Summertime is for traveling! Tis the season to road trip with your family. You, your spouse, and the kiddos are so excited. You’ve planned for the trip, the bags are packed, and you’ve even mapped the vacation on Waze. But, there is one critical step that is often overlooked: how to properly load up the vehicle before you leave. When this one step is missed, it can turn the kickoff of your vacay into a disaster. This is why I’m giving you my tips on how to pack the car for a road trip.
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Now here’s the question, is there any *ahem* tension around departure time? Any intense fellowship between the adults and/or the children? Right, I’m sure no one ever fights or argues before the designated leave time. And by “designated leave time”, I mean not at all on time and the SUV still needs gas in the tank. Now that we’re so far behind our leave schedule do we go ahead and eat lunch at the house, or do we drive until the first person gets hangry beyond all recognition?
If you’re tired of the tension and done with the disaster departures, this post/podcast episode is for you. After over a decade of trial, error, and experimenting, I’ve found what’s worked for road trips with our family of five. You’ll hear my best tips on how to pack the car for a road trip. Don’t miss this one vital step that ensures smooth sailing on your family trip.
Throughout each tip, there will be a guided prayer. Let it be a reminder of how God gives to His children abundantly, and being able to go on vacation as a family is truly a blessing. And let me add to this: If you’re trying to get better at the discipline of prayer, start by praying over the little things. Yes, pray for that road trip! Pray that you’ve packed the right stuff. Pray you don’t run out of gas or lose a credit card. That’s okay!
The more you can normalize prayer in your life, the more your habit of prayer will strengthen. Bonus: Let your kids see you do it. They’ll learn from a young age that praying for things big and small is good! As you prepare for your future road trip, keep these prayers we go over in mind. Remember, keep God in everything, even the packing!
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Road Trip Backstory
Let me paint you a picture. In your pre-having-kids days, it was pretty easy to throw some stuff in a bag, hop in the car, and go. To where? Wherever the road takes you! Maybe you were even spontaneous road trip person in your past. That was a the time in your life before someone in your vehicle needed a bathroom break every 30 minutes. Shout out to all the potty training parents during road trips! You’re a brave kind of soul!
Back in our early years of marriage, Morgan and I were on a double date headed to go see some amazing Christmas lights in east Texas (remember, everything is bigger here, so it’s normal to road trip to see something grand). Something to know about me: I love Jesus and celebrating His birth all year long. If it’s Christmas themed, count me in, baby!
When we arrived to this exciting place, the line was so long that it was a four hour entry wait. What did us youngsters do? We just drove onto Shreveport, LA, because why not? We had no responsibilities other than whatever we used to do on Saturdays before youth sports happened…I can’t remember what all that included, but I imagine there was more free time. Literally no bags packed, just the four of us and whatever we had with us at the time. I feel like I could never do this now! If I’m cringing at this thought, I know you may be too.
In Come the Kids
Then, the cute, little, tiny humans came into our lives. Thank you, God for our beautiful children! We still loved road trips, wanted to travel, and still go see our friends who lived outside Texas. So, we decided we’re still going to be a family that road trips. Both my husband and I grew up on road trips, and we wanted to continue building those memories for our family. And then it happens…
The first road trip with a baby. What do you bring? How do you pack? What are we even thinking? With all the good intentions, when it came time to leave, the stress began to build. The bags may or may not be loaded. Oh wait! We forgot to pack (fill in the blank)! Do we just bring a whole box of diapers or do we guesstimate? Hint: Just bring the entire box of diapers, and go with the motto of, “you can never have too many baby wipes.” Ah, nothing like tension to start all the beautiful memories of a road trip.
Has this happened to you? Is this why the adult you dreads road trips? Or, are you currently taking road trips, but there’s always a headache or two before you even get out the door? There’s better way to launch your vacay, friends! Say “buh-bye” to the headache of packing the car the morning you leave.
Before we get into the tips on how to pack the car for a road trip, know this: You have full permission to take what works for you, and leave the rest. Remember that if one of these ideas doesn’t work for this life phase you’re in, that’s okay! Take these tips, tweak them to fit your life now, and give it a try. Hey, if you were looking for an excuse to road trip, here’s your sign! Now, let’s dive into my best tips on how to pack the car for a road trip.
Tip #1: Luggage
This may go against your personality, but trust me. If you can take care of packing a week before you leave, departure will be a million times smoother. Listen, I know you didn’t want to hear that right at the start, but you’ll be high fiving your spouse and kids later because of it. I have two close friends who last minute pack, and time after time, getting out the door is a struggle. My biggest and best tip for you is to please PLEASE pack early. If a week is too much of a stretch for you, start with three days before. It’ll give you time to run to the store if needed, or Amazon something to the house before your leave date.
