Tried & True Family Travel Essentials (From A Mom of 6)

This post was updated July 2025

Daniel and I used to be wildly poor packers. And things got even more complicated when we have to think about travel with kids. All kinds of what-ifs would go through my mind, and I’d stress about not being able to find travel essentials for kids while on the move.

The thing about traveling with kids is that you just CAN’T take as much stuff per person unless you want to drive yourself mad. With more people, especially small people who aren’t always capable of schlepping all their own kids travel gear, we learned to pare things down to just the travel necessities. Fast.

We’ve now traveled with kids for over a decade to over 90 countries and all over the US. We’ve found some really excellent travel essentials for kids that are worth the weight and effort to take along. These baby travel essentials have been our tried-and-true favorites that are worth bringing along.

How To Choose the Best Travel Gear for Kids

All of our personal kids travel essentials must check 3 boxes – they must be lightweight, durable, and preferably multi-functional. Every item must be relatively easy to carry and hold up for the duration of the trip (hopefully many trips!).

Here’s a complete kids packing list with everything from gear to clothing to medical supplies – true baby travel essentials. We use it every time we travel!

This list of the best travel essentials for kids doesn’t include basics like medicine or clothing, or needs like diapers and wipes. Instead, I’ve focused on more unique kid travel accessories that are worth their weight in gold. They’re things we’ve returned to time and again. Hopefully these travel tips will give you a few ideas of the best travel accessories for kids!

6 Kids, 90 Countries, Best Travel Essentials for Kids

1. Mini Sound Machine

Not travel specific, but it’s especially helpful for travel and is definitely one of our favorite kids travel accessories. All our kids sleep with some sort of white noise, and it’s really useful in helping kiddos (and adults!) adjust to new time zones, sleeping locations, etc. We have 4 of these and always take at least a couple on every trip. We used to just use a white noise app, but this teeny portable one makes it so much easier and we use them every night at home, too.

2. Kidco Peapod

I think this is the very best baby travel bed for babies and toddlers. It’s a little pop up baby tent that zips so baby can’t get out. The baby cot part only weighs about a pound or so – way better than carrying around a 20+ pound pack n play.

The best part about this baby travel essential is that it’s lightweight and small enough to fit inside our checked luggage. That means one fewer piece to remember to grab and carry around – a lifesaver when you have limited hands! It’s also great for things like the beach when you need a bit of shade and privacy for baby. We’ve had one of these since our oldest was a toddler – over 13 years ago!

3. Car Seat Suitcase Strap

This luggage strap is kind of the silliest and simplest of all these travel accessories for kids. You could undoubtedly make it for cheaper than the $10 you have to pay, but that’s probably more annoyance than it’s worth. This silly little strap totally works to strap a big, bulky convertible carseat onto a suitcase (either a carry on size or full size). Plus, your kid can even sit and ride in it. Genius.

4. Carseats and Boosters for Travel

If we’ll be driving at all while traveling, we always pack travel child restraints. We use a few different options depending on the age of our child. Here’s what we personally use by age:

• Babies: Infant car seat
• Toddlers: Cosco Scenera NEXT convertible car seat
• Ages 3-5: Ride Safer booster vest (this link should give you an automatic discount)
• Ages 6+: Inflatable booster

More about which car seats we take and when we travel with them in this post!

5. Wool Base Layers & Socks

There’s almost no clothing we’ve used more and in a greater variety of circumstances than our wool base layers. They’re of course wonderful for layering in cold weather, but equally great as pajamas that can be reworn many times without getting stinky. They’re terrific even in warmer weather because they’re temperature regulating and moisture wicking. They help us get more rewears out of clothing in winter months and are breathable and comfy. We’ve passed them down and they’re just an absolute staple for us in travel.

These are our very favorite merino wool base layers, but we have a bunch of others we like HERE.

We also swear by wool socks, especially when traveling – again because they’re comfy and wick moisture but don’t get stinky easily. We love these socks and especially this small, Black woman-owned business for wool socks. And honestly the ones I reach for the most are these affordable wool socks – they’re super stretchy, comfy, and warm.

