Road Trip Kits for Kids

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SuperAbsorbent #CollectiveBias.

This summer we went one two road trips. We went to North Carolina to see friends for a few days, and then we spent Memorial Day weekend in Florida with Derek's college roommate and his wife. On our trip to Florida, at the last minute I decided to throw a bunch of toys in a basket for the kids to play with, and it was kind of a life changing moment. I had grabbed a basket that fit perfectly between the two car seats, so the kids were able to grab and play with things at their leisure, and I had everything that I needed all in one place, it made the drive so much easier... Except for when Jay wet through his pull-up and Em chocked on a nugget and got sick everywhere... aside from those details, the ride was rather enjoyable. 

Since then we've been playing with the idea of a few larger road trips for the last half of the year. Now that Em is going to be two this week, we have to pay for a fourth plane ticket when we want to travel places, so driving is obviously the cheaper option every time. If Derek can get the time off work (which is still TBD because he's been swamped lately with big projects), we'd like to visit my family at some point in the fall, and are potentially planning on driving to Idaho for Christmas, but that's dependent on a few things on Derek's family's end too, so these are all very tentative plans. 

Since the drive to Idaho is 30 hours, and 16 to New York, I've been thinking about a lot of different things I can do to make these long trips as easy as possible for our kids. I made these little coloring kits for the kids a few days ago and I thought they were super fun and easy. 

The first thing I did was find an empty DVD case. I took out all the old papers and everything, and then cut two pieces of duct tape to be the same width as one side of the case. I then layered the two pieces, one on top of the other (sticky sides together), so that no stickiness was exposed on the strip. I then took two small strips of tape, and adhered the larger strip to the case on each side, and placed the crayons and paper in. Super easy, and it took all of three minutes to make. More for me because I had to photograph it. 

Another fun project that I saw on Pinterest was letting your child cut up straws from the back seat, and then letting them string the pieces together to make a necklace. Since I'm clearly not opposed to trashing my car,  I thought that was a fabulous idea and decided to make a little bag for that as well.

I then got my basket ready by adding a couple blankets, some toys that both of the kids like playing with, a dry erase book that Jay is currently obsessed with, some board books that can't get trashed or ripped (because remember, we have a two-year-old too), and then our perfect road trip kit was almost complete. 

The only thing left to be added were the diapers. I know a lot of people like to only pack a few diapers when they travel, and then buy what they need when they get to their destination, but I've always preferred traveling with all the diapers that I'm going to need. I put a few Huggies Little Movers size 4 diapers (my favorite since they stay in place all day for the most wiggly babies, and they have up to 12 hours of protection) in my basket that we'll need for the drive, but then I'll pack the rest in my suitcase. I like doing this because it means one less trip to the store when we officially get to where we're going, but it also means that eventually we'll have an empty suitcase, and then we can use that one for extra things we buy or gather through our travels. You always need an extra suitcase for souvenirs or things relatives give to you, so this is a good way to guarantee that extra space. 

I always buy all our diapers in bulk from stores like Costco because it always gives me some peace of mind when we have a couple hundred laying around the house and I never have to worry about running out on a Sunday night when every store in the world is close. Or if you just don't shop on Sunday's like us. 

Starting 9/1-9/25 Huggies Little Snuggles Plus (sizes 1 & 2), will be available for $31.49 after $6 discount and free shipping at Costco. Huggies Little Movers Plus (Size 3, 4, 5, & 6) will also be available for $36.99 after a $6 discount, and starting in August  Huggies little movers diapers will be available online at costco.com, and select warehouse stores in newborn sizing starting at $29.99!

Are you planning any road trips in the near future? What are some of your favorite road trip tips when traveling with little ones? Let me know in the comments below!