Beach Vacation with 3 Under 5 :: Tips and Truths
Our family does not travel too often. We make trips to Baton Rouge from time to time, but I can count one one hand how many times my kids have left the state. Combined.
Our kids are 1, 3, and 4.5 (almost 5). They require a lot of things. They require a lot of attention. They also require a lot of $, if I am being honest.
As we were exploring options of what to do for our 1 and 3 year olds who share a birthday, we decided at the last minute to look at options for the beach. As luck would have it, a family member who lives in Sandestin would be out of town, and we had the opportunity to take over their home for a few days.
I did post some cute photos on Instagram, but a lot of work and many meltdowns occurred before, after, and during the trip. If you’re like me and are not a super seasoned traveler, here are some helpful hints and transparent truths about a vacay with small humans.
Before the trip
I am a packing freak. I like to get everything together in advance, so I make many lists and try to be efficient with space and things. Our car ride was about 6 hours, so I tried to keep my kids as full and entertained as possible.
- New toys: I spent all of $10 at the dollar store on some new, cheap toys they could get excited about for a little while. Invisible ink markers and paper, sensory toys, and some Hot Wheels cars went a very long way.
- Tablets: not everyone is a tablet household, but we appreciate it for travel.
- Snack Packs: I made about 10 quart-sized ziplock bags of snacks. This way when a kid was hungry, I could easily hand them something that was easy to open. We did this with cereal, chips, fruit snacks, granola…basically anything.
- Pack light on clothes: If you have access to a washer and dryer, pack less than what you think you need. I made the mistake of thinking everyone needed 5 outfits for 3 days. They do not.
During the trip
We chose to leave mid morning and arrive at our destination mid-afternoon. We made 1 stop for gas, 1 stop for lunch and playing (Chik-fil-A with a play place is the move), and 1 more for snacks. My husband and I took turns driving and sitting in the backseat with the kids. It was easier for us to help out one of the kids that needed attention–which was often–from the backseat rather than trying to contort our bodies to reach whichever toy one of our children inevitably dropped.
Once we arrived, we unloaded, ordered delivery, and settled in. The next day was when we ventured to the beach.
Pro tips:
- Sunscreen at home. You do NOT want to have to fight sunscreen and sand, plus the kids will want to immediately run and play. PS: This is our favorite sunscreen – for adults & kids.
- Go early! Our family is full of early risers. We arrived at the beach around 9 and left by 11:30. It wasn’t crowded at all and the temperature of the beach and water were perfect.
- Load up the ice chest with lots of water and juice.
- Bring a bag full of snacks. We forgot ours at home, and it cut our beach time in half that day.
- Bring shade. We used an umbrella for our little crew, but tents are great if you have the manpower to carry them.
- Speaking of manpower, I highly recommend a wagon if you have it. I regret not bringing ours. My husband and I had straps across both shoulders while also carrying kids, and it was very, very heavy.
For our kids, less was more. We had one bag with a few shovels for building sand castles, and we took turns playing with the kids in the water. With ours so little, we made a rule that they could not go in water over their knees. This made it easy to keep watch and gave them a firm boundary on what they could or could not do.
When the kids had enough, they immediately shut down. Done. And we had quite a hike back. PRO TIP :: set a timer, and leave before the wave of fatigue knocks them out.
Expectation vs Reality
When I think about vacations or trips or experiences, sometimes my mentality is that we need to do all the things. If we’re making the trip, we have to make the MOST out of it. If there is an opportunity to do something, we SHOULD do it.
The older I get, and the more children I have, I realize that “shoulds” and “supposed to” is used in our daily vocabulary less and less. I find myself taking a step back and asking things like:
“What will give us peace right now?”
“What do the kids NEED right now? Even if it’s not what they WANT.”
“If this sounds more daunting than fun?” My final pro-tip is this :: when it comes to trips with littles, have a very loose plan. If plans change, that is okay. If you only make it down to the beach once on a 3-day beach trip, that’s okay.