6. Lightweight Luggage

We’re pretty darn good at packing light with kids in terms of space constraints, but weight is still sometimes an issue. So we like to use lightweight but durable luggage so we’re not giving up too much weight to the luggage itself. Here are all our favorites:

• Kid backpacks: THIS for age 2-5, THIS for age 5-10, THIS and THIS for age 10+
• Lightweight carry on luggage
• Lightweight checked luggage – we’ve dragged this suitcase all around the globe and it’s spacious & has held up incredibly well

Here’s all our favorite luggage for families.

7. Kids’ Melatonin

This is one kids travel essential where you should for sure check with your doctor in advance, but it’s been very helpful for us. We honestly have gotten very good at jet lag and rarely need it anymore but it we are having trouble falling asleep (or the kids are), we may use this on a long plane ride or the first night or two in a very different time zone.

There are lots of different kinds, but we think this is the best kids melatonin. It’s not a child-specific one, but is the exact same dosage as the kids’ melatonin, and we prefer it to the kids’ melatonin gummies. The gummies usually have a bit of added sugar, while this kind does not. It’s also fast-acting and the tablets are smaller than carrying the gummy kind. It’s also much more affordable than the kid-specific ones.

8. Portable Door Lock

We once had a kiddo manage to get out of our hotel room very early one morning. He thought he was opening the door to the bathroom, but it turns out it was the door to the hall, which, of course, closed and locked behind him.

We are SO GRATEFUL he was okay and all was well, but one of these portable locks immediately became a kid travel essential for us. It’s great if there’s no deadbolt or if you have a little escape artist. This portable door lock is lightweight, strong, and easy to use.

9. Packing Cubes

I can’t overstate how much I love this kids travel accessory. They’re magic for keeping everyone organized and each kid has his or her own color. Especially when traveling with multiple people (and not wanting to have 6 different pieces of luggage), this travel essential for kids is perfect for containing and keeping track of all the stuff. This expandable set is our favorite because they’re sturdy with great zippers and pack down smaller or bigger, but we also have and love this set.

10. Packable Duffel

We absolutely love this packable duffel – we’ve used it for everything from checking in kiddo boosters to shoving in extra diapers to checking a bag on the way home filled with jars of jam & honey that we found at our destination to hauling around dirty laundry. It’s lightweight and packs down small but super sturdy, and has lasted super well over multiple years for us.

11. Activities Case

We really love using this toiletries bag to keep all our kid travel activities organized. It’s sturdy and has lots of pockets and zippers – perfect for a variety of activities for different ages. Here are tons of screen-free travel activities that we love including in the case!

12. Carabiners

Speaking of carabiners, it sounds so random, but they are totally a kids travel essential for our family. We always keep a few of these smaller ones on various backpacks – they’re great for attaching jackets, keys, water bottles, or even stuffed animals. I love that this kind has a screw for extra security, and come in a bunch of colors. We also like having a couple of these giant carabiners (also with a clip) on the stroller.

13. Soft-sided baby carrier

I can’t imagine traveling with a child under the age of 2 without a baby carrier. They are just so darn convenient, especially if you’re traveling to a place that’s not very stroller-friendly. We absolutely LOVE this super lightweight baby carrier that weighs less than a pound and packs up into it’s own pocket when not in use. It’s perfect for hot climates and also for toddlers who are walking a bit so may not always be in the carrier. I also find it works great for narrow shoulders but also adjusts well for larger frames. I absolutely love it!

14. Bib

Toddler travel means lots of messes! We only use the bibs with sleeves because the other ones don’t really do much but these protect clothing, especially if trying to rewear anything when traveling. We love this pack – they roll up super small and are lightweight, and are easy to wipe down or wash and dry quickly. Definitely a baby & toddler travel essential for us (that we also use all the time at home).

15. Lightweight umbrella stroller

If we’re taking a stroller when traveling, I ALWAYS prefer a lightweight umbrella stroller that can be easily folded and placed in the overhead bin of an airplane. We had a Yoyo for ages, which is the original super small folding stroller, but honestly I hated it despite so many loving it. I just thought the folding mechanism was such a pain and I hated needing two hands to do it (especially when managing kids solo). Instead, we switched to the Bugaboo Butterfly and it has been a dream. Has all the perks of being super lightweight and fitting in the overhead bin, but has an easy one-handed fold.

