Whenever I start thinking of packing for a trip I was always looking for blog posts that would help give me an idea of what or how much to pack. I wasn’t ever able to find really detailed information. The ones I did find were for people who had their own suitcase. Ha! Such a luxury, to not have to share a tiny carry on suitcase. That’s just not our style. So I’m going to detail what clothes we took on our trip, for a family of four, and how we managed to get it all into two very small carry on suitcases. (I will actually only detail for myself and the kids, no idea what Ty packed for himself, he’s a grown man!) 🙂
For my 6 year old daughter, R:
- 2 dresses
- 2 shorts (she really only needed 1 pair, as she wore dresses mostly)
- 1 skirt
- 1 pair of pants (for the airplane mostly)
- 1 summer pjs
- 1 long sleeve shirt (for the airplane)
- 3 tank tops (could have done with 2)
- 1 t shirt
- 4 underware
- 2 socks (really only needed 1 for the aiplane days)
- 1 pair crocs and 1 Velcro sandal
For my 4 year old son, L:
- 3 t shirts (way overkill, needed only 1)
- 3 tank tops (probably could have done just 2)
- 4 shorts (needed only 3 max)
- 2 pants (needed only 1 pair for airplane days)
- 1 long sleeve shirt/hoodie (for airplane days)
- 1 summer pjs
- 3 underwear (could have used more, potty training issues when traveling)
- 3 socks (really only needed 1 pair)
- 2 pairs sandals, one pair covered his toes
For myself, no age necessary: 😄
- capri yoga pants (didn’t need these)
- light weight travel pants (wore on airplane days)
- 2 tank tops
- 2 t shirts (really only needed 1)
- 1 long sleeve (wore on airplane days)
- 1 dress
- 1 skirt (totally not needed but I wanted to bring it)
- 2 shorts (one jean shorts, the pockets were nice to have, one pair of running shorts)
- 3 socks (overkill, needed 1 pair)
- 3 bras (could have done with two or one even)
- 4 underwear (could have done with 2 pairs)
- 1 pair flip flops, 1 pair Chaco sandals, 1 pair super light tennis shoes
Swimwear
- swim trunks for L and suits for R and myself
- 3 swim shirts for all of us
- 3 goggles
- 1 pair of arm floaties for L
So the reason we didn’t need a ton of undergarments was since we were at the beach and the pool a lot we spent entire days in our swimwear. I personally wore either the dress or a tank and running shorts to bed for pjs so separate pjs aren’t needed. The apartments we stayed in had laundry so when needed we would just throw some clothes in. This is a big factor in cutting down on what you bring.
<<<
e kids each had their own packing cube, I put the swim gear in a separate packing cube. These are the one's I got on Amazon. I have larger clothes than the kids so I used a compression sack for myself and Ty had his own as well. These really are the secret to how we travel with such small bags. We even got my mom to start using one when she travels with us!
<<<
re's the suitcase with my uncompressed bag of clothes. We added in Ty's compression bag of clothes and our bathroom bag.
I'm currently struggling with how we will pack this light for our Christmas trip to Europe. Winter clothes are so much bulkier so that's the challenge. I'll try and post before we go with my progress.
