I only have one kid, so I can't speak about multiples. But Lou, Bret and I travel  a lot, and whether we're headed down the coast or to another continent, we've adopted a few always-use-em strategies to keep Lou's belongings in order. My tips can be pretty readily distilled into the following sage wisdom:

1. Take all your entertainment on the plane.

If you feel strongly about limiting screen time for kids, a plane is a good place to use up a year's allotment. But not all planes have televisions, and not all friend's houses have kids' toys. Even though we're firm believers that Tupperware and tissue boxes are perfectly entertaining, we've taken to traveling with a bunch of lightweight, portable stuff that is fun on the plane/train/car and fun on the ground. Current favorites include finger puppets, magnetic blocks, crayons and paper, and yes, balloons. We keep the balloons deflated on the plane, but seriously, hours of entertainment. The doctor kit is also priceless - we've launched popup clinics for humans, stuffed animals and balloons, with great success, and TSA has yet to closely investigate our beating stethoscope. Then some card games and some books, Lou's little sight words (in the pink and white accordion file) and the entertainment is complete.

2. Compartmentalize.

I despise living out of a suitcase. I can tear the whole thing apart looking for something I brought and conclude I somehow forgot it -- until I get home, find it, and its existence is moot. I have found that packing everything in its own smaller bag is key to traveling sanely and limiting the number of containers you have to search for any given item. For our carry-on bag, I use packing envelopes for each type of toy, plus a packing cube for clothes, wipes, tissues and Skittles. (As Lou progresses through age three, our parenting has almost entirely devolved into elaborate bribes with Skittles. Especially on an airplane).

The toys all file neatly in their envelopes, the spare clothes pack nestle in, and we top the whole thing with DeeDee and Lou's blanket. DeeDee is the Cabbage Patch Kid.

I am even more serious about compartmentalzing bigger suitcases. I use packing cubes (similar to these) and the plastic zippered bags comforters come in to separate out shoes and nighttime stuff. All jammies and bath gear are packed into one little packing cube that I make easily accessible, since that's almost always the stuff we reach for first after landing.

3. Use the baggie strategy.

This is sort of like the compartmentalize tip, but on steroids. Since we started traveling with Lou, weeks after she was born, I've been packing her clothes into freezer bags. I pack an entire outfit - shirt, pants, onesie, possible sweatshirt, undies/diaper, socks - in one bag, so that we can grab a self-contained packet and the rest of the suitcase remains undisturbed. It's really nice, because anyone who's in charge of dressing the little one can grab a bag (while you grab a shower). And you can take an extra for your diaper bag/day pack and be on your way.

Labeling is optional, and we don't do it for a quick trip to our parents'. But for anything longer, or involving micro-climates (hey Bay Area!) or designated occasions like weddings or camping, labeling is  really nice. Once your clothes are in the baggies, lay them as flat as possible, squeeze out the air, seal and stand upright, like files, in your suitcase.

If you don't do this already, try it on your next trip. Especially when dealing with wee clothes, this takes all the guess work out dressing. It is more work on the front end, but it's worth it to not have to spend your vacation tearing your hair out, looking for the baby fleece you're sure you brought.

4. Bring a big laundry bag and use it.

That purple bag in the lining of the suitcase lid is a big ole' laundry bag. As we move through our trip, we all put our dirty clothes in the bag. When it's time to fly home, I put the whole bag in the suitcase, take it home and take it straight to the laundromat. This seems obvious, but it took us a long time to embrace a full-on laundry bag. Before, we were dealing with piecemeal plastic bags floating around in a sea of maybe clean/maybe dirty clothes and coming home was a disaster. This is much, much better. (And see all that room next to Lou's stuff? That's all for me. We tend to share one big suitcase because I'm trying to limit actual number of things to carry around, and I segregate my stuff similarly to hers. It works for us).

5. Only pack what you need to.

if you're traveling somewhere where they have hotel cribs or a friend who can lend a pack 'n play, don't waste a checked bag on a heavy, unwieldy crib. We have sent cribs, portable high chairs (this is my fave) and more ahead via Amazon as well, and we never regretted it. Now that we're in big girl stages, we have a wee blow up mattress and a small cot.* We keep the mattress at my parents' rather than haul it on the train, and the cot is light enough and small enough that it can fit into a bag if needed.

Similarly, we now don't reach for the stroller without carefully considering whether taking it is a net gain. We certainly always took the snap 'n go with us, but we're realizing it doesn't always make sense to bring a stroller at all. It might seem paradoxical, but this is especially true when Lou and I are traveling together without Bret: the stroller is one more bulky object to get onto airport shuttles and the like, and it's easier to use a luggage cart, have Lou walk, or carry her. We've learned that lots of places rent strollers - malls, fairs, amusement parks, even, we recently discovered in Montana, bike rental places. We didn't need a stroller for much of our recent 10-day trip, but at the places we did, we rented one.

I'd love to hear your packing for kids tips. As with all other aspects of parenting, just when we perfect a strategy, there's a major change (potty training, no to pacifier, yes, yes, yes to TV) and we have to switch things up. It keeps us nimble, I guess.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

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