road trip survival kit

hey y'all! i'm home! it's so good to be back after a three day road trip. :)

i have LOTS of winners to announce, i know. just be patient with me...i promise i'll have them up in the next few days!

i thought i'd share what i put together to entertain everyone on the road trip. it took a LOT of planning ( a couple of weeks ), but it was well worth it and worked out really well. i'm so happy with the result. and the best part is? it was SO fun. i mean that.

first and foremost, it has to be said that the ULTIMATE survival kit is my amazing father. who flew all the way to savannah to drive us to texas. and then drove us all the way back to savannah and will fly back to texas. he's incredible.

that is called a father's love. ;)

my favorite thing i did was put together a little back seat bucket for the bigs:

here's a list of what was inside:

binders  (see details below)

books

coloring books

one toy per big (they each chose barbies)

two pouches per big (see below)

dry erase boards

melissa and doug make a face sticker pads

melissa and doug travel memory game

phonics game

 

here is the travel pouch that i made harper and sadie. i found these in the travel toiletry section at target.

note: the lollypop is big, but NOT that big. it looks gigantic here. HAHA!

each pouch contained:

a throw away camera

snacks

tissue

lollypop

tic tacs

 

each kiddo also got a pouch with two juice boxes in it. they just put them right back in the pouch when they were empty and i added more each morning.

 

this travel game is the BEST thing i got. hands down.i ended up ordering another one so that each girl can have one for our next trip. it's a memory game. buy this if you are going on a road trip. i mean it.

as far as the dry erase boards go, i was also really happy with them. each girl got one. tip:velcro the eraser to the board. this keeps lost erasers to a minimum.

 

each girl got a 2" 3 ring binder. i let them color pictures to slip in the front and back...this is how we identified which binder belonged to who.

these binders were a huge hit as well. the girls liked having everything in one place.

inside:

crayons velcroed to inside cover.

pencil pouch containing  LOTS of cheap stickers, no scent dry erase markers,

also inside:

page protector with maps of our routes inside (we'd trace our progress at every stop). road trip america is a great resource.

behind the map was printer paper. the girls would draw pictures and decorate the pictures with stickers.

in the back pocket was a coloring book, a paperback book and this bingo game (i had the SAME one when i was little. yay!!).

also helpful:

four DVDs

3 CDs of childrens music

travel pillow and blankets

snacks

ella's kitchen baby food pouches for cate and lucy...these saved my LIFE at each stop. so easy and mess free. i squirted them right into the babies mouths.

baby mum mums

plenty of plastic grocery bags for trash, diapers,etc.

 

i packed two backpacks for our hotel stays (2 nights per way).

one backpack for harper and cate

and one backpack for sadie and lucy.

each backpack had:

a nightgown for the big and 2 changes of underwear,

two cotton dresses for bigs for day

2 baby footsie pajamas

2 nightime diapers

4 regular diapers, travel wipes

2 onesies for day

toothbrushes

baby binkies

baby blankets

a plastic target bag for dirty laundry

 

so there you have it! i hope some of you will find this helpful! and if you have any questions, PLEASE feel free to ask in the comments. i'd love to help!!

xoxo

s

 

 

Comments

[joann]

Your kids are so lucky. I used to travel alone between home and my mother's (about 5 hours) with nothing but the scenery to entertain my 2 kids. No snacks, no games! That was in the "good old days"! LOL

[Melissa Mann]

you're an awesome mama :-) your girls will have good memories of these trips :-)

[aud]

We have the melissa and doug wooden hangman game, and my girls STILL use it on trips (they are 14 and 9). Love that there are no pieces to lose.

[Mary Jo]

This was sooooo helpful for me! My husband is working for the next four months out of Canada and we (the kids and I are planning a road trip up there at least once) I am a little nervous to make that drive by myself and I only have two kids let alone four :)
But I love some of the ideas you posted here!!

[Victoria]

This looks great Steph, the girls were so lucky to have all of those goodies to play with! So pleased to see you're able to use their name labels :) Love Victoria

[Nancy Hyland]

this is great, going to adapt some of this for our Hawaii vacation loved the binder and the pencil case to hold all the pieces - such a simple thing but a great idea!!

[Stephanie Howell]

vitoria, we LOVE them. and you. :) xoxo

[Christine Campbell]

All I can say is WOW!!! And I'm writing all of that down in case I need it someday :)

[jennifer Camplin]

Awesome plans .. sound all great worked out.

Thank for sharing....

[Kimber-Leigh]

great ideas! i love the binder idea...may implement that on our next trip. my favorite idea? the velcroed crayons. genius.

(and an fyi...i found some dry erase crayons made by crayola at walmart. going to see if they work better than the old ones i have..i hate dry erase marker on clothes! what brand did you use that's non-smelly?)

[Stephanie Howell]

Crayola!!!

Sent from my iPhone

[kristen welker cox]

GREAT ideas. i am a major strategic planner too. kinda dorky about it almost! lol. i love these ideas. i swear by great planning. =) you did awesome

[Gela]

First of all your father gets my vote for father of the year! You are so blessed. I don't have any kids but those are get tips for those who do,

[marcy]

Man... and I thought my travel boxes were cool.... ;)

[Kimber-Leigh]

ah ha! and i'm guessing they're probably washable?!?!?

[Natalie]

Awesome!! Glad you made it home safetly. What a GREAT dad you have!! Mine is just like that!

:0)Natalie

[Sherrie M.]

Thanks for sharing! I'm headed on a road trip with my three girls (age 7 & 5 yr old twins)...from NJ to MD to NC to SC and back again with stops along the way. Will be incorporating your great ideas. Thanks!

