Packing essentials for a beach getaway with kids
Big S and Lil S are fish.
They love swimming, and nothing makes them happier than a day by the beach.
Luckily, they have grandparents who live a stone’s throw away from Turkey Point Provincial Park. The 2 km stretch of beach at Turkey Point is popular for day-tripping families across Southwestern Ontario. To our kids, summer is synonymous with swimsuit and goggles, pruny fingers, sand castles and giant water floaties. Every road trip, every international destination, you better believe we’re on the lookout for a good beach to spend a day.
Obviously, whether you’re packing a car or packing a suitcase for a flight will impact what you can take. We tend to pack light if we’re flying, but we feel we’ve nailed down a fairly sure proof list of beach-tripping essentials to ensure the kids (and the adults) have everything they need.
The set up
1. Beach mat
Our number one most used summer item is a waterproof, wipeable, foldable mat. Ours is the JJ Cole Jemsa Outdoor Mat, which we bought as an infant play mat when Big S was… an infant. Seven years and counting, it’s held up incredibly well. (One side of the carry-strap has broken off, but can be easily sewn back on.)
We don’t tend to bring beach chairs, so this mat is for sitting on, napping on, sunbathing on, eating on, you name it. We’ll bring this mat everywhere – to the beach, to backyard picnics, to tennis and soccer games. It’s very easy to clean, and the sand doesn’t stick to it! It *can* be packed in a suitcase, but we’ve never done it. If we’re flying, we use towels or cangas right in the sand.
We even use this mat in the winter, if the kids are doing a water activity indoors.
2. Pop-up “sun shelter”
Most beach-goers have some sort of sunshade. Beach umbrellas are common (we have one), and of course, if we were having a family reunion on the beach, I’d probably consider a camping gazebo. But for our little crew, we found a pop-up sun shelter is the most convenient and works just as well.
There is a difference between “beach tents” and these pop up “sun shelters”. Beach tents generally comes with poles that need to be set up. They can be quite big. The pop up sun shelters are a bit more compact, but it’s large enough for all four of us to sit comfortably.
The BEST thing about our pop-up shelter is it folds down to the size of a large frisbee, and “pops up” in literally two seconds. You can even pack this thing in a suitcase. It comes with stakes, and you can secure the tent into the sand.
We had to watch a Youtube video the first time about how to fold one of these babies back down, but it’s quite easy once you’ve done it once or twice.
It works well as a sun shade and has UV protection. When Lil S was an infant, she’d take naps in it when we’d spend all day at the beach. But IMO the most useful thing about our sun shelter is we can quickly zip down the sides and use it as a change room, which makes a HUGE difference when your alternatives are porta-potties or changing in the car.
We have the Genji Pop Up Beach Tent, but unfortunately I believe they’ve discontinued our particular model. It is quite similar to this one:
Beachwear and accessories
Rash guard – All day, every day. As a health professional, sun damage scares the crap out of me. Full length sleeves for beach days. It makes life SO much easier, without worrying about sunburn and re-applying sunscreen.
Sun hat – our kids don’t actually wear hats into the water, but with their bodies protected, I don’t mind liberally applying sunscreen to their faces every few hours.
Water shoes – for pools and road trips, our kids typically wear Natives or Crocs. They’re easy to slip on, sand shakes right out of them, and they don’t feel gross when they get wet. If we’re packing light, we’ll bring either sandals or soft-soles water shoes.
Goggles – our kids only swim with goggles, so we keep a set in our bag everywhere we go. They even have goggles for underwater bath adventures.
Snorkel mask – This obviously depends on where you’re going, but for most of our adventures abroad we bring along our snorkel masks. It’s much easier than having to find and rent gear at the opportune moment.
Quick-dry towel – for the pool and the grandparents’ house when we can afford to pack a little more, our kids like hooded towels and swim cover ups. But when we’re traveling, nothing beats the convenience and packability of a quick-dry towel for lying on or drying off with. Luckily, sand doesn’t seem to stick to these. (Don’t skimp on size – these towels do a lot!)
Canga – it took me until a trip to Brazil to discover this amazingly versatile piece of fabric. The Canga is sort of like a Brazilian sarong. It’s a large, usually vibrant, and very thin piece of cloth, and ONE Canga has replaced my beach towel (sand doesn’t stick to these, either!), my coverup, and beach skirt. If you can’t get to Brazil (where these are super cheap and everywhere), you can find these on Etsy.
Don’t forget sunglasses, sunscreen, and extra hair elastics for those with long hair. No feeling in the world is as uncomfortable as scraggly hair in the mouth when swimming.
Water safety
Puddle jumpers – yes, we have packed these incompressible things into suitcases a number of times. These are sort of a combination between swim vest and arm floaties. They’re not as cumbersome as life jackets, but still offer good flotation aid. Even when Big S became an independent swimmer, we took these along for a few years. Swimming on a beach, where waves can be challenging and unpredictable, is very different from swimming in a pool. We found the kids are physically way more tired when they’re swimming in open water. Would it be easier to bring along inflatable arm bands or rings? Yes, but these devices offer no safety benefit, and this is one area where you do not want to compromise.
Safety turtle – we discovered this device when we were planning our river houseboat trip. It’s basically a sensor bracelet (you can get multiple bracelets) a child wears, that triggers a mobile alarm when it hits water. This might seem like overkill, but it buys peace of mind if you’re in a place with easy water access (cottage, resort… or houseboat). These are expensive, so it might be worth sharing a set between families or friends. You can check out the company here.
Beach toys
We’ve added and discarded a number of dollar store beach toys over the years, and have narrowed it down to quite literally three enduring items.
- a bucket and shovel (okay, four items if you count the shovel). These things last forever, and is all our kids really need to build sand castles or anything they can imagine in the sand. When we traveled overseas, we packed each kid a compressible bucket (you can get these from the dollar store).
- A blow-up float. This is a HUGE hit. For several years, we had this giant manta-ray, affectionately name “Manti”, beloved by our kids and all their friends. Obviously for car trips only, especially since we have a plug in our van for our electrical pump, but you can easily pack a much smaller inflatable into a suitcase.
- An inflatable beach ball. Also packable, and can lead to hours of fun beach/water volleyball or soccer.
- This is an extra – some sort of water squirter or water gun. Kids always have fun with these, but they’re usually plastic, break easily, and don’t pack well. Our kids never miss them when we don’t have them.
How to tote around your beach supplies
For road trips, our preferred way to pack beach supplies is with those large, plastic blue IKEA bags. They’re not the most stylish, but they carry a ton, are waterproof and virtually indestructible, and can be easily shaken out and wiped down. (If we’re road tripping, we’ll also have a small cooler for water, snacks, and picnic items.)
If we’ve flown to a destination, our beach gear is usually packed directly into our luggage. We always have a few of these handy foldable bags, which we will use for the beach. (Also great for picking up a few groceries or souvenirs from markets.) These can also double up as a wet bag.
We hope this beach packing list is helpful. It’s been curated from numerous weekend beach getaways, and beach outings carefully built into our itineraries. It’s streamlined, and it works!
