Packing a Suitcase

You’ll hear me say it often on this site: Be prepared. I truly believe you can never be too prepared, or plan too much. And while it’s been a personal resolution (since, about, oh… 2002) to try and be spontaneous, I have a lot of evidence to support planning ahead of a trip.

I’ve written about how to pack the car, but if you’ll allow me to micromanage you just a little bit more, I’ve got a few suggestions on how – and what – to pack in a suitcase when traveling with the kids.

Pack a whole outfit for each whole day
For each member of my family, I pack underwear, socks, tops and bottoms in one set. I used to try and coordinate my children’s clothes so they matched, but they stopped letting me do that years ago. I stack the items flat, with either the bottom or top item on the bottom, and then roll everything. This prevents the clothes from wrinkling, and I can easily see the colors and patterns.

Night time stuff
We shower at night, and recycle pajamas throughout the trip. I keep the pajamas in a separate compartment, so they’re easy to find after a long day, and will let them air-out on the desk or sofa to keep them fresh. Then I pull out a “roll-up” for the next day, so the kids can get dressed quickly in the morning. This prevents them from rummaging through the suitcase and making a mess.

Toiletries and cosmetics
We have two cosmetic bags we use: one to hold stuff we use on a daily basis – hygiene items like shampoo, deodorant, toothbrushes, etc, and one exclusively for my husband I that holds razors, lotions, and makeup. Hotels provide most of the necessities, but one of my nonprofit’s most popular community service projects involves making hygiene kits for homeless shelters using hotel toiletries… So, I often save the hotel toiletries for that, and bring along the products that fit our needs.

Would you like to save this?

We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later.

How many suitcases
I carry the “togetherness” philosophy right down to the suitcases. We don’t pack suitcases for each member of the family, but instead pack a few suitcases to share, that way we only have to lug around one suitcase at a time (as long as I can convince my husband he doesn’t need 2 shirts each day and multiple sweatshirts when traveling down South). I can usually fit 4-5 days of clothing for two adults and two small children in one suitcase. At the end of a hotel stay, we put the dirty clothes in a plastic bag in the trunk. When we’ve emptied a suitcase, we fill it back up with the bags of dirty clothes, leave it in the trunk, and move on to the next suitcase. Each suitcase has one set of pajamas and one bathing suit, so we don’t have to worry about switching things from one place to another. It’s important to have a spare blanket or retractable cargo shield that blocks the view of your belongings in the trunk, to help prevent a break-in.

What the kids are allowed to bring
Each child gets their own travel bag, which they’re responsible for carrying. The rule is: you bring it, you tote it. For night time, we only allow one small stuffed animal, and keep any special blankets in the suitcase with their pajamas, to keep everything clean. Our children are voracious readers. It’s a good problem to have, but the hardest part of packing is limiting the huge load of books our children want to bring with them. So we use a cloth basket in-between their car seats as a library and just leave it in the car. They can choose what books fill the library before each trip, and then select one book for nighttime reading, while the others stay in the car.

For other tips about staying healthy and happy while traveling, check out my posts here and here. 

New England based, part high school English teacher, part non profit founder, part road tripper who LOVES hopping in the family SUV to explore America. Our bucket list includes National Parks, MLB stadiums, presidential libraries, and eating wherever the locals eat!

Similar Posts

  • | | |

    Eight Tips for Touring Sports Venues with Kids

    Last week, we shared our tips for taking kids to a baseball park (for a game and/or a tour) and while we were writing the post, we realized we had tips for touring LOTS of athletic spots. We’ve toured many other sports venues like football stadiums, halls of fame,  and even race tracks.  Sports venues are an easy opportunity for the entire family (from toddlers to grandparents!) to have fun and learn a lot about the history of the team and sport and the hometown. So this week on the blog, we’re sharing some of our favorite memories of sports venues and tips for getting the most out of a visit.

  • | | |

    10 Ways to Explore the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center in the Hamptons

    One of the highlights of our recent trip to the Hamptons was the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center in Bridgehampton, New York. What started as a small space to protect the Eastern Tiger Salamanders, now an endangered and protected species that were found to have inhabited the area, the center opened in 2006 on three acres of property on the 1100 acre Long Pond Greenbelt Preserve. While most of the 1100 acres is protected, untouched land, the museum and nature center also include three ponds (one of which is a “teaching pond”), and walking trails.

