I love planning for them and packing for them.
For the last six years, we have taken a road trip every summer. At first, it was pretty simple to get ready. Bird packed his bag, and I packed for me and Isaiah...then me and Isaiah and Izzy...then me and Isaiah and Izzy and Eva. It's gotten more and more complicated as the kids have gotten older and started having an opinion about what they wear, and adding kids certainly hasn't helped ease the process any. I'm not a huge organization junkie normally, but when it comes to our trips now, I have to be.
Enter: my packing process. This can work for one kid or twenty, and it's certainly the easiest and most organized way that I've found to travel, so I just wanted to do a quick blog just in case this might help someone else.
First, I start with two lists. The first list is everything I know the kids will need for the duration of the trip we are taking (clothes, bathing suits, diapers, sippy cups, ect). The second list is my list of exactly what clothes I'm taking for each day for each kid. When I'm making the second list, I tend to pull all the clothes I might possibly take and then whittle it down.
Next, I take each outfit I've put together along with all the extras (like undies and socks) into individual Ziplock bags. I add in a post-it note with what is inside each bag as well as which child that particular outfit is for.
There are so many reasons I do this. First, when I pull all the air out, it makes for tons of extra space in the suitcase. Next, I can keep entire outfits perfectly together so there's no unfolding everything as I rifle through the bags. I can ask Bird to grab an outfit for one of the kids, and with everything labeled, there's no guess work. But the biggest and most useful reason I do this is so that when the kids have worn an outfit, I can put it back into the bag and the dirty clothes will never touch the clean ones. This is so huge for us because our little ones make big messes. I love knowing that the chocolate cake on Izzy's dress isn't going to get on the clean shorts Isaiah is wearing the next day.
I also put all shoes in Ziplock bags to keep everything neat and clean.
Once all the clothes are in, I fill in any gaps with all the little extras we will need as I cross them off my list.
In all, when I pack this way, I can get about ten days worth of clothes and accessories into a single carry on bag!
I hope this helps you if you are planning on taking a trip with little ones this summer, and if you have any tips that you think might help me, please feel free to let me know!
