How to Pack for Babies and Toddlers (with free Printable!)

Hi Friends! I have exciting news- tomorrow we are off on a vacation to California! We have a house sitter looking after our dogs and home and we will hop on a plane bright and early in the morning! A big highlight of the trip will be taking Don to Disneyland for the first time. My sister who lives in Ohio will also be there with her kids. I am SO excited!!! Just everyone hope that Don is good on the flight. The last time Don flew he was 11 months and not walking yet (which I am guessing makes a difference). He was so good on the flight and I am hoping that we will be as lucky this time. He has his own seat, so that should help.

Now back to the subject at hand- how to pack for kids. I am one of those weird people who likes to pack. I think that anticipating a trip is part of the beauty of traveling. For this trip, we have decided to try to not check any baggage. That means that we have to be SUPER smart packers. For that I decided to try out the EZ Packing system. I went with the starter set that includes 4 pieces. I ended up using the 3 smaller pieces for Don’s bag and the largest one for my bag.

To start off with, I gathered all of Don’s things he would need for the trip. I packed for 6 days plus 3 backup outfits because #toddlers. In the very smallest packing cube, I put all of his shirts. I love that they are all compact and together. Plus they are in there nice and tight so they won’t wrinkle (you know, like when you shove clothes in your suitcase and they all shift around).

I put the rest of this clothes (shorts, pants, jumpers, jacket, bibs, hats) in the next size cube.

The next largest cube I reserved for swim items. We are planning on lots of pool swimming, so we wanted to bring Don’s hooded swim towel. Towels are SO bulky to pack, but it worked nicely to have this on the bottom, and then layer on top his swim trunks, rash guard, reusable swim diapers, sunglasses,  a light blanket and toys. I was super amazed at how much fit in this cube!

Baby Lit Books available here (Amazon affiliate link)

I was pretty sure that we would have to buy diapers in California, but spoiler alert, I got enough to fit! They got packed wherever there was extra space. We are also bringing a diaper bag which will have activities for the plane, extra diapers, wipes, travel sized toiletries, fever medicine, binkies, treats, a sippy cup, and passport. I love that the cubes are transparent so that we can easily find what we packed. I love opening the suitcase and seeing organization! You know, instead of having everything fall out. In the future, I would buy more of the small bins for myself so each outfit could take up one cube- it would totally make my organization dreams come true!

In a normal suitcase, I’d suggest packing these so that the bins are in your bag vertically, but Don’s odd shaped suitcase only worked with the bins in there horizontally. It works great, but here is a video the illustrates how to pack vertically if you have the space:

And guess what?! My friends at EZ Packing wanted to offer you a 10% discount! Just use the code Ashley10 at checkout.

I have created a free baby/toddler packing list, just fill in the below information and it will be emailed right to you. I love having a list of everything to consider packing so that I don’t miss anything! I hope this is helpful for you too!

I will be on my Instagram documenting my trip, so follow me there if you aren’t already!

This post was sponsored by EZ Packing. All opinions are my own. I really love how beautifully organized this helped my and Don’s bag be. I would 100% recommend this set to anyone.

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