Family Road Trip Tips & Hacks from Parents
Whether you’re popping out of town for a weekend getaway or taking an epic national parks tour, it’s always a good idea to have some tricks up your sleeve when you’re planning a road trip with kids.
Preparing some car games, pit stop plans, cleanup essentials and plenty of snacks will help the miles pass as smoothly as possible. We’re asking parents to share their genius family road trip tips for all of these things and more. If you’ve hit the road with your kids and lived to tell the tale, please weigh in with your best road trip hacks to help fellow parents.
You’re going to need plenty of options to entertain your kids in the car, especially if you want to limit screen time, so explore our lists of travel toys, family audiobooks and kids podcasts for road trip ideas, too.
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I put together little gifts (think Dollar bin) wrapped up in bags with a time on them. My kids look forward to these gifts and it helps to pass the time on long trips!
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My kids love trays that go over their car seats. You can find at Michaels or Amazon. Great for meals, coloring, legos, etc.
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It's always a good idea to keep a spare "barf bag" or two in the car. Make sure you know where they are and can access them quickly. My kids don't get car sick, but we've had the occasional stomach bug pop up while on the road...and the end result is the same! I've seen blue bags specifically for this purpose on Amazon.
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During a gas station break, we always let the kids pick out a special snack or two to enjoy in the car. They love getting the freedom to pick whatever they want.
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Have a designated trash bag. It's better to plan ahead for this than to have to frantically search for one when your kid is trying to hand you something disgusting.
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I like to spread out the distribution of any new activities or road trip toys over the course of the trip, and find that my kids enjoy them longer this way. If they start the trip with unlimited access to all of the new stuff, they blow through it pretty quickly and there's not as much to look forward to.
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Download an audiobook and/or pick a podcast that's appropriate for your kids' ages and would be interesting to the adults, too.
