Feb 24, 2015

Road Trip Bag for Kids

What to pack for a kid's roadtrip.

Awhile back I gave my best tips for taking a road trip with the kids, and while I mentioned the backpacks we pack, I didn’t go into much detail about what was inside them and why. Today I’ve partnered with Walmart Grocery to give you a little more insight into what is in our kid’s road trip bags.

What to pack for a kid's roadtrip. What to pack for a kid's roadtrip.

Activities and Books
We like to pack activities for the kids that promote the use of their imagination, like animals, books, journals, and color crayons. We don’t usually pack more than 10 crayons so if they are spilled or lost I don’t find a rainbow in my backseat later. I would also advise you to avoid toys that are too heavy when thrown, a choking hazard, sharp or dangerous to the child or car, or toys that make lots of repeated noises (that you can’t stand to hear for more than 20 minutes at a time).

Food and Snacks
Along with their water bottles, we always bring an assortment of snacks. The longer these take to eat, the better.

  • Cereal is smaller in size and the bag lasts forever, even when they repeatedly ask for more.
  • Cashews we bring along because they are more filling than other foods, and they taste better to sneak bites of than cereal.
  • Breakfast bars work when trying to make it to a next meal or to delay a meal by an hour.
  • Smoothie Pouches also work to delay a meal, or replace one entirely if spacing is not idea (i.e. a late breakfast and early dinner).
  • Fruit Snacks are our go-to bribe food. If you are patient I will give you a fruit snack (which is really half of a fruit snack). They’re always last-resort.

Tools of the Trade
These items are always helpful in the car, or on any sort of trip.

  • Baby Wipes work great for cleaning hands, tables, high chairs, surfaces, car seats, etc.
  • Window clings work great for keeping the sun out of their eyes and can be added or removed without unrolling a window.
  • An iPad is our sanity saver. It’s an absolute last resort for us, like when we’ve been in hours of traffic and can’t handle an angry toddler for the last 20 minutes of our drive to Solvang.

These bags are also very similar to what we would take on a plane for the kids, and usually don’t feel overpacked or lacking. The sanity saver items are kept with us so they are not readily available to the kids.


What sorts of items do you pack for your road trip? Do you travel with kids? If so, what do you pack for them?

What to pack for a kid's roadtrip.

This post is sponsored by Walmart Grocery. To learn more about Walmart Grocery and how it could add more convenience to your life, please visit their website. All opinions, text, and images are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make life here at Team Wiking a little sweeter.

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[…] Let them pack their bags. I don’t mean their suitcases, but each of our kids bring a small backpack full of goodies they think they might like on the trip. A good bag will include snacks, entertainment, and other necessities I might add in like diapers or wipes. A good example is this road trip bag. […]

[…] And because I can’t get enough of good road trip posts, I really loved this one from Jessica at Team Wiking. I have been reading Jessica’s blog for several months, she lives […]

These are awesome tips Jessica, I do not have kids yet but I believe especially for longer trips these and more are essential items to have.

Great travel ideas for kids. No matter the length of the trip my daughter wants a drink and a snack and a phone or ipad to play on.

Totally with you on the iPad being the clutch last resort! If all else fails, that is a no-fail necessity for long car rides with little ones!

Oh goodness, those bunny gummies! My kids will do ANYTHING for those bunny gummies. At least they have lots of vitamin C, right? 😉 Love those cute composition books, too!!

I like these ideas and think it’s great that you are using the fruit snacks and iPad as last resorts. There are tons of car games to play with kids as well, though I know those get old quickly. Keep up the great work 🙂

I loved your helpful post! And GOOD FOR YOU for doing something you love and being able to make an income off of it. I see sponsorships as a win/win not just for the blogger working hard on their content, but on the readers who get to learn about awesome products. Keep on keeping on! XO

Walmart sponsorship? Long time reader, and this absolutely is the last time I’ll tune in. I get it, you’re trying to make this blog a business but you seriously need to vet your sponsors and not get so obsessed with the checks they cut you. I’ve generally appreciated your family’s interest in incorporating sustainable, local vendors into your life but Walmart? You really should read up on the brazen injustices dealt out daily by Walmart, both domestically and internationally. It really is our responsibility to know the ramifications of our actions as consumers. Here’s a start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXmnBbUjsPs

Hi Ana — Thank you for being a long time reader, and for your concern. Months ago when Walmart Grocery approached me I was very hesitant to work with them for some of the very same reasons you mentioned. I made it clear to them that I was not a fan of Walmart and do not shop there. After speaking with their rep. it was made clear to me that Walmart is working to honestly improve it’s image and that a part of that was launching this new line and receiving feedback. I felt like it was an opportunity to give feedback that might actually be received by the ‘right’ people in the company. While I am not 100% up on every article about Walmart, I did find this recent one (link) that seems to show the company is making an effort to change. There were some local-to-me products available which took me by surprise, but they still have a lot of improvements to make both in the service and in the company as a whole. While it’s likely that I won’t work with them again, I hope the feedback that I gave was well-received and will be put towards their efforts to honestly improve their reputation in a way that helps improve life for their employees and the communities around and effected by them.

In an effort to share full transparency, I did not receive a check from Walmart Grocery. I received a $100 giftcard to try out the grocery service. The FTC requires that I disclose any form of sponsorship in my post in an honest and relevant way, so I did. Know that your comment was not ill-received as I value all feedback and comments from my readers. I wish you well. — Jessica

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