Here’s how we do this in our home. I wash all the dirty clothes regardless of if those articles are going on the trip or not. Then, all the clothes are organized and put away as a team effort. Can you see why you may need a week out now? After that, we go day by day through our trip to select clothes to pack. There are endless ways to choose clothing for every trip imaginable for adults, kids, and babies. This is not the episode for what to bring on your trip, this is how to pack the car for a road trip. If you want me to make an episode on what all we pack, I’m happy to do it.
So, now that the clothes are laid out day by day, in come the packing cubes (ziplock bags work too)! We have three kids, so we have three sets of color coordinated packing cubes that vary in size for their luggage items. Their suitcases are neatly packed (because you can just toss stuff into a cube), and the major headache of forgetting to pack items goes away.
Pretty packing cubes! These are the ones I use, and they’ve held up really well.
Color coordinating packing cubes. They come in different color sets, so you can grab one for each kid.
Size variety pacing cubes. If you need all the shapes or have odd spaces, these are for you. Lots of color options.
When these bags are packed, they are all brought to one location in the house (the “bag zone”). Yes, they sit there for a few days, so if you prefer your bag zone to be in a closet out of sight, go for it. All of these bags will later go in the overhead cargo on top of the vehicle. This large, waterproof storage is strapped down tightly and doesn’t budge when we travel.
Overhead storage. This is the best selling one and it’s the one we use. Waterproof and reinforced which makes it strong and durable in all the weather.
No rack? No worries! This waterproof bag works for any vehicle. It’s a larger version in case you need more space.
These heavy duty ratchet straps are great to carry in the event something goes awry. Plus, the are useful in a million ways, so best to have a set at home and in your car.
Pro Tip: There are likely to be stores on the way to where you’re going. In the event you forget something, no sweat! Just buy the item if it’s absolutely necessary. This past winter, we went on a family ski trip. After a couple of days hitting the slopes my eldest, Sloane, left her ski jacket in the lobby on the mountain.
After rage looking the next day through the lost and found and asking around, we had to pony up for a new ski jacket. Yes, we debated her freezing. We exhausted all other options, and just sucking it up and buying a new jacket (on the mountain=more expensive) was the answer. Good news, we sized up, so she’ll grow into it and get the use out of it (and then so will younger sister). The back up plan of “buy it if you need it” comes in handy time to time. Stuff happens, you have to roll with it. Future me will try to be less rage-filled. Keep this in mind when thinking about how to pack the car for a road trip.
Guided Prayer: God, thank you so much for even giving us the opportunity to travel! Let us not take that for granted. Help us to not get caught up in the craziness of wondering how many pairs of socks to pack, and instead, reflect on how you’ve given us so much already. Show us where you have given us much, so we can abundantly give to others.
Tip #2: The Family Overnight Bag
Hopefully the luggage tip didn’t scare you away yet! Ready for some more? How to pack the car for a road trip tip #2. This has been a game changer for our family. If you break up your driving and stay overnight somewhere, having a family overnight bag will save you from unpacking all of the things every time you stop. This is a strategy we started implementing a few years ago, and it has made hotel stays so much smoother.
Here’s how we do this. We use a medium size duffle bag, and each of us puts our next day outfit in there. Morgan and I fit our toiletry bags in there, and the kids share a smaller one. All of this fits easily into a bag, saves a ton of time, and simplifies the next morning when you’re ready to hit the road. This bag is packed the week before (back to tip #1), but we add the toiletry bags the morning we leave since we use them daily. The family overnight bag goes in the trunk/rear section on the inside of the vehicle. Below are some overnight bags and toiletry bags that I recommend, just pick the one that fits your personality.
Flashback to before using tip #2: We road trip to Nashville every year to see our friends (shout out, Emily, Josh, and baby Hank, who’s not a baby anymore). We headed out after a half workday, and figured, “Eh, let’s just power through the trip. It’ll be fine.” Well, all was not fine. We hit a sleepy wall, and needed to stay somewhere asap. While I’m Googling nearby hotels, Morgan is trying to keep his eyes open, and we have a sleeping baby in the backseat.
We end up finding a hotel with availability, we park, and…now we have to unload all of our luggage in the middle of the night because we’ll need a few of the items over the next 8ish hours. Tired husband, tired wife, baby now wide awake. Good times. If only we had an overnight bag we could just grab out of the back…lesson learned. Now we always do this, even if we don’t plan on stopping. But, who are we kidding, we’re old now and all-nighters are a thing of the past.
