6 Things I Always Pack When Traveling With Kids—Because Vacation Should Feel Like a Vacation
- Hannah Iannuzzi
- 23 hours ago
- 5 min read
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The tried-and-true things that help our family sleep better, stay organized, and spend a little less time looking for the sunscreen.
Vacation with kids is still parenting. Just somewhere prettier.
I love traveling with my family. I love the late nights getting ice cream, cousins running around together, beach days that somehow turn into dinner in sandy clothes, and all of the little memories that come with being away from home.
But traveling with young kids also means bringing approximately 847 things and somehow still realizing at bedtime that you forgot the one thing everyone actually needed.
Over the years, I’ve found a handful of things that come with us again and again—not because they’re trendy travel “must-haves,” but because they solve actual problems.
Where will everyone sleep?
How do we keep a toddler from waking up at 5:47 a.m. because the rental house has sheer curtains?
Where is the sunscreen?
Whose underwear is this?
And what exactly am I supposed to do with two soaking-wet bathing suits when we have to check out in 20 minutes?
These are six things that have genuinely made traveling with kids easier for our family.
Nothing revolutionary. Just fewer things to figure out when I’d rather be on vacation.
1. The Toddler Travel Bed
Because “Where is everyone sleeping?” shouldn’t become a vacation crisis.
This is one of those purchases that has solved the same problem for us over and over again.
When you’re renting a house with extended family—or staying somewhere where the sleeping arrangements aren’t totally clear until you arrive—having a comfortable place for a little one to sleep gives you so much flexibility.
And sometimes young kids just need to be near you.
A strange room, unfamiliar sounds, middle-of-the-night wakeups—vacation is exciting, but that doesn’t always translate into great sleep.
What I love about this toddler airbed is that you can set up a little sleep space almost anywhere.
The electric pump makes setup incredibly fast, the raised sides help keep little sleepers from rolling out, and it packs down surprisingly small when you’re not using it.
I also love that it can be useful for several years as kids grow, which makes it feel much more worthwhile than something with a very short window of use.
The Mental Loadown: You don’t have to perfectly plan every sleeping arrangement before you arrive.
$89.99
2. Portable Blackout Curtains
Possibly the most sleep I have ever purchased.
I am not exaggerating when I say portable blackout curtains have probably given our family days of additional sleep when you add up all the vacations we’ve used them on.
Kids see sunlight and think: GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE.
They do not care that Grandma and Grandpa are still sleeping. They do not care that everyone stayed up late playing mini golf with the cousins and getting ice cream.
The sun is up.
Therefore, apparently, we are all up.
These portable blackout panels attach to windows and can be adjusted to block an impressive amount of light—even in vacation rentals with giant windows and completely useless decorative curtains.
We originally started using them when our kids were babies and daytime naps in bright vacation bedrooms were nearly impossible.
Years later?
Still coming with us.
They come with two panels, and depending on the window size, we’ve sometimes been able to stretch one panel surprisingly far.
Good naps.
Later mornings.
Less overtired chaos.
I will happily sacrifice a little suitcase space for that.
The Mental Loadown: Don’t redesign your child’s sleep routine around someone else’s window treatments.
3. Packing Cubes
Not just for jet setters. Possibly even better for families with kids.
Packing cubes are often marketed as a way to fit more into your suitcase.
That’s nice.
I use them primarily because I do not want to spend vacation digging through one enormous pile of tiny clothing trying to remember whose shorts are whose.
We often pack both kids’ clothing into one suitcase to save space.
One child’s clothes go here.
The other child’s clothes go there.
Pajamas can have their own spot.
Swimsuits somewhere else.
I bring a separate laundry bag for dirty clothes, which means the clean clothing stays organized instead of slowly becoming one giant vacation clothing avalanche.
They’re also great for toys, stuffies, or all the miscellaneous kid things that somehow multiply while traveling.
The Mental Loadown: Everyone’s stuff has a home—even when you’re temporarily living out of a suitcase.
4. A Collapsible Trunk Organizer
Because I refuse to play “Which bag has the sunscreen?”
You know the vacation car.
Beach towels.
Shoes.
Snacks.
Wipes.
Sunscreen.
Reusable water bottles.
A random sweatshirt.
Four bags that apparently contain everything except the one thing you are currently looking for.
A collapsible trunk organizer gives all of that floating stuff a home.
I especially love having predictable categories for the things we’re constantly grabbing.
Instead of thinking:
Did I put the wipes in the beach bag? Or Ruthie’s backpack? Or that Target bag?
You know where they are. And when you’re not using the organizer, it folds down.
Simple.
The Mental Loadown: Fewer places something might be means fewer things your brain has to remember.
5. Waterproof Wet Bags
For the inevitable “one last swim.”
There is always one.
Checkout is at 11.
The car is packed.
Everyone is dressed.
And somehow the children are back in the pool.
Honestly?
Worth it.
But then you have two soaking-wet bathing suits and absolutely nowhere sensible to put them.
Waterproof wet bags are such a simple thing, but we use them constantly.
Vacation.
Beach.
Pool.
Summer camp.
Throw the wet swimsuits inside, zip them up, and deal with them when you get home.
The prints on these are also genuinely cute, which never hurts.
The Mental Loadown: Wet bathing suits no longer require a logistical strategy.
6. The Beach Chair I Actually Want to Carry
Because apparently parents need approximately six arms at the beach.
Beach chairs are great.
Carrying beach chairs while also carrying towels, snacks, toys, water bottles, and everything your children promised they would carry?
Less great.
I love a backpack-style beach chair because it leaves your hands available for everything else.
It’s comfortable, easy to carry, folds up neatly in the car, and there’s one tiny feature I especially appreciate: A protected place for my phone and belongings.
Because sometimes I want to sit right at the water’s edge while my child happily dumps wet sand approximately six inches from my body.
My phone can stay protected and still be close enough to grab when something happens that I actually want to remember.
Here's a great backpack-style beach chair I’d consider.
The Mental Loadown: The best family products don’t give you more things to manage. They make the things you’re already doing easier.
The Mental Loadown
Pack for the problems you don’t want to solve on vacation.
A few well-chosen things can save you from having to repeatedly solve the same annoying problems while you’re away.
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