What To Pack When Holidaying With Children
What you pack when you are holidaying with your children will vary depending on their ages, but you need to prepare in advance and plan ahead for all situations. What you put in their bags will also depend on your accommodation, for example whether you are staying in a first class hotel or going camping. Packing to go away with children can be difficult, as there is a fine balance between packing enough to keep them entertained and being prepared for all emergencies, and packing so much that you can’t carry it all. There are a few essentials that you need to remember to help make your holiday a lot easier.
Clothes
Work out how many days you are going to be away and then pack clothes to accommodate half of these days. If you are going camping or staying in a self-contained apartment then you will have laundry facilities. Depending on the hotel they can have items cleaned for you, but it is easier to hand wash clothes in your bathroom and hang them up over the bath. You can buy travel clothes lines for this purpose. Pack dark colour clothes so they don’t show the stains as much. Use your soap or shampoo to wash them, it will do a good enough job. Most clothes don’t require ironing nowadays, but if you do need to get the creases out of a shirt or dress hang them in the bathroom while you have a shower, the steam should help.
Toys
A small bag of toys, crayons, paper and travel games is a good idea for when you are in transit. If you can add to it while on your journey by purchasing small toys, a pack of cards or souvenirs, then it will keep your children interested. Make sure you don’t forget your children’s favourite soft toy if they have one, and always remember to pack it when you leave to go home. There is nothing worse than having to turn around and drive all the way back to pick up a forgotten toy. You can buy net baskets that squash down flat for travelling and when you get to your hotel you can set it up and have somewhere to store toys out of the way. Leave noisy toys and those that require batteries at home, they will end up being annoying, although older children can be entertained for hours with hand-held video games if you feel they are appropriate, just bring the headphones if they have them.
Babies
Packing for your baby requires a lot of specialist equipment, but you will find that you can cope without most of it. For example don’t bring the baby bath, instead use the bathroom sink or if your baby can sit pop them on a towel on the floor of the shower. You will need to bring nappies and food as you can’t be sure of what brands will be available, and enough clothes to have a few changes in a day as babies often vomit or their nappies leak. You can hand wash their clothes each evening in the bathroom as well.