Hey, I Can Use That: Brown Baggin' It

Here it is: part 4 of things you can use to make summer easier!

I love the beach. It's quite possibly my favorite place on the earth. As soon as I dig my toes in the sand, I can feel all the tension of life wash away. Give me a second here...

Back to reality! Since Cincinnati has no beach, (not counting The Beach here, people. That's not a real beach no matter how they market it) we make the yearly pilgrimage to hot & sunny, South Carolina. For those of you not up your geography, it's not a quick trip. We're talking 10-12 hours in the car, depending on traffic, # of stops, etc. With four kids in tow, it's not exactly a quiet & peaceful trip. Is the image of the tension washing away clearer now? Exactly.

Last year, with the help of Pinterest & my brain-giving the credit where credit is due- I decided I was going to be proactive & make this road trip more fun.

Enter this:

Now, I know what you're thinking. This girl has some interesting ideas about fun. Stay with me.

I took 10 of these bags & numbered them 1-10. Then, I went shopping. See? I am fun.

The idea is that we, as a family, open one bag each hour of the trip. So, once we've been in the car one hour, we opened bag one; 2nd hour: bag two, etc. 

How did it work? It was a beautiful thing, if I say so myself. We rotated so each child knew when it would be his turn- no fighting over bags. The boys were very excited to see what was in each bag; it really did make the trip go faster for them. 

So, what did I put in the bags? 

 Here's my list:

1. Car game: License Plate Game

2. books

3. candy

4. new movie from the $5 bin at Target/Walmart

5. beach toys from the $1 bin at Target

6. Car game: Road Trip Bingo

7. new DS games from Game Stop- mostly used (this one, each kid had his own bag to open)

8. fun snacks

9. easy art project from $1 bin at Michaels

10. Car game: Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

*if you roll over the car games it should link to site where you can find the printables

**Side note: I did spend some money ($50ish) but it was well worth it. I don't buy my kids a lot toys unless there's a reason: birthday, holidays, etc; so, I felt justified in spending the cash. You could probably do it under $10 if you were super thrifty & subbed out the DS games. It would also help if you don't have a boatload of kids :)

 I only did this for trip to SC, not for the ride home. We got to our destination before we opened every bag so we did save a couple for the return trip. I'm not made of money ;) 

This road trip was easy-peasy and a lot of fun for everyone! I am planning on doing this again this year. 

Special treats are fun for everyone, especially if they serve a dual purpose: sanity is everything. 

Happy Road Trip!

What do you do to survive your long car rides? Share with me!