Travel Packing like a Pro for a Family of Five

This post comes from a family dynamic of 2 adults and 3 young kids and packing for a 8 day road trip.

I have been fortunate enough to have travelled a bit prior to having children.  I never really mastered the art of traveling light but I never had to pay for excess baggage fees either.

Once you have had kids though, you’ll never travel light again. Ironically the more kids you have, the more you need to learn ways to manage your luggage and packing because even if you have luggage allowance for 5 airfares – you still only have two adults lugging both the luggage and the kids who depending on time of travel may be completely passed out.

Get the gear
Most organising websites will tell you that you need to organise and sort first before you go out and buy containers etc.  Well in this instance – you need to go out and buy some packing cells.

Equipment: Packing Cells – Hallelujah
I LOVE packing cells.  I can now pack like a freaking machine for a road trip or camp trip away.

The epiphany happened when on a family trip to Hong Kong where our whole family shared a tiny room which was mainly taken up by a bunk bed – our clothes were EVERYWHERE. I tried folding neatly and stacking in the corner but invariably stacks fell over, or got mixed up with everyone else’s clothes and undies, socks, jackets, dresses, scarves, gloves, bibs etc became clothing stew.  We also had nappies that were loose and sometimes hard to locate in arm reaching distance to the wipes and nappy cream.  I was spending a crazy amount of energy sorting clothes or trying to keep them out of the way, off the floor or simply contained since we didn’t have space to have our luggage bag out.  I had some packing cells from before, but until then – never used them as a way to house a MOBILE CLOSET. So I immediately started using the ones I had to house the kids clothes as they had so many and they were such small items.

And then I started using them as a packing device.  It has the added benefit of limiting how much clothing you can take since I find you just make do if you bring less.

Things to think of when buying packing cells:

1- Go the large size – you need to fit your travel wardrobe in the cell.  One cell per person.

2 – LABEL your packing cell with the persons name (I labelled mine with the fabric labels in my kids name sticker packs and also I got plain white ones from Martha Stewart Living.  I really love these as they are super sticky and take marker pen well.

3 – Buy different colours where possible for each family member.  After a few rounds, your family will recognise their packing cell and will be able to grab and put away clothes.

4- Cells should be soft walled so they collapse to nothing when you are not actively using them between travel

5 – They should let air out so your clothes breathe and cells will squish down in the luggage.

Where I got my packing cells – Kathmandu and Mujji but lots of companies make them. I get them in other sizes besides large as I like to pack a round of spare jackets in for the kids to put in the car etc.

Equipment: Charging and Cables Container
It can be bag, a clear zipped A4 sleeve or a big zip lock bag etc.  Mine is now a bright yellow soft drawstring bag.  It is intentionally bright so when I lay it out on top of my luggage – I immediately remember to disconnect my phone which had been charging and shove the charger and cable into the bag along with plugs and cables for things like laptops, iPads, cameras into the bag, pull the drawstring and put into my luggage.

If you are seriously organised – coil the cables neatly and hold together with a bulldog clip and place into a ziplock bag or separate zip lock bags. This way the cables don’t get caught on one another and you end up with a situation where it feels like you are trying to pull spaghetti apart.  Instead – you will find your cables are viewable at a glance and slide easily over each other.  No yanking required.

Equipment: Toiletries Bag
There are certain characteristics of what I believe makes a good toiletry bag.

1 – A hanging hook

2 – Clear zip up sections

3 – It rolls flat out and you can see nearly everything at a glance and can access items one handed.

4 – Water resistant/proof material – especially if there is no hook and you need to place the pack on a wet counter.

Share the toiletry bag between the whole family.

Besides the obvious of only using small containers for shampoo, conditioner and body wash, share the guys shaving gel/foam/cream.  I have been doing it for 10 years.  The guy’s stuff is cheaper and smells fine.  You’re washing it off anyway.

Put a wash cloth in – its so good for a quick once over of the kids faces, necks and underarms.  And if the need arises, you can use for your child if they have a temperature.

Don’t bother with the electric toothbrush.  Lose the weight of the dock and charger. It’s just another complication especially when travelling overseas and you need to have power adapters.  Save it for the important stuff such as laptops, tablets and phones.

For the reasons above, leave the electric razor at home if you’re really traveling light.

Medication, Ointments & Cosmetics.
I pack medication separately.  If it’s the kids stuff – don’t forget to include the oral syringe.  Ointments and sunscreen get packed in a either a ziplock bag or a semi hard case cell with a clear top.

The bare essentials always include: paracetemol – for adults and kids, anti histamine, sorbolene, nappy cream and eczema ointment.

My face cream is a simply non fragrance chain store brand suitable for sensitive skin so I use this on the whole family.

My cosmetics are in a roomy zipped case which looks like a big pencil case.  I am currently investigating a Grid-it which is a board with elastic on it to hold various small objects.  The number of bathrooms I have been in that do not have any counter space in it is amazing. And I invariably have to empty out the bag just to get to my eyeliner brush etc. I am also on the hunt for a hanging mirror – but I suspect for it to be really useful – I may just get  pocket one and put a hole in the cover and hang a loop of ribbon so I can adjust the length depending on what I hang it off.

Pack by Outfits
Put an outfit together like you would wear it.  ie: jeans and top or a dress with tights.  Then pack it.

For adults – I limit to 5 outfits (always with a shared item of jeans), 5 undies, 2 bras at most (including the one I wear), 5 pairs of socks and sleepwear.  A pair of thongs (flip flops) and comfy walking shoes which are stylish and will go with most of your outfits.

For kids – 7 outfits packed and then a stunt outfit for carry on.

I have all the kids jackets in a small packing cell so once it gets cold on the plane or car, one bag sorts them all.

Set up a laundry bag
I have a bright green one and I tend to hang it on the room or closet door.  It’s one of the first things you should do when you arrive.  Travelling in a family of five with 3 kids 6yrs and under – the laundry adds up very quickly and if there is not obvious place to put the dirty stuff, then it will probably end up on the floor, stuffed into bag pockets etc.  Doing laundry on the road is hard enough so why would you want to do smelly treasure hunt for it first?

The Luggage Pile
As we were on a road trip and staying with family and friend and in hotel during the course of the 8 days, we would not expect beds for 5 to be easily provided.  So we bought 5x pillows, self inflating sleeping mats and sleeping bags.  So even if all we could get was a floor somewhere, we would still be comfortable. And really there’s nothing quite like laying your head on your own pillow.