If we remember one thing about the summer of 2015, it is that this was the summer we really embraced the road trip in our family. There are so many fabulous places within driving distance of Seattle and our newest obsession with driving electric has given us a fun reason to get out and explore.
So we are about to embark on our last roadtrip of the summer and I realize that we haven’t shared some of the things that have made our travels with our two 7-year olds a lot easier. Hopefully if you’re about to road trip with kids some of the things we found might help you too! (And if you have any tips for me, I’d love to hear them too!)
KID-THINGS
Of course we talk about the kids first because if they’re not happy the trip is miserable. We try to keep our driving stretches to 2 hours or under and look up playgrounds and parks within that distance so we can get them out of the car to stretch. Right now we’re working on a summer park bucket list and that’s helping to keep them wanting to stop for parks too.
Needing to charge also forces stops and we pack hockey sticks or a football because there’s usually a wide open parking lot near a supercharger to hang out in and toss a ball around. We also try to find chargers near activities that suit the whole family-sometimes we find convenient ones in malls or parks and can charge while we lunch or shop or do something fun.
We also bring books (they are into starwars right now!) and car games like this bingo one I remember from when I was growing up.
We recently received a Deckopedia set called 50 road trip games that’s been pretty fun too-we pull out a card and try a new game and it helps to keep our trip interesting.
We keep hydrated by bringing water bottles and I’ve been loving the ones from Under Armor-they are easy to clean, holds a lot of water and my kids like the way it opens.
And there is this Zoom Kit that we recently received. It’s made by a Seattle mom who often traveled back and forth from Bainbridge Island to Seattle with kids in tow and wanted something to help them stay entertained in the car. The tray table has many interchangeable parts from a snack station to an activity set and everything fits together easily so it helps keep kids’ stuff together and the car more organized.
PARENT-THINGS
If I can buy something in wipe form for a road trip instead of a liquid I do: I love Wet Ones for the car and for sticky faces, I buy Purell wipes for germs (these are also awesome for airplanes!) and for my eye makeup I bring makeup wipes so I don’t have to tote my eye makeup remover and have it spill (Have you noticed more hotels giving these out with the other toiletries like shampoos and shower caps? LOVE!)
I also have to remember to keep bags in the car for garbage and re-usable bags for when we go shopping-my favorite are still these elephant ones from Baggu because they have a little snap bag to HOLD the bag in when it’s not in use.
We always have a playlist for our trip and try to find songs that feature the place we’re traveling to play along the way. For example in Texas we made sure we played “Deep in the Heart of Texas” or after riding the Black Ball ferry in Washington we found Black Ball Ferry Line song.
And of course we pack a ton of snacks! Gummies are always the easiest because they don’t leave crumbs and can’t really mess up the car.
Do you have any favorite things to pack for a road trip? I’d love to hear!
(PS. I received the Zoomkit and Deckopedia to review but was not required to post and the ideas here are my own.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)