Guided prayer: God, thank you for a vehicle that provides safe travel. As we stay on the path traveling to our destination, let it serve as a reminder to us that you are the true path. Help keep us protected as we stop along the way, and help us carry a spirit of gratitude as we bond in the car.
Tip #3: Necessary, Miscellaneous Bags
We’ve covered the individual luggage and the family overnight bag, so now we’ve come to another important bag (or bags depending on your specific situation) that needs to be handy. Here are the other bags we take along with us:
Mom and Dad travel bags: These bags go in the vehicle, by the person they belong to. Morgan’s goes in the very back since he’s the driver. My bag typically has my computer, chargers, airpods, Bible study materials, and some form of chocolate. Morgan typically carries the similar items.
Kids travel bags: Each kid is allowed one travel backpack and a carry-on item (yes, like an airplane). 2-3 days before the trip the kids are put in charge of packing their travel bag, and I have them bring the backpacks and carry-on items downstairs to house in the bag zone.
Sloane’s bag it typically full of pens, journals, and books. Scout’s bag usually has something to color on, markers, babies, and some stuffies. Rhett’s bag is bursting at the seems with “ranchy toys” which includes those tiny, plastic animal toys ranging from farm animals to dinosaurs. He likes to pretend they all live happily on a ranch and he’s the cowboy.
This is also a good time to mention that we do bring Amazon Fire tablets (limited use, calm down), and we have a DVD player built into our car. Whether you have access to those items or not, the travel bags always get used.
Medical bag: Rhett is a Type 1 Diabetic, so there’s a ton of supplies that go with it. If you don’t have a medically needy child, do yourself a favor and at least pack a small bag with tylenol/motrin, first aid kit, and tums (because that gas station taquito can sometimes be a bad idea).
Dog bag: We travel with our dogs depending on where we’re going. They typically go about 50% of the time with us. We have one bag that has all their things. Leashes, collars, travel dogs bowls and food, etc… If you don’t travel with the dogs, but have babies, this can be the bag that full of wipes, baby food, diaper cream, and everything extra a tiny human needs.
All of these bags are packed and loaded about a week out and added into the bag zone. Yes, tip #1 is coming back for you again. The sooner you pack, the sooner you can enjoy the anticipation of the vacation instead of dreading the departure. When it comes to how to pack the car for a road trip, making sure we never hear “I’m bored” is so important. Yay kids travel bags!
Guided prayer: God, thank you for modern medicine! As we arrive at our destination, please keep us safe in the day to day. Help us stay healthy and avoid any serious injuries. We know that you’re the ultimate healer, and you can do anything. Thank you for being our constant guide and source of true comfort.
Tip #4: Snacks!
Oh yes, we can’t go anywhere without a snack. Curse you, kid summer stomach! They eat one snack at school, but when they come home for summer, somehow their stomachs morph into a bottomless pit ready to devour all the things in the pantry. Again, there are plenty of great ways to handle this at home, that’s for another episode. This is specifically how to pack the car for a road trip when it comes to food and drinks.
Here’s how we do this: We have a smaller Yeti cooler that we load up with Gatorades, waters, and Dr. Peppers. The Yeti is filled a couple days before departure. Ice is put on it the night before and loaded into the vehicle then (more details on this next). We have a sturdy tote that we pack all the kid snacks in (again, shopped the week before preferably), and that goes into the vehicle the night before as well. We put the snack bag right behind the front console, so it’s easy to pass out items.
In the snack tote, I always carry several plastic sacks, ziplock bags of varying size, trash bags, and 6 plastic cups. Plastic sacks are great for snack trash, a throw up occurrences, explosion up the back of the onesie, or the “I spilled gatorade all down my front” situation. Again, this is also tip #2 saving you a massive headache. Grab that extra set of clothes to change into, put the wet clothes into the plastic sack, and on you go.
“Wait, Brooke, what’s up with the 6 cup thing?” Glad you asked. We have three kids, so they each have two cups designated for them. We buy bulk snacks, so it’s cheaper and easier for us to just pour some Goldfish into the cups and pass it back. Why two cups each? In case we have a sweet snack we don’t want mixing with the salty.
Trust me on this one. You’ll be thankful you’ll have multiple cups. Who knows, this may be the exact moment that your kid decides that they don’t like their different foods touching. They can also come in handy for many things (hello, emergency potty as we’re stuck in gridlock traffic). Ya do what you’ve gotta do. Don’t ask… Snacks are a vital part of knowing how to pack the car for a road trip, so don’t miss it!