  • | | | | |

    Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, Massachusetts

    The city of Lowell, Massachusetts, located just 30 miles north of Boston, was built as a factory city (because of its location next to the Merrimack River and Pawtucket Falls) and became synonymous with the American Industrial Revolution. Named for Francis Cabot Lowell, who is partially credited for creating the power loom, city locals began funding and building water-powered mills in the area in the early 1800s. By 1880 Lowell had over 100 mill buildings, 18 textile corporations, 2 machine shops, and a booming population (it was the second largest city in Massachusetts in the mid 1800s), employing over 10,000 workers in the mills. 

    However, newer technological advances in more northern cotton mills took away from the businesses in Lowell and production started to decline. By the 1950s, all of the original mills and most of the textile companies closed and the buildings fell into disrepair until local citizens and businesses worked together to form the Lowell Heritage State Park in 1974. Four years later, Congress designated the space as Lowell National Historical Park and the park has continued to expand its historical exhibits, research, tours and programs for the public.

  • | | |

    5 reasons to visit LegoLand Discovery Center this fall:

    Legos continue to be one of my children’s favorite toys and one of their favorite ways to play. Even though he’s almost 10 years old, our son will pour over his collection and come out of his room after an hour (sometimes more!) of building to present us with a “masterpiece” of his imagination. Last year, we visited LegoLand Discovery Center in Boston, Massachusetts (technically, it’s in the city of Somerville, but it’s literally a five minute drive from downtown Boston) and had a blast! You can read about our adventures- and 12 things everyone should do when they visit- here.

    When LegoLand invited us back to celebrate the Halloween season this week, we jumped at the chance to visit! They even let us bring our friends (who are even BIGGER Lego fans, if that’s possible!), so you’ll see some new faces on the blog.

  • | | |

    Playing “I Spy” at the Vermont State Capitol

    Vermont, the 14th state in the union, chose Montpelier as the state capital because of its central location and accessibility to the nearby Winooski River. The first State House, a traditional wooden meetinghouse, was open from 1808-1835, and then moved and expanded to a nearby, larger space from 1836-1856, until a fire destroyed most of the State House in January of 1857. The third, and current, State House was completed in 1859, built in an Italian Renaissance revival style, with all features made from masonry and cast iron; only the dome (57 feet high and covered in gold leaf) is made of wood. (Even the doors and staircase railing were painted to look like mahogany!)

    The Vermont Senate Chamber, which has 30 members, is the oldest senate chamber in America that is still actively used and still has all of the original furniture and lighting from 1859 (except for two filing cabinets and a computer). The 150 member House Chamber is the largest room in the State House. Vermont legislators have no private offices at the State House; they conduct business at their chamber desks or in groups in large committee rooms on the first floor. And unlike most state Capitols, there is no rotunda inside the Vermont State House, the dome is an exterior ornament. 

    Hubbard Park, located behind the State House, is home to walking trails, a fitness trail, an interpretive trail, a 54 foot stone tower, and picnic shelters. The State House complex welcomes visitors all year and encourages exploration of its grounds.

  • | | | |

    Playing “I Spy” at the Connecticut State Capitol

    Visiting state capitol buildings is one of the first things we do when visiting the capital city. It’s a little ironic that it took our family, who has lived in Connecticut for almost 20 years, this long, but we recently, finally made it to the CT Capitol for a tour.

    Connecticut was founded in 1662 and is known as the Constitution State, as it was the first state to adopt a constitution.  Built in 1878, the Connecticut Capitol building, located in downtown Hartford, was designed by Richard M. Upjohn to replicate a Victorian Gothic style. The building overlooks Bushnell Memorial Park’s 41 acres in the heart of Hartford and was restored in the 1980s to the original colors and design. The addition of the Legislative Office Building (LOB), which opened in 1988, allowed for office space for Connecticut’s 151 Representatives (each representing approximately 25,000 constituents)  and 36 State Senators (each representing approximately 90,000-100,000 constituents). The “LOB” also allows for more public meeting spaces and opportunities for state officials to meet as committees and with public interest groups. The first and second floors of the LOB and the first floor of the Capitol are both open to the public; upper level floors house private offices and chambers and guests must be accompanied by officials.