Learning To Pack Light While Traveling With Kids

For parents, packing with children can seem like a lot of added stress. Especially on international trips, it can seem like you need to bring everything and the kitchen sink along in your checked bags and carry-on luggage, but this isn’t necessarily the truth. We want to show you how to pack light, but still have everything you need, while you’re travelling with your little ones.

First, it pays to start off with a checklist, and this checklist will help you to stay on track and not get carried away while packing. What most travelers find is that they start out doing really well with what they’re going to pack, and wind up getting carried away with too much by improvising during the process. Using a checklist as a guide will keep you honest to only your carefully thought out necessities.

Beginning with clothes, many parents over pack clothes for their children, lug around heavy luggage to each destination, then find when they come home that only a portion of the clothing was actually worn. For a weeklong trip, you only really need enough clothing for around 3 or 4 days with extra undergarments, and stopping to do a little bit of laundry can save you a whole lot of packing time and lugging effort. Clothing that is only worn for short periods of time, like pajamas, may be able to be worn twice before washing, which can save you further on the amount you need to pack.

The next area where parents most often over pack for kids is in the toys and entertainment department. For smaller children in particular, it can be tempting to bring a little bit of everything to keep them entertained on long flights and stop any potential meltdowns before they happen. That being said, you don’t have to pack too much, and just enough will be perfectly sufficient. A toy and entertainment checklist to pack light on your trip may include:

• 1 coloring book and 1 small box of crayons – Children are brimming with imagination, and they don’t really need the 64 count crayon box while on a trip and trying to pack light. 1 small box of crayons and 1 small coloring book should be perfect.
• Paperback books – 3 small paperback books can keep little ones entertained on the airplane ride and all throughout their trip.
• Small backpack – When children carry their own entertainment belongings, they tend to learn how to prioritize space and weight. Having them carry their own things in a small backpack is a great way to teach them about packing light early on.
• Airplane snacks – Snacks for the airplane can be kept in their backpack, which they can carry on the airplane with their entertainment.
• 1 small bag of toys – A medium sized freezer bag full of only their absolute favorite toys is enough, and they don’t need to bring their entire toy chest on vacation. Once they get to the destination and start having fun, they probably won’t reach for those toys anyway!

When packing light, our Falcon Wheeled Duffle should be able to handle the belongings of two children, giving parents less to carry and less to worry about during their trip either domestic or abroad. Teaching children how to pack light early on gives them a useful skill they will carry with them on a lifetime of travel!

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