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Sara is an architectural designer turned work-at-home Mom. She lives in New Jersey by way of New England and New York, with her husband and 3 kids under 8. She loves design, being creative, and spending time with family and friends. She loves checking out local businesses and eats and being apart of the local farm to table community. Continue Reading
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5 Ways to Get Your Children Involved When Packing for Vacation. This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MagicalFamilyFirsts #CollectiveBias
We have been on two vacations this Summer and for our last vacation, my daughter pretty much helped me pack my entire suitcase and her bag too! I will talk about how to choose which toys to bring and also give some ideas for keeping children occupied during travel. Read on to find out how we did that with Huggies Pull-Ups!
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
I have a 2-year old daughter M. and my husband and I went to Walt Disney World a few years ago before our daughter came along.
When Eric and I went to Walt Disney World, it was after we became married but before we had a child.
Today, I am sharing some photos from our last Disney vacation and talking about 5 Ways to Get Your Children Involved When Packing for Vacation.
My daughter already recognizes the characters on the diapers like Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Doc McStuffins and talks about them all the time like she knows them so it would be so neat for her to actually meet the Disney characters in person.
I think it would be really heartwarming for her to meet them when she's still young to get a sense of that magic and wonder.
I went to Walt Disney World when I was little with my family and I remember that it made a big impression on me.
I was probably pre-kindergarten age when my parents took me.
Eric went with his family too when he was young, so we both had that fun, Disney experience as children.
I remember when we went there in 2013, thinking about how it would be visiting with children as I watched all the families with children around me.
This Summer, Eric, M and I went on two vacations as a family, once to visit my family up in New Hampshire as we regularly do every Summer and the second was to visit Eric's Dad on Long Beach Island on the Shore in New Jersey.
With both of those vacations, I got a chance to get my "packing for vacation" routine down and I found that it was really good to get my daughter involved in the packing so she felt apart of the process of vacation.
It built up the anticipation and we were able to turn it into chance for her take responsibility with her things.
We are working on potty training and packing enough diapers and wipes for each vacation is key because I never want to have to go buy extra diapers while we are on vacation when we just want to think about having fun!
I got a huge box (124 count) of Huggies Pull-Ups in the diaper section at BJ's Wholesale.
Here is some information I learned about Huggies Pull-Ups:
My daughter knows the difference between regular diapers and Pull-Ups and she definitely prefers the Pull-Ups because they are easier for her to get on and off and are lighter.
#1 - Have them pack their own back pack of toys they chose to bring.
This is all about empowering them.
I had my daughter physically put her own toys in a smaller backpack before our vacations.
I let her chose a set number of toys, like 3-5 toys.
Oftentimes, the newest and novel toys and lovies will go in this bag.
It's so important to set a limit on the toys or else they will want to bring every toy they own.
I told her to chose carefully, told her exactly the number and if she couldn't decide between toys, I let her between two choices.
This way there's a choice within set limits.
I like getting her used to a back pack because it's preparation for preschool.
Awesomely, the Huggies Pull-Ups comes with a Doc McStuffins small backpack which is the perfect size for toddlers.
Also, the small size of the "toy" backpack conveniently limits the number of toys your child can bring.
When packing their clothes bag and other baby/toddler items like diapers and wipes, I will hand what we are packing to my daughter and she puts it into the bag.
There are simply too many items to let her "decide" on what to bring.
So she has full control over her toys but is in more of a "helper" role for clothing, diapers & wipes bags.
I might need to rearrange things to make it fit well in the bag but she still has a major role in getting us packed.
#2 - Make sure there's KEY items/activities to occupy them
I have a larger kids back pack where we pack a couple favorite books, a coloring book with crayons a busy book.
In this bag there are key items for keeping her occupied when she's done with her little toys.
Choosing items where there are not a lot of small parts and limiting the amount of items is key.
You want to think, if these toys, items, etc. get thrown everywhere, how hard will it be to clean up?
#3 - Have them help you pack your suitcase
This process goes much like packing your child's clothes bag.
In our case, I had my daughter be my "helper" and I would hand her my clothes to put into my suitcase.
Amazingly enough, this process can go very fast if your child is having fun and engaged since kids are so quick.
I probably have to rearrange the items in the suitcase before zippering it up but it's something to do together to get ready for a family vacation.
#4- Have them help pack their snack
Your child will want their favorite snacks to munch on on the way to your destination.
Go for healthy options wherever you can and include some treats that you really know your child will like just to have some options.
I had my daughter be a good "helper" and put the snacks in a snack tote after I packed them in the kitchen.
#5 - Have them help you bring the bags to the car (or whatever they can carry)
Obviously, you will want to carry anything too heavy for your child to the car.
They can carry their small backpack of toys, perhaps their activity bag, and maybe their snack bag.
This is the last step in getting packed and it is nice to know that you can have your child
There is a sweepstakes that I am happy to share with you!
BJ’s and Huggies® are all about family firsts, including one family’s chance to experience the magical firsts of Walt Disney World® Resort in Florida and every Huggies® purchase gets you another chance to win a 4-Day, 3-Night Walt Disney World® Experience!
It’s easy to enter:
Thank you for reading my 5 Ways to Get Your Children Involved When Packing for Vacation!
When did you first bring your child(ren) to Walt Disney World? Let me know in the comments below!
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