Ultimate Packing List

When we first started this whole caravanning gig I was really overwhelmed with what to pack - especially with two kids!

What if we forgot nappies, what if we were free camping out bush and couldn’t find a store - if you haven’t already guessed, I can be OCD with things and love being organised (I can also be a little melodramatic!)

My beautiful friend Connie @theconniediaries did me a solid and emailed me her packing list (having friends that are as crazy organised as you has its benefits!) I did a little tweaking so that the list best suited us and have turned it into a printable so you can use it too! I keep mine in a clear display folder and use a whiteboard marker to tick off items as I go. It has made packing so much less stressful and we can leave knowing that we have all of the important stuff.

Click here for printable packing list!

Car Travel with Kids

Being in a car with two small children can be challenging! As much as the curated holiday snaps can have you believing everything is sunshine and rainbows - we all know that kids and long car trips generally don’t mix. We do own two tablets that were gifted to us by grandparents but we actually don’t use them often, the kids end up fighting over who gets the iPad and who gets the Samsung.

I wanted to share with you some other activities that get us through the “are we there yet!!!” stage. Depending on how much time you want to spend doing up a busy bag, you can make these items or source little toys through a store. I go for both options, the handmade ones seem to entertain them for longer but a mixture of both keeps things interesting.

Most of the items were hand made by me while I was pregnant with River, so they’ve been around a while! The absolute favourite would have to be the Mr Potato Head game, it is super simple to make and just requires felt, glue and scissors. I chose to take the easiest option ever and just cut out the shapes, I didn’t bother sewing anything because I am super impatient and luckily everything is still in tact 4 years on! We also used felt to make our “build a pizza” game - simply cut a circle of felt as your base then some yellow felt for cheese, maroon felt for pepperoni and whatever other toppings your kids love!

Click here for template!

Another home made favourite is the picture puzzle, simply get some tongue depressors, line them up and glue on a family photo (or photo of your choice) use a stanley knife to cut between each tongue depressor and viola! Let the kids line them up to make the photo whole again.

Most of our store bought items are actually left over stock from a business I had with a girlfriend - “Little Roamer” unfortunately we decided to shut down shop as our busy lives took over but you should be able to source similar items elsewhere. Favourites for car trips would have to be the wooden camera, prompting the kids to take pretend photos of interesting things they see out the window. Alphabet busy bag, best suited to kids that are a little older to string together words and if you can stand noise in confined spaces - the harmonica!

Another great small edition to our busy bag is the my first iPhone from The Timba Trend. It’s a great compact wooden toy with a chalkboard painted screen, allowing the kids to draw and write on the road - if you check out their online store there are a few items I wouldn’t mind adding to our collection including “Game Board” which has a maze puzzle on one side and chalk board on the other. Pure genius!

Click here for wooden toys

Hopefully this post has given you a little inspiration for your next car trip - may there be whinge free road trips on your horizon!

♡

Best Camping Tip

A lot of people have commented on how amazing our trips are and that the kids really look like they enjoy themselves. I suppose in the moments we choose to share (because no one is really going to snap a photo of one of the kids melting down in the car - we are too busy trying to deal with difficult situations and parent accordingly than document it) it can come across as though we are always having the most fantastic time.

Well I’m here to tell you that half of the time we go camping, it rains. There’s mud EVERYWHERE, if it’s torrential we are all stuck in a tiny space together for hours. Because our van isn’t insulated it gets very cold whenever we free camp, the kids always interrupt our sleep and more often than not there’s four of us trying to sleep in a cramped double bed. There is no toilet or shower in our caravan which means if we are staying in a caravan park it’s a decent walk to the bathroom and I’m not going to lie, I’ve used the kids potty in the middle of the night plenty! Any woman that has birthed children can relate to this night time bladder party. And if we free camp it means no showers and a stinky dump toilet - baby wipe baths all round!

I’m not telling you all of this to scare you, weirdly enough I kind of love all of the inconveniences of camping. We are there to enjoy the outdoors, spend quality time together, experience life away from suburbia and the creature comforts of home. You can only laugh when things get a little crazy and learn from our mistakes, like never ever forget to pack coffee. Try not to get wrapped up in seeing other peoples images portraying a lovely relaxing trip, you are seeing their highlight reel. Focus on what enjoyment you can make in your situation and remember it’s meant to be a fun break for everyone.

Let me know in the comment section below any burning questions you have or if you’d like to share some camping tips!

♡