Hellobee

We have many long road trips under our belt with a toddler, and we’ve created a standard road trip bag set up for us.

Water and snacks: We pack things like water, hummus, pita crackers, apple, goldfish, orange slices, fruit leather (our favorite brand Stretch Island): A road trip signifies vacation which means lots of eating outside the norm for us. I try to extend our regular eating habits as long as possible, which means staying away from road food.

Wipes: Eli is potty trained, but wipes are still super helpful for us. He doesn’t like to have sticky hands and these are easy to toss back at him. Also, we still have a rough time getting Eli completely cleaned after going to the bathroom. Their little bums are a slight challenge, making wipes a necessity.

Color Wonder Coloring book and markers: I bought the Color Wonder markers on a whim so that when Eli made the rounds and the grandparents’ house all week, he wouldn’t ruin everything. I have to say I don’t like them and Eli doesn’t either. However! The Color Wonder coloring books are great. The paper is thick, preventing bleed through and Eli shredding the paper when he uses regular markers. This is one of our last ditch efforts in the car though because I hate having to constantly search for caps!

Different small toys in small sets: The greatest change in our car rides came when Eli’s imagination grew enough to entertain himself in the car. Before every car ride, we tell Eli to grab a toy and this has become his car routine. The small amounts keep him entertained with constantly changing toys and also take up a small amount of space.  I know a lot of people like to get their kid a new car toy, but the kid has plenty of toys and takes too many rides.

Binkies: We recently broke Eli’s during the day binky habit, but he still gets them for naptime and bedtime. And long car trips. It is an 8-hour drive without stops to get to our hometown and I’m no hero, the kid can have a binky in the car.

Magnetic Doodle Pad:  This has been our star item!! It keeps Eli so entertained, I’m always so surprised. He uses it to draw and has a tray to play with his toys on. Our board also has animal shaped magnets to draw with. Eli got this toy 8 months ago but didn’t really get into it until he got really into coloring with markers.

Backpack: We pack all of Eli’s road trip essentials in his own backpack to keep everything easily accessible and separate from our stuff. It’s an old small Jansport from my high school days, nothing fancy, but I love having a small pouch for small essentials and that everything can get zipped away.

Change of clothes/Cloth diaper inserts: Eli has been potty trained for a couple months now, but sitting in the car for an extended period of time is hard for anyone. Extra clothes for the obvious reason and cloth diaper inserts because they are crazy absorbent. If Eli has an accident, change the clothes and set down a diaper insert and hit the road.

Blanky: Any lovey will do, just something to make it easy for the babe to crash in the car so that I can get some reading done.

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Do you have a standard road trip set up?  Or any entertainment secrets?