Hellobee Boards

Color wonder markers ( take caps off)
My kids love them!

Magna doodle for 2.5 yr old

Blocks in a bucket for 8 month old?!

SNACKS LOL

Water Wow keeps both my girls entertained for a while.

We got glow sticks for when it started getting dark. Last summer Target had these big ones in foam sticks. My boys 1 and 3.5 at the time loved them.

Snacks, books, water wow, little trucks
There are Tegu block sets that I haven't tried because they are so expensive but if your kid likes to build it might work.

Figure out what can keep your kid entertained by himself at home and then stock up on that. At 1.5 that was toys with buttons for us. At 3.5 that was books and drawing.

Take breaks at playgrounds if you can or malls so your kid can run.

We drive 5 hours in a day every summer. WE listen to audio stories, bring coloring supplies and paper, and reusable or regular stickers. Someone typically has to sit in the back for a good chunk of it.
We usually time our drive like this: leave ASAP in the morning, drive a bit, break out snacks. Try to get 3 hours under our belt. We have a good spot along the way where there is a big park/playground so we pack a lunch and get out there. We stop for an hour/hour and a half. Then try to finish the trip after lunch/timed with a nap for the youngest.

We did two 7 hour trips in the fall with a 4 1/2 year old and a 15 month old. It was pretty brutal, to be honest. We stopped 3-4 times, so it ended up taking about 9 hours. My older kid just watched t.v. or listened to stories almost the whole way. THe baby was absolutely miserable. We just kept handing him snacks- like one raisin at a time.

@Mrs. Goose: I mean, we did it. It gets done. I'm just a fan of accepting it will be a miserable, miserable time so that I'm not surprised!
We decided to drive from Atlanta to New Orleans (we had flown to Atlanta to visit friends, and wanted to go to NOLA to visit other friends while we were reasonably close- closer than the north east!)
We did it instead of flying because we thought it would be easier (and my husband doesn't like to fly). After we did it, we both felt that we would probably fly if we had to do it again, at those ages. It was just a lot to ask of them.
It sucked for me too- its hard to be in the car that long entertaining people!

ETA: I have a lot of friends who drive overnight, and it works for them. I'm always so tired that I just can't fathom it. We did try leaving at bedtime once when my daughter was probably two, and it kind of backfired because she slept for about four hours and then when we arrived she was WIDE awake for two more hours before we could finally get her down. She just didn't transfer well.

@Mrs. Goose: My kids are definitely sleep at home in their bed kids too - they have rarely ever taken carseat naps and we never try to either, so I get it. We recently had to drive out of town and both kids slept for 30 minutes each for nap that day.

We left 2 hours after bedtime because by then it would be dark and they were deeply asleep, so the logic was they would be groggy and since it was dark outside, hopefully they would lull back to sleep. It took them about 30-45 minutes once we hit the road, but then they were out for most of the drive.

The way the drive back ended up working on that trip was that DS1 was exhausted. He had missed his morning nap and he had a lot of snacks to keep him happy in the morning and lots of attention from family, so by the time he hit the car, he was just full and really tired. We didn't expect them to nap for 2 hours - I think 60-90 minutes is a great car nap - but it just ended up happening because they had just had so much activity that weekend. Either way, we would have just pushed through those 2 hours with songs and whatever until 3pm when we scheduled to stop. At age 1, there's not much you can do to make a kid in a carseat happy if they're upset. I think when he was pissy I just threw some small soft toys at him to play with and he'd play for a few seconds and throw them on the ground. Then I'd gasp and chide him in a mock-outraged voice and he'd laugh and we'd repeat for a while until he cheered up a bit.

We did one leg at night and one leg during the day because physically DH and I would be too exhausted to only drive at night and then cope with the kids during the day (unless we took the day off after we got home and the kids went off to daycare for the day while we slept?)

Our kids are 3.5 and almost 2 now. Our youngest is far more food motivated than DS1, so there are lots of snack traps of fun snacks when we travel with him in the car. He also has his own musical preferences now, so we have to keep his jams on deck. We also keep a few books that he likes.

With DS1, he's really into music and his shows, so if we were to do this drive now, we'd probably keep a stash of small musical toys like maracas or tiny toy guitar or those dollar store mics and do a little sing a long that way to his jams.

I will say between 12-24 months was the hardest time to travel with both of our kids - car or plane - with 12-18 months being the worst. We TRY not to have to travel in that age range if possible because its just hard to make someone that age happy and they get frustrated and want to squirm and run around.

@Mrs. Goose: 3am sounds awful. The kids will wake up with the sun, you will be tired, you'll have to stop for breakfast, then get caught in commute hour. Ugh.

Yeah, we had to fly with our oldest to Hawaii when he was 13 months old for a wedding and it was a 6 hour nonstop flight. It was AWFUL. We had to use Benadryl on the way back because the child was just a screaming banshee the whole way there. We had to fly with him again at 18 or 19 months because DH's grandmother died - a 6 hours in a plane with a 2 hour layover while I was 8 months pregnant - and that was also a nightmare.

But it wont be forever. We flew again with DS1 later that year when he was 27 months old and the baby was 6 months old and it was SO much smoother.

