Everything you need for travelling with young kids – and what you can do without

Play time: our writer’s child is kept occupied on a train journey. Photograph: Rose Stokes/The Guardian

Holidays are a different experience after having kids. A concept that once evoked the promise of rest and relaxation becomes a feat of logistics and endurance, where one forgotten item can mean a week of no sleep (been there, done that, got the T-shirt).

Despite fears that we’d never be able to holiday again after having children, my partner and I have taken numerous trips with our two offspring – both under four – and some of the breaks have actually been enjoyable. The most memorable was when we took our eldest around Thailand for our honeymoon when he was seven months old. But we’ve really earned our travelling-with-kids stripes thanks to the family commitment that requires frequent trips to New York.

Along the way, we’ve developed a spreadsheet of advice and must-have items, researched and tested by us, as well as tips from friends and family.

The most intimidating challenge when travelling with small kids is the amount of extra luggage required – or perhaps more accurately, that we often think is required – for them to be happy and, most importantly, to sleep. What I will say is that after lugging boxes of formula and even a play tent on holiday, and regretting both, we’ve streamlined our list of essentials. Many things are either available in hotels, purchasable where you end up or can be lived without for a few weeks (although I’ll no longer go anywhere without blackout blinds). Take any ideas that sound as if they would make life easier with your child – but please don’t feel like this is a comprehensive packing list.

Have you travelled with small children – or even older ones? What tricks have you learned from the experience? Please let us know on thefilter@theguardian.com.

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Everything you need for travelling with kids

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On the move

When deciding what to take, the most important consideration is the type of holiday you’re going on. In Thailand, we found that we didn’t use our Babyzen (now owned by Stokke) Yoyo buggy because we were rarely in places that had pavements, but then had to rent a car seat in a scramble when we found our transfer didn’t have one. For subsequent holidays with one child, we did a lot of carrying, but that just isn’t possible with two. I would prioritise a sling that is supportive of your back, and a portable, light buggy. You will thank me later.

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A good sling

BabyBjörn One Air baby carrier

£188.90 at BabyBjörn £151.12 at Amazon

For babies and kids up to about two, a good sling is a must. These are very personal, so it’s worth trying them out at a sling library. My kids lived in our BabyBjörn One sling when we were on holiday. They could sleep on the go, which meant we didn’t have to slow down on sightseeing during nap times, and the support meant our backs didn’t ache afterwards. The sling comes in a range of colours and styles.

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A travel buggy

Bugaboo Butterfly 2 travel pram

£435 at Bugaboo £435 at John Lewis

If your children are on the younger side, you’re going to need a buggy. If you’ve opted to fly, and your everyday buggy is bulky, it may need to be stowed in the hold (always check what the airline’s policy is). I often advise people to get a lighter everyday buggy so that they don’t have to buy two separate ones.

Enter the Bugaboo Butterfly, the MVP of the portable pram universe. We take ours on family adventures, home and away; it packs up small and has been used to double as a walker for our toddler. It even fits in the overhead locker on a plane. I have since given away our other pram(s) – this is the only one we use.

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Plane bed

FlyAway inflatable kids bed

£122 at FlyAway

Friends who have taken their four-year-old from the UK to Australia say the FlyAway inflatable kids bed is a must: it cleverly transforms the plane seat and leg space in front of it into a bed. It’s worth checking ahead with your airline if they allow these before you fly – and mentioning you’re travelling with small kids, as in our experience they tend to put you near the front of the cabin for more space. For kids under one up to a certain weight, most airlines will provide a bassinet for no charge, though these need to be booked ahead.

Don’t want to buy something you’re likely to use only a few times? Tiny Explorers rents out travel equipment specifically for families with children, and it has FlyAways available.

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Ride-on suitcase

Trunki suitcase

£44.99 at Argos From £39.99 at Amazon

This ride-on Trunki suitcase is a favourite among all the small kids I know (and their parents) for good reason … I mean, who among us has never had to get somewhere on time with an uncooperative small person? It also gives your little people some independence in packing.

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Travel potty

Penguin potty

£29.99 at Boots £29.99 at Amazon

One of our most-used items, the My Carry Potty is watertight (important) for times when your small child simply cannot wait. Make sure you empty and clean it whenever you do find a toilet, though. A hot tip from one Filter editor: don’t close it down completely when in the air, as the cabin pressure can make it stick.

