7 Ways to Make Road Trips With Kids Less Miserable

My brother and sister in law have taken their kids (my little baby nuggets) on several road trips. Truthfully, nothing sounds worse to me! In fact, my sister in law originally titled this post "How To Take A Road Trip With Kids" but I think my title hit the nail a little more squarely on the head :).

So, if you are interested in driving with one or more children for a long period of time, read ahead for 7 tips to get you through.

The kids look a little suspicious, but it's not easy to get both adults looking in the same direction with semi happy faces. Fake it til you make it, amirite?

As a family of 3 and now 4, we have done our share of roadtrips! Anywhere from 2 - 13+ hours, and have luckily picked up some tips to maintain our sanity along the way. Whenever we start packing for a road trip, we feel like we might be crazy but we always end up doing it again.  It is so convenient to have all our kid gear with us and not worry about packing light and it can also be a fun experience that adds to our vacation. If you’re thinking of doing the same – here are some things that worked for us….

1. Snacks. Now is not the time to worry about your children getting diabetes.  Sure, if they’ll eat carrot sticks and apple slices then go for it; but what worked best for us was lollipops and gummies and juice boxes.  The longer it takes them to suck on/chew = the longer they are quiet.

Sweet dreams!

We didn't really let the baby have soda...this time :).

2. Disney songs. We listened to ‘part of your world’ more times than I can remember because it always calmed down the baby (still does to this day!) Do yourself a favor and make this a LOOONG playlist. Ours was too short and we ended up listening to the same songs about 7 million times.

Kill meeeeeee

3. Toys they’ve never seen. If they were a little older, I would have given them tablets and headphones and called it a day -- but with toddlers, we had to be creative about keeping them entertained. Coloring books, stickers, mini dolls/cars, and white boards with markers are obvious choices but also a box of tissues or a deck of cards that the baby can pull out one by one is a good (if sort of messy) option.

So many toys and yet still bored.

4. Car tray for toddlers. Ours hooked to her carseat and she could keep her crayons/coloring book and snacks within reach which was nice. I don’t think they sell ours anymore, but any of these would be good.

5. Stopping for food and gas at the same time. This seems obvious but if you’re going to get food, fill up your tank even if you’re only half-empty. If the kids fall asleep you don’t want to have to wake everyone up to get gas.

Pro tip: I-95 has a Cracker Barrel every 10 miles.

6. Try to stop somewhere the kids want to be. We were lucky to have friends that live at about the halfway point of our drive. They were nice enough to have us for dinner on the way there and host us on the way home. The kids were SOOO excited to play with new toys and to stay in a home was so much more comfortable than a hotel. Pro tip - pack a separate smaller bag for your overnight stay so you can leave the big bags in the car.

Ready to get out and party.

7. Go with the flow. Don’t stress too much about potty training/nap schedules/no pacifier/healthy eating – let it be a fun treat for your kids to be with their family, singing along with a princess and eating junk. They will complain far less which will make your life a lot easier.

Can't win them all.