Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Warner Bros. Pictures through their partnership with POPSUGAR. While I was compensated by POPSUGAR to write a post about Blended, all opinions are my own.
Our summer calendar is filling up quickly with a few fun road trips and I’m really looking forward to spending quality time with my family. But, I’ll admit one thing I’m not looking forward to is the long car ride with three kids. While my kids are fairly good travelers it can still get tough on everyone after a few hours in the car. I’ve put together some of my favorite tips for making the best of a road trip with kids.
For any trip that requires we spend more than 4 hours in the car I like to plan ahead and make a special travel suitcase for each of the kids. The suitcase contains everything they will need to stay entertained and happy. These cardboard suitcases from Target are the perfect size and easily slide under the seat when not being used, plus they keep all the goodies contained in one place.
When we are stuck in the car I hate hearing “I’m bored” or “Are we there yet?” over and over which is why I like to keep them happy and entertained with a surprise gift every hour. I purchase a small gift or activity for every hour we are in the car. Wrap the gifts and attach a tag with the number for each hour of the trip.
Now that they have activities to keep them entertained it’s time to think about making sure they have healthy snacks to munch on. Sometimes it’s hard to reach everyone in the back or they don’t always want to eat at the same time. Instead of constantly trying to have reach around and serve snacks I like to also include those in our nifty little travel suitcases. One of the special things we do when traveling is let the kids pick out one treat when we stop to fill up for gas, which means that all of our other snacks in the car need to be healthy options. And preferably not messy! These snack mixes from Naturebox are great and paired with applesauce from GoGo Squeeze and fresh fruit their travel suitcases are well stocked for when hunger strikes.
I’m confident that with my tips for road trips with kids even we will survive our summer adventures in the car! Speaking of surviving vacation I recently saw the trailer for BLENDED starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore and can’t wait to see this film on May 23! After a disastrous blind date, single parents Lauren (Barrymore) and Jim (Sandler) agree on one thing: they never want to see each other again. But when they each sign up separately for a fabulous family vacation with their kids, they are all stuck sharing a suite at a luxurious African safari resort for a week and must survive each other for a vacation of a lifetime.
Doesn’t it look like a fun movie?! You can find more fun details on Facebook, Twitter and Tumbler. Where would you go if you could travel anywhere for vacation this year?
This is a REALLY cute idea with the mini suitcases. Our road trip to the in-laws is 6 hours! Ay ya ya!
Thanks Chris! I feel your pain, my in-laws are almost 8 hours away, thankfully they come to us a lot! 🙂
This is one of the CUTEST posts ever! I am SO using these ideas on our next road trip. Love love love!
Thank you Kelsey, it really does make our trip in the car much more bearable! 🙂
Such a cute idea!! Mine are finally old enough to do a road trip, it will be fun to pack them each a suitcase. Great idea!
Love the idea of having a gift to open every hour! I may actually pack one for myself too. 😉 This movie looks really cute and I can’t wait to see it!
Great idea! I like the wrapped packages timed out that way. I think I’ll give it a whirl on one of our trips this summer!
I LOVE the mini suitcases!! I let my girls each bring a little beach bag stuffed with toys and snacks when we road trip. It really makes a difference!
Thank you Angela, they are a lifesaver on road trips!
This will come in handy for summer road trips! Love that suitcase. I wonder if my local Target has them!
Aren’t they cute Cristy?!? Our Target even had a couple different colors and designs. And bonus I’m planning to use them in the play room when we aren’t traveling to store odds and ends! 🙂
DARLING ideas… definitely will come in handy for the trips I’m planning this year.
We’re going on a road trip next month! Very timely!
Oh, those suitcases are adorable!!!! I do think the movie looks great too!
I love the idea of a new present every hour! We go on 11 hour road trips to Melbourne every year so that will definitely cure some boredom!
I have seen this movie and it is so funny. And if I could go anywhere it would be somewhere with lots of Beaches and water toys for my son a she loves Swimming. And I could rest and relax as he played. But since I can’t do that I would like just a overnight trip in a local Hotel or Bed and & Breakfast where we can regroup and get ready for the new School Year.