Guided prayer: God, thank you for your constant provision. As we run through (and maybe even out of) snacks, help us remember that you are the bread of life, and you are all that we truly need. We can prepare all we want, but you are the one we need to invite to come with us on this trip. Help us keep you top of mind as we travel together.
Tip #5 Tetris Time
This is the part where we put all the pieces together. Yes, tips 1-4 were some major frontloading, especially if you’re not a planner. In the end, these tips will save you time, money, and more importantly, save you the stress over departure day.
If you love seeing all your hard work coming together, you’re going to love this step. I love me a good puzzle, and spatial intelligence is my jam, so, naturally, I love Tetris. Over the course of these vacations, I have learned to gamify how to pack the car for a road trip, and it’s been a breeze since.
Here’s how we do this: The evening before we leave, we work as a team to get the entire car loaded. Morgan and I work together to attach the overhead cargo storage. He’s 6’3″ with an incredible wingspan, and I’m just the shortie who hands him the straps. Whatever works, right? During that time, we have the kids bring all the items from the bag zone to the vehicle. We assembly line it all the way from our youngest, Rhett, past the girls, and I lift it up to Morgan to put in the overhead. We do this for all our luggage from tip #1.
Then, each kid is responsible for getting their seat ready. They grab their backpack, carry-on item, neck pillow and blanket, and put it in their seat. Blanket and pillow go in the seat while the backpacks and carry-on are placed down by their feet. After that, they each get their empty water bottle and put it by the fridge to be filled in the morning.
While the kids are loading their items, Morgan and I load the snacks, our travel bags, cooler, and miscellaneous bags (remember the overnight bag goes in on departure day). We double check it all, make sure everything is secure, and inform the kids of the time we’re leaving, when we’re waking up, etc… If you haven’t yet filled up the gas tank, go do this now. I try to do this the afternoon before loading.
Guided prayer: God, thank you for the financial ability to go on this trip. As we Tetris all our luggage into the car help us remember that you are the one who fits all things together perfectly. You created us and all the beautiful things in this world the exact way you meant to. You make all of these things come together for good. Please don’t let us forget this.
Tip #6 Departure Day
The day you’ve been waiting for is here! Everyone’s excited, not stressed, because almost everything is already loaded and ready to go. Victory already! The luggage is ready, you’ve put the toiletries into the overnight bag and have now loaded it, the miscellaneous bags packed, snacks ready, and you’ve Teris-ed your way to smooth sailing.
Here’s how we do this: We have our kids sleep in their travel clothes the night before, so all they have to do is wake up and brush their teeth. I also french braid the girls hair, so no one has to fix hair and their brushes can already be packed. They bring me their tooth brushes, all the toiletries go into the overnight bag, and it gets loaded into the back.
While that’s happening, the kids are going potty, filling up their water bottles, and climbing into the car (and going back to sleep because we typically leave before the sun wakes up). Morgan and I are getting dressed and ready, filling up our drinks, and doing a final check that nothing is missing.
Guided prayer: God, thank you for our family unit. You have purposely put us together to bring you honor and glory. As we travel, help us remember to look for all the wonderful things you have done around us. Let these serve as a reminder to point everything back to you and your power.
There you have it, my best tips for how to pack the car for a road trip. Minimize the mania and maximize the memories. By following these tips, you’ll notice a change for the better. No more last minute stress. Goodbye tension. Leaving when you want to without the fuss is achievable! This is what works for us, so I know it will help streamline your process too. Here’s a quick recap on how to pack the car for a road trip:
- Tip #1: Luggage- one week before
- Tip #2: Family overnight bag- one week before/morning of
- Tip #3: Miscellaneous bags- one week before
- Tip #4: Snacks- shop week before, load evening before
- Tip #5: Tetris time- everything loaded
- Tip #6: Departure day- waters, load, leave
And, of course, one last prayer. You can never pray too much! God loves chatting with you!
Guided prayer: God, thank you so much for modeling rest. We know it’s important and that we should do it. Help us make the time on this trip to rest. Let us deeply bond together as a family unit and see your hand all throughout the trip. We pray over the people we will encounter along the way. Give us the bold faith to tell others about you.
Now, go enjoy that vacation!
Links from the Show:
- Summer Thrive Guide Mini Series (ep 291-304)
- Type 1 Diabetes, Rhett’s episode 185
- Witty & Gritty on Instagram
