13 Tips for Easy Road Trips with Young Kids

Living about a 13 hour drive away from our extended family has made us pretty professional at road trips with young kids. We just took another one with a 7 year old, 5 year old, 3 year old twins, and an 8 month old. The kids travel pretty well and we’d like to think that part of that is because we try to be organized and have fun with it, though I’m sure some of it comes from their natural dispositions as well.  This trip took a record 15 1/2 hours due to a potty trained toddler who needed lots of potty stops.  We did it all in one day!  Here’s our family road trip tips for how we survive and actually enjoy the trip – or most of it!

1. (BABIES) Pack a box that has everything you’ll need for diaper changes and feeding in an easy to reach location. Include twice the number of diapers you would normally need during a single day, diaper rash cream, formula and bottles that are pre-filled with water (for bottle fed babies), a couple of grocery plastic bags for tossing out messy diapers – just not on the side of the road, please!
2. If you have the space, arrange things to have a diaper changing station in the vehicle by laying down a blanket or changing pad and keeping the area clear of anything else – this works great in our minivan in the space behind the driver’s seat, in front of the baby car seat but we’ve also managed to make it work in a car in the past. 
3. Prepare for messes – have these things easily accessible while driving:  a bag with an extra change of clothes for everyone, including adults; garbage bag, paper towels, and an all purpose cleaner; extra burp cloths for babies; a small bucket/bin in case someone gets sick to their stomach and needs to throw up.  We’ve dealt with exploding soda pop, baby spit up all over dad, and kids throwing up all on different trips. 
4. Be prepared but flexible. We plan our stops around the baby’s normal feeding time. We try to do everything we can in one stop:  fill the car with gas, take kids to use the bathroom, pass out food, etc while the baby is being fed. It usually works great (like a race car pit crew in action!) but sometimes the baby will start crying an hour before we are scheduled to stop when we’re in the middle of nowhere or won’t eat at the scheduled stop and will have to be fed later.  We have taken a quick exit to feed a baby pulled over on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere – it’s much better than driving for an hour with a screaming baby to try to make it to the next scheduled stop.
5. Have lots of snacks on hand.  To keep costs down, I buy boxes of crackers/cookies and make some of their favorite snacks like cut up apples and energy bites. I divide them up into snack size ziploc bags and put them all in a larger bag that is easy for me to reach so I can just toss them to the kids as we drive. I also do a bag of non perishable snacks for the drive home that can be packed away until the return trip. 
6. Easy meals are a must. It can be drive through food or something you make at home if you want to keep costs low. For this trip, we avoided the drive through and had banana muffins for breakfast and tortillas rolled up with peanut butter, apple slices, and cookies for lunch.
7. If you have toddlers, a potty seat and toilet paper isn’t a bad idea, especially if you’ll be traveling long stretches of road where there aren’t any bathrooms. I feel like an idiot putting my kid on a potty seat on the side of the road, but it’s better than cleaning up accidents in the car.
8. We always leave super early (4:00am) and bring the kids in their pajamas so they can sleep for the first couple hours of the drive – it makes the trips seem a little shorter to them.  When traveling in pajamas you’ll need a bag that has their clothes for the day, shoes, jackets (if necessary), and a pencil box with supplies for a quick fix of their hair. Tip:. Don’t turn on a movie or pass out snacks or activities/toys until after they’ve snoozed for a bit and are ready to be up for the day. You want the car to be quiet and distraction free if  you want them to sleep for a bit. 
9. Whether it’s clothes for your destination, to change into while driving or your spare/emergency clothes, pack the kids’ clothes in gallon size ziploc bags – shirt, pants, underwear all together with the child’s name on the bag. 
10. Have lots of fun things to do.  It’s great that we have movies as an option these days, but believe it or not, kids will get tired of that after a while. My kids each get to bring their own bag with one small book, one small toy, a handheld video game, and a small stuffed animal (beanie baby size) to sleep with at night. I buy a new cheap toy for each of them.  I also like to get a new movie (something from the $5 bin at Walmart or even checked out from the library) and have some fun music on hand. 
11. I found these great water bottles for this trip!  What I love about them is they are easy for even the youngest ones to close to avoid spills. Caution:  the more often you fill them up, the more bathroom stops you’ll have to make.  I quickly learned to only fill them up 1/3 of the way!
12. We always travel with a gallon of water to fill up cups, clean up messes and rinse out the potty seat when it’s used.
13. Whatever you do, try to make it fun!  15 1/2 hours in the car is a lot of work for mom and dad and no picnic for little ones!  We have done things like get a surprise treat (donuts or ice cream – even though it’s a mess!) when we stop for gas, stop for lunch at a fast food place with a play area, find a place to stop and run around in a circle or have races to get some energy out, play I Spy, or have sing-a-longs in the car to our favorite family songs.