5 Travel Packing Tips for Families

As much as family travel plans are fun, packing for them can be equally overwhelming. As someone who came up with a business idea of the lack of appropriate travel gear for children, I have personally struggled with packing for family travel plans.

If like me, you are also a parent with young children, you may be tempted to pack the entire house. But that temptation isn’t realistic and can lead to logistic issues. Instead, apply the travel packing tips below:

Involve Children in Packing

Involving children in packing is one of the most useful travel packing tips for several reasons. Firstly, it gets children excited and mentally prepared for the journey. Secondly, it lets children know they cannot bring all their belongings on the travel and must prioritize their needs. Finally, it instills the quality of organization and keeping things tidy in children.

Moreover, getting children personal suitcases like suitcase scooters keep children entertained wherever walking is involved. It also lightens the responsibility of parents, making family travel easier for them.

Use Packing Cubes

Using packing cubes is my favourite and most-preached travel packing tip. Besides encouraging organization and accessibility to all the items, they also save liquids from spilling and soiling other items. Packing cubes especially come in handy for keeping dirty clothes separate from clean clothes.

Take Limited Destination-Specific Items

We have all been guilty of a common packing mistake: packing too many destination-specific items. Here’s why it is a bad idea:

1. Unless you have visited the destination in the same weather earlier, you cannot know what items you will need.
2. You can find a more appropriate, cheaper, and wider variety of destination-specific items at the destination.
3. You will be carrying extra weight for no reason.

The last reason brings me to another one of my favourite travel packing tips. Read on:

Don’t Forget About the Laundry

We tend to forget about laundry when planning family travel. But it can make packing for travel significantly easier. Doing laundry before packing ensures that the clothes we are packing are all clean. But more importantly, checking for laundry facilities before packing allows us to pack light. Also a top tip for not coming to piles of dirty laundry, do it whilst you're at the end of your trip before you pack to come home, it will be a much welcomed relief when you've got the post holiday blues and washing used swimwear isn't the top of your priority list!

For example, two sets of sleepwear per family member can be enough for a week of hotel stays with laundry facilities. It saves us from packing more clothes than needed and also allows us to bring clean clothes back home. These handy dirty laundry bags are also pretty useful for separating dirty laundry from clean. 

Pack an On-the-Go Bag

It doesn’t matter if your family travel plans involve flights or road trips; an on-the-go bag is a must-have for all parents. Fill this bag with a fresh change of clothes for each family member, a travel first aid kit, sanitizers and masks, wet wipes, chargers, power banks, leak-proof water bottles, and some snacks. You can use a large tote bag or a small duffel bag as the on-the-go bag.

Trust me; this is one of the most life-changing travel packing tips!

Do you have any tips to share? Let me and other parents know in the comments!