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Dinner time

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Toddler cutlery in a case

Doddl children’s cutlery set and case

£23.31 at Doddl

Every time we’ve travelled without toddler-sized cutlery, I’ve regretted it (and the mess that inevitably follows). We’re big fans of Doddl as our kids find them easy to use, and this set comes with a travel case to keep them clean en route.

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Sterilising tablets

Milton sterilising tablets, 40 pack

£3.60 at Boots £3.70 at Tesco

If you’re travelling with a child who’s bottle-fed, it’s a good idea to bring along sterilising tablets as a quick alternative to anything bulkier. I’ve been known to do this with my older kid’s sippy cups in a desperate attempt to avoid tummy bugs. Milton ones are brilliant because you just add them to cold water, so don’t need a kettle.

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Baby bottles

Portable baby bottle-making pack

£34.99 at Boots From £34.99 at Amazon

For anyone formula-feeding, this Rapid Cool by Nuby is mind-blowingly helpful when travelling. Not only does it use no power (it’s made from a heat-absorbing material), but you can make sure formula is made with boiling water as per NHS guidance, without having to wait too long (about two minutes) for this to cool down as your hungry baby wails.

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Thin bib

Printed cape bib

£16.64 at Nordic Nest UK £27 at Natural Baby Shower

We try to take a dark-coloured (read: not easily stained) fabric bib that packs up small whenever we travel, especially if we have no access to laundry services while away. This Liewood one ticks all the boxes.

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Wash on the go

Dr Beckmann travel wash, 100ml

£1.25 at Asda £1.25 at Amazon

I never leave home without a tube of travel wash: the inevitable sink-wash-when-the-kids-are-sleeping-and-there-are-no-more-clothes scenario seems to occur on every single trip.

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Sleeping soundly

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Blackout blinds

Portable blackout blind

From £24.99 at Tommee Tippee £25 at Argos

Among the best purchases I ever made on Vinted were these portable Tommee Tippee blackout blinds, which attach via suction to the inside of any window. They weigh very little and can be folded up small. When trying to adjust small children to new time zones, having a level of control around the concept of “night” and “day” is helpful. For us, these blinds meant we could let our kids sleep in much later than they would normally, or go to bed earlier than the outside light suggested they should.

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Pram cover

SnoozeShade breathable pram cover

£35 at SnoozeShade

SnoozeShade, a breathable pram cover that blocks out the light, deserves a Nobel prize for the number of naps they’ve facilitated for my family and every other parent of small children I know. Claiming to block up to 99% of UVA and UVB rays, it’s also breathable and portable – we take ours wherever we go.

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Portable travel bed

Stokke CloudSleeper inflatable travel bed

£89 at Stokke £92 at John Lewis

When travelling anywhere with our small children – who are too big for a travel cot but too small for a single bed with no rails – we take an inflatable bed like this Stokke one. It packs up small and inflates in less than a minute with its built-in pump, plus it comes in prints that kids are bound to love. It’s 150cm long, so could accommodate older children too. Many Airbnbs and hotels will provide a cot when requested, but this bed has been helpful when staying with relatives or in rental apartments without these resources.

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Travel cot

Bugaboo pop-up travel cot

£225 at Bugaboo £225 at John Lewis

Before I had kids, I had no idea just badly designed a travel cot could be. After years of wrestling with an awful one, we finally got a compact and easy-to-set-up cot from Bugaboo, which made travelling with our baby much easier. It actually ended up being our toddler’s main cot for a while when the transition to room sharing didn’t go quite as planned, so it was a real life-saver.

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Let me entertain you

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Spinning toys

Suction spinners

£9.99 at Amazon

How did people entertain babies on the move before these existed? Hours of my life have been made significantly easier by these little plastic gems. A bonus: they double up as pretty great bath toys.

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Portable audio player

Yoto Mini (2024 edition)

£59.99 at Yoto £60 at Argos

If your kids are anything like mine, they love the autonomy a personal audio device affords them. With our Yoto, we get to keep track of everything they’re listening to. We recently got a Yoto Mini, which is small, portable and with all the functionality of its larger sibling. The only thing missing is the “OK to wake” light – though it has a screen that you can manipulate to show a picture of a sun or a moon to indicate if it’s morning. I wouldn’t travel without it.

