Our Holiday Must Haves

We love holidays (who doesn’t?) but theres always the fine line between not packing too much but making sure you have everything you need. So I have put together an the ultimate packing list of what we consider to be holiday must haves!

We all know to pack the holiday essentials when travelling somewhere hot – a sun hat, perhaps a beach cover-up and of course insect repellent but here are some holiday essentials you might not have thought of, or even heard of!

Of course your travel essentials may differ depending on the time of the year and where you are travelling too. Just incase you are wondering this list is aimed at those travelling to countries where warm weather is the norm.

Long Flights

Let’s face it, flying is never going to be particulary fun when travelling with children. But there are ways that you can make it slightly less stressful by being prepared.

We always give the kids a bag (or 2) that we fill with activities that are suitable to do on the flight (this also works well on road trips) Colouring books, a pack of pencils, little craft packs anything you can pick up for a few pound in places like The Range.

You don’t need to spend loads, just get a variety of little / cheap things so you can produce new things once they are bored of whatever they are doing. Snacks is also another must have!

If you are on a long haul flight you will also find they have some sort of seat back entertainment system which includes a movie library, TV shows and video games.

Solar Buddies – Suncream Applicator

Kids hate you putting sun cream on them? Say hello to your new best friend.

You fill the lid with your chosen suncream and then screw it back onto the applicator base. With the rollerball dispensing the suncream and the sponge helping to spread it out it’s the perfect solution for little hands that want to be independent.

Although I probably wouldnt use this for a full body application it’s great to give to the kids so they can help without making too much mess.

Solar Buddies are available on Amazon and come in a few different colours – Green, Pink and Blue.

Drinks Carrier

This Drinks Carrier was an absolute lifesaver! Trying to carry 6 drinks back and forth constantly is a nightmare. We also ordered our own bigger cups because the ones the hotel use are tiny.

You can order these from Holly And Ollie and you can even add your own personalisation.

Towel Clips

The towel falling down, or flying away (Like they do in Fuerteventura!) these towel clips are great, it also helps you recognise your loungers if you are using the hotel towels like everyone else.

You can pick them up in most poundstores or places like Boots and The Range stock them in store and online

Waterproof Phone Case

If you plan on spending anytime near or in water then a waterproof mobile phone case is a must. You can also get tablet sized ones.

We used them for both phones and tablets and I even braved taking photos underwater with my phone in one and they worked great!

Lightweight Rain Jackets

Now I know you might be thinking hang on this is my Summer holiday why do I need a rain jacket?? But hear me out, sudden absolute downpours are very common (especially in Fuerteventura!) and they can catch you by surprise. We always throw little fold up rain jackets or even just the little ponchos you get at theme parks that fold up small, in our bags, just incase.

Insulated Water Bottle

If you are like me and can’t stand warm water (yuck – who wants to drink room temperature water?!) then it’s probably a good idea to take an insulated water bottle of some sort.

Just fill them up (and pop in some ice cubes for extra coldness) and they will keep it cold for up to 8 hours.

You can buy them from The Range but I do love personalised bottles like these ones from Etsy

Multiplug Extension Lead

Another random one but trust me it’s genius and will save you so much stress! I think we must have seen this on Tiktok and we were like why didn’t we think of this sooner?!

Just take 1 adapter plug for the country you are visiting and take a multiplug extension cable and plug it in. Much easier than taking loads of adapter plugs, or trying to share one between you all. You can even get ones with USB and USC charger ports.

We also now have one of these charging stations so we can chuck everything on charge at once without having loads of cables and mess.

Airtags

Again this one is abit out there but it saved us alot of stressing when the girls didn’t answer their phones in the Theme parks!

You do of course need to have an Apple device to use these but you can get similar not Apple ones too.

What is an Apple airtag?

In simple terms its a small tracking device. Using the Apple ‘Find My’ app you can use it to locate the AirTag.

Your AirTag sends out a secure Bluetooth signal that can be detected by nearby devices in the Find My network. These devices send the location of your AirTag to iCloud — then you can go to the Find My app and see it on a map. The whole process is anonymous and encrypted to protect your privacy. And itʼs efficient, so thereʼs no need to worry about battery life or data usage. Source : Apple

Just pop one of these in a holder and attach it to what / who you want to keep track off and you are able to track it on your Apple device.

We had the girls attach one to their jacket zip so we could find them in Universal, we also put one in each suitcase so we can see they made it onto our flight. At home we also attach them to our keys as you can make them play a sound so you can locate them (super handy in our house with toddlers who like to hide things!)

First Aid Kit

Even though you would expect places to hold standard first aid kits alot of places don’t even know where they are let alone what is in them so having your own to hand is helpful.

You can buy pre made travel ones from Amazon or Boots and they have all the essentials and take up very little space in your bags. Don’t forget to take it with you if you go on a day trip too!

Important documents

And lastly let’s get down to the serious bits. Having a dedicated travel documents bag in your hand luggage for all these documents with certainly lessen the stress of travelling, especially in the airport. We use this travel wallet from Amazon its waterproof and has RFID interlining which stops your cards being skimmed by passers by.

Make sure to check out the latest travel requirements (ie what relevant visas are required) for the country you are travelling too.

Ensure you have sufficient travel insurance in place also (this is a requirement for travel to alot of countries especially since Covid) again I would keep these copies accessible either digitally or in your carry-on bag.

A back up to your travel money is also essential. We never really take cash now anyway as debit cards are so widely accepted. (make sure you pay in local currency though to get the best rates.) But I would recommend taking credit cards also for any unforeseen incidents.

When we were stranded in Cuba during Covid we were fortunate that Tui covered all our expenses as we were on a package holiday. Had we been travelling on a self booked holiday we would have had to pay up front and claim back from the insurance.

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Hopefully you can take these holiday must haves tips to help make your holiday travel slightly easier / better with all these things to add to your holiday packing list.

Do you have any little tips and tricks you’d like to add? Drop them in the comments to help others out

ChrissyJ xxx