We recently took our first “parent vacation” to Cabo San Lucas (read more about that here!) without our kiddos. And while it was an absolutely glorious experience, the prep work to get out the door and gone was a bit daunting. So, I’ve documented our experience along with tips and tricks in this Stress-Free Guide to Leaving Your Kids while You Travel!
Packing for two small humans to stay with grandparents for eight days is a pretty big undertaking. There are so.many.things. I, of course, procrastinate until the day before to get things packed and ready. I was literally up until midnight packing away. We needed to be up at 4am to get to the airport (sigh)!
I’m the kind of person that works well under pressure. I tend to wait until the last minute to do things like this. I also really like (probably a little too much) leaving my home clean and tidy (read my post that has 8 SMART Tips for Preparing Your Home When You Travel), so that I’m not immediately stressed out upon entering my home after having an amazing time away with no responsibilities (it’d be a shock to the system I don’t want to put myself through).
PREPARING YOUR HOME for Travel
So, in order to do that, I like to clean as close to “go-time” as possible.
When you’re home with tiny humans all day, there’s just no way to maintain the level of clean I prefer. Plus, laundry piles up by the second it seems. This is one thing on my list that I must have caught up prior to leaving on a trip. So, I wait and procrastinate, and then shove 18 million tasks on my to-do list in the last 24 hours prior to leaving. It’s a super great strategy (note: sarcasm).
All this to say, it takes a ton of work and brainpower prior to leaving, but it is SO WORTH IT. Once you get through the madness of remembering every.single.thing for your family members and (finally) yourself, it all suddenly becomes very…easy.
Step 1 – Drop kids and all their crap off.
Step 2 – Grab your bags and get on a plane.
Step 3 – Reach destination.
Step 4 – Relax and enjoy having zero responsibilities.
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Here is my guide for leaving your kids while you travel
Packing
I don’t mess around when it comes to packing. Leaving your kids for eight days is a lot to put on someone. Because of this, I like to pack my kids as organized and efficient as possible, for the sole benefit of our caretakers (grandparents). It also releases some anxiety because I’m so diligent about it that I know nothing is forgotten (let’s knock on wood here).
Packing: Tip 1
My first tip for packing your kids is to get rid of bags. If you’re simply taking your kids to their grandparents or somewhere that’s a short-ish drive away, don’t shove everything in a bag. Use laundry baskets! I’ve done this quite a few times now, and I love it! Even when we’re going on a trip as a family, I always pack with laundry baskets.
They’re easy to carry, can still stack if needed, fit a ton of items, and you can see nearly everything without having to dump the whole dang thing out! It’s also easy to grab and go.
And finally, at the end of the trip, I just toss all of the “dirty” items into the bottom and fill it up with the rest. This way the laundry is there and ready to go and I don’t have to go through four bags to get it all.
Packing: Tip 2
For this trip specifically, I took my crazy to another level. I bought a pack of jumbo-sized baggies (2 gallon) – 10 for $2.99 (similar set on Amazon here). Then I wrote the days of the week that we’d be gone on each one.
Finally, I placed an entire outfit for each kiddo in one bag (you could do separate baggies for each child, too). Thinking through each item ensured that I didn’t forget anything. It eased my mind knowing that I had everything for an outfit for at least each day we’d be gone.
Here’s how that looked for us for this trip: Myles – socks, undies, pants, undershirt, overshirt. Gracelyn – socks, pants, undershirt, overshirt, hair bow. We were leaving in winter-time, so outfits were quite bulky and filled the bags quickly. Once I got all of the days’ outfits in baggies, I made sure to gather a few extra outfits for each child.
For reference, Myles was two and a half and potty-training and Gracelyn was ten months old.
How to Pack it
Shoes go on the very bottom of the basket, then I place the extra outfits on top of them. I added diapers/pull-ups, a container of formula, a baggie of baby food pouches/medicine/extra paci/etc. to the other end of the basket. And finally, the outfit baggies go on top of it all. (I forgot to take a photo of this, sorry!)
