Best Mom Travel Hacks Every Parent Should Know
You’ve booked the family trip and now you are stressing about all of the travel details. You want to have the best family vacation, but you need to know the best mom travel hacks. So here they are!
Hacks & Tips BEFORE you leave
The success of your family vacation heavily relies on how prepared you are, especially when traveling with young kids, toddlers and babies. There is no “winging” vacations with young children. The best trips are the ones you’ve planned for.
Head to the Dollar Store
Buy and wrap quiet & inexpensive toys to have for your kids while on the trip. The new toy, or new activity book will keep them extra entertained.
I love the idea of wrapping the toys to make the experience extra fun. Not required but is very affective. Spread the toys out over the length of the travel to and back home.
Make sure to buy and pack small toys, pencil cases for crayons, markers.
Pack a deck of UNO cards, bring books, a travel playlist, coloring book and triangle shaped crayons for your kids so they don’t slide off the airplane tray table.
Don’t use someone else’s generated toy list. Buy and pack what you think your kids will like. You know them best.
My kids favorite activity are the Paint By Sticker books. There are so many different ones, so your kids will never get bored, they are affordable and easy to pack for travel.
To see what I packed for my four small children on our last cross country family vacation click here.
Create a packing list for each family member
Each family member will have unique items that are specific to them that you don’t want to forget, so make a list. Make sure your child’s favorite blanket, pacifier or teddy bear is on the list.
Pack healthy-ish snacks
This is not the time to try new foods with your little kids. Pack lots of their favorite and fun snacks. Be flexible on when they want a snack. It is not fun having a hangry toddler or traveler.
Pack extras in case you get stuck on the runway for awhile with a maintenance issue upon take off (yes, it happens).
Make sure you pack chewy snacks (fruit snacks, gummy bears, etc.) to help with the air pressure with altitude change for your toddlers and young kids.
Have a digital version of your flight info
It is really easy to show the airport attendant your phone with your flight info then trying to rummage through your bags to find the paper version.
Skip long customs lines with Mobile Passport Control or Pre-Check
Paying the $85 when traveling with young children, especially infants and toddlers is often worth it. Majority of your stress when at the airport occurs trying to get through TSA.
Pre-Check families get to by-pass the long stressful TSA lines, don’t have to take off their shoes and many other perks that can reduce stress.
Cary extra ziploc bags, plastic bags & black trash bags
Plan for the unexpected, especially when traveling with kids. Pack all liquid items in ziploc bags to reduce sunscreen exploding all over your clothes. And pack extras for the way home, or a kid has an accident.
If traveling with a newborn or toddler, you are allowed to carry breastmilk, formula, water, & applesauce pouches. Pack all of your liquids in one large gallon size ziploc bag to get through TSA faster.
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Skip the early pre-boarding
Unless you don’t have assigned seats or you need the extra above head storage, I recommend skipping the pre-boarding if you have kids 6 and under. Why?
Because they are fidgety and need to get their wiggles out and once you board the plane you are confined to your seat. It can take a plane almost 30 minutes to board prior to take off, that is a good amount of time to allow your toddler to run the airport before being confined to his seat for the entire flight.
Bring the car seat
Yes, I know car seats are large and bulky, but they are also very comfortable for your baby or young toddler. So if I had to choose between a stroller or car seat to bring, I would chose the car seat and leave the stroller at home. You can always rent a stroller once at your destination.
Check out Travelmamas.com as they have a comprehensive list of places you can rent baby gear.
Use this car seat travel cart to wheel your toddler in his car seat through the airport and right on to the plane. Pure genius!
Or, if your child is age 3+, consider using the Ride Safer Travel Vest. It is lightweight, Compact, and Portable Car Seat. Perfect for travel, and rental cars.
You can also use backpack straps and attach / strap the car seat onto your luggage.
Roll the t-shirts instead of folding them, because it consumes less space
Wear baby with a baby carrier
You are allowed to wear your baby through customs and TSA. Many moms find this much easier then trying to hold your baby through the airport & TSA.
Travel with a diaper backpack
You need your hands to be available to either hold a hand of a child or carry something else. Diaper backpacks are the best way to travel when you have young kids.
Don’t forget the extra baby wipes, paper towels, extra diapers and change of clothes.
