Traveling with kids can seem cumbersome and unmanageable at times, but we’re here to tell you it’s totally doable (and highly recommended)! Investing in some great products, though, can be totally worth your while to make your travels easier. Easier travels mean a more enjoyable vacation for everyone and that’s the point, right?!?
We’ve traveled quite a bit since the kids were born (traveled a ton before then, too), and we’ve learned some great lessons along the way. I can be a penny pincher sometimes, but once I realized the benefit of investing in some reasonably-priced dedicated travel gear, it truly changed our travel experience! The little bit of added cost was worth it to be able to truly enjoy our vacations and time with the kids more. It was just a matter of finding the right products, so here we’ve rounded up all those products for you along with some of our top tips 🙂
Some of these products will work for various age groups while some are a bit more age-specific. Some of these are to help you get to your destination while others are for once you get there. ALL of them are great additions to your travel arsenal 🙂
Car Seat
We currently check one car seat and take one car seat on the plane. You can read more about our flying process here. Our kids are close in age, so most car seats are still usable by both of them given their weight ranges. We have been using the Cosco Scenera NEXT car seat for Hunter ever since he was big enough to fit into it. This car seat is so reasonably priced that I don’t have to stress if something happens to it. We still have the same one since the beginning, though, and we’ve just washed the car seat fabric once or twice along the way. We have always used an airline bag to keep it covered, however. I think this has really helped lengthen the life of it. Unless you have a purchased ticket for your child, you will either have to check the car seat with your larger baggage or gate check it. Some people swear that it’s way safer to gate check, but I’ve watched them handle those pieces in comparison to the checked luggage and it’s not much different. I’ve also seen the way our bag has come back after gate checking it, and it’s a wreck – same or worse than baggage check. To me, it’s not worth hauling it through the airport just to “keep it safer” (of course, if it really did make a difference, we would happily lug it along).
With that being said, we do check Hunter’s current car seat. It’s a bit larger, and we only have one ticketed child passenger currently. We have found this bag to be absolutely amazing for car seat travel, and it’s so multifunctional. I usually use it as a rolling bag while Chance typically carries backpack style. It’s so awesome to have the choice on how we use it based on the other type of luggage we may have with us. We have found it to hold up extremely well being checked with the larger suitcases every time. Bonus points because it also has extra storage pockets. You’re technically not allowed to pack any additional items in your stroller or car seat bags when checking them (gate or not), but we haven’t had any issues to date. I am strategic about what I usually pack in there, though. I make sure it’s on the lighter side as to not make the bag overweight or overly suspicious, and I try to keep it baby/toddler-related because I feel like the agent would have a harder time telling us “no” to the kids item. I figure they’re real people too, so hopefully they’d have pity on us! 😂
Dolly
We use this dolly for the car seat that we do take on the plane. The great thing is that Gage rides in this seat in the car and then through the airport, so we literally take his car seat out of the car and strap it to the dolly when we get to the airport (and vice versa upon arrival). It’s such an easy push/ride and basically acts as our stroller through the airport. Hunter is a good walker, but even he can ride in it if need be (as seen below). The car seat/dolly combo fits down the aisle of most aircraft. We have yet to be on one that it hasn’t fit. Then, we quickly unsnap the car seat from the dolly, and the dolly just folds up super easily right into the overhead bin. Then, once we’re on the other end, we attach the car seat back to the dolly and deplane. We’ve even figured out how to hook Hunter’s car tray to the dolly. It’s definitely one of our better travel finds and so necessary with little ones. I have a feeling we’ll be purchasing another once baby #3 arrives 😉
I just wanted to mention real quick that when we were still gate checking our car seat and stroller, we used this car seat bag and this stroller bag. It was light and folded up fairly compact to carry through the airport with us. Not super expensive either. No matter how you choose to transport your car seat or stroller to your destination, if it is not going to be on the plane with you, I HIGHLY recommend you have some sort of cover for it!!
Tablets & Headphones
We don’t allow the boys to use too much technology or watch TV at home. Don’t get me wrong, they totally watch TV most days (I strategically save it when I’m trying to get dinner ready, still working/taking calls & Chance isn’t home from work yet), and I’m in no way judging anyone whose kids do use their tablets/TV all day. It’s a personal preference for us, but one that makes tablet usage a special treat when we travel. If your kids are used to using their tablet daily, I would maybe take a break for the few days before your travels. That way it will be even more special when they do get to use it again! They’ll be soooo excited to have it back that they will be the perfect golden children 😉 Allowing our kids to use their tablets for most of the travel time has significantly cut down on the amount of entertainment we need to bring for them. Seriously, I wish I had given in sooner! We have a variety of items loaded onto the tablets – movies, favorite TV shows, educational apps, book apps, coloring apps, etc. We really love the Amazon Fire Kids Tablet. They are a great price with awesome protection for toddlers who don’t understand how to be careful with electronics just yet. They are definitely a little slower and have some limitations, but I would rather buy something cheaper and just replace it more frequently. The likelihood of something happening to the tablet is high given travels and toddlers! We have found, though, that adding an SD card (the link is for a 64 GB but we actually have 32 GB which works well) to provide additional space has allowed the tablet to process much faster. I got our last 2 during Amazon Prime Day last summer – be on the lookout because it’s a really good deal especially if you need more than one!
