Travel and Vacations 
We make it a point to go on vacation as a family. We want our children to experience new things, and see the world. Going on a family vacation is always a blast, but the preparation can be a bit stressful. As our family expanded in size I’ve realized that in order to pack a family successfully it requires a lot of organization.Cyrus Look: Jumper Shoes After going on multiple trips I have definitely learned a few tips that I would like to share. Hopefully these will help you when preparing on your next family vacation. Start planning early: Prior to packing I always write down an itinerary this allows me to start visualizing everything that will need to be packed for the family. Create a packing list: After you have made your itinerary list use that to help you build your packing list. It’s easy to prepare for vacation and start getting a little frantic. It can cause you to start impulse shopping on possible items you may need. I’ve done this before and ended up with many items at the end of vacation with tags on and that I never used. I can’t stress enough to make lists for each member of all the items needed. Then you will clearly see what items you still need to purchase. Case and point I after I made a list I realized neither boys had googles and Calvin was in need of a life vest. Pre-Pack: There are some items that you know will be essentials on each trip. Pack those first! This helps you not forget essentials, and gets one things checked off you list. I know we always bring medicine each trip, so that is the first thing I pack. Anything you can get out the way and packed. DO IT! Consolidate: I can’t tell you how easy it is for us to leave for vacation with like 15 bags. It became hard to keep up with, and made us more prone to lose things. I now consolidate down as many bags possible. Rick and I share bags and Calvin shares a bag with Cyrus. If I am bringing multiple purses I try to put them in one another when packing. I take out all the fluff when I pack. Only bringing what is absolutely going to be used. This helps keep our bags to a minimum. Along with consolidating down it’s important to have good luggage that will allow you to pack efficiently. We recently received our iFly Gold luggage set. You know I love gold so when I saw this set I knew this was going to be my next set! Pack multi-purpose items: To help keep your luggage light consider packing items that you can wear multiple times and in different settings. Example I packed a cover up that I can also wear as a top. Separate the kids outfits: I like to save time on while only vacation and make it easy for the boys to get dressed each day. I put their daily outfits in a Ziplock bag and label what day it should be used for. This saves so much time in the morning as we are getting dressed. There are suitcase dividers you can purchase that also do this, but I kept it budget friendly and used bags I already had. Activity Bag: I keep 1 activity backpack for each boy, they are allowed to pack all their favorite items. This is a necessity for our road trips. Be ok with not remembering everything: I used to get so frustrated when I would forget items, but that is bound to happen and that is absolutely ok. Just take a mental note of where the nearest Target or pharmacy store is. Loading up the car: Try to load up the car at night if you can. Traveling as a family you it can take an additional hour to get everything ready to go in the car. While there are many steps you have to take to get on vacation, it is so worth it! Where are you headed next?! *Luggage graciously provided by iFly Luggage all thoughts are my own.
Packing Successfully For A Family Trip
We make it a point to go on vacation as a family. We want our children to experience new things, and see the world. Going on a family vacation is always a blast, but the preparation can be a bit stressful. As our family expanded in size I’ve realized that in order to pack a family successfully it requires a lot of organization.
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