Packing Mom Travel Hacks
Use these packing hacks to make sure you packed the right items to have a successful and fun family trip.
Don’t over pack
You can always wash clothes in a bathroom sink and air dry if you really need to.
Over packing and lugging the large suitcase across country, through airports with small children is the worst.
Use packing cubes or shoe hanger to organize and condense your clothes for each person.
Use vacuum-packed bags
Worried you might have over packed? Want to travel with fewer bags but have a large family?
Use vacuum packed bags to seal in the air and create more space. These space saver bags are the best mom hack when traveling with kids.
Purchase a luggage scale
Sounds obvious, but so important.
We didn’t own a scale for years and would rely on guessing. It was so stressful to get to the airport and question if your bag is the correct weights.
Many times we nailed it, and my husband and I literally would jump up and down in excitement. But several times we had to rearrange our items, or even worse, have to pay the steep tariff.
It is an unnecessary stress, especially when traveling with a large family of 6. Why did we do this to ourselves. haha.
Don’t waste space
Pack socks, underwear, rolled up clothes in your shoes. Every inch of space counts. Every pound matters. You want to take as few as bags and luggage as possible.
Only pack and bring travel size toiletry and beauty products
Most likely, where you are going will have a store, or the hotel will have toiletry items. Don’t pack items because you like your stuff better.
Once you are on vacation, you realize you don’t really care that much. You are there to relax, enjoy the new adventure and make memories with your family.
Don’t pack the hair dryer, extra towels and use as much as the hotel offers as possibile.
Pack a spare canvas or mesh bag
Most likely you will buy or want souvenirs or produce if visiting local markets, tourists locations, theme parks, or the beach (think sea shells).
Having a spare mesh bag takes very little space and is very handy when out and about traveling.
Cross pack in case of lost bags
In case a bag gets lost in transit, make sure you put a few items of clothing in other family members bags. So if one bag gets lost, there are options in another family members bag until your luggage is found.
Put a tracker on your luggage AND your kids
On our last family vacation to Tennessee we did this and it was so convenient. We were able to make sure our luggage arrived with us when we touched down in Nashville.
We put trackers in our kids carry on bags so we could keep an eye on them and their things.
Overall, I’m a huge fan of them! There are many options to choose from, we have the Apple brand, but Amazon also has many to choose from.
Use a shoe organizer for your kids clothes packed by kid, per day
we just used a shoe hanger on our last family vacation to San Diego and it was the best decision I’ve ever made regards to travel packing. I fit all of my 4 kids clothes in one shoe hanger and one small travel suitcase. I was impressed! Use a shoe Hanger to store all of the clothes needed for each child per day. Fold up and put directly in your luggage and then hang it up on a door once you have arrived at your location.
Check out the viral travel hack here!
Carry on Mom Travel Hacks
When you are on a long flight with little kids you will thank yourself that you planned ahead. Make sure you bring ALL of the right things to keep your kids entertained and to eliminate any extra stress.
Put all of the items that are more likely to get “flagged” by airport security in one bag
After you check your bags and you head to TSA, the first thing you will do is grab the items that need to be screened and put them in a plastic bin.
To make this easy for you, especially if you are traveling with small children or baby wearing an infant, is to pack all of your liquid items in one gallon size ziploc bag and at top of bag so you can easily grab it to get through TSA faster.
Separate all of your devices and also store them in gallon size ziploc bags for easy grabbing to put in the plastic bins.
Wear easy shoes to slip on and off
While children do not have to take their shoes off when going through TSA, adults do. If you are traveling with small children, or baby wearing a newborn, you will want to wear easy shoes you can slip on and off without much effort from you. Your hands will be full and you will feel pressured and stress to remove them quickly.
Don’t forget the devices
(iPads, amazon fires, iPhone) and make sure they are charged and loaded with both wifi and airplane mode games & movies.
When traveling with young children, don’t overthink about the amount of screen time your kids are having when in mid-flight, an international flights or a long car ride.
BEST mom hack: use the airplane provided throw up bag to create a hands free way to watch your phone. Check out the video here.
Use ride-on suitcases when traveling with young children
There are several great options to choose from that all provide the same amazing result. Your child doesn’t have to walk as you quickly try to get through the airport to catch your flight.