16. Kids’ Kindle for Travel

A Kindle e-reader is an absolute travel non-negotiable for all my kids ages 5+, including for any local car rides. We love downloading books for the kids to read on their own or for us to read together, and it’s great being able to carry tons with us without taking lots of weight or space. Plus, it’s super durable and has a great battery life. We love them!!

17. Toothbrush Covers

We also use these toothbrush covers for each of our toothbrushes. It helps when everyone has a color and keeps them clean while traveling and in the toiletry case.

We leave a few travel essentials for kids always ready to go in a drawer in one of our closets, and this is one of them. It’s so convenient to know it has what we need (we just make sure nothing needs refilling) and to not need to rethink it every time!

18. Kids travel water bottle

We’ve tried about 8 gazillion different kid water bottles. This is my current favorite for toddlers and younger kiddos because the straw stays completely covered when closed so it keeps it clean. Plus, it keeps drinks cold and doesn’t leak, and the loop allows you to attach it to a backpack with a carabiner so it doesn’t fall out of the pocket. The older kids and adults in our family all love this water bottle. 27k+ 5-star reviews are not for naught.

We fill these water bottles in the airport before boarding so we don’t have to worry about asking for (and spilling!) a million cups of water when traveling with kids on an airplane. They’re great as a travel essential for kids for long car rides, or for hotel rooms to have a drink by the bedside.

19. Simple Building Toy

We take very little in terms of kids’ entertainment while traveling. It’s usually just more to schlep, and they’re typically most entertained by random items along the way. But we always have a small baggie of some sort of lightweight building toy – usually a quart-sized ziploc of LEGOs. I love that a variety of ages use and love them and it keeps them occupied for hours. We’ve used this kids travel toy on both airplanes and road trips with great success. We also absolutely adore these wax building sticks. My kids ages 2-14 all use and love them!

20. Yoto Mini + Kids Travel Headphones

We absolutely adore the Yoto Mini kids’ audio player. Our kids spend hours listening to audiobooks, and it also has meditations, music, and more. It’s the perfect screen-free device that lets them control their own entertainment and my kiddos ages 3+ absolutely love listening to stories while doing another small activity. Available HERE and HERE.

We love these soft headphones – they are by far the best headphones for toddlers and young children. I also love that they pack down really small for travel and stay on easily in an airplane seat.

21. External Charger

I can’t count the number of times I’ve thanked the stars above for our external charger. It’s a lifesaver when you desperately need an audiobook to calm shrieking kids in the car, or when you need white noise from your dying phone to calm the baby. We absolutely never travel without one.

I also ADORE this tiny one that plugs right into my phone – I love that it’s cordless and so convenient. I use it most days even at home. A true travel essential for families. Finally, I love this magnetic portable charger that attaches right to the back of my phone.

22. Medical Supplies

THIS is the whole suite of first aid supplies we always take with us, but I will say we ALWAYS like to make sure we have some of our favorite bandages, this hypoallergenic topical antibacterial, chewable pain reliever, and a children’s antihistamine.

23. Inflatable Footrest

I’m putting this one at the end because for us it has a pretty short shelf life. I personally don’t love it for kids under 4 as it’s safer for them to be in a car seat, and mine also tend to sleep better when they’re strapped in there. Then my kids tend to be too tall to comfortably use them by the time they’re about 6 years old. So while I don’t feel it has a ton of useful time, I do think they’re useful for a short period, especially if you have a super long flight. That said, we’ve done plenty of long flights without them, too, and just had kids sleep on our laps – this is especially true when we don’t want to schlep the footrests around for a long time after (they’re small but not TINY). So, take that with a grain of salt!

MORE POSTS

IF YOU LIKED THIS POST ABOUT KIDS AND BABY TRAVEL MUST HAVES, YOU MIGHT LIKE THESE POSTS, TOO:

• Kids Packing List: Family Travel Essentials
• How to Check a Carseat: Tips & Tricks
• 10 Tips for Getting Over Jet Lag with Kids

NOT READY TO PACK UP YOUR BABY TRAVEL ESSENTIALS QUITE YET? PIN THIS POST FOR LATER!