This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RoadTripHacks #CollectiveBias #Albertsons
This year has been full of road trips for my family. After finishing up a nearly 1500 mile holiday road trip just after the new year, we then road tripped up to Disney in the late winter and then over to the West Coast of Florida in the spring and then up to Georgia early in the summer. That’s a lot of driving, especially when you have 3 small children in tow. Because as much as my kids love going places, the “getting there” part, is often not quite as fun and tests their patience (and mine!) quite a bit. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the words “are we there yet?” this year!
With another family road trip on the horizon, I decided go to out to Albertsons and was pleasantly surprised to find these tags advertising Albertsons’ “The Best Road Trip Ever” sweepstakes when stocking up on our road trip essentials:
If you’ve never heard of it before, Albertsons’ The Best Road Trip Ever is a sweepstakes where, after entering your information online, you can spin to choose your own road trip essentials from partnering brands, caption the items to create a story, and share to win BIG. Like, cars BIG. That’s my kind of sweepstakes! And besides being able to win online, you can find all those partnering brands at great prices in the store, just look for the special tags.
With a sale this big, I not only stocked up on my favorite road trip essentials (Tostitos & Moutain Dew), but I decided to take a different approach to our upcoming road trip. Instead of relying on iPads and phones to keep the kids occupied – which has failed miserably in the past – I decided to create Boredom Buster Bags for each of the kids containing snacks, drinks, toys, and activities based on their age. The key being that each child won’t receive their Boredom Buster Bag until the morning that we leave so everything is completely new to them (and more likely to hold their attention). I almost can’t wait for our next trip so I can give each of them their Boredom Buster Bag!
How do you make a Boredom Buster Bag? So glad you asked! You start with a gallon size bag (or cloth/reusable bag for younger kids), but how you fill it depends on your child’s age. If you’ve got an end of summer road trip on your calendar, here are just a few suggestions for things to go into your child’s Boredom Buster Bag. Guaranteed to reduce the number of “are we there yet?” inquiries you get on the way to your destination!
Age 1-2: For my youngest who is almost 2 years old, I made a Boredom Buster Bag and focused on snacks (although I’ll hold on to the bag during the trip for safety reasons). Besides including a small new toy, a few dinosaur figurines, and board books, his bag was filled with Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, CapriSun, and OREOs. These are his absolute favorites and typically buy me a lot of time at home, so I’m hoping they’ll do the same when we’re on the road in the next few weeks.
Ages 3-5: My middle child (4 years) loves toys, so I decided to load her bag with a pony figurine with hair she could style, finger puppets, UNO cards, and a stuffed animal for some extra cuddles during her naps (she’ll tell you she doesn’t need a nap, but the road has a way of lulling her to sleep). She’s my only child that suffers from motion sickness, so I went light on the activities and snacks, but still included a juice box and some chips.
Ages 6-10: For older kids (who don’t suffer from motion sickness) I recommend focusing on activities. For my 6 year old daughter, I included books, coloring books, word searches, activity/play pads, flashcards, and playing cards. I also included CapriSun, Cheetos, and Starburst, since they’re her favorite. I just made sure to only include a few Starburst or she would have eaten them all right away.
Make sure to visit your local Banner Store (Albersons, Vons, ACME, Shaws, Safeway, etc) to take advantage of the savings and fill your car with great deals for your next road trip! How do you prepare for road trips with kids?