If you have traveled with toddlers before, you know that it doesn’t take much time before they start complaining how tired they are. Airports are big. Avoid these stressful moments by using luggage that your child can sit on as you pull them through the airport.
Travel and leisure list out their top 10.
Wear the most bulky and large clothes on the plane to free up space
The biggest pro tip when traveling, especially with small children is to pack light. less literally is more. So wear your bulky items as your travel day outfit, like running shoes and sweatshirts.
Pack refillable water bottles for everyone
Carry empty water bottles through TSA and then fill it up at a drinking fountain once you are through TSA in the airport. Buying water bottles in the airport can quickly add up.
Don’t forget a first aid kit when traveling with littles
Having a few first aid items is essential when traveling with toddlers and little kids. Falling or getting hurt can even happen in an airport or on a plane, so it’s nice to know you are prepared for whatever the adventure may bring.
The Best Long Flight Mom Travel Hacks with Kids
Long flights can be challenging, exhausting and very frustrating with small children. Use these hacks and tips to make traveling easier and more enjoyable.
Watch movies on your phone “hands free” on the airplane
BEST mom hack: use the airplane provided throw up bag to create a hands free way to watch your phone. Check out the video here.
Plan ahead in case there is no wifi
Download offline apps and games to be prepared incase you don’t have access to wifi or a mobile portable hotspot.
Purchase a head phone splitter
If you don’t have a device per kid, pack a head phone splitter to each child has access to their own ear buds while sharing a device. Brilliant!
Family Road Trip Mom Travel Hacks & Tips
Shannon Doherty has several great travel hacks for those long drives, check it out here.
Consider traveling at night
This is my favorite travel hack when you have young kids. Travel at night. We will transfer our kids from their beds to the car at 3am and hit the road.
It usually will get us 4-5 hours of drive time before they start to wake up. Just in time for a breakfast stop.
Attach shoe hanger to seat
As seen in Shannon’s IG reel, this is such a great way to keep all your kids toys and activities organized and available for them to grab and reach while on the road.
Special gift suprises
Every hour or special marker, bring out a new “surprise” toy or activity for the kids to keep them entertained.
Tackle box idea for snacks
To keep snacks all together and specific per child, use tackle box and stop at a gas station and let your kids pick out a few of their favorite snacks to fill their tackle box.
This is such a fun idea!
Credit: Brooke Raybould
Best family vacation mom travel hacks
Some great tips to keep in mind when traveling as a family.
- Bring a laundry basket to the beach
- Use a zip-tie around buckles to avoid pickpockets
- pack a Pancho, not an umbrella
- When packing a sun hat, stuff it with socks to keep it from getting flat in the suitcase
- Buffet + zip lock bags = easy & convenient snacks
- Save big food splurges for dinners, while packing large picnics and convenience snacks for your day
- Pack a power supply strip
- Bring baby monitor
- Bring a SlumberPod if traveling with a newborn
- Don’t forget hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes
- Carry your child’s favorite blanket or stuffy
- Carry hard copy of documents always, especially if traveling internationally
Packing & travel mistakes
Mistakes parents often make when traveling with a family that can make the trip more stressful.
- Packing too much.
- Packing a fancy dress or high heals
- Not double checking the weather before you pack and leave
- Packing too many shoes
- Your luggage doesn’t stand out and looks like everyone else’s. Make your luggage stand out with a ribbon. Don’t assume your bag is unique and no one else has it, instead put a ribbon on it so that it’s hard to miss on the conveyor belt amongst the sea of bags.
- You didn’t give yourself extra time – Arrive EXTRA early.
And if you have a super early flight, like we did on our last family vacation, click here for my top 5 things to remember and do.
Lastly, have fun, soak up the memories, you book the next trip!
For more mom hacks and tips, make sure to check out…
This blog is all about genius hacks to help busy and exhausted moms, so stick around and enjoy all of the best hacks and tips out there for moms.
What travel hack will you be adding to your next family vacation or trip? Leave in the comment. Also, do you have a hack I should add to this list? Please share in the comments!
Are you super stressed as a mom and need motherhood to feel easier? Check out these 30 hack ideas you can start today to start to eliminate the chaos and stress most moms feel.
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This post was all about mom travel hacks.
