anyone else turn into crazy mom the day before a trip? my friend beth’s mom, mary kay, calls it travel panic and i always have a severe case. about a month ago, keven was away on business for 25 days. a loss in the family called for me to make a 5-hour road trip, by myself with the kids, on day 25. a 5-hour road trip WITH keven is an undertaking. without him, and running on empty, i knew i needed to get organized.

typically, the things i pack for a car trip can also be used for a plane trip. we fly just as often, if not more often, than we drive. the ipad certainly keeps the kids occupied but there is something about packing actual activities. i remember getting so excited as a kid to pull out my activities from my play bag when i traveled with my family. i’d like my kids to have the same experience, but we also use the ipad/portable dvd player on longer trips.

when it comes to snacks, the goal is ease, not health. while K may love strawberries, i do not love the mess, so strawberries are not in the snack bag. my snack strategy is to grab a bunch of zip lock baggies and pour in things in from the pantry – pretzels, cereal, dried fruit, popcorn, and mixes of various things {my kids love these, especially when i throw in a couple M & M’s}. i make enough for the trip and for our time away because snacks are never a bad thing when traveling.

i also like snacks that last a long time like ring pops, other lollipops, candy necklaces, or a string of cheerios for a bracelet or necklace. the kids can even make the cheerio strings as a car activity if you pack the supplies. a few cheerios dropped is not the end of the world.

in the car, you can play games with food, telling the kiddos they can eat one fruit snack/cheerio/goldfish every time they see a sign that starts with the letter S. or every time they see a farm animal outside the window, the song on the radio changes, or every time you pass a speed limit sign. this makes the snack last longer and gives the kids a reason to look outside at the scenery. {on a plane, the scenery doesn’t change often so this activity is not as appropriate for air travel.}

one more snack tip…the kids do not get to see the snacks i pack for a trip. that way, they can’t petition {ahem, whine} on the trip for something specific. and and make sure you throw in a few treats for yourself.

car/plane activities take me a LITTLE longer to pack than snacks. but the prep time pays off. i took some pictures during our last trip to share and to remind myself. here are our favorite travel time-wasters {that do not involve the ipad or movie watching}.

stickers probably seem pretty obvious but you can make them more exciting. ours are not fancy. i grabbed these out of our cabinet for our last trip. some are new and some already have stickers missing. a lot of them came free in the mail with magazine offers. the key here is the sticker book or some other new vehicle for the stickers. i take a few pieces of construction paper, fold them in half, staple the edges, and create a cover {older kids could do the cover themselves}. there is something about that little sticker book that makes stickering so much more fun {and last so much longer, which is really the point}.

you can also pack magazines and let kids add stickers to the magazine pages, cut strips of paper for the stickers, put them on envelopes for future letter sending, make sticker patterns, or create a story out of stickers that they have to tell you when they are done.

i found this melissa and doug scratch art cube at a cute little children’s store close to our house. it’s kind of like a post-it cube, but not sticky. each little paper is black, but when you scratch it, you reveal rainbow underneath. it only comes with one scratching stick so we use skewers or toothpicks. i found them here on amazon but they are ridiculously expensive. i think i paid $7.99 at our local toy store so check out stores near you before amazon.

we also LOVE the melissa and doug water wow books. despite the name, they are not messy. there are other similarly-sized books, including scratch art books, available from melissa and doug. we like the water wow because you can reuse them over and over.

also pictured above, a magnetic tangram set. anything magnetic is great for travel. i actually saw this at my neighbors the day before our trip and asked to borrow it. both kids LOVED this and luckily she had two. E could follow the actual picture directions to make animals and shapes. K just moved them around to make her own shapes. they are on amazon here.

similar to the sticker books, there is something appealing about old toys in a new context. i found these crayon tins at target and placed our old pip squeak markers and some roll up crayons inside {one tin for each kid}. you can google coloring sheets for whatever characters or shows your kids are in to. just type in “________ coloring sheets” and you will get lots of options. instant coloring book. pack a clipboard {dollar store} and your kids are set to color.

finally, books. regular books don’t keep my kiddos’ attention all that long on trips. i try to find ones that have flaps, buttons, or where you have to find things. these are always more appealing and take up more time. have you read the 1001 _____ to spot books? we love them. they have them for bugs, under the sea, and animals. LITTLE kids can search and find and count. big kids can read and learn the names of new species. we also love richard scary’s best word book ever. the pictures in this book go on for days. it is on amazon here. our last go-to are the poke-a-dot books. you know those LITTLE buttons on the top of a fountain drink lid you love to push? poke-a-dot books are whole books filled with those!

don’t underestimate the power of randomness. sometimes, the most unexpected things will entertain my kids. with this in mind, i always throw in a few random things. seen here, a baby doll and bottle, pez dispensers {a huge pain to load but they are eating and entertainment in one}, some sewing cards from the dollar spot, and another book. i also never leave home without some sanitizing wipes {hand and car} and usually have this tiny first aid kit with me. also helpful in the car, extra baggies for trash or other mishaps.

this is the little bin i use to store activities in the car. it’s from target and they always have them. usually it sits in our car between the two middle bucket seats. lots of times i put the activities in plastic bags within the bin so i can easily hand them back.

on our most recent road trip, the one by myself, this bin was my command center. i set it on the passenger seat and could easily hand activities back to the kids. i could also put them away neatly when the kids were done {and take the bin into our hotel room once we arrived}.

honestly, our road trip to nashville went better than any other trip. here’s why ::

{1} prayers

{2} i was organized. i ran the trip like i run a day at home. i made sure to tell the kids what was coming up next. one of my favorite mothering blogs, memories on clover lane, stresses the value of letting kiddos know what to expect. for example, we got in the car and i told them we would watch a whole movie. i wasn’t going to get anything else out or attend to any needs until the movie was over. {it was very early in the morning and still dark. activities are hard in the dark.}

after the movie, i told them i would give them breakfast. after breakfast, they could choose an activity from the bucket. after the activity, we would watch another movie. they could choose an activity to do during the movie if they wanted. after the second movie, or whenever we got a LITTLE over halfway there, we would go to starbucks and all get a treat. they knew what to expect and i had a plan to follow. it worked like a charm.

full disclosure, the trip home from nashville did not go as well. keven was with us so i didn’t have a plan. i thought it would be so easy compared to the drive there because i would have help. i was wrong. the kids needed more structure and so did i. lesson learned.

i leave you with one more look at my crazy before and organized after. the best remedy for travel panic is to get organized and have a plan. work ahead as much as you can. things should run smoothly from there. merry christmas!

for more traveling tips, check out my favorite way to pack!

interested in reading more at notice the LITTLE things?

join in noticing 10 LITTLE things in every kind of day and come along on new diy, parenting, and organizing adventures. click here to subscribe and receive access to my favorite FREE printables.