From air travel to road trips, along our family vacations, I have picked up some top tips for family travel. Packing lists, activity ideas and general family travel tips to make your next trip with kids as stress-free as possible.
We have travelled with kids through Canada, United States, France, Spain, Dominican Republic, Germany, and The Netherlands. We know family travel!
With my big kids, we have tons of go-to-travel-activities. We prep for a trip by looking at the world map and tracking where we live and where we are going. I make up word searches on the things they will see at our destination (i.e. word search for France had words like “baguette” and “avion”). When we went to the Dominican Republic, I made an picture dictionary of common Spanish phrases they would see on signs (i.e. a picture of a water bottle and Agua written beside it).
How do you keep the kids happy while on traveling?…
Family Vacation Tips
For a trip with a baby, I suggest you check out my Diaper Bag Checklist (a quick and good read). For me, packing my son’s travel bag is focused on what will entertain him and bring him comfort.
- My FastFinder diaper bag (because the awesome external pockets help me get what he needs fast)
- His favourite toys Wheelies (really his, absolute, favourite toy whether in a car seat, in a restaurant or at home)
- Stretch ‘Ems (these baby T’s work as undershirts, t-shirts and pjs! – great travel wardrobe)
- Diapers (I pack 5/day with two extra days for good measure)
*All Fisher-Price products which I love
Finally, keep a bit of home routine for the kids when you travel. My kids are big snackers, so when we went to California, I made a bee line to the local grocery store and bought dry cereal and a reusable container. That dry cereal became breakfast-in-bed for all three kids – who woke up jet lagged and hungry the next day. It was also afternoon snack while we were touring the city. Tip: pack an empty, stainless steel, leak-proof, straw cup for kids to drink out of on day trips. Re-fillable and less mess!
Check out my recommendations for building an Activity Bag For Toddler Boys. Do you have any family travel tips to share?
Disclosure: I am a Fisher-Price Play Ambassador and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.
Great tips, It can be very stressful traveling with children,
don’t I know it…just when you think you’ve packed everything…you forget something
Thanks for the tips! I’d love to read some tips on road trips!
In the works…:-)
Thanks for the post, a surprise bag is always a big hit.
We did suprise bags for our last kid birthday party too. Suprise bags are so multi-useful.
Great tips! Thank you for sharing your valuable insight! 🙂
Welcome Soozle – tips are a good thing.