Flying with kids can be very intimidating. Combining the chaos of the everyday circus of parenthood with hauling luggage and carseats, managing the TSA line, and an airplane-doors-closing countdown clock?
It’s a recipe for crazy if I ever saw one.
Lucky for you, we’ve done the crazy so many times, we have it down to a science–and I’m all about sharing the love.
Come take a peek inside my carry-on bag, and discover what makes our flights with four kids run like clockwork.
Flying With Kids is Unpredictable!
We fly round-trip at least 4-5 times a year with our four kids in tow.
I’ve even traveled with all four of them (ages 3-11) on my own twice in the past year–including an overseas trip from Texas to Germany!
And let me tell you–the Boy Scouts were right about being prepared:
We’ve dealt with delayed flights, the stomach flu, spilled drinks, and red-eye flight times, and I can tell you that the things I’ve carried on the plane with us have saved us many times over.
I hope they’ll save you, too!
Here are 10 things I always, always pack when flying with kids:
What to Pack When Flying With a Kid
1. Gallon Zip-Loc Bags
Mama, you do not know the value of a gallon Ziploc bag until you have been on an airplane with a child.
These beauties can be used as:
- snack holders,
- trash containers,
- impromptu airsick bags (yep, we’ve done this),
- toy/marker/kid stuff storage, and
- most importantly, as wet-bags for clothes soiled by urine, throw-up, or spilled sodas.
They are literally, truly one of the very first things I put in my travel backpack, and I keep them in an easy-to-access pocket right by my water bottle.
Gallon ziplocs are basically gold.
2. A Change of Clothes for **Every Person!**
If you’ve ever watched a three year old try to sip soda from one of those tiny cocktail straws on an airplane, you won’t need to ask why I bring a change of clothes for my little kids when we fly.
What you might not think of is bringing spare clothes for older kids…
AND yourself!
If someone gets sick or sloshes their Coke, odds are more than one person is going to be in the line of fire.
We play it safe and pack a light-weight change of clothes so we can all be comfortable in case of a mess or spill.
I usually opt for yoga pants for myself, and pajamas for the kids. Don’t forget spare undies!
3. ID for Your Kids
We once got held up at check-in because our airline questioned whether our lap-child was under two years old–and we had no way to prove it.
We had to make phone calls, figure out where the real document was, and get a friend to text us a copy of our daughter’s birth certificate from home–it was a whole thing.
Since then, I’ve always just traveled with some form of child ID when flying with kids:
- copies of my kids birth certificates, and/or
- their actual passports.
Proof of identity is just a nice thing to have, even stateside.
4. Inexpensive Tablets with Pre-Loaded Games
Last Christmas I traveled for 22 hours with all four of my kids–solo.
You can bet I didn’t do that without the aid of some snacks and screens!
My husband was stationed in Germany for a deployment, so we braved three airports and two flights to get overseas for the holidays.
To prep for the trip, we bought three previous-generation Kindle Fires (the Fire 7 is only about $50) and a trio of chunky kid-safe travel cases.
I loaded them with movies from our digital video stash, and signed up for Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, which gave us access to a huge library of games, books, and apps for kids for all three devices, for a flat rate of $6.99/month.
You can also use it on Android and iOS devices!
Amazon FreeTime is a monthly subscription, so if you don’t use your screens frequently, you can sign up for it during your travel time, and easily cancel when you get back home.
PRO TIP: Be sure the games you want to use in-flight are DOWNLOADED to your Kindle at home. There should be a checkmark at the top of the app logo. I always check by turning off the wifi on our Kindles at home and testing out the apps.
In our experience, Kindle Fires aren’t top-of-the-line devices like iPad minis, but we love that they are an inexpensive, replaceable tablet option.
While they can have finicky little glitches, the kids are very happy with them–and we don’t feel nervous if they get dropped. (Which they do–the cases have done great protecting them so far!)
5. (Wireless) Headphones
I love listening to podcasts and audiobooks in-flight. (I usually have a few Audible downloads in the queue–you can get a free month here.)
Buuuut I also usually have a toddler climbing all over me, so wired headphones either end up in a tangle or pulled out of my ears by curious little fingers.
The hubs bought me these Bose wireless sport headphones for Christmas, and they are the perfect solution! (I also love to wear them around the house while I’m cleaning.)
For the kids, I pack these inexpensive Panasonic earbuds for the older set (9 & 11), and foldable over-ear headphones for the little ones (3 & 6).
6. Portable Backup Battery
With two phones and four tablets among us on travel days, we like to keep a couple backup batteries available.
We usually bring one for the kids devices, and one for ours.
Our favorite is this one from Anker, which holds an incredible amount of charge, and can charge two devices at once.
(These also go in our Disneyland park-day backpacks when we visit! See my Disney with kids tips here!)
7. Screen-Free Entertainment
Though we don’t do much screen limiting when we’re flying with kids in tow, I like them to have some other options to entertain themselves.
My top picks are sticker books, because they:
- travel well,
- the pieces don’t slip or slide away, and
- they’re flat and easy to pack.
My younger kids (ages 3 to 9) love DK Sticker Books. They come in a huge variety of topics, including popular kid themes like Star Wars and Frozen.
PRO TIP: Look for the books with 1000 stickers–some of them only have 60-100.
My oldest (age 11) has recently gotten into Paint by Sticker art books. It’s the same concept as paint by number, but way more portable!
We chose this one, and after two overseas flights and three weeks of vacation time, she still had several left to work on.
8. Medication
I take a daily pill for anxiety/depression, and two of my kiddos have allergies and asthma, so I don’t want to risk our meds getting held up in lost or delayed checked baggage.
I keep at least a couple days worth of our meds in my carry-on so they’re handy when we need them.
9. Snacks
I mentioned this when I talked about how to survive the airport with kids, but it bears repeating–pack those snacks, mama!
Airport food is crazy overpriced, and you don’t want anybody (including yourself) to have a meltdown because you’re delayed on the tarmac and starving!
We want our kids to be excited about travel, so I like to have a good mix of healthy options and treat food available to them. Just try to avoid anything messy or melty!
10. Empty Water Bottles
It’s easy to get dehydrated when you travel, so we always bring along empty water bottles for everyone.
We fill them up once we get through security (remember, no liquids over 3oz can go through security check!), and pass them out to the kids.
We love the Camelbak Kids water bottles, which are super durable, not too big, and have adorable prints and patterns.
PRO TIP: Don’t forget to depressurize sippy cups and water bottles with spouts/straws once you reach cruising altitude in the airplane. If you don’t you’ll get leakage!
You Can Totally Do This
Before I send you on to my tips on how to survive the airport with your kids, I just wanted to tell you that you can TOTALLY do this whole flying with kids thing.
We parents can be great at psyching ourselves out about new experiences with our kiddos, but honestly? Think back to the last crazy new thing that went down with your child. You got through it, and lived to tell the tale. And you learned how to be more prepared next time!
Take a deep breath, and give yourself some credit for all the adulting you’ve already done.
You’ve got this!
xo,
Jamie
p.s. Try a free month of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited for the kids (for Android, iOS, or Kindle!), get yourself a free month of Audible and load a book for the flight, and learn how we get our pack of kids through the airport!
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