The beach, it’s a beast of a task when you are taking children of any sort but especially little ones. I’ve taken 3 kids solo, (then) 10 kids with one other mom, and today my 4 kids with my sister.
But what is the secret? Is it even possible for the beach to be relaxing when you have kids with you? Friends, today was extremely relaxing. It was, dare I say, fun? I decided to compile a list of tips to help anyone who might be slightly terrified of the beach with kids.
First things first: manage your expectations. You can prepare as much as you want but you might still have a rough day. Toddlers are finicky creatures like that, they can ruin everyone’s day with a single change in attitude. Alright, now that we’ve established managing expectations let’s dive into these tips!
- Prepare the night before. Pack the car with everything you can. Pack the kids bags, pack your bag, cut up bag and stage the stuff for the cooler in the fridge. This will make for a smooth departure.
- Sunscreen them first thing in the morning and have them wear their suits in the car to the beach. Or pull ups depending on potty training stage. This way when you get there they can play freely without you worrying about sun screening right away. You can reapply once you get all set up.
- I am a big fan of bags for specific things. Because the L A S T thing you want is a Mary Poppins bag at the beach with sand in the bottom while your phone tumbles around amongst other things and sand is everywhere. These are the bags I usually pack:
Every kid has their own backpack with their own stuff. These bags have snacks prepacked for the car ride to the beach (depending on the length of your drive), their towel, sunglasses, hat and water bottle. I hook the kids life jackets to the top loop on the backpack. So when they put it on they are carrying all of their stuff and if they have a chair they have free hands to carry that too. It also gives them ownership of their own stuff!
A bag for toys, your personal towel, sunscreen and a large blanket or sheet to be your home base. This bag is the sandy bag, it will absolutely get sand in it. I tend to keep the sunscreen in a zip lock bag so its easy to grab and kept together. I also pull my personal towel out before everything gets sandy. If you are going to the beach without a diaper bag because you don't have a little that is quite that small, then you can put your towel in the personal bag mentioned below. I never have enough room in the diaper bag for that. Anyway for this sand bag or toy bag whatever you want to call it, I use a metal framed tote that looks very similar to a 31 bag but is most definitely a Walmart find.
A diaper bag (if you have a baby) or a personal bag for you. This will have your phone, keys, whatever adult things you need. This bag should be a backpack style for ease of carrying. It needs to contain three trash bags and at least three grocery bags. The grocery bags are just in case, the trash bags for the same reason. But you will need one for collecting trash and then on your way back to your vehicle you can dispose of it when you walk by a trash can or just leave it in the back of your vehicle until you get home. This bag should not be touched by kids. It’s your bag, it’s the sand free safe for electronics bag.
A non refrigerated snack bag. This bag also needs baby powder and a pack of wipes. This is KEY! When your kids come up hungry looking for a snack, they are free to pick their own snack (just dump them into the bag, they will ruin whatever organization you have in it anyway). The important part here is, when they have sandy hands, you know the baby powder is with the food, seems odd, but there is a reason. Dump some baby powder on your kids hands and have them scrub it around like it’s hand sanitizer, it is magic. It dries the sand and lets it brush right off. Then grab a wipe and let them wipe the powder off their hands. Good to eat without a sandy grit to their snack.
A cooler. I usually pack cut up vegetables, some fruit, rolled lunch meat and some cheese sticks. I bring a gallon of water separate in the sand toy bag to fill up water bottles. I do all finger food type snacks because anything like a sandwich that requires more than 2-3 bites is likely to be set down in sand and then result in a seagull attack. No one wants a Seagull attack.
A carrier of some sort for any children that can't walk. I use the baby carrier, I suppose you could use a wagon or stroller but you'd have to really muscle through the sand unless you have help lifting it. Honestly, even if I had twins, I would just wear one on the front and one on the back! It's so much easier to just wear your baby to wherever you establish home base.
A bag with a change of clothes for everyone that will stay in your vehicle Until you get back to it.
A bag with snacks for the ride back that will also stay in the vehicle. Obviously this is best to be non melting snacks.
- If you have an infant, get a baby dome. It will save your life! It’s shaded and basically a folding tiny pack’n’play. Easy to transport, light weight. Perfect for the beach. If you have a toddler, get a cheap collapsible folding ball pit. You can find them on Amazon for like $10-20. It’s perfect for putting your baby in once you’ve brushed sand off, it can be a sand free place for your kid to play or relax. It folds up and fits in the sand toy bag. Some people will suggest a tent for shade, that’s just a lot of work if you don’t have a lot of help and honestly kids usually last a few hours anyway so a hat for everyone does the trick for us.
- A pop up changing tent. OR a sheet to create privacy between two car doors that are open, This sheet can stay in the vehicle you only need it at the end. When you get back to the car you’ll need that privacy to baby powder the kids, wipe the sand off with a towel and change into clothes for the ride home. You’ll use the blanket that was home base for the kids to stand in while you brush the sand off their feet. Ditch the “rinse off” showers at the end of the boardwalks. They only make everyone wet again, they never actually get all the sand off and they are cumbersome when your hands are full. Trust me on the baby powder, I use it with 4 girls, dump it on their body use a towel to wipe off. It works like a charm, even when sand is down in their suits and cracks. Have them line up next to the vehicle, everyone must have a hand on the vehicle at all times. This way no one is running off into the parking lot. Load what you can up into the back of the vehicle, stage and prep to desand and dress everyone. Then get to work. Load the kids into the car as they are clean and changed.
- Whatever nap time stuff your kid needs. They will want it for the ride home. Leave it in the car so they have it when you get back to it. Make sure each kid has their nap time stuff and ride home snacks before pulling out to head home. - An empty laundry basket. This is important because once you get back to the vehicle, desand everyone and get them changed, toss the sandy clothes into the hamper including the blanket you used as home base. I use the home base blanket to have the kids stand on in the parking lot so they aren’t barefoot on hot pavement. The laundry basket makes unpacking at home easier, everything that needs washed is in the hamper ready to be dumped into the washing machine. I also put the life jackets in the laundry hamper and just pull them out and hang them up when we get home. They are usually right on top of the wet clothes. - If your kids are the dart for the water type, make them wear their life jacket the moment their feet hit the sand. This ensures safety because it only takes a minute of you looking elsewhere to pick up a bag or grab a sibling before one is running off to the water.
There are many ways to make it work for you. I highly suggest making kids carry their own stuff. They can do it, my 2 year old carried her own bag with her own stuff AND her own chair! It is possible! If you are reading this and think "wow that seems like an excessive amount of bags and things to pack" I agree it does, until you actually do it with four or more kids at the beach, then it all makes perfect sense.
I hope the tips help, may the odds be in your favor! Pray for a peaceful trip and go forth with confidence my friends! You can conquer the beach with littles AND have fun doing it!
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