As you head off for the holiday weekend with your family, be sure that you have all of the items you need to make travel smooth. Sure, you could pull together what you need every time you leave the house, but it saves a lot of time to keep a kit in your bag with your travel essentials.
Pull together your essential items in travel sizes. This is my essential kit, but choose your own by thinking through what you are going to do on your trip and what you use every time you are out.
- Sunscreen – Safe, natural sunscreen is the most important item in your kit if you are going to be outside at all.
- Bug Spray – Outside, you will probably also need bug spray, which is a close second.
- Hat – Keep the sun off your baby with a hat. Sunscreen isn’t recommended for babies under six months old. If you use a lightweight hat, you can roll it up neatly in a corner of the kit.
- Lip Balm – Lips dry out in the wind, and burn in the sun. Lip balm with sunscreen is best.
- Water Bottle – Stay hydrated. Fill your water bottle with as much ice as you can fit first, then pour in the water. This won’t fit in the kit, but you definitely need to keep it close by for everyone when you are outside.
- Wet Bag – If there are accidents, and there probably will be accidents, you will be happy you have a bag to collect wet pants, dirty shirts, or wet wipes.
- Toys – Distraction might help if it takes a while to get to your destination. For your kit, one small toy is enough.
- Peppermint Headache Stick – Based on my own experience, a day out with children can be stressful. A peppermint stick is one of those things you really need to try to see how well it works (for a mild headache). I relied heavily on mine.
- Natural Hand Purifier – If you won’t have easy access to hand-washing facilities, you will be glad you have a quick and easy way to wash up before you eat and after you change diapers.
- After-sun Care Badger Balm – If you or your children do catch the sun, a little after-sun balm with naturally anti-inflammatory ingredients will soothe the heat.
Once you have gathered your items, put it all in a travel bag. Better yet, find another reusable container that will keep everything safe and available.
Reusable Sandwich Bag with Window
A sandwich bag with a window leaves everything easy to see so you can grab what you need quickly. This is smaller (7″ x 5.75″), so it is only appropriate if you have just a few items.
Lunch Bots Uno
To keep tubes from squeezing, I like hard containers. Small Lunch Bots Uno, the smallest of the Lunch Bots containers, can hold a small kit at 6.25″ x 4.5″ x 1.75″.
Stainless Steel Lunch Box
If you have a big kit, a stainless steel food storage container will give you plenty of space and keep all of your items from squeezing out at 7″ x 5″ x 2.5″. I especially like that the two separate layers let you spread everything out so you don’t have to dig through a deeper container.
Any of these kits is small enough to fit in a backpack, a glove box, or a diaper bag. Pack your travel essentials early and you will find that the travel day will go much easier.
Image © Konradbak | Dreamstime.com
It is an excellent list of essential items. May I suggest an insulated bag for water bottle. There are number of sizes available to choose from. You can keep any water or beverage hot or cold according to your choice.
I’d also bring soft, lightweight shawls as cover-up.