We recently moved away from Buckinghamshire to the coast and live now nearly 2 hours away from our family. Gone are the spontaneous trips to surprise Granddad one afternoon after school and every visit has to be planned now which mostly involves staying over for the weekend at Mr. C.’s Brothers house. So next to packing an overnight bag with all the essentials bar the kitchen sink I thought I put together a post on my top tips how to survive long car journeys with 2 kids in tow:
Entertainment!
There is only so many times you can listen to the theme tune of Trolls or Pixels and eventually counting red/blue cars or playing ‘I spy with my little Eye’ is getting boring for the kids! So we have invested in dual screen DVD players (from Argos) and comfy headphones from Best Got (from Amazon) so they are entertained for the long journey ahead.
Car Friendly Activities!
Next to the kids having a little backpack with some toys they like to bring for the weekend which also includes books for bedtime stories I always keep a Doodle Sketch Pad (Amazon has a huge range) in the car too. Another very helpful Item is the newest toy catalog from your local Supermarket or Toy Shop seriously it keeps them entertainment for ages and if you give them a pen they love to circle around (everything) their favourite things which they desire for Birthday or Christmas and best of all its FREE whats not to like!!
Probably the most important thing to make sure you have a smooth drive on a long car journey and avoid breaking down or worse case scenario have an accident:
Check your Tyres!
Don’t leave it until the next Service or MOT to get told your tyres are under the thread depth limit! We had this recently happen to us and the guy at the garage told us you can get fined (up to 2.500£!!) plus 3 points per tyre if it is below the legal tread depth limit. You can easily check it with the ’20p coin tread test’ if you can’t see the outer band on the coin then its time to get some new tyres. We had ours fitted directly at the garage where we had our MOT done but found it a bit steep so I researched on the internet a bit for a cheaper alternative next time and found tyreplus.co.uk where you not only can find new tyres for your car but you can also find a location near your home to go and get it fitted there and then!
Snacks & Drinks!
Always make sure you have plenty of drinks (I buy them the little water bottles with a sports cap on) and snacks handy for the kids in case they get peckish on the journey (even though they had a big breakfast before leaving! it’s always the case!). I mainly get dry snacks like crisps, raisins, bread sticks etc and some apples to keep the mess in the back seat to a minimum! Don’t forget to get some drinks and snacks for the adults too!
Portable Potty & Empty Bottle!
With Molly-May only recently coming out of nappies I decided to always keep my portable potty (I have a Potette from Amazon) in the boot of the car even though we have to pull over for a toilet break sometimes there just isn’t time to head into the restroom! There are similar portable “wee bottles” for boys on the market but I found an empty coke can is just as handy!
