This year, for the first time ever, we’re taking a family holiday in the summer holidays. Normally we go earlier in the year when it’s cheaper. But this year we decided to take the plunge and go in August instead.
The plus side of this is that it helps to break up the summer holidays a bit and enables us to escape to somewhere other than our local area. We’ve not ventured out very far this summer yet, choosing instead to stick to activities that are affordable and not much more than half an hour away from home.
The downside is that holidays with small kids are far from relaxing. I’ll admit I’m knackered after just three weeks of providing entertainment, constant snacks, dealing with sibling standoffs and doing mountains of laundry.
This means that the family holiday packing process will definitely be left until exactly two days before we go on holiday.
As a child, holidays were fun. The parents took care of all the family holiday packing and the only thing I had to worry about was deciding which toy to take with me.
As an adult, I’m now the one in charge of most of the packing.
And I hate it.
Now I can’t blame EVERY part of the stressful family holiday packing process on my children. Part of the stress is my fault because I have a habit of overpacking.
Our suitcase is massive but unfortunately, it isn’t a magical accessory bag like the one Mary Poppins owns.
If it was, I’m pretty sure I’d be cramming the entire contents of my bedroom and bathroom cabinet into it.
Here’s a chart to give you an idea of our suitcase situation:
As you can see, I pack far too much stuff. The poor husband only has a small section of the suitcase for his essentials. Luckily he doesn’t mind, as unlike me, he doesn’t feel the need to pack an unnecessary amount of extra clothes just in case.
Just in case of what?! Our suitcases getting stolen?! (not that overpacking would help in this situation, because the robber would be treated to twice the amount of my clothes to flog on a black market somewhere)
A chance that we will somehow end up being stuck in our holiday destination and not able to get back home?!
I’m not sure.
But “just in case” is what I always say to myself when putting every single extra item that I’m not likely to need into the suitcase.
I NEVER think about the fact that there is a washing machine in our accommodation, so I don’t need to pack extra clothes. Oh well, who wants to spend their holiday washing clothes anyway?!
The husband and I share one suitcase, mostly because we don’t have a huge car. There’s no way we could fit two suitcases for us plus two for the children into the boot, along with all my other stuff that I don’t need but insist on taking.
Here’s what usually goes into my side of the suitcase:
A ridiculous amount of underwear
I don’t know why I do this. But I do. EVERY. SINGLE.TIME. I pack knickers as though my life depends on it. As though I’m going to catch some awful tummy bug and require an extra pair of undies every day of the holiday.
Hopefully I won’t.
But at least I’ll be prepared if I do!
A make-up bag
A nice red one, which despite being big, definitely doesn’t need two bottles of mascara and eyeliner and two eyeshadow sets (one of which is empty and has lived in there far longer than it should have – I mean who has time to organise a makeup bag when you have two kids demanding your attention every 10 minutes?!).
Three jackets
Yes, three. Why?! I’ll be there for a week. I don’t need three different jackets for just seven days but despite knowing that I don’t need them I still pack them.
To be fair, summer in the UK this year has been one of the wettest on record and gale-force winds and cooler temperatures are not uncommon. Even in August!
So when your holiday destination is based in the UK, like ours is, a raincoat, a light jacket and a massive coat are acceptable in this case (pun intended).
A hairdryer and straighteners
These are essential (well actually they aren’t, but my hair isn’t manageable without them) and somehow still fit into the suitcase even after it’s crammed with all the extra crap that I definitely don’t need.
Phone charger
The phone needs plenty of juice for those moments in the evening when the kids have finally gone to bed and I can quickly log into Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Yes. I am a grown woman in her thirties who enjoys interacting with cute animals on a simulation game after a day of parenting. Don’t judge me!
Several pairs of shoes
Usually these end up stuffed in a carrier bag. There are usually around three pairs of shoes, despite the fact that I’ll only end up wearing one pair.
And will be emptying sand out of said shoes for at least a year after the holiday.
The husband’s side of the suitcase:
Two pairs of trousers, two t-shirts, a sensible amount of boxer-shorts, a shaver and a toothbrush.
That’s about it.
He travels light.
The children’s suitcase:
Clothes
As I’m responsible for packing the suitcases of two small children, this means that their cases end up being overpacked too. In my defence, small children do get messy and often need a change of clothes.
Especially if your kids are anything like mine and love jumping in muddy puddles like Peppa bloody Pig.
Also, like I said earlier, no one wants to spend their holiday doing the laundry. Obviously that means double the amount of dirty laundry when we get back home, but I’m prepared to deal with that.
Toys
This includes their favourite cuddly toys (there’s A LOT of them – they sleep with about five each), along with the teddy gifted to us by my son’s school. He’s joining us on all our summer holiday adventures (lucky him!). Hopefully, he’ll fit into the small space along with the mountain of other teddies!
Tablet
This is an absolutely essential item for the family holiday packing. Great for keeping the eldest one quiet for a bit.
Which reduces the risk of me developing a Roblox-induced headache (she honestly NEVER stops talking about Roblox!).
Other stuff:
A ridiculous amount of accessories and toiletries
Again, to be fair, one minute it’s nice and sunny and the next it’s raining, so it makes sense to pack suncream, sunglasses, sunhats, sandals AND wellies and umbrellas, right?!
Baby wipes
An absolutely essential item for the family holiday packing if you have young children. I will always find a way of cramming baby wipes into the suitcase, no matter how overpacked it is. Small children love ice cream and ice cream is messy. So baby wipes are needed at every park or other attraction we go to, because there’s ALWAYS a bloody ice cream van.
Snacks
My kids are always hungry and usually spend the entire morning asking me when it’s going to be lunchtime, despite having eaten breakfast only half an hour ago. The first set of snacks is usually consumed before the journey even starts.
And finally, additional crap that we will have accumulated on the holiday
We always end up with twice as much stuff as we arrived at the holiday destination with, which means trying to somehow find the space to cram it into the car by the requested checkout time of 9:00 a.m., which is quite a challenge.
This additional crap includes:
Souvenirs
It’s not a holiday unless you take home a souvenir!
Those bloody arcade tickets
We hardly ever end up redeeming any tickets we win, because you need about 1,000 tickets for just one tiny teddy bear.
More snacks
To feed the Hobbits children.
Extra carrier bags
Stuffed full of the clothes which, for some reason, won’t fit into the suitcase the same way that they did when I first packed them.
Right, better start packing!
*groan*
Share your thoughts!