comes with a headphone jack, but even out-loud, is pleasant for the whole fam to listen to! You can find the Yoto available HERE.
We make sure we have some new toys/activities for them when we hit the road (example: stickers and an empty notebook, you can even get circle stickers and prior to leaving draw circles on the paper and have them place the stickers into the pre-drawn circles…keep it simple!) Our kids love THESE water pen coloring books and small paperback books like THESE.
Another must-have within arm’s reach for us are the kids comfort blankets, stuffed animals, and portable sound machines (we both love THIS one). If you want them to nap, we’ve found that providing these (what they’re used to during naptime at home) when they get naturally sleepy really helps set them up for success.
Pack a Cooler
Might sound obvious, but it was something we didn’t think of until we had done these trips a few times despite our parents always doing this for us growing up. Trying to find food for your kid in a gas station is a literal nightmare. Waiting in line for fast food drive-thru is also a nightmare. Spending money in general on whack food when you know you could’ve made something better is a nightmare.
Toss some waters, juice boxes, sandwiches, fruit, cheese sticks, etc. in a cooler and spare yourself the hassle!
Take Advantage of Stops
Our friend Kailee over at The Movement Mama recommended this on her Instagram and it’s GOLD. Try to plan your stops ahead as best as you can, get off the highway, get your gas at a gas station then head to a park and let those kids r-u-n. Unpack the cooler, prep a cute picnic lunch and commit to spending a chunk of time eating and playing, so everyone is in better spirits returning to the car for the next leg of the trip.
Bonus tip: if you’re potty training, pick up THIS travel potty that folds down to bring along. This prevents you from having to find a spot to pull over for a quick potty break if your toddler needs to go unexpectedly/outside of a planned stop.
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