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Screen-free camera

Camp Snap compact digital camera

£65 at Urban Outfitters £65 at Argos

Want your kid to a) be entertained and b) experience the delayed gratification of taking photos without being able to see them straight away? Enter the Camp Snap, a point-and-shoot camera without a screen that forces you to wait until you find a computer to see how the pictures come out. Seeing the world through your children’s eyes is special and, in my experience, they love the novelty of taking their own pictures – especially as they spend so much time on the opposite end of the lens.

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Snip, Snip books

From £12.89 at Amazon

Keep your small child entertained with these clever Snip, Snip books, which help them learn how to cut with plastic safety scissors in a fun way. It makes a bit of a mess, but picking up paper feels like a small price to pay for an engrossed child.

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Magnetic tiles in a tin

Magna-Tiles Micromags travel set

£15.84 at Amazon

I’ve not met a parent who doesn’t love playing with Magna-Tiles as much as their kid, and this travel set comes with its own tin, perfect for sticking in your hand luggage.

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Travel Lego

Lego Classic creative suitcase

£14.99 at John Lewis £17.99 at Lego

My kids are a little young for this, but friends assure me that a travel Lego suitcase is a brilliant addition to your parenting arsenal when you’re far from home.

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Magnetic animals playbox

Djeco magnetic animals zanimals

£16.80 at Baby Mori

This magnetic animal toy was given to one of my children when he was two, and it has been with us on every trip since. Endless fun, and it’s easy to store and pack away.

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Busy board

OMY Montessori activity book

£23 at Smallable £24.99 at Waterstones

For very small ones, a busy board like this OMY one can help them to wile away the time until arrival with a variety of dexterous activities. The colouring books (£15) are also brilliant and compact, and come with their own crayons attached.

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Anthology of bedtime stories

A Year Full of Stories: 52 folk tales and legends from around the world

£14.99 at the Guardian Bookshop £6.79 at Amazon

Luggage space tight? Get bedtime sorted in one book with lots of different stories, such as this beautiful one by Angela McAllister and Christopher Corr. For kids beyond the picture book stage, you can load books on to your Kindle – if you’re prepared to share it.

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A three-in-one card game

Go Fish: A Card Game

£13 at Waterstones £10.83 at Amazon

Bring a compact, multi-game card set to restaurants when your kids are hungry and waiting for their food. This one by Oliver Jeffers is particularly cute and beautifully illustrated.

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Beach bums

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Sunscreen application

Solar Buddies refillable sunscreen applicator

£6.38 at Boots £8 at Ocado

You might not understand the Solar Buddy, a sunscreen applicator, until you’ve tried to apply cream on a wriggling child. Not only does this help get an even spread, but my son actually enjoys it so much, he asks to do it himself – and to apply his brother’s (with supervision).

For more, read our guide to the best sunscreen

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Microfibre towel

Dock & Bay quick-dry towel

£21.60 at Natural Baby Shower £29.70 at Bodykind

I’m a huge convert to microfibre towels for the beach: not only do they pack small, but they also double up nicely as a blanket to sit on – and are so easy to shake the sand from when you’re ready to leave. These ones are sweet, and my kids love them.

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Collapsible beach buckets

Sloosh foldable buckets

£16.99 at Amazon

Last time I was at the beach, I saw a mum pull out some collapsible buckets like these, and I was impressed with the ingenuity. Particularly good for those who don’t like the waste of buying new and leaving behind.

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What isn’t worth the spend

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Travel baby monitor

We bought an adaptor to make our home monitor into a travel one, and it was mostly a waste of time: in a hotel, we were never far away enough from the baby to necessitate a monitor.

Beach tent

We spent a silly amount of money on one of these before a trip to Thailand with our (then) seven-month-old, so we could spend time on the beach. What did we learn? Babies (at least mine) hate sand, and by that age, are not happy to be contained. It has sat in a cupboard ever since.

Baby sunglasses

If you have a small child who will keep sunglasses on, then I salute you. But neither of mine will, and they became more of a pain than anything else. It’s much less fiddly to use a brimmed hat that ties on – or keep them out of the sun.

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Rose Stokes is a journalist based in Bath who balances writing about women’s health and parenting two small humans. As with most working mums, she has fallen for the promise of numerous products aimed at making this juggle simpler, and has tried and tested many over the years, developing a strong sense of what is actually worth the spend