I love going on family trips. I love planning the trips. I love packing for the trip. The one thing that I don’t love is deciding on which foods and activities to bring that will keep my kids content while in air and not hungry. Let me share some of our favorite family travel tips.
In an effort to be more mindful and prepared for our next family flight, I thought I would share my updated list of items I currently take with us and items that are new to us. I hope this can give you some inspiration even if you don’t take or do all the things that I do.
Most food items can be used for multiple ages, the preparation may just be a little different. To give some background of our current traveling ages, right now our house consists of a 12-year-old, 10-year-old, and 6-year-old. We are through our toddler years, which I miss sometimes so give your little ones lots of hugs and kisses, but I still have some suggestions for them too.
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Family Trip Foods – Airplane Edition
- Dum dum lollipops and gum – I know, I know, probably not the best one to put first, but hear me out. No matter what age our kids are, and we’ve used these since they were two years old, they will always simmer down for a small candy. Delayed flight? Lollipop. Couple hours layover? Lollipop. Getting anxious? Gum. Plus, I’m not a huge fan of giving candy out willy nilly on a normal basis, but in instances like this where they can’t run around, it helps.
- Meat sticks – I am always looking for easy ways to get more protein, especially when we are traveling. If everyone starts getting hungry, we are going to start having meltdowns. To deter this, I always have a few meat sticks in everyone’s bag. I like the Chomps or the Archer.
- Drink powders – I normally grab flavored drink powders that have zero sugar. If they are already having small candies and they are going to get soda on the plane, then I try to lessen our sugar amount by grabbing zero sugar drink powders. My two favorites are True Lime and Trim Healthy Mama. These work great if kids (or adults) are tired and need a little pick me up. Changing water into black cherry, lemon, or orange flavor makes a world of difference on long days.
- Nuts with dried fruit – My kids love pumpkin seeds and cashews so I will normally grab a bulk size of those two, bulk size of dried blueberries or strawberries, and mix them all together. We like to roast our own nuts, but if we don’t have time before we leave for a trip, I will buy some that are already roasted.
- Protein bars and powders– I mentioned above that I try to bring as much protein as possible when we are traveling. Being hungry only makes things worse. I pack a protein bar with at least 20 grams of protein in each person’s bag and I have little Ziploc bags (snack size) of protein powder we can dump into our water bottles (I mix the protein powder with the flavored drink powders for everyone, it’s more enjoyable this way). This protein bar has no soy so I’m okay with giving it to my kids and husband. Sometimes I will also choose this one for me, as it has soy, I don’t like to give that to the boys/men in my life.
- Peanut butter and honey sandwiches – Depending on your kiddos and how long your flight is, bringing a peanut butter and honey sandwich is really great. I usually need something more than just snacks, and although I don’t usually eat PB&H sandwiches anymore, it feels more substantial than just snacks. Both items are shelf stable, so you don’t need ice packs which makes them great for packing. I like to pretend I’m Paddington bear, with my sandwich in my hat (well, not a hat, but in my bag. You get it).
Kid Airplane Activities –
I am not against Nintendo Switch’s or Tablets or any other electronic device when traveling. If my kids are confined to their seats for several hours, aside from a bathroom break, then I’m letting them play on their devices. Also, don’t forget the headphones, very, very important.
Before we leave for our trip, my husband downloads all parent approved games and videos that will be on the tablets. Our boys are in charge of packing up all of their Switch games, chargers for every device of theirs and their sister’s, and headphones for all 3 kids. The electronic stuff isn’t my area, so my husband has graciously taken over this area, to which I am thankful.
We also pack card games that can be played when sitting next to each other on the plane or at the gate. Some of our favorite card games can be found on my post about board and card games. Every kid has a spiral notebook with either pens, pencils, or coloring items.
My daughter has an electronic drawing tablet, which is the greatest thing in the world! I never knew about these when my boys were littler, and I wish I had. It’s a drawing tablet with a black screen and a stylus pen attached to it. You draw on the screen and then with the click of the button, it erases. It also has a lock button for those times when they don’t want their drawings erased.
Activity books, sticker books, sticker puzzles, and coloring books are all great resources. For younger ones, bringing some dollar store toys that you don’t mind losing is always a good idea. Especially, if they don’t know you brought them and you whip those out before a meltdown, you’re golden. Crisis averted. I am all for it during midflight or really, anywhere, when we are far from home.
And When None of the Travel Tips Work –
When none of those ideas work or when they are all depleted and there are still struggles, then just breathe. Take a deep breath, remind yourself that this is not forever and eventually you will be either on vacation or back at home (depending on which direction you are currently going).
When things don’t work out, we laugh, (or cry sometimes), and we say, “such is life.” I shrug my shoulders, take a deep breath, and figure out what to do next. Nothing is perfect, most of the time things work out well, but sometimes we hit some difficult speed bumps. When those speed bumps arrive, just remember it will pass. Figure out the next step and move forward. You are awesome!
When all else fails, there’s grandma …
One time, that is quite funny, involves my very prepared mother that is always taking care of us. We had to leave for the airport at 2am to pick up my mother on the way so she could take our van back to her house after dropping us off at the airport.
We were headed to Oregon but had a connecting flight in California with a 4-hour layover. We arrived at the Oakland airport from Phoenix without any problems and brought card games and snacks for all of us to play while we waited the 4 hours.
My mom, the night before we left, had gone to get herself a pizza and bought an extra pizza… for us. When we picked her up at 2am, she had handed me two gallon-size Ziploc bags full of pizza to take with us. I remember telling her that we don’t need it, I packed stuff, but she said to just take it, you never know.
Anyway, after sitting in Oakland for 3.5 hours, the airline announced that our connecting flight to Oregon had been cancelled. Oh my goodness, our kids started crying because we were going to visit family and now they wouldn’t be able to see their cousins. We had to go back to the ticket counter to schedule another flight. They couldn’t get us out of California to Oregon for two more days and it would be from an airport that was 45 minutes away from where we were.
We ended up just getting a flight back to Phoenix later that afternoon because if we had waited the two days, we wouldn’t have had much time left in Oregon.
That whole story to say, that once we were rebooked to Phoenix, got our luggage, re-tagged it for Phoenix, and went through security (again), we sat at our gate for several more hours chowing down on last night’s pizza packaged by grandma. Grandma knows best, doesn’t she?
My husband, who is very particular about food, even ate it because it saved us from spending $80 on little bits of food at the airport and well, we were just tired by that time.
I guess my point is to plan for the best and prepare for the worst. I had not planned for the worst, but my mother did that for me. I am very thankful for her. Also, I would have normally shunned this particular pizza company, but after that whole circus I didn’t care anymore. Make the best of everything and forget the rest.
That is a trip that all of us remember well, even my youngest, so I guess it was worth the memories. In case you are wondering, we did make it to Oregon a year later, but on a nonstop flight. Never again will I take a connecting flight unless there is no other choice.
Good luck to you all and may the family memories win! If you would like more travel stories, and tips, check out my travel posts here.
