DISCLOSURE: As a Nuby Parent Blogger, I received the cups included in the kits free for review. All opinions are 100% my own.
In less than one month, we will be making the 8 hour road trip to the beach for our family vacation! We are SO excited, but keeping four kids happy in the car can sometimes be a challenging task, especially when you get stuck in traffic for 5 additional hours (been there). It's never too early to prepare, so I created a Road Trip Survival Kit Caddy for each of my kids!
Dylan, Lexie, Lily and Liam are typically very well behaved on road trips. We recently made the 4 1/2 hour drive to Michigan with Lily and Liam, and they were excellent travelers! It was the easiest road trip ever!
The drive to the beach is almost twice as long, and even longer if we hit traffic. Netflix, iPads, iPods and our activity trays are must haves, but with the road trip caddy, they can have entertainment AND necessities within easy reach! (And mom gets a break!)
I originally saw the use of caddies for road trips a few years ago on Pinterest. They were used to hold meals in the car, so I bought some for that purpose 2 years ago, and we never ended up using them. When I was recently perusing my favorite spot - AKA The Target Dollar Spot - I came across large shower caddies. As I filled my cart with what seemed like a million extra items, the idea for a road trip survival kit caddy was born!
The Road Trip Survival Kit Caddy for Kids
This idea is so simple, and you can tailor it to the unique needs of your child. Start with one large shower caddy, then fill it with fun, age appropriate items, and all the necessities. The caddies can be found at the dollar store, but Target currently has larger, sturdy caddies in the The Dollar Spot. They were the perfect size for our survival kits!(I'm just sharing the caddies I created for Lily and Liam, because Lexie and Dylan's caddies aren't as exciting! Almost every item used was found in the Target Dollar Spot, and the travel and craft sections at Target.)
Here are the items I chose for our Road Trip Survival Kit Caddies:
NECESSITIES
- Hand Sanitizing Wipes (I chose gentle ones that are safe to use on faces, too.)
- Hand Sanitizer
- Tissues
- Sandwich bags (Used to hold garbage or small items,)
- Sunglasses
CREATE
- Dry Erase Lap Boards ($1 at the Target Dollar Spot)
- Window markers (Drawing on the car windows can be extra fun!)
- Coloring Kits ($3 each at the Target Dollar Spot)
- Chalkboard Laptops ($3 each at the Target Dollar Spot)
EAT & DRINK
- Nuby Snack Cups
- GoGo Squeez pouches
- Fruit Snacks
- Granola Bars
- Nutrigrain Bars
- Goldfish
- Animal Crackers
- Nuby Thirsty Kids Flip-It Boost 12 oz water canteen
These 12 oz straw cups from Nuby are perfect for on the go, which means they are a great choice for road trips! Created for kids over the age of 18 months, they are available in 6 different prints. Lily flipped for the flamingo print (her favorite animal at the zoo), while the print on Liam's cup is made for a beach vacation (although we hope to avoid seeing sharks)!
The soft silicone No-Spill Straw keeps things from getting messy, and the flip top keeps the straw clean when the cup isn't in use. The Thirsty Kids Flip It Boost is made from durable Tritan plastic from Eastman, so it holds up in the hands of my Toddler Tornado. The easy grip design is great for Liam's little hands, and the fact that the cups are BPA free makes me happy!
The Nuby Thirsty Kids Flip-It Boost 12 oz water canteen is coming soon to Babies R Us!
MESS-FREE PLAY
- Modeling Clay ($1.99 at Target. It doesn't crumble like play dough, and is fun to mold.)
- Silly Putty (Same price, same idea. The Glow in the Dark formula makes it more exciting!)
- Felt play sets ($3 at the Target Dollar Spot. Folds up small for easy portability!)
- Gel Clings ($1 each at the Target Dollar Spot. My kids love to create scenes on the car windows!)
- Road Trip Bingo (I found this old school bingo game for $1 each at the Target Dollar Spot. It's fun and easy to play. No extra pieces needed!)
- Books (My kids love to read, so surprising them each with a new book usually does the trick!)
Lily and Liam got a sneak peek of what was in their caddies, and they were begging to dig in! In four short weeks, we will be on our way to Virginia Beach, and they can finally enjoy them. Here's hoping The Road Trip Survival Caddy keeps all of our kids occupied for the 8+ hour drive!
