15 Tips for Surviving a Road Trip with Kids

Our Relief Society activity this month was a "Talent Fair." Each sister was in charge of bringing a "talent"/"something they had accomplished over the summer" to the activity and display it (somewhat like your 5th grade Science Fair). Well, I thought to myself, "What in the world have I accomplished this summer?" My answer, "I survived taking four kids and three adults across the country in three days and actually enjoyed it." So, just in case you are planning a road trip soon, or are wondering if you should take a road trip, let me share my tried and true tips.

1. Try to keep your luggage in the back or in a roof storage, not under your feet. You’ll already be fighting feelings of claustrophobia, so try to keep around you as uncluttered as possible.
2. Buy all snacks ahead of time and have them put in baggies by individual servings -- this cuts down on spills as well as one person getting more than you want of one thing. Don’t bring any snacks that you wouldn’t mind you or your children eating large amounts of. I found that string cheese, blueberries, crackers, grapes, granola bars, dried fruit, chex mix, crackers, gogurt, and almonds worked great. I had one small bin and one small cooler that kept all of the snacks and waters. This was the only stuff kept up front.
3. Bring a large case of water bottles and freeze some to use as the ice for your small cooler. Each night you stop at a hotel, freeze more waters for the next day.
4. Don’t bring any candy. If needed, use a treat as an incentive for your kids to behave in the car and when you stop to get gas, if they’ve earned it, then they get to choose an item.
5. Buy movies ahead of time when you find them on sale and put them away. Watch for deals at movie stores like Blockbuster where you can buy 5 moves for $20. I didn’t worry about my kids watching movie after movie – I just kept telling myself that I don’t do this on a regular basis, so three days of it won’t ruin them.
6. Bring books on CD. I recommend “The Treehouse” series. The author reads the book and can get through the entire book in 40 minutes. The kids loved it and it was even tolerable for the adults to listen to as well.
7. Always have a grocery bag or two handy in case someone gets sick or to gather trash in.
8. Attaching a roof storage of some sort is very useful. But only store things you won’t need to get at until you get to your destination.
9. Bring as little into the hotel each night as possible. I carried in two duffel bags – one with the whole family’s toiletries and one with everyone’s change of clothes.
10. Dress comfortable and do away with pj’s for the nights you’ll be in a hotel. Each night we spent in a hotel we would eat dinner, shower, and dress into the next-days clothes. Sleeping in next-day clothes was also one less thing we had to do before rushing out in the morning.
11. Stop every three to four hours while driving. It makes long days seem not so long and keeps your gas tank around half full in case you run into some kind of emergency.
12. At every stop make sure everyone gets out and everyone uses the bathroom. Be sure to run around, play follow-the-leader, tag, or do jumping jacks. Remember, you’ll never see these people who are giving you funny looks again.
13. Have a plan, but also be flexible. If your kids are doing well, keep driving. Also be sure to have a route planned and an atlas handy. Following a map makes it fun to see the progress you make each hour.
14. Don’t book hotel rooms ahead of time. You can get a great deal by just negotiating at the front desk and this also doesn’t limit how far you travel each day.
15. Put as much planning into your return trip as you did on the way out. (We learned this the hard way.) Take the time to replenish snacks, drinks, and movies.

So what it all comes down to:
Don’t be afraid to make that long road trip. It’s not bad and very cost friendly. Our “across-the-county trip” cost roughly $400 one way including gas, food, and hotels. Considering it costs that much for one airline ticket, it made it well worth it for our family of six. It was also so nice to have our own car when we arrived at our final destination.

Happy Road Tripping!