Tips to Pack the Perfect Bag. When you first begin thinking of a destination, you probably imagine all of the incredible memories you’ll make and what you’ll see and do. What you don’t imagine is what you’ll be wearing during all this memory-making. And, that’s important too. Trust me, there’s nothing worse than making it halfway across the world only to discover you forgot your child’s favorite thing. It can quickly turn the beginning of your dream vacation into the end of anything remotely resembling it.
- Do Some Research
This is the very first thing you should do as soon as you book your trip. Give yourself an hour or two online to look into the weather at the time of year you’re traveling, the specific attractions you plan to see, and the extras you’re considering. Once you’ve looked into this, you should have an idea of three important things: a) What are the baggage restrictions/rules for the airlines being used? b) Will you need any “special” gear to reach the places you want to go? c) What’s the coldest it can get where you’re going?
- Make A Complete Packing List
Not only is this necessary, but it can be a great deal of fun too. My daughter and I love sitting down together and choosing what outfits we’re going to where to which places and on what days. It’s perfect for getting her all excited about a new adventure and she really pays attention to what she thinks she’ll need for the trip afterward. I’ll find her with a few items out on her bed and when I ask why they’re there, she’ll tell me she’s in decision-making mode. So, she’s involved, thinking about abstract concepts, and making tough choices? Yeah, I’ll take that. Plus, our list gives me a detailed roadmap to the organizational gymnastics known as packing.
- Categorize Everything You Can
Okay, now you have all of the items you know you and your child want to take. You know the expected weather and baggage limitations. In other words, you have all the information you need to pick out the bag(s) you want to take. This is where your trip’s duration will make the big decisions for you. If it’s a long trip, you’ll need more clothes. If shorter, you can get by with less. If you’ll have access to laundry service you can go light, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. We like to categorize our stuff into three piles: Life Essentials, Special Stuff & Room Stuff.
Life Essentials: This refers to anything we can’t live without while traveling including our passports, our paperwork, tickets, finances, etc. I’m not talking about food and water, well, at least not in the traditional sense. I do mean our access to those things though. We can’t do much if we can’t prove who we are or pay for our stuff.
Special Stuff: This is anything that we have that we love, that we use all the time, or that we want to access easily. I think of it like my purse. What do I keep there that I’d expand on while taking a vacation? Well, I keep my phone and charger, my daughter’s bear, our glasses, lotion, headphones, etc. This is stuff we could lose without it being a worst-case scenario. It would be bad. It would not be the end of the world.
Room Stuff: This is everything else we’ve not touched on. It’s the clothes and the pillows. It’s the toiletries and other electronics. It’s the games and makeup and the little things that we have to have, but don’t actually have to have with us at every moment.
- Post Reminders Everywhere
I’ve found that it never hurts to be extra careful when it comes to remembering the essentials mentioned above. After years of trial and error, and solutions ranging from the archaic to the advanced, I’ve finally settled on a balance of the two to guarantee I have everything my daughter and I need before I leave the house. I set reminders in my work and personal email, alarms in my phone, and notes on the doors to the bathroom, my daughter’s bedroom, and the front door. The reminders I set for every day, the alarms are set for 3 hours before departure, two hours, one hour, and 5 minutes. Then I print out the notes and tape them to the doors. That way, I’m going to see something, somewhere.
- Packing Like A Pro
Here’s where the categorizing we did really pays off. Normally, we check our big bag and carry on our backpacks. That way, my daughter can have her own stuff with her and I can have mine. What I like to do is put my essential in my handbag, using a large one I have, and then our special stuff into our backpacks. These will all go into our overhead, or I’ll keep my purse with us. Now, I use Ziploc bags, the largest ones, and put my daughter’s outfits into them – one outfit for one day in one bag. It’s easy to write the day on the bag in marker and then, when we arrive, all I have to do is grab the day’s Ziploc and we’re good to go. I put her little accessories in with the outfits, so she’s got the ones she likes with each outfit. Plus, when she’s done wearing them, I just put the dirty things back in the bag and zip it up. No more funky smell wafting from my bag – bonus! Another method I have used is to roll all of our clothes by category, all her shirts together, all her dresses, etc. The I use these packing cubes ()to get everything neatly packed away. I use one color for her and one for me.
- Carry-On A Sweet Surprise
The last bit of advice for the perfect packing project is all about living well on the plane. By that, I don’t mean first-class, though that’s great if you can swing it. No, I mean take a few sweets, treats, and surprises for your child. That’s the best way to reward good behavior during the flight and keep your sanity when things take a turn for the worse. Kids get bored and fidgety after a long time with no way to express themselves. It’s best to think ahead. My daughter knows I do this now and it amazes me how she’s so good – then I realize she’s doing it specifically to see what she gets. In my opinion, that’s a win.