I made one basket work for this trip (plus one small bag that held each kids’ blankie and lovey). We probably could have used two baskets to contain things better. If you have more than two children or older kids, you’ll likely need to do a basket per individual.
Another option for more organized packing
If you are traveling with your children anytime soon, or you need a more organized packing solution for yourself (or just in general), you might consider investing in packing cubes! For this trip to Cabo, I bought this set of packing cubes off Amazon (see pics below, too!). They are so awesome, and would be great for packing kids, too!
Here’s what that looked like for the clothes that I took:
There are a ton of color options for these. I decided to get the pack of six with the pink/blue combo. Eric used three and I used three. I really didn’t think we’d be able to get all of our clothes in these, but we did and it worked out very well. I used the roll-up method for all of our clothes and you can fit so much in each one. It’s crazy!
They have handles on the backside for super easy grabbing and carrying. I did use my Victoria’s Secret “delicates” bag (the black one on top) for my bras and underwear. Everything else clothing-wise fit into my three cubes.
And to really make the most of these bad boys, I made sure to separate our dirty clothes from clean clothes when I was packing to come home. I literally grabbed the bags that were “dirty” from the luggage and took them directly to the laundry room once we were back. Easy peasy!
Imortant Information Sheet
If I was in a caretakers’ shoes, I’d like a rough idea of the daily schedule for the kids. So, I type out our current daily schedule for them as a reference point only. If they have other plans or don’t want to follow it at all that’s no big deal. I just think it’s nice to know what the children are used to. I believe children behave better when they have a consistent and predictable routine.
Along with the daily schedule, I also provide the following information for our caretakers:
Specific Notes for Individual Child’s Needs
I left notes on where Myles is with his potty training, and then noted where Gracelyn was with her teething – including medication dosage.
Our travel Itinerary
For this portion, I listed the location of where we were staying, as well as our travel schedule. I included the address and phone number of our resort, and then I listed out all of our flight information.
A Medical Release
This is simply a statement that releases consent to the caretaker to make emergency medical decisions in your absence for your children.
Your Guardianship Wishes
In the case of your death while traveling, this statement provides some guidance and specific requests for what you’d like to happen to your children should you pass away on your trip. If you have a will in place, you won’t really need to worry about this (FYI, yes, we NEED to get a will done!). But, it might be good to note where these documents are located should this situation arise.
Most of these items would only pertain if there was an emergency. However, it is very important that your wishes are written down and known. It would be absolutely devastating if you were to run into trouble or pass away on your trip. But it would make the situation even worse if you didn’t have these items in order upon leaving. Your caretakers and children deserve it. They will need clarity in your absence, amongst the chaos of other things that will need to take place.
LOGISTICS FOR LEAVING YOUR KIDS WHEN YOU TRAVEL
Here’s how we handled the hand-off for our trip. We left early on a Tuesday morning to jet off to Cabo. Therefore, we ended up taking the kids to my parents’ home the night before. We put them to bed and then got back home to finish packing and get some sleep. This was the best option for us because we didn’t have to worry about waking the kids early in the morning (4am). It is also nice to have a clean good-bye the night before.
We got back home late at night, so we opted to have our parents keep the kids overnight. I went to pick them up the next morning. It was simply just easier this way.
If you are fortunate enough to live close to family members, you can likely work something like this out for your departure and arrival back home. It really makes things go smoothly with relatively little stress.
Okay, that rounds up this guide on leaving your children successfully while you head off for some much-needed R&R!
Don’t Forget: PRIORITIZE YOUR MARRIAGE
Please don’t forget about the importance of your marriage in the chaotic chapter of child-rearing. It is hard to find time to get away, especially during the school years. But, it is worth it to get away with just your spouse. It does take a bit of work and preparation. Just remember that your marriage was the beginning and will be the end.
After the children are gone and off living lives of their own, you’ll be left with your spouse/partner. It’s important to nurture and maintain its priority in your life throughout all the years of its existence.
Hopefully this guide has provided you with some inspiration and motivation! Get your next trip planned – with as little stress as possible.
Tell me, do you get away with your spouse/partner? How often and where do you like to go? Let me know in the comments!
To the Chaos!
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