This summer got off to a slow start for us. We didn’t go anywhere for the first month or so, and we enjoyed a lot of lazy days at home. Then suddenly we were caught up in a whirlwind of summer camps and family vacations. For the past few weeks we’ve been practically living out of our suitcases, and we will be for a while longer.
First, my two older kids went to a week-long overnight camp. The next day we left for our family vacation to the Poconos.
We were home for less than a week before we were off again, this time to the Four Seasons in Baltimore to experience one of their family vacation packages.
Somewhere in there, we fit in a day trip to the beach.
Last weekend we visited family in Virginia.
And we scheduled a few more days at the Jersey Shore next week. WHEW!!!!!
I realized that I was reinventing the wheel with each trip, and packing has become a huge chore. Packing for five people isn’t easy, no matter how you slice it or dice it, but I decided to make it easier on myself by creating a Master Family Travel Packing List that I can customize for each trip. Maybe it will be helpful for you too!
CLICK ON IT for a full-size printable version.
Did I forget anything??
Great list ! We always add “turn off water to washing machine” and “take dog to friends house/kennel”; “stop mail” (if gone longer than 3 days) and “stop newspaper” when subscribing.
Other than that..good list !
If someone would ever start a business where they came into my house the day we returned home from vacation and left fresh milk, a new loaf of bread and stuff for breakfast the next day it would make returning from vacation every so much more enjoyable, lol!
Someone should really start that business!
Thanks for the handy list! I inevitably end up scrambling to pack up our family of four as well. The best thing about the list is when “helpful husband” does the packing he doesn’t need to ask a million questions and end up forgetting everyone’s tooth brushes. Not that we know from experience or anything……
I wouldn’t know what that’s like. 🙂 My hubby packs the car, but I have to pack the bags. Of course, I don’t WANT him packing our bags. LOL!! Let’s just say I’m a little bit persnickety when it comes to packing technique.
As a mom of 5 boys, packing for a trip in our house resembles mobilizing a small army. LOL I couldn’t do it without a detailed list. Your list is a great one! I would add “shut off water heater”. We figure why pay for it to heat unneeded water while we’re gone?
Another trick that works well for me is adding my boys’ initials to the clothing list. So I have section for all their clothes and I add (N, Lu, J, Le, T) after each thing. So it looks like this:
pants (N, Lu, J, Le, T)
shirts (N, Lu, J, Le, T)
….and so on. That way, I can work through each boy, drilling… I mean, ASKING them if each category got packed.
That is SO smart!
Good List!
I have a spreadsheet for different types of vacations like the beach or mountains in the winter.
I have nothing to add except a thank you for doing this. I read through the comments, and love those additional tips, too. We hardly ever travel except for a really big reason. I can print this and tuck it away for those really big reasons.
YAY! so glad it’s helpful.
Can you relink this? It looks like the link is broken. Thank you!
ACK! I wonder what happened. I need to get my husband to look at it. He is the one who figured out how to put a PDF in there!! Meanwhile, I will email you the excel file. 🙂