The first (and best) thing I found was this pin. It offers printable games you can do on the road as well, but my favorite part of it was the tote bags. (This is the link directly to the website). I bought larger canvas tote bags that have 2 pockets on the front, they were $4.99 each from Hobby Lobby (and they are washable...which is a MUST for my family). A few days before the trip I let the girls each decorate one side of their tote and the next day I put their name and some designs on the front.
I then filled each bag with things that they commonly ask for on longer trips and some things I knew would keep them occupied. Here is the run down of what was in each bag.
One front pocket:
-Tissues (I bought a 6 pack of travel size and portioned it out)
-2 individual packets of Wet Ones (looking back I should have not put these in and taken a travel size tub of wipes, the Wet Ones have antibacterial on them, which isn't good for use on the kids face).
-Plastic grocery bag for their garbage or if they felt sick. (I would recommend putting two or three in there, or refill it if they use their bag).
-Chapstick
-Water Bottle, each girl also had a cup (that had a lid and crazy straw attached) that was filled with juice in the morning and water in the afternoon & evening. The water bottle was great for in a pinch when the cup was empty and we weren't close to a rest stop, or when something got sticky and they needed just a bit of water to wet a napkin to get it cleaned up.
Second front pocket:
-Small toys, like their little dolls.
-Camera. My girls have their own Fisher-Price kid cameras and I highly recommend taking a camera for the kids. Even if you don't own a kid camera and don't want to purchase one, get a disposable or two for them, it makes them feel like a big kid and a great way to see the world through their eyes (even if it is blurry).
Main pocket:
-Coloring book, new, so there were as many pages to keep them occupied as possible.
-Colored pencils (I bought each kid a pack from the 99 cent store, that way when they went missing or got broken, it wasn't a biggy and they didn't lose all their coloring stuff from home so they had something to color with when we got home. Plus, crayons melt and markers are messy).
-2 to 3 Books, I bought each girl a new book before the trip so there was something unfamiliar, which is always fun and takes a little longer to get through. Not to mention kids don't mind reading it/looking through it a couple of times before it gets boring.
-Larger toys, some had Barbies, other's had stuffed animals and a smaller/travel sized activity block (depending on the kid depended on what was in their bag, but I took several for each kid).
-Each kid got a new toy, as a surprise, in their bag. The older 2 got Brain Quests, #3 got Dr. Seuss flash cards, and my youngest got a musical activity book.
-Snacks, I put the snacks directly in their bag so when they wanted one I didn't have to fish around the car for the snack bag and find something for them. This way they could also make their own decision about what they want to eat...which makes for an easier time because they feel more in control.
I figured the girls would need about 3 snacks each day so I packed 3 then replenished for the next day. This allowed me to pack the snacks away with everything else, so there was less to trip over in the car and such. We also made a rule that if the girls got into their snacks without asking, all of them would be taken away and they would have to wait until the next day to have them back in their bags. Fortunately this worked really well and we didn't have any issues with them getting into their snacks.
For their snacks I made a huge batch of trail mix, then divided it into 4 snack sized Ziploc bags and put the remainder in a larger bag for later in the trip. I also broke down a box of Teddy Grahams and Goldfish the same way. I bought individual bags of beef jerkey (Target had them on sale for $1 each!). Finally, I bought a box of "gummies" and put one package in each of the girls bags and packed the rest of the packages away.
What's super great about these totes is that they will not only last a long time, but they can be used for other things too. My girls take swim lessons and we now use the bags for their towels, goggles, water bottle, etc. Everything is organized and easily accessible, and they really like that their things are in their own decorated bag.
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| Ryeli's is broken because she wanted to "play" with it on the last leg of the way home. Oops! |
As an added "please be good" incentive, we put each of the girls names on a popsicle stick (I had wanted to be more creative than just their name, but ran out of time) and every time we stopped for gas whoever's stick was still in the visor would get a special treat (here's the link to the pin that gave me the idea, along with one of my friends ideas about treats/prizes along the way). I bought glo-sticks (since some of our traveling was at night), a few small toys and had a couple packages of cookies (to be used for when we were done driving for the night). This really came in handy when the day started getting long and there was NOTHING to look at outside, hello Idaho! :) When the girls fought I would take down their stick and the only way to earn it back was to do something nice for someone else. It worked like a charm!
With these items and some planning ahead, we actually had a great trip! We also realized our kids are better road trip kids than we had thought they would be!!! We can't wait for more adventures and family road trips down the line.
*Sorry about there not being many pictures, I was so busy getting ready for the trip and then taking pictures of our trip that I completely forgot to take any of the process and "before." I will try to do better in the future. :)
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