Must-Haves for Family Packing
What to bring, what to leave, and some of our most helpful, must-have items.
Bonus: Free Printable Family Packing List!
A common question for family trips: what are you bringing to help your kids? What do we really need? What should I leave behind?
Generally, the lighter one packs, the easier the trip and certainly the less it can cost! Packing for travel with family can be especially mentally wearing. Ensuring you brought everyone a toothbrush and the right shoes requires brainpower and planning, and the more people you are planning for the more intense it becomes. To help with this, please grab my free printable family packing list at the bottom of this page!
And without further ado, here are some of our most helpful tips with planning for family travel.
Please note: every family and their needs will differ depending on their travel itinerary, so please keep that in mind as you prepare your luggage and don’t worry if your list looks different than ours.
What to bring
If you know me, you know that packing is a game to me. I love to be minimal and only bring items with huge impact. While that list differs from trip to trip, based on location, lodging, travel modes, etc., these are the things we ALWAYS take with us when we travel, no questions asked:
White noise machine - so helpful for kids in new sleeping locations. Ours are used to sleeping with them all the time, so we just make sure we have a dark enough room and a noise machine on, and they feel more at home. We also use ours in the car or on the plane for babies trying to nap during travel.
Nightlight - we use this for bathrooms in hotels or anywhere we stay to help ensure our children can find the bathroom in the middle of the night, do what they need to do, and go back to sleep quickly. No risk of extra lights, no worry about them being lost in the night, and it helps with parents getting ready in the bathroom while littles sleep in the hotel room.
Packing cubes - I resisted these for so long because they seemed like an unnecessary extra to me. But I finally bit the bullet a few years ago and have never regretted it. They have changed our packing game. My kids can pack their own cube (with help) then put it right in the suitcase. There is 1 that we keep our travel toiletries in year round so that we can just grab and go. We can easily find everyone’s things and the amount of things I can fit in a suitcase with them is beyond humanly possible.
A blanket per kid - Blankets are easy to throw in the car and they can be such a comfort for kids. They smell and feel like home, and night is often the hardest part of travel for kids because of it not being home. Packing a blanket can tricky for flights, but we have two very tiny ones they take when we fly. They are just small enough for a backpack and large enough for them to put on their pillow so it smells like home. (See ours here)
Water bottle per person - Water is the most underutilized packing commodity. No matter how you travel, always pack a water bottle for each person. When you fly bring it empty to the airport and fill it once past security. In the car, be sure its full and ready to go. Proper hydration has been show to increase energy, reduce altitude sickness and jet lag, and keep you feeling fresh + ready for all your adventures.
Headphones/earbuds for adults - This is one tech item we never leave without. Whether we are in a hotel room or sharing a bed with our kids, this allows us to listen to music or watch something quietly on our phones in a shared sleeping space. It helps us to feel like we still get some down time even when in the same room as our children after they fall asleep, and it is a key travel survival strategy for me as an anxious parent. Also they can help in the car (if you are not the driver) to block out some sound from children.
As I said before, there are many other items that are more location specific, but in general these have not done us wrong and have made a big impact on our family adventures.
What to leave
Kids (and frankly, adults too) can become quite nervous when packing for a trip. Why are we leaving all my stuff behind? When will I see it again? Will it be gone forever? Queue panic, over packing, and stress. Not to mention extra fees, extra brain power, and more cleanup along the way. We can help curb this packing anxiety for our kids (and for ourselves) by thinking through this simple mindset:
Do I wear this item once a week? (Minus coats or weather/activity specific clothing)
Is it an important part of my family/kids sleep routine? (White noise, night light, stuffed animal, etc)
Am I bringing it because of a specific need? (As opposed to a very unlikely unique scenario)
If you answered yes to these questions, then bring it. If you answered no, it may be an item to reconsider.
Kids are more adaptable in general than we give them credit for; give them a chance to show you that they are capable without as many things in their life. Traveling can be a great opportunity for them to learn resilience and grit, as well as to go with the flow. (This is also a great time for adults who are anxiety prone to learn this, like myself 👋). In all of our time traveling, I've only had maybe five times where I absolutely had to have something I forgot and had to purchase it. And all of them were very minor, inexpensive, and easy to remedy.
So with this in mind, leave these:
A million toys - You will be busy seeing new places and doing new things! When we help our kids pack, we let them choose the following: 1 book, 1 stuffed animal, 1 thing to draw/color on, 1 ball, and 1 figurine/toy of their choosing. Less is more here, and our kids surprise us with the ways they reinvent the items they bring for new play.
Too many electronics - likely they will either be a distraction from what you planned for this adventure or at risk of being broken or stolen. If it’s not an obvious “we need this”, leave it home!
Super fancy outfits - Please know that of course when I travel alone or with my partner, I definitely bring the fancy outfits I don’t get to wear in regular kid life. But when I travel with my young kids, I don’t travel with clothing that I would not wear while out with them at home. Trust your instincts; pack according to the climate and don’t feel the need to be more dressed up than usual just because you are traveling.
Extra jewelry - try to pick a few (or even just one set) of simple jewelry pieces that can be worn with several outfits and in several settings. I aim for simple, waterproof, and 24/7 wearability; usually 1 pair of earrings, 1 necklace, and my wedding ring.
