Car Packing Checklist – What to Pack When Traveling with Infants

Every time I start packing for an out of town trip, I make the same enormous car packing list.

The list was plenty long enough when it was just me and my husband. As soon as we started having kids, our trip packing list ballooned outta control!

My husband thinks it should take two minutes to pack for a trip. Yes, that’s correct, if you’re a man and only packing for yourself…..All us women know that BABIES = GEAR. I need supplies, people! If I’m going to stay sane on my trip, I feel the need to bring everything the babies might need, just in case.

Standard Travel Packing List for Car Travel with Kids and Babies  

One day I got this genius idea to type up my standard car packing checklist so I didn’t have to recreate it every single time I needed it. ;=)

Thought other moms might like to have it as well. You may have to customize it for specific vacations, like a camping trip or a beach trip, but overall I’ve found this to be a comprehensive list of things to pack whenever you’re traveling with a baby. I’m always amazed by the amount of supplies and gear they require.

Family Car Packing List – What to Pack

There are things we need as a family to make our vacations go off without a hitch. Here are the things I always include on my vacation checklist:

• Toiletries: face wash, shampoo, conditioner, razors, makeup, toothbrushes x 4, toothpaste x 2 (adult & child), face cream, curling iron, volumizer
• Running and casual shoes
• Workout clothes
• House + running socks
• Clothes x 5 people x 4 nights/5 days – double for baby
• Dress clothes for church – outfits, dress shoes, jewelry
• Lotion
• Pillows
• Car games for older kids (coloring books, word searches, tablets)
• DVDs
• Snacks for everyone
• Purse
• Monthly planner
• Cell phone
• Workout bag, headphones, armband
• First aid kit
• Notebook, books, pens
• For me: Laptop, charger, laptop bag

Things You Need for Car Travel with Infants – Not-So-Minimilast Trip Packing List

These are the things I pack for my babies each time we take a long car trip. You might be able to cut a thing or two off this vacation packing list, but if you do, be prepared to purchase that item upon arrival!

• Diapers, wipes, butt cream, diaper bag
• Stroller
• Pack-n-play or travel crib
• Baby blanket
• Baby toys
• Baby wash
• Baby nail clippers
• Bibs
• Bottles, formula, baby food & baby spoons
• Sippy cups
• Medicine
• Hair bows

As you can see, traveling with an infant really adds to the stuff you must haul with you, but I think everyone would agree all of these items are useful.

I’ve even tried to scale back and exclude the nail clippers only to have my little guy scratch his face all up on the way home. Their little nails grow so fast!

Printable Travel Checklist 

If you’d rather not recreate the wheel and just need a standard car packing checklist, here’s one from Organized Home. It has many of the items I mentioned above already listed, so you can print it and use the blank lines to customize it with your own travel necessities.

Free Printable Car Travel Packing List

I just realized I need to rethink my list as we plan for first Disney trip as a family. I’m finding that Disney is a whole different beast AND we’ll likely be flying this time. Yikes! I’m a little nervous about being able to minimize our packing and still take the kids’ necessities.