To go with the tablets – we love these headphones. They are comfy for the little ones, and we find they stay on well. The sound doesn’t get too high to protect their ears but still loud enough for them to hear over the engines of the plane. They fold up which is amazing for saving space. When we ordered Hunter’s pair almost 3 years ago, they sent a bag with them. We ordered Gage a pair not quite a year ago and they didn’t include a bag. I was a little disappointed because the bag is nice for keeping them safe, but we just found another bag around the house that works. Again, these are very reasonably priced so if they break (i.e. get thrown by a certain toddler) I don’t feel as bad. I looked at the bluetooth ones so that they could be cord-free, but I just couldn’t bring myself to spend that much money on headphones for them right now. I would recommend letting your kids use their headphones at home prior to a trip. We would do about 5-10 minutes a day in the beginning and build up to about 30 minutes. If they can leave them on for 30 minutes, they get the point of the headphones. This took maybe a few days for Hunter. Gage maybe took 2-3 weeks of training off and on to get him to leave the headphones and even still, if he’s not super interested in what’s on the tablet, he doesn’t leave them on. But he’s also not good about wearing hats or sunglasses whereas Hunter specifically asks for them – they’re just totally different kids in so many ways.
Water Bottles
We have tried a variety of water bottles for the kids along the way. We started using these CamelBak bottles when Hunter was around 9/10m old. He did super well with them! Gage took a bit longer to adjust and learn how to use it – again, different kids. We really love the CamelBaks, but if I had one complaint, it would be that they are somewhat prone to leaking (especially after your kids have bitten the bite valve a little bit). They have tons of design options, though, and the bite valves can easily be bought and replaced which does help with the leaking. Because of that, I ventured off to find a similar water bottle that was more leakproof for travel. We needed the larger 12 oz capacity which doesn’t come in your more traditional “sippy cup.” We found these Contigo water bottles that are very similar, but in our opinion, leak way less. The tradeoff is that the bite valve doesn’t come out for cleaning, so you need to be more aware of mold-type issues in it. We use the CamelBaks on a more regular basis, since they can be more easily cleaned. The Contigos are our go-to for longer outings and travel.
Eating
This bottle cleaning travel system is the bomb! I feel it’s totally underrated. We still bring it today so that no matter what our accommodations are, we are able to clean the kids cups. I originally bought it because we traveled with a bunch of bottles for Hunter’s first trip at 3 months old. It outdid itself, and we haven’t left home without it since. It’s actually an item that I usually gift to new moms if I know they are travelers, grandparents live far away, etc. While on the topic of food, we also love these bibs once baby can sit up to eat because they are large, don’t let food bleed through them, and most importantly when traveling, are easy to clean. You can use a wipe, a washcloth, a sponge or honestly just rinse them off in the sink – they dry pretty quickly, especially if you can find a spot to hang them by the arm hole.
Tommee Tippee bottle warmer – the best travel bottle warmer out there! We had some other bottle warmers that I registered for with Hunter (both for at-home and car travel use), but they got grimy so I tried this one when Gage was born. And I have to admit I love it so much better than any of the others we’ve had. This one is a little bulky to travel with by air, but when you need to heat a bottle up, you need to heat a bottle up. Once you get through security, just ask a coffee shop to put some hot water in it for you. It’s great for car travel, too, since you’re not as worried about taking up space or carrying it. We fill it up before we leave for the day, and it lasts awhile! We also use this if we’re just going to be gone from the house for a few hours and know we will need to heat bottles up in that timeframe. I love this one because you don’t need to plug it into anything, etc. Just an FYI that we don’t use TT bottles. It’s a pretty large size so I think it would fit just about any bottle. You can see our Avents in the photos below which I think is one of the wider bottles on the market. We keep reusing the water multiple times throughout the day; it just takes longer to warm the bottle as you warm more bottles and use up the heat.
Another favorite is this portable high chair! I’m not sure it’s technically a “travel” item, but it packs well enough for us. We don’t bring the tray, and it lays flat in our medium-sized suitcase. This is great if you need to feed your little one in the room! We also bring it to restaurants when ours are still little, and I don’t want them knawing on the high chairs, etc. We used to have a clip on “sassy seat,” but I much prefer this one after discovering it. Now Gage is old enough and we leave it in the room and just use the restaurant high chairs while out. Doesn’t weigh a whole ton either!