[Karen C.]

Stephanie, My daughter got a binder for her bday from a friend, where they put a bunch of pages in page protectors, such as seek and finds, letter learning,connect the dots etc... along with a bunch of dry erase markers and an eraser. She has so much fun doing the pages over and over. I hope that makes sense. lol!

[Candy]

I remember those days...loved it when they slept while we drove...moved up to electronic gadgets at some point...simple games...today, well, they get to help "drive" and we have our family trip next week! the coast of Oregon...hard to believe we will have our 19 year old with us, and he really wants to come!

[Karla]

Oh my goodness, this is AWESOME! We leave for a road trip in a week. Your bucket in now on my list to get for our vacation. Thanks, in a HUGE way.

[david steakley]

marvin is undoubtedly a very good guy. when your kids are older, all you need for a roadtrip is wifi and a few computing platforms.

[Kim]

The binders are an awesome idea. I love it! I will be definitely be making one for each of my kiddos for our many adventures. TFS!

[Dawn]

Wow!! You are an awesome mom. And your dad is amazing too! So lucky. Love all the ideas you shared. One thing I didn't see though was where you bought that great polka dot holder for all of the goodies. Love it...and must have one :) Any idea where it came from?

[Stephanie Howell]

Stein Mart!!

Sent from my iPhone

[Shannon]

Thank you so much for this post! I've pinned it and bookmarked it. I'll be referencing it in a few months as we prepare for our cross country PCS. My girls will be 3.5 and 20 months and will so need all the ideas you've listed!

[Ellie A.]

We are headed off on a little road trip first in our car we did a little test run a few weeks ago and did a 2 day bus tour and I must say the kids did well to say the least. BUT this is in our car this time around. Although we have an SUV and all 3 should be comfy I have made sure to have JAM backed keep these 3 busy goodies for our 4-5 hr. road trip. Being I have 2 boys FOOD is essential especially for the just about to turn 13 one. I swear that boy is a hurricane when it comes to food.So Heroes are made.Chips are packed Juices frozen. Ipods charged & we took a run to the library so books are packed. For my little girl (4yr.old) she's excited Daddy got her some DVD's to watch as well as her book and snacks.. My 8 yr.old son is my go w/the flow one so I am betting he will do as our other road trip and sleep the whole way there Ha. but have goodies for him just in case as well as an ipod & book. For me well I will be taking pics.. I am the passenger/scrapbooker Ha.. So each stop that we make I will be the fool grabbing something to make sure besides my pics I have proof. Long Live Family Road trips... but there is NOTHING like coming back home! Is it Monday yet? Ha :)

[Shannon Shurtleff]

OMG. VELCRO CRAYONS. You are a genius. :) How stinking awesome?? Glad you had a great trip!!

[Naomi]

You have some great ideas here! We have one big trip each year (only 12 hours) and I will remember this! I'm impressed :)

[Victoria]

Anytime Steph :) Let me know if they need anymore. x

[Pat]

Isn't it a blessing to have a dad that adores all his girls enough to be your escort!?! Thankful you were resouceful! Glad you are all safely back home.

[Jenni Hufford]

WOW you amaze me-- this is incredible!! great post!
oh and i would LOVE to see the photos the bigs took! hee!

[Latrice]

All I have to say is that you're amazing! This is so well organized I'm in awe. I love that your dad came out to drive you down. That is the sweetest thing ever. I'm so glad that your trip went well.

I'll be thinking about J during this time as well. Hugs to you and prayers to those Navy families.

[samantha]

you're such a good mom!

[Dawn]

Great! Thanks! I'll have to go track one down :)

[Steph H]

I knew you were a rockstar before, this post is just more proof.

[Bea Monforte]

Wow, this is a good organization! This is a great post at this time of year, I think it'll be so useful for mamas :)
(Psst! I'm 30 and think those toybags are so cool! ehe!)

[Jeni]

When I saw the news in Afghanistan today I thought about you. I am o sad.

[pattyh]

we have that memory game! best x-mas gift my 5 yr old got last year! do you know if you can buy extra cards for it? He's memorized all of the ones that we have.

I envy your organization, we just went on 5 hour a way road trip with one and my nanny and I found his bag of toys 1 1.2 hours from home on the way back hahaha. This is a great post. I'll have to try it, I'm a terrible packer too so it would help all around!

[Dorinda McCabe]

You are amazing Stephanie!!!! What a fantastic idea!!! I am off to make a travel kit for my kids!! Thanks so much for keeping me inspired!!

[Kelly]

You are amazing ... and what GREAT ideas for all of us who aren't as creative as you to use for our next road trip! :) Glad you survived the Texas heat!

[holly]

Let me just say, if I still had 'littles' or a combo of 'littles' and 'bigs' you would SO be my HERO!!!!

[Priya Mohan]

Great packing tips!..thanks for sharing...I loved the memory game idea..My 2.5 yr old gal loves her memory game..but she has them as cards that would be difficult to use in travel..am sure she would love this travel board!..

[Jeanette]

Thanks for the tips, planning a trip with my 6 (3-13) to visit my eldest next month. north Washington to southern cal. & hubby can't get the time off : / Thanks for the ideas!

[Alexis]

This is a brilliant IDEa we are going to las Vegas this summer about a total of 45 hours in the car this is going to be a big help thanks for the great idea

[Smallzadams]

where did you find the pouches?

[Stephanie Howell]

target travel size toiletry section

[jenna]

love this post! can you tell me where the orange bucket/basket everything was held in, is from? LOVE IT!