Our family recently took a vacation. To get to our destination, we had to take three flights. One of those flights was almost nine hours long, so I searched for ideas to make things easier (and fun!) for our four boys.
I have two sets of children, even though they aren’t twins. I call them my “bigs” and my “littles.” Both sets of kids needed different things to help during the flights. While the “bigs” (11 and 13-year-olds) would most likely be fine, I also wanted to make the flight better for the people around us. My littles (3 and 4-year-olds) obviously would need some distractions.
Bags/Backpacks
I wanted everyone to have easy access to their stuff, so each boy had his own backpack. I got them from Sam’s when school supplies were out. My bigs already had ones, so we used those. I made sure the littles’ bags were not too heavy. I also made sure none of the boys saw anything going in their bags; that way, everything would still be new.
I also packed two pull-ups in our youngest son’s bag. He is only a few months into being potty trained, and I wanted to ensure he wouldn’t have an accident on the chair if he fell asleep. (He surprised me and didn’t have one – yay!)
Technology
I was worried about their tablets dying during the flight, so I bought some charging blocks from Amazon. These came in handy! We used them daily for the entire trip. Our boys only got their tablets during our flights and train rides, but the charging blocks came in handy for our phones. Phones die quickly when using GPS.
I ensured they all had headphones and that their gadgets were fully charged in the bags. I purchased the headphones from Target for $14.99 each and spaced out buying those, so it didn’t hurt our pocketbook as much. Their headphones had a warranty, and returning things to Target is much easier than in most places.
I downloaded some of their favorite shows/movies and some they had never seen before to their tablets. The plane also had a children’s section on the T.V. screen. Even though it wasn’t a huge selection, the boys did watch some of them. Having their own headphones helped too. The ones the flight attendants give are helpful but would have hurt their ears after a bit.
Activities & Reading
A week before leaving, I went to a few stores, including Dollar Tree. The Dollar Tree is not a place where I usually shop, only because I feel like the parking lot is inconvenient. However, I was so surprised by what they have in there. I felt like I had found the Leprechaun’s pot at the end of a rainbow!
For the littles, I found some tiny horse figures, puppy figures, squishy frogs, some glow bracelets, fake tattoos, coloring books with markers that only colored on that paper, activity packets, stickers, and some other similar items.
I found some cards and some squishy animals for the bigs, and then I got some mystery Lego mini figures from Target. I also purchased two books for each of them, ones I knew they would like. I picked books I had read when I was little but knew would interest them. That way, I knew they had not read them already. I got those from Amazon because they seemed to have the best prices.
Snacks
Each boy prefers different snacks, so each corner of my shopping cart represented one of the boys’ backpacks. I grabbed snack items like Goldfish, Cheez-its, Fruit roll-ups, pretzels squares with peanut butter, and some Oreos. I tried not to buy a lot of candy and sweet snacks, but I know I like a sweet treat when taking long trips!
I did have several lollipops for when the plane takes off and lands; those stayed in my bag, though. I used them for that to help with their ears popping.
Keeping Things Organized
I made sure to open the things for the littles and put them in sandwich bags. It made things easier and quicker to open or put away. Most of the items in their bags were from Dollar Tree, meaning they were new to them, but if they got lost, it wasn’t something to worry about. (I did have one child drop something on the bathroom floor on the plane…that went straight to the trash!)
I made sure the bigs had a gallon-size bag for their charger, charging block, tablet, and anything that would have to come out while going through security. They also had a smaller bag with their hand sanitizers. Once we got to security, they just put those bags in one bin and their backpacks in another. That made things much more manageable. I did the same thing for the littles’ backpacks, but I grabbed them out.
I was so nervous about the flights, especially the long one. It helped to have all the things in their backpacks to pull out if they got antsy! They did, but that was during the last hour of the flight.
Overall, our flights went very smoothly. I would recommend bringing chewable Tylenol or Motrin. One of our big boys got a headache from staring at a screen or reading for so long. One of our little boys’ ears hurt a little, and I was glad I had it with me.
I hope you found this helpful. I am writing another post on how our two-and-a-half-week trip to Europe went with four boys. I can’t wait for you to read all about it!
