Have Fun, Stress Less When Vacationing with the Kids ~Post 3, 9 Final Tips

If you would like to follow along, there are two posts to this series. Have Fun Stress Less when vacationing with the kids Post 1, and Have Fun Stress Less when vacationing with the kids Post 2.

 Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Pier August 2012 Vacation

1. When at your hotel keep clothes in suitcases. Why?? because it lessens what you have to do when you go to leave.
2. Use various Apps to get to know your area. Urban Spoon, Foodspotting, Yelp all are great for getting to know restaurants and what is good where you’ll be vacationing. Shopkick for deals, Raining Hot coupons and your local pharmacies for Apps to getting great deals when far from home.
3. Use coupons or online discount codes/ such as retailmenot.com and ebates.com for hotel/driving/shopping etc.
4. Grab a postcard for the family back home and send your greetings to them. Or do as we do, bring back some Salt Water Taffy. When we go to the shore we usually get Dolles on the boardwalk.
5. Collect Souvenirs of the trip. Examples could be ticket stubs, wrist bands, photos, seashells, sharks teeth, sand, postcards.
6. Make a project from those Souvenirs. Get a recycled jar and fill it with the items you collected and you’ll have a great memory to commemorate your spectacular fun filled vacation.
7. Before you book hotel find out what is available at the hotel for kids to do, Lazy River, Pool, Hot Tub, Games etc.
8. When you are finally vacationing, buy things as needed when your there. In case you forgot some things, don’t fret. It’s not like your going to a remote Island or anything, or are you?? Well then tweet those pics…
9. Before you leave the house make sure you clean it. Make all beds, take care of trash, run the dishwasher for the last time and empty fridge of things that will go bad. Use Glade Plugins to make your rooms stay fresh. When we came back home. I walked in my home and everything was done. Smelled fresh and not stale or dank. It was nice to know that I just needed to do the laundry and put the rest of the stuff away. But because I was so efficient from the start that took me an hour to do. Life’s Good!!

All in all realize that with a little preparation ahead of time, you can save yourself mounds of time and trouble from getting overwhelmed, to actually having fun and enjoying your vacation. Now school is back in full swing, so it’s “Back to Life, Back to Reality”, the song is playing in my head right now. Back to a brand new schedule for the year. Leave a some Comment Love, Yeah!! ~Christina

Have Fun, Stress Less When Vacationing with the Kids ~Post 2 14 more tips

 

Picture of Greenville, South Carolina “The Reedy River”

Today I am adding more tips to the series see my previous post to catch up “Have Fun, Stress Less when Vacationing with the kids ~Post 1 Streamlining the preparation with 15 easy tips”

1. If you have a DVD Player take along movies that interest various age groups & have a variety within children's reach.
2. Carry some cash, but make sure to have a debit/credit card and checks if in case you forget your money or credit card. I did just recently when my daughter and I got out nails done on vacation. I almost panicked then asked if they accepted checks. Whoosh saved!! That’s what I get for paying my bills online earlier in the day (forgetting my card at home by computer).
3. Plan on doing laundry 2 days before you leave and pick out fold and put into piles separated by child and adults. For example Shirts/Shorts/Socks/Underwear/1 pair of jeans/1 Hoody. Keep it simple and if staying 2 weeks, pack for 1 plus 2 days, on day 8 do laundry and you’ll be set.
4. Pack toiletries, I use a backpack for this, for separate pockets, yet I still use Gallon and sandwich bags to separate everything. For example: Separate 1 toothbrush and toothpaste into one sandwich bag, do this for all kids and adults/write on them with a sharpie everyone’s names. Bundle Shampoo/Conditioner/Hairspray into a Gallon Baggie. I put full sized soaps into separate baggies, since we have a family of six, we put hotel soaps to shame. Razors/Shave Creams/Soaps bundled together Gallon Baggie. I put my moisturizer/body spray/deodorant into one separate Gallon Baggie. My husbands into another. I have used many different types of toiletry bags and stuff gets spilled all over, so this is what works then if you need something, take out a bag at a time. Easy!!
5. I grab a variety of chips in a pack, usually Lay’s. I used to buy separate snacks for everyone, but the Lay’s variety bag has a cinch top and you can put some more snacks in it like granola bars and peanut butter crackers. My kids can get car sickness so we bring mini coke bottles and mini waters. I buy these the day before and stick them in the fridge so they are nice and cold when I arrange them in an insulated bag.
6. Pack the car/van/suv/truck the night before and stick everything your kids need i.e.: pillow/blanket/stuffed animals/chargers etc. near their seats. Also make sure you have baby wipes in middle console, change for tolls, within reach (if needed), GPS system charging and ready to go.
7. Pack a mini first aid kit and put it into glove box. Include in it band aids/Neosporin/pain medicine/alcohol swabs.
8. Hand sanitizer
9. Are pets coming with? We brought our cat with us to South Carolina. I included cat litter in a plastic bin with lid for the drive. I brought food/water/mini bowls/leash/cat carrier/kitty blanket/litter pan and toys.
10. Recycle your plastic bags. Use them for trash/kitty litter cleanups/change of clothes for kids/wet clothes/laundry.
11. When I pack the suitcases and we are staying over night 1 night and breaking up the drive. I pack individual bags with 1 outfit/socks/underwear/swimsuit for pool/pj’s for each person and stick them all in a tote bag, instead of unloading whole van. And bringing everything in. One bag, easy!!
12. Do you have your hotel confirmation numbers written down or a printout of it? Bring drivers license, license plate number, phone numbers of hotel and emergency numbers/ health insurance cards ( my son got strep the second week we were in South Carolina) keep them handy for anything you anticipate on the trip.
13. Bring a folder of bills that may be due when your gone and hopefully you booked a hotel that has free wifi or use your smart phone to pay them. Or go to the lobby and use the free computer.
14. Bring crayons/tablets for drawing/mini games/markers/crayon books/chargers/DS’s/PSP’s/video games etc. for keeping the kids occupied.