Packing
Another favorite is this compression packing cube set for diapers and clothing. They come in a set of three, and we use the smallest size for diapers. I implemented this for traveling when we had two sets of diapers to keep with us. Now, we actually use it in our regular daily diaper bag not just for travels. It saves so much space! Diapers are super light but very bulky. We can easily fit 7-8 diapers in this size. It’s like the dimensions were almost made for diapers it works so perfectly (currently in the larger size diapers for our boys). Depending on how long our travel day is, we may throw a few extra diapers in the extra backpack, but usually this suffices for our travels. We also use a larger size compression cube to put the boys changes of clothes in. Packing cubes keep everything neat and organized, in general, but the compression cubes are great to save on space!
Car Seat Tray
We found this tray on amazon for Hunter before we embarked on a multi-stop vacation for our annual friends’ trip and to visit my in-laws. None of us are particularly fond of car travel, but there was no way to escape it for this particular trip. We knew we would be in the car for hours on end but didn’t want to have movies playing the entire time (need to save those for the desperate times LOL). Hunter really loves playing pretend with his animals and dinosaur figurines. He also enjoys flipping through books and coloring. This tray was great for all of that! He could eat snacks on it, color on it, and play on it. It has these little pockets on the sides to hold items, and you can adjust the velcro straps on the inside to create different sized pockets. It was a lifesaver for our long car trip! Hunter even asks for it sometimes, but he knows he won’t get it unless the ride is over an hour long. It’s important to note that the child obviously has to be forward-facing to benefit from using this tray. **Anything added to a car seat after market can potentially be hazardous. I recommend you consult your car seat manual and do your own due diligence to decide what is best for you and your kids before attaching anything to a car seat.**
We never thought about this for air travel until Hunter started sitting in the car seat on the plane as a ticketed passenger. Once we put the car seat into the seat, the tray table couldn’t come down all the way which made it unusable for Hunter (he also really couldn’t reach it that well). We had a 5 hour flight to California, and we decided to bring the tray…SUCH a good idea! It gave Hunter the same setup as in the car, and he basically entertained himself the whole flight. He could eat his snacks as he pleased, we propped his tablet up so he didn’t have to hold it, and he could color/play with his dinosaurs without fear of losing/dropping anything. And I didn’t realize how great it would be for mom to have extra pockets to put things in! Talking about winning!!
Activities
Speaking of the tray for activities, we’ve discovered some toys are just better suited for travel than others (and double as great diaper bag toys!). This also largely depends on the age of the child as well. Obviously, as they get older and easier to entertain, that in-and-of itself is a huge help! In addition to the tablet, we usually keep a few other entertainment-type items with us (obviously more if we’re in the car and it’s going to be a longer period of time). Some of our favorites are:
- Grab & Go play packs (linked to amazon here but look for them in the $1 section at Target!)
- Water coloring books
- Buckle board (a FAVORITE!)
- Thin books (I usually get these at the Dollar Store)
- Musical toy (great for 3-10 months)
- Baby paper & Dimpl toy (more great ones for the infants)
- Small figurines (like these)
- Travel puzzles or cards (like this magnetic puzzle or this match game)
- Bubbles (watch the liquids requirement, usually a small one)
Carriers
I talked alot about how wonderful our dolly is for transporting a car seat (and child!) through the airport, but what about if you have an infant? For this, we use our Lillebaby carrier. I also really love the Solly Baby wrap for newborns, but I don’t like to have that much fabric or something that takes that much time to put on when traveling. The Lillebaby is extremely comfortable for babywearing. I’m only 5’1 and our kids all take after Chance size-wise, so you can imagine our weight-height ratios are already close; it makes carrying and wearing them for long periods of time very difficult, especially taking a toll on my back. The Lillebaby is so supportive that I can babywear for hours PLUS enables you to be hands free when traveling through the airport. It can be inconvenient to have to take it off to go through security, but that’s a small price to pay to be hands free the rest of the travel day. We are actually in the process of ordering a new one that I hope will be more compact. That’s honestly the main con of the Lille – it’s somewhat bulky and takes up a lot of room if you’re packing it instead of wearing it. The other con is changing the sizing for who’s wearing it. BUT my husband and I are also over a foot apart in height. I’m 5’1 and he’s 6’3, so it’s not like we can just “make it work” unfortunately. I need the tightest settings and he needs the loosest. We have considered buying two lilles so that we don’t have to switch our settings back and forth, but we wouldn’t bring two when traveling anyway. It’s not that difficult to switch the settings, so it’s really not a big deal. We’ve been sharing one carrier for almost 2 years now with no real issues. The Lilles also offer pockets for storage of small items.
