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5 Tips for Surviving the Road Trip

By by Melinda Larke - Cherry Valley Macaroni Kid Publisher and Editor November 2, 2017

Our trip to Disneyland is coming up fast!  Hotel is booked, we have our tickets, and now we have to prepare to get there.  We will be driving.  Driving 15 kids for two days down and two days back. We might be a bit crazy, but with a little preparation I think we will be OK. Doing any car travel this Thanksgiving or Holiday season?  Don't forget to review these tips before you go so you too are prepared!  

Snack Packs – Hangry children mean grumpy children and that is the last thing we want! I also don’t want to be constantly being asked for food. Before we leave in the car for the day, each kid gets their own snack pack and water bottle. The snack pack has a variety of their favorite snacks that can be easily munched on in between meals. Think crackers, granola bars, apples, fruit snacks, fruit leather, pretzels, etc. I also like to include a special treat! The kids are in charge of what and when they eat out of their snack pack and when it is gone, it is gone. It is up to you if you want to refill it every morning or every time you stop during the day, but I make sure to keep the extras accessible in the back of the car just in case of an emergency.

Activity Packs – I make my own activity books for my kids. There are many resources online where you can find coloring sheets, word searches, cross word puzzles, mazes, etc. that can be customized towards your child’s interests. We are huge Disney fans and I get a lot of my printables off of Disney Movie Rewards for 0 points. For older kids, you can put together a trip journal for them to keep along the way. Just print everything out and put it in a cheap three ring binder add some washable markers and you are good to go.

Kid Packs – Before each trip each one of my children are given a bag and told to pack some special things in it for the car ride. Then I have to go through it with them and pull out most of their bedroom. They are allowed to bring their blanket, a stuffed animal, and a few toys. Each toy that comes with us has two rules; they cannot make any noise, and they have to entertain them for more than 5 minutes. Legos, stencil books, rainbow loom, and paper dolls are all good examples. Then I add a few things. When they were younger a cookie sheet was awesome. Add some magnetic letters and they can play with that, or they could do puzzles inside the cookie sheet without the puzzle pieces going everywhere. The cookie sheet also became a good hard surface to eat on, color on, and play on. Now that they are older we have travel games. We have a Melissa and Doug license plate game and a scavenger hunt game I kept from long ago. Travel editions of your favorite board games are also fun! Since I only have two kids, their stuff can sit between them in the car. It is then easily accessible and provides a barrier between them so they don’t bicker so much. The toys also provided entertainment in the hotel rooms, a double win for any parent!

Electronic Devices?? – This is a subject that my husband and I disagree about on every road trip! I say let them on the electronic device, we are the ones that strapped them in the back of this car for 2,000 miles, at least let them have some fun. He on the other hand says he survived road trips without them, and so can his kids. Now that they are older, and the fact that our car has a built in DVD player, it is harder and harder to say no. If you are on my husband’s side, I still say bring something just in case. It is no fun being trapped in a car with a child having a meltdown! Another tip, don’t forget the headphones! I love my kids, but I don’t love listening to their music, movies, games, etc. for hours and hours.

Getting the wiggles out – You don’t have to necessarily stop often, but when you do, make sure to let the kids run around and get those wiggles out. Find a neat road side attraction to explore. Let them run in the field at the rest stop, find a lunch stop with a playground to play on, stop for the night at a hotel with a pool. We love to stay at KOA in their Kamping Kabins. The kids can run and play to their heart’s content; we don’t have to worry about bothering people in rooms around us. The kids think it is so cool to sleep in bunkbeds in a little log cabin. The less energy they have while sitting in the car, the easier it is going to be on everyone in the car.

I hope with these five tips and tricks your next road trip will be a breeze, or at least better than the one before! With road trips it is not just about the destination, but also about the journey getting there. Don’t forget to pack your patience and lots of happy thoughts.