Best of — Family Vacation Tips

Vacations are a great way to expose your children to the wonders of the world, whether it’s a trip to a magical theme park, a relaxing trip to the beach, or time unplugged in the fresh mountain air. To me, planning a vacation has a magical quality. It creates excitement even when the vacation is months away.

Family Vacation Tips

However, planning and executing a memorable vacation isn’t easy, especially when traveling with kids. This post features tips and tricks from our community members who have braved the world of vacationing with kids.

Researching Your Vacation

• Amanda Ponzio Mouttaki from MarocMama, emphasizes the importance of researching for your vacations. Discover new vacation places with the click of a mouse and research the type of activities and entertainment offered for you and your family. Click here to check out her fabulous tips.
• Michelle Kay, Domestic Executive Online, provides keen insight when discussing your trip with your children in terms that they understand. Click here to check it out.
• Our final tip comes from Denise Hodgson of Mommy Musings. A family vacation is full of fun adventures on the beach or exploring the mountains but vacations can also be a time to teach your kids about the area you are vacationing in and its history. Click here to learn how to make history come alive.

Packing It All

• Packing for a trip requires finesse and patience along with some skill. Darcy Zalewski of Tales from the Nursery provides excellent tips on how to pack for a flight.
• Kelley Lasich Howell of Eight by Five shares an excellent tip for getting diapers and wipes to your destination without using luggage space.
• And Taralyn Trost-Paker of Keep Moving Forward with Me keeps her family’s clothing separate yet organized thus maximizing space in her luggage without having individual bags for everyone.

Road Trip Guidance

• Today’s world has technology at our beck-and-call. Jodi Grundig shares her top 5 road trip apps to use when traveling with kids. From directions to the nearest restroom or enjoying food at local restaurants.
• Brett Martin of This Mama Loves uses a simple trick for ensuring good car behavior.

• Jill Shepard Anderson or Just Jilly, shares her tips for keeping your kids happy through easy road trip games.
• Laurel Thomas of Let’s Go on a Picnic provides quick tips to break up the monotony of driving through mountains or plains.
• Shari Lynnefrom Faith Filled Food for Moms knows how to travel with kids and how to keep them busy, thus avoiding the infinite "are we there yet?' questions.

Happy Traveling

• Amy Weeks Huntley from The Idea Room, stresses the importance of mom and dad leaving work behind while on vacation. After all, a vacation is meant to bring you and your family together, not you and your email app.
• Just like every mom and dad, Amber Chatterley Passey of Because Babies Grow Up, voices the importance of having flexibility when traveling with kids.
• Getting a good night’s sleep before the start of a vacation can be extremely hard, especially for kids who are excited for the wonder and awe that the trip will bring. Erin Myers of My Mommy World shares why your kids should get a good night’s sleep prior to leaving.

• Debra Fazio a.k.a. The Harried Mom, explains the importance of taking your kids and their personalities into account when planning how you will travel whether by highway or flying.
• Many parents call into question their ability to take family vacations due to having children who have special needs. Lisa Lightner from A Day in Our Shoes writes about living life to the fullest with these amazing kids with Special Needs.

Capturing the Moments

• Vacations are a great mechanism to create long-lasting family memories, as Stephanie Huang Porter from Queen Scarlett writes. She stresses the importance of taking the time for photo opportunities to memorialize moments.

• Lani DeGuia from Rose Tinted Traveler explains the newest upgrade to Instagram and how to use it to capture family vacation moments that deserved to be heard as well as seen. Click here to read more about Instragram’s newest debut.

Thank you to the Mom It Forward community for sharing these tips and tricks for creating a family vacation that is full of fun and memories. Click here to learn more about the Palladium Hotels family getaway and enter for a chance to win.