Top Tips on Packing for Your Family Holiday

Packing to go on holiday can be a NIGHTMARE. For some reason, we always feel the need to over prepare. Despite only going for seven days and nights, we feel the need to take enough outfits to see us through the average month at home, and enough medical supplies to fill a hospital. Make your holiday a family holiday with kids, and the stress multiplies even further. So how can you pack effectively for the whole family, without your stress levels going through the roof? With these top tips, you can’t go far wrong and will be entirely prepared to relax for the entirety of your family vacation!

Before Packing, Prepare

It can be all too tempting to start picking things up and piling them into the suitcase with no thought or method whatsoever, but this won’t help you at all and you’re a lot more likely to forget something.

Make your own life easier by starting off with a checklist of what you need to pack. By making a list (and checking it twice…or three times) you start off from a point of organisation in knowing what you already have, what you need to buy, and what possibly needs to be washed before you start to pack. If you do it far enough in advance, this means that you’ll be able to lay out what you have and tick it off your list well before the packing even begins, and when it’s all ticked off you can fit it into the multiple suitcases effectively! The amount of luggage weight you’ve payed for is something be mindful here, so keep that in mind when you make your list. There’s nothing worse than getting to the airport, weighing your cases, and finding out you either have to pay the extra or start swapping belongings from case to case. 

This is also a transferrable life skill that’s really good to get into the habit of. Say, for example, in the future you end up selling your family home through a quick sale company after doing your research and looking at an overview of we buy any house services – chances are you’ll need to move out in a short time frame. If you’re already well used to preparing like this, then you’ll already be well equipped with a stress-free and effective method of getting started on the packing! It never hurts to be well prepared for any eventualities.

Once You’ve Decided What to Pack, Reduce it

Of course, you’ll want to make sure you’re looking best for those beautiful family holiday snaps, but do you really need those extra eight dresses and t-shirts you’ve put on the list? Chances are you absolutely don’t, so once you’ve made your super extensive holiday list, before you start packing, try cutting it down to what you’ll actually use – and the same applies for your little ones. They’ll probably want to pack the entirety of their toy box, but make sure you give them a limit of the number of toys they can choose to take – say two small ones per child. This way you’re likely to save tantrums when packing because they’ll know the rules beforehand, and you’ll eliminate the chances of any of your cases being too full.

Make Sure You Use the Right Suitcase

Suitcases come in all sizes and weights now, and if you think you’re going to struggle to pack light as a family, it might be worth investing in some particularly lightweight suitcases.

Chances are, Mum and Dad are going to need to pack a lot more than their little ones, so they’ll inevitable use the bigger suitcases. Likewise, you’ll want to ensure that you get suitcases right for not only the amount of packing that your children bring, but also so that it’s the right size for them to transport around themselves without a fuss. The last thing you want when you’re rushing through the airport trying to stick to schedule, is your little one whinging because they’re struggling with their case. Likewise, you don’t want to spend all of your travelling time doing heavy lifting, so bare this in mind when you buy and assign suitcases.

Relax

Last of all, remember to stay calm. Chances are if you’re in charge of packing the holiday suitcases, that you run the organisation of the house as a whole on a day-to-day basis, and if you can do that, you can do this! When all is said and done, the holidays are to be enjoyed, so make sure you kick back and do just that.