@Mrs. Goose: we regularly drive 4h each way to visit family. We have started to just leave after dinner at bedtime. They’ll usually fall asleep within 30 minutes. All 4 are rear facing without mirrors because we quickly found out that the mirror was causing our oldest to NOT sleep while in the car (as a baby). For the time they’re still awake we listen to kid’s music or kid’s audiobooks.

@Mrs. Goose: OK so my kid doesn’t sleep in the car very well, in part I think because she is a tummy sleeper and just can’t get comfortable. We often drive home from my in laws at bedtime (2.5 hr drive) and it takes her a while to fall asleep and then she is restless and almost always wakes up on transfer so for all those reasons we have generally avoided traveling at night.

We have had success over the last 6 months or so with getting her to nap in the car with a sleep mask! I kid you not we spent $2 at Walmart one day when we needed to be home earlier in the day and talked it up about how we got her a special sleeping mask which she thought was very cool. We played her white noise app on our phone and gave her all her sleeping things (2 loveys and two blankets oy!). She slept for two full hours in the car which was life changing!

We have had success a couple of other trips replicating this Could be worth a try!

My kids love Stories Podcast. We were on a recent trip and the kids requested it each time we got in the car. They can listen to it for hours,

When DS wa ms just over two we had a 12 hour car trip. We figured leaving close to bedtime and driving through the night would be a great idea. It was a disaster and we were all miserable and cranky by the time we got to our destination.

Coming back in the same trip we drive through the day and took our time. It went much better. I sat in the back with DS and had lots of toys and snacks. He eventually had a nap. We didn't do any screen time.

Our kids do sleep/nap in the car, but we figured out that leaving early morning is best for us. We wake them up, no talking, when it’s dark out, etc and put them in the car and start going. Breakfast foods in the car for everyone. DH and I are fresher that way but I do try to rest my eyes for a bit. Then we figured out to take a break mid trip, for early lunch,stretch the legs. Then we get back in for an afternoon nap and hopefully to our destination before dinner. We are terrible at night and our kids have a way harder time falling back asleep transferring to a new place. This is our ideal and we don’t always hit it but that’s how we like to plan when we can!

Also, if you yourself have a small bladder (mine is tiny) then get some porta johns for yourself. I have no shame in peeing wherever I need to and this makes it so we don’t stop prematurely.

@Mrs. Goose: We did an 18 hour road trip over 2 days at Christmas with a 3 year old and 20 month old and got away somehow with no screen time in the car. In addition to what you noted, we also wrapped gifts to give the kids - some of them were things they had at home but hadn't played with in awhile and some of the gifts were new books or a new dinosaur figure. My 3 year old liked travel bingo - I printed some cards from the internet and he liked putting stickers on the objects he saw on the trip. They both loved listening to Christmas music in the car so maybe a new CD would be good to pull out or something they don't get to listen to often. I was so over a Muppet's Christmas Carol after the trip but it helped them on the trip so much.
DH and I are not up for driving at night so we drove for 2 days.

We keep a potty kit in our van. Its the small Ikea squatty potty plus in a large wet bag we keep a padded potty ring, extra wipes, pull-ups, and spare clean clothes and undies. That way we are prepared for side of the road stops or truck stops. For a long road trip we do pull-ups and our 3.5 year old still wears a pull-up at night, so its not a big deal. He doesn't LIKE going in his pull-up during the day and we will make an effort to pull over and stop, but its better to have the pull-up on in case there's an accident.

RE: Hawaii, its doable for us because its a nonstop 6 hour flight from the West Coast. I wouldn't try to drag the kids to the Bahamas or Europe right now, for sure. We prefer Oahu over Maui. Maybe its because I'm from Southern CA, Maui just feels like Orange County to me. Very upper-class suburban, golfing, and gated communities - so kinda boring personally. Oahu is campier and has that kitschy old Hawaii vibe I dig and its easier to cruise around the island looking at stuff. We have yet to do Kauai or Big Island, but we hope to when our kids are older and a little more able to handle nature and hiking.

In Oahu, with our kids at this age, we'd probably be looking at some of the resorts or VRBOs over in Ko Olina because they are condo-style buildings with access to calm man-made lagoons and then day trip to places like North Shore or Waikiki. We have considered purchasing a Disney Vacation Club membership some day on resale to access Aulani, since its too expensive to stay there otherwise and they have great kid-friendly pools and a Kid's Club with drop-off care and what not. Its definitely cheaper just to use a rental and hire one of the reputable nanny services for babysitting on a date night, though. Oahu and Maui both have great nanny services that my friends have used, so we're open to going that route.

DH is considering taking the kids to Hawaii sometime in the next year (before the magic age he insists on) because DS1 will be entering kindergarten next fall and we have some friends who are interested in tagging along with us and helping out with the boys. We could go in the off-season, rent a big house, and just all hang out.

@Mrs. Goose: no, they call it a portable urinal? it has a bag attached with an absorbent gel so you can pee on the go (both DH and i have used it in the car, sorry for the TMI)

https://www.amazon.com/Travel-John-TravelJohn-Disposable-Urinal-pack/dp/B077YQPGRG

but i did put my fully potty trained 4.5 year old in a pullup for a long trip we had where it was a very very tight timeline for driving a long freaking time. i felt a little bad but we made it, so i'm not above it.