Pack the Valentine-themed crafts and snacks for your kid-friendly beach getaway

When I have the time, and patience, to plan ahead before a trip I like to create themed goodie bags for the kids that are inspired by our journey.  Whether it’s the destination, season, or parts of the country were traveling through, it’s always fun to find different ways to get the kids excited about the trip.  

Other than sleeping (ah yes, sleeping), activities that will keep kids busy during a road trip are often essential to the sanity of the trip, or rather essential to my sanity that is, especially when traveling with young children.  So traveling around a holiday makes planning a theme easy and with sites like Pinterest all you need to do is find something you like and then gather the materials.

I live with a seven-year-old arts and crafts Picasso. If I’m not up bright and early on the weekend I wake up to find remnants from her latest collection scattered across the kitchen table, usually involving multi-colored paper clippings, beads, paint, glue, bits and pieces of this and that, as well as other assorted objects that she’s gathered from around the house and yard. She can turn out random projects quicker than Bob Ross can paint a forest of happy trees. 

When prepping your road-trip goodies, you can make the theme a surprise and prepare everything yourself, or you can put that mini-Picasso to work and get the kids to help in the preparation. It’s a great way to get them involved and it gives them something fun to look forward to. Give them ownership over their booty by allowing them to pack their swag in special bags or boxes that they’ve decorated.

And don’t forgot to include or pack fun crafts for once you arrive. 

Have fun!