Kid’s Backpack
Hunter’s 3 now and is definitely starting to assert his independence (sometimes this is a wonderful thing and other times frustrating). One of the wonderful parts of this is that he wants to carry a bag just like mommy and daddy. We had actually gotten him a small Camelbak backpack with a bladder to use when hiking just before he turned 2. He’s done very well walking the neighborhood and practicing with that bag, but it doesn’t hold much more than the bladder. When we went on a recent trip, we were able to go to an REI store again. We found this 12L bag on sale. He was SO proud to wear it, and it holds the perfect amount of stuff for him. He can hold his water bottle, some snacks, his tablet, and a few other small things in there. It’s a great size bag that he will definitely grow into over the next few years. We watch how much we put in it right now just so that it isn’t too heavy for him. The red color was on sale which is why we got it, but as we were walking around the city and through the airport, I was actually SUPER grateful for the bright color – it made him stick out and easy to find which all parents need sometimes!! Haha We know that in the coming months to year, he will be holding most of his own items, especially when he doesn’t need diapers anymore. Chance & I have decided that we are going to implement the rule that the kids are allowed to bring however much fits in their backpack (and they can carry on their own).
Sleeping
Do you use a pack-n-play when you travel? We do, and it’s one of the best things. Not only does it work as a bed, but you also have a safe space to put little ones during the day. One thing that I dislike about the pack-n-play is how hard the bottom is. I totally understand that babies need to sleep on firmer surfaces, but those PNPs are just downright hard. I just felt so guilty making them sleep on the solid bottom. We found this awesome pad to go in the bottom of the PNP, and it makes all the difference in the world for them! It folds up into thirds for transport, and we have no issues fitting this in one of our duffel bags to go on an airplane especially because it’s super light. We hauled our own PNP with us the first time we traveled, but now we just use the hotel’s and put our pad and sheet on it – way easier for us to carry but makes me feel like it’s still our mattress and sheet the baby is actually sleeping on! Sidenote: don’t forget the sheet; we’ve done this once or twice and it’s just easier to have a sheet over it to wash! Lol
While we’re on the topic of sleep, we needed a solution when Hunter outgrew the pack-n-play (and Gage needed it anyway). We found this awesome bed for him to sleep in … it’s a super comfortable air mattress that has sides so he can’t roll out. He was able to use this starting around 20 months because we had already transitioned him to his “big boy bed” at home. On one trip, the room was very bright but the closet was large. We moved this into the closet so that he could have more darkness. We usually put it right next to my side of the bed so that I can just look down and check on him throughout the night. We have brought this with us on most of our trips, but you have to watch the weight. While it doesn’t take up a lot of space, it’s quite heavy. It pairs well with the PNP mattress pad that’s very light, but bulky and takes up space. You can also use the actual air mattress itself without the sides as the kids get older. I also find we don’t need to refill the air but once on a 5-7 day trip.
This portable sound machine is another must! We do use sound machines in the kids’ rooms at home, but even if you don’t, a sound machine can be super helpful while traveling or staying at a noisy hotel. Different environments can affect a child’s ability to sleep, and noises that may not normally wake them up can. Not to mention that many of us all sleep in the same room on vacation, so just the movement of each person can keep others awake. This handy little machine clips on to the outside of one of your bags. It actually stays on our everyday diaper bag when we have infants sleeping on the go. It charges by a micro USB so you don’t have to worry about replacing batteries (or bringing a different type of cord). It holds a good charge and has variable sound settings. The highest setting is actually really loud. It’s not big at all for the amount of sound it puts out!
Honorable Mention
Other items that deserve some mention are these hooks – for stroller and backpack – and this pop-up shade. We always have hooks that we can attach to our backpacks or strollers should we need them. Maybe you’re in Disney World and have an extra bag of goodies you don’t want to carry all day and can hook to the stroller, or maybe you’re flying home with an extra bag and want to attach it to your backpack so that you have hands for the littles? The great thing about these hooks is that they are easy to pack, so you can pull them out only if you wind up needing them. The pop-up shade was a MUST for us in Costa Rica when we were staying at a resort over the summer. Most of our time was spent by the pool or beach. Hunter was only 9 months, so he needed more shade than we did and was still taking at least 2 naps per day. This was perfect for all of that, and even better, it packed up very small in our luggage. With the price point it was at, I was okay if we got there and had to leave it because we couldn’t make it fit back to come home. We had no issues, though, and we are still using it over 2 years later!
We talked about our favorite portable charger in this post, but I just wanted to mention it here. With all the electronics and gadgets that require charging these days, this is something you definitely don’t want to be without! And we all know that we put our kids’ needs first and rarely forget to pack things for them, so I figured you’d want the reminder here on this list 🙂
Have you used any of these items on your travels? Is there something else we should know about? Let us know in the comments below 🙂
Resources Mentioned
9 Tips for Traveling with Toddlers & Babies
Ultimate Vacay Grocery List for Big Families with Little Kids
3 Responses