How do you keep your kids occupied on road trips?
You might also like:
Simple Road Trip Ideas for Kids
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Great idea! We leave this weekend for a 6(ish) hour road trip to the beach as well. I usually have one collective basket of activities to keep between them yet I still find myself twisting around to hand items to the backseat trio! Will check out some of your road trip survival activities. Visiting from Tuesday Talk party.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting, Victoria! I hope you have a great trip!
DeleteSuch a great idea! I do something very similar for our road trips and it works wonders. I think it'll be even better once Emmy gets a little older. Love all the goodies you included.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely gets easier when they are older! XOXO
DeleteThose caddies are so great and creative. Packed full of lots of very practical and entertaining things. I am sure they will be just what they need to keep them entertained!
ReplyDeleteI hope they help!
DeleteSuch a great idea! And those crystal marker things, how cool! Have you used them before?
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yes, we used them last year (regular ones the years prior) and they worked well!
DeleteLove love love this idea! I always make Mason a "goodie bag" when we travel anywhere longer than 2-3 hours. I fill it with things to keep him busy for the road trip. Nate's mom used to do it for him when he was a kid and Nate wanted to continue that tradition with Mason. I love the basket you used. I will have to look for one of those.
ReplyDeleteWe did goodie bags the past few years, but I like the idea of a reusable tote that they can keep in the car!
DeleteLove these baskets. We have something similar for every day errands and trips to my parents which is about 90 minutes away. Keepin' C busy during a road trip is a most!
ReplyDeleteThat's still a long drive! I'm going to keep the caddies in the car after our trip!
DeleteThis is so smart, Stefanie! SO smart. You always come up with the best ideas!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Lindsay!
DeleteI totally had similar road trip bingo cards when I was a kid. I didn't know they still existed! Between that and the window gels, you're really making me wish we had a Target closer than an hour away. We spend a lot of time in the car in the summers and fall.
ReplyDeleteI just found them at Target and couldn't pass them up!
DeleteThat's so awesome! I kind of wish I had this when I was younger. Roadtrips to most places in Texas are LONG so you need plenty of entertainment!
ReplyDeleteI have family in Texas and I swear, it took longer to drive from the Texas border to where they live than it took to drive TO Texas!
DeleteSimon really wants window markers - how fun to use them to color on the car windows!
ReplyDeleteThese work really well!
DeleteI love all these ideas! This will totally keep the kiddos entertained! Great post!
ReplyDeleteXOXO
Your Redlocks and Shamrocks Girl,
Lisa Doyle
www.redlocksandshamrocks.com
Thank you so much, Lisa!
DeleteThese are SO smart! Totally doing this for our upcoming vacation
ReplyDeleteThank you, Val! I hope you have a great trip!
DeleteWhat a great idea! This is totally something I would do for my kids as well! I love the shower caddy idea, so perfect! And I love Nuby cups!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Sumer!
DeleteMy husband and I plan on taking the kids on a road trip from Florida to New York sometime next year, so I'm definitely going to pin this for when we do!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!!
Awww, I hope you have a great trip! We always drive to Florida from PA!
DeleteI've love ideas like this. My dad however has freaked me out about them being potential projectiles in a car accident. Can never win.
ReplyDeleteWe keep them by their feet in our SUV. And when it's packed with all of our gear, nothing moves!
DeleteAre your other kids older? I’m currently searching for good ideas for my teens! I’d love any suggestions!
ReplyDeleteWe are headed to Virginia Beach this summer with twin 6 year old girls, and a two and a half year old girl. I'm curious how the travel caddies worked out for you all on an 8 + hour drive. Our trip will take us from Georgia to Virginia Beach, so about 10 hours because of the frequent stops. I'm basically looking for any ideas I can help us all keep our sanity. LOL. So did your travel caddy work for the 8 + hour drive?
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to know how your 8 + hour drive went with the travel caddies. We will be traveling to Virginia Beach from Atlanta this summer with twin six-year-old girls and a two and a half year old girl, as well as our three dogs all-in-one minivan. Ugh! I'm looking for any ideas to help keep us all sane. I love the idea of the travel caddy but I am curious how it works on a longer trip and if it was as effective as you'd hoped.
ReplyDeleteHi! We used the caddies two years in a row. My kids really liked choosing items from them, and it kept them busy! I only recently took them out of the car because we had another baby!
Delete