I am officially done with my first year of homeschool and we leave on our road trip in three days. Commence the mad dash to get prepared since I can only focus on one major thing at a time and homeschool evaluations were last Thursday. 🙂
Last year at this time, I searched high and low for a USB cord that would connect my tablet to my car so my kids could all watch one downloaded movie on the screen in the back. Brilliant idea! Update: Never found one.
This year, I am more focused on making sure my car doesn’t smell like feet. The one thing that bothers me the most about my car is that, though I manage to keep the front seat clean, the backety-back looks like a frat house the morning after a raging party. Think banana peels, pizza crusts, empty apple juice containers, and mostly empty chip bags.
So this year, I bought this.
Hooked it onto the seat in front of them and – voila! Turns out all my kids needed was a garbage can staring them in the face to encourage them to throw things out. I keep extra shopping bags in the back pocket of the front seat and change the garbage bags out periodically.
Another road trip essential for us….and don’t get grossed out….is a portable potty. This one has been seriously life-changing for us.
This little number is so little and compact and just…brilliant. We keep it (and a roll of paper towels and the aforementioned wad of shopping bags) in the back pocket of the front seat of our car. All you do is take it out, snap it into place, put a shopping bag (or two) into place, fill it with paper towels, and you have a toilet seat ANYWHERE. No more stopping in gas station bathrooms or hunting for the cleanest toilet at a rest stop. The world is literally our bathroom. We originally got it to use when my daughter was potty-training, but have taken it on road trips year after year long after that.
Another road trip essential? A backpack for each kid with their snacks, water bottle, things to do. That way, each of their items are organized and within their reach. They are in charge of their own snack consumption, and I don’t have to keep throwing things to the backseat that accidentally hit my son in the face. Win-win!
We also have a DVD player in the car – we used to strap one just like this onto the front headrests.
Each kid picks one movie that everyone has to watch. This avoids fights since we go in age order, youngest to oldest, and still manages to maintain some semblance of togetherness in the car since they are not watching individual screens, but watching one movie all together. Some of favorite family movies for road trips are listed on this blog post. We use this to keep all of our DVDs, audiobooks, and music CDs organized in the car.
What road trip essentials can’t you make it without? Comment below!