To be continued… there are more tips to come about the drive and when your actually there at your destination.

It’s Labor Day weekend and I may not get anymore tips up until the long weekend is over. Hope you have a Great Labor Day ~Christina

Have Fun, Stress Less when Vacationing with the Kids ~Post 1: Streamlining the preparation with 15 easy tips

Vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina -August 2012

With a little bit of planning you can have a “FUN” vacation, but you need some tips to prepare yourself ahead of time when traveling/vacationing with kids. The following are steps you can take to use as a guideline. I’m telling you I am the master at traveling light and effortless, since we had to travel back and forth from Indiana to Pennsylvania every year. The following may be a little out of order but extremely helpful.

1. Think out your whole trip ahead of time. Sort of a budget before the month begins. So you know mostly what to expect and life isn’t too out of sorts for you and your kids. Preparation is key.
2. Determine your length of stay, a couple of days, a week, 2 weeks or more, then you can plan around this time accordingly.
3. If you are driving, will you drive all the way through or break the trip up. I break the trip up by staying over night in a hotel if the drive is longer than 7 hours. Since I have four kids ages 16, 12, 9, and 7, you can see why. I do want to get to my destination, but with my sanity intact!!
4. What amenities does the Hotel/Villa/Condo have for convenience once you’re there. Don’t be surprised at what they have and don’t. Get acquainted with their policies online for pets, gym, pool, laundry, and access to the outside, the internet and ATM, oh and do they provide a free breakfast?
5. With hotels, are you going all-inclusive or are there any hidden fees. Also, sign up for their club card if applicable to maybe earn nights or get coupons and discounted stays. My husband is a “Priority Club” member of HolidayInn so that helps earn free nights for us if we choose to go with HolidayInn.
6. Check various websites, like hotels.com or priceline, orbitz, expedia, travelocity to find and compare hotel deals. I did this and then went to my hotel website to see if they had anything to offer. They actually had the lowest pricing. So I booked on the hotel site. You can also check for coupon codes for a better deal.
7. Pack lightly, Don’t pack “Just In Case” style. So that you don’t have too much to bring with you.
8. Check the weather for traveling to and from your destination. So that you are prepared for what is to come for the most part.
9. Make sure trunk is packed efficiently. Where you can see through the back window safely, or if your lucky to have a case for on the roof of your car, this will not apply.
10. If staying longer than a week, will you need to do laundry? If so, do they have a service that they will bill to your room. Or laundry facilities that you can use. Remember to get a roll of quarters if that’s the case.
11. Can you get away with packing kids clothes in a backpack, they can carry it on their back and help take things to the hotel room. This is how I would always pack my little ones things, but now their clothes are getting bigger so I have to stuff into a small wheeled suitcase. I would sometimes double up 2 in 1 suitcase.
12. Bring Ziploc bags in various sizes: Gallon, Quart, Sandwich.
13. Separate Kids and Adults phone/laptop/iPod/tablet etc chargers, into baggies. Then the ones you need when traveling in car can be easily reached for if mom keeps them in purse or where kids will be seated.
14. Moms, always keep camera and Smartphone in purse for those times when you need to take a quick picture or make a phone call.
15. Make a list of the things you will need for the trip. That being said, will you need snacks, drinks, medication, special needs, batteries, tickets? Write it down so you don’t forget when your at the store.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this post so far, but you’ll have to come back tomorrow… to be continued. So stay tuned for Part 2. Hope you have a great start to your weekend. See you tomorrow!! ~Christina