Easy Packing for Kids

[jilllofalltrades]

We have cruised a couple of times with my two boys. I have a packing tip that worked out wonderfully. On cruises you tend to stay in bathing suits 90% of the time. So I purchased the kids 5 cheap bathing suits at Walmart (like 6-7 dollars apiece) and matched them with 5 t-shirts. I put a bathing suit and t-shirt in a gallon size baggy and marked the outside with the child's name. The suitcase will have ten small baggies in it, laying out clothes on the trip is a snap, and wet bathing suits can go right back in the baggy for the trip home. Add 2 more t-shirts, 2 shorts and clothes for dinner and you're packed! With my boys, I took one pair each of khaki pants and dark pants, two different colored button up shirts and mixed and matched them for dinner. Take them off right after dinner and use them the next night. Assuming you have no spills. We skip formal nights because my husband wears a tie to work every day and says he'll jump over board before wearing one on vacation.:eek: Better to skip it than offend someone or have to reel in a soggy husband!

[I&MsMom]

I do something very similar. I have DS 7 and DD just 3. Since DD isn't completely potty-trained yet, she only needs a suit for water-related shore excursions. And, over the course of a sea day, DS spends as much time in camp as he does on the slide and in the pool, so I need regular outfits for them each day.

 

But I do use your zip-lock method. I label one for each day, and assemble the whole outfit at home. I can consider what we are planning any given day. I include hair accessories, underwear, etc., as relevant for each child. It doesn't necessarily make the packing easier, but I love not having to try to figure out where DD's turqouise hair bow is when I'd rather being doing anthing other than sorting through all of our "stuff" for the umpteenth time.

 

In the morning's or during the rush to shower and change for dinner, I just pull out a bag, and we're good to go! (Too bad DH's things are too big for this method!! LOL)

[kathalinamarie]

I use space bags for my packing... Keeps my underwear from flying across the airport when a bag opens or an official wishes to search my bag. Nicely organized and easy to pack.

[lledman]

We have cruised a couple of times with my two boys. I have a packing tip that worked out wonderfully. On cruises you tend to stay in bathing suits 90% of the time. So I purchased the kids 5 cheap bathing suits at Walmart (like 6-7 dollars apiece) and matched them with 5 t-shirts.

 

 

This is the way we packed for our camping trips over the past summer; my son loved not having to go back to our site to change so he could go to the pool and said the swim trunks were even more comfortable than shorts in the muggy summer weather. So when we started planning our cruise, I purchased a couple of swim trunks the next size up for only $2 on clearance at the end of the season.