How To Pack When You're Traveling With Kids

Plus a handful of travel tips to make it smoother.

Remember when we were kids and summer was SUMMER? Remember the gift it was from the universe, how nothing could compare to the feeling of total freedom, endless possibilities, complete bliss? Remember driving around with your friends as a teenager, listening to the song of the summer, wearing new lip gloss, a fresh halter top and boy short bottoms bikini from Urban Outfitters, thinking about your crush? Noticing the hairs on your arms turning blonde in the sun, the feeling of swimming all day then going inside into air conditioning in your towel and eating a popsicle and watching TV on the floor of your best friends house?

AND NOW, as a parent, as a mother the terror of summer! Of battling your peers for spots at the only camp that runs from 8 am until 3 pm so that you don’t have to figure out any other childcare, and then driving around trying to get everyone here and there, packing one kid for dance camp (ballet slippers, two snacks that she doesn’t have to open by herself, PB&J because it’s Friday, apple slices, dried strawberries…) and the other for sports camp (towel, goggles, swim shirt, sunscreen, chicken nuggets, chocolate chip granola bar because it’s Friday, two water bottles, sunscreen stick on his face and neck, goo on his arms and legs, band aid for the bug bite behind his knee) and then hurling everyone out the door with the toy and/or book they’ll need in the car to stay entertained during the whole dropoff rigamarole, then flinging yourself home as a damp sweaty ball to get in front of your computer and bang out some emails before it’s time to make dinner for your now overly tired, overly hungry, dusty, sweaty dependents?

And then! The reward…a summer trip with the family, hopefully. Once the packing and traveling is over, joyful days of lazy hangs with your kids. The sweetest part. But still, there’s schlepping, planning, prepping to get there. I’m getting ready to embark on a multi-week trip with my kids, and while I’m not an expert, I do have a few tricks I’ve learned, and some ways to make packing easier. So that’s what this is.

First I’ll have a packing strategy, then a handful of miscellaneous travel tips

PACKING!

When my family and I travel together we try and all pack our clothes in one large checked bag (unless we’re going for longer than a week or will be in more than one climate), so I typically pack for myself in one quarter of a large checked bag. And it’s fine! Takes planning, but it’s worth it to not have to wrangle so many things. Here’s more or less how I do it.

First, I pick three or four things that will be my hero items. Usually one dress, one pair of pants, one sweater, and a button down shirt, plus a pair of shoes and a bag. Then I build outfits around those four items that I can wear in lots of ways.

I chose this dress because it’s fitted on top, swingy on bottom, and is the kind of thing you buy and wear for years and then try and bring to a seamstress to remake for yu when it gets too worn out to wear anymore. It is one of those seemingly boring buys that you reach for forever. It also comes in sizes up to 24 - it is truly perfect. The sweater is a fun, summery color, but isn’t too statement making, so you can wear it with a ton of other stuff. Ditto the shirt, which is long enough to cover your butt so you can wear it with your swimsuit on the beach. The High Sport pants are well-documented. Fly in them, then roll straight off the plane in them to a party. They are as excellent as everyone says and they live up to the hype. These sandals are great because they’re neither casual nor dressy - you can wear them out to dinner, and also to the beach. Ditto the clutch - it’s mega stylish, mega useful (it holds a ton) and you can also use it in your carry on to hold all your chargers or passport and wallet and important things, etc. It is a must-have on my trips.

So here’s like a most basic way you can wear and re-wear the things - imagining you can also do the shirt around the waist of the dress, over the shoulders, buttoned or unbuttoned, and similarly play with the sweater. Kind of boring, but it gets you through six days, more or less. So then you add in some fun weird stuff that doesn’t take up much space.