With the gift-giving season upon us, travelers everywhere are rubbing their hands together in the hopes of finding two first class (the kids can fly coach) tickets to somewhere warm wrapped in pretty paper. And while chances are slim that you’ll be able to deliver on that wish, you can help another parent out by giving them a travel-related gift that helps make traveling with kids at least a little bit easier.
From the wish I’d thought of that file:
1. Problem: “Which Black Bag is mine?”
Solution: A wireless luggage finder! Snap the gadget onto the handle of your case and never worry about finding your black bag again. Opt for the LED version and when your bag arrives you’ll see the tag blinking like a Christmas tree (you pick the colours) on the belt. Sure it elicited a few stares but hey, small price to pay for not lifting every black bag off that came before it. And who needs a name tag on your bag when you can see someone rolling off with the blinker from miles away. Those who are a little more conservative will like the wireless key chain recognition device that uses a radio frequency tag and will vibrate as your bag approaches. Genius. www.easy-2-pick.com (LED Retails for $9.95; wireless clicker is $24.95)
2. Problem: “I know I put that gameboy/DS/ipod somewhere.”
Solution: Sesame Street’s Elmo Mini Game Pack
Nothing will make you want to turn your car around faster than a slew of “I’m boreds” coming from the back seat. I’m not a fan of video games all the time but I do like the idea of having a diversion (and threatenable object) handy when you need a break. And I’m a HUGE fan of kids carrying their own stuff. This officially licensed “Mini Game Pack” solves both of those issues. The miniature backpack shape comes with a clip that can attach to your child’s bigger bag and has plenty of pockets to hold the gaming system and all of its accessories. The Sesame Street logo (pick from Elmo or Cookie Monster) will be a hit with the kids and keep all of that go-to goodness in one spot. www.dreamgear.net (Retails for $14.99)
3. Problem: I’ve got a baby, not lost my sense of style!”
Solution: Magz Bagz
Megan Turvolgyi loved fun and funky bags. She’d co-ordinate them with her outfits and her shoes. Then she had a baby and….still had a sense of style!
“As a woman you love your handbag and then you have a baby and you give up all the cutesy things,” she recalls. When she couldn’t find the bags she needed to carry the new stuff (diapers, bottles, wipes, gear…) she set out to make her own and Magz Bagz were born. “Some people can look at something conceptually and guess at what might work but having children and knowing what I needed the bag to do made me the perfect person to do it.” The bags are made to order from 100% cotton in Canada (you choose the fabric and style) and custom laminated (UV inhibitors and Phthlate free!) Best of all you won’t have to change who you are to carry them. www.magz-bagz.com (Retails for $28 -$150)
4. Problem: “I’ve got a bag, 20 pounds of camera equipment and 10 pounds of baby to carry and only two arms.”
Solution: Airbak Focus Tech Photography Backpack
Bad backs are one of the less than joyful surprises of parenting. They creep up on you once that 5-pound bundle of joy turns into a 30-pound squirming bundle of a boy. Now try lifting him and dragging your suitcase with a camera bag strap around your neck. Not fun. The Airbak bag has adjustable lumbar support and is designed to take the pressure off your upper and lower back with a “patented system that redistributes the weight to your upper buttocks” (hello!). With several compartments that can hold both your clothing and multiple lenses it can be your all in one carry-on for a short trip. (Airbak Technology is also available in a host of kid-friendly and adult friendly backpack options. www.airbak.com (Retails for $99)
And as our gift to you? Four lucky readers can take home one of the four solutions as a prize. Simply share a dilemma you’ve faced traveling with kids (below) for your chance to win. Readers will be selected at random. The contest closes on November 28, 2010.
Click here for contest Rules and Regulations.
For more family travel musings visit www.globetrottingmama.com
I own the Airbak Focus but it’s not as convenient as it looks, it’s bulky and hangs from my shoulders – hard to really handle well. It’s a mess all around. And the right shoulder strap ripped 3 times, I had to reattach it with my little one in hand. Really not what I expected.
Bonnie Smith
COO/Director FXP
http://www.forexpulse.com
My youngest always shares a bag with me. She is two now and wants her own bag. I hink it will make organizing her stuff much easier
Travelling with small kids it`s really a test of your patience. They always gets bored. So in packing stuff, I make sure everything is complete from their fave toys to their snacks to munch on.
I find it hardest to keep my son busy in a confined space. I would love any of these great prizes thank you for the chance
I love the luggage finder. Too often while travelling, all bags look alike. We started by tying ribbons around the handles, but they often would disintegrate or fall off. These are like finding your car in a large parking lot. Click the key horn and the car miraculously appears.
I used to travel regularly with my son when he was a toddler.. and keeping him occupied in the airport while waiting for the flight to take off is the most challenging. Even if it was past his bed time he would not be able to fall asleep till they turned the lights off in the aircraft..
Other than that we’ve had great times travelling and he has been well behaved and quite easy to please for the most part..
My contant dimemma is how to keep the girls amused, and not killing each other on long car rides. One good trick I have found is to go to the Dollar store and fill treat bags for them. I then give them their surprise bags when I can tell that they are getting restless. I just hope that it is longer than five minutes out of the driveway. They are then entertained for at least half an hour.
We just got back from Mexico and our 5 and 6 year old were great. My carry on was so heavy with all the activities to keep them occupied. The best was a eye spy book – perfect for take off and landings when it’s too loud to read and they can’t watch TV.
Your goodies look amazing for travelling! Please pick me!
Travelling with my niece has always been a joy actually – except finding the thing she wants right then and there. That Airbak would be perfect.
Travelling with sick kids of any age is always a trying experience- especially if they require a visit to the doctor..
Love the wireless luggage finder- what a great idea.
A dilemma has been ‘how much to pack?’. I don’t want to be lugging around a lot of extra clothes and footwear etc., but at the same time, kids’ clothes get dirty so quickly and easily and the weather is also very unpredictable at times. Which is worse, too much or not enough….
I feel the biggest problem is keeping everyone happy at the same time. Letting each one pick an activity helps a lot, but is not a perfect solution.
I have had the kids both get car sick and vommit all over the car. Not fun.
We took a road trip when our son was 1 month old- we had to stop every 2 hours to feed and change him which took about 30-45 mins each time! It made our trip SO long!
The biggest dilemma is being extra organized to include familiar items for them and make sure they get rests when needed- which is almost impossible!
Travelling with 2 toddlers by plane was really a trial. This was years ago and there weren’t great bags like the MagZ Bagz back then.
I think the biggest problem when traveling is to find suitable restaurants for the children that offer good healthy food at reasonable costs.
I love the wireless luggage finder and I need one for my little one too!
If you are going on a road trip try having one small new little toy to keep the little ones amused. Doesn’t have to be anything big. Just nice to have a little surprise for them.
I am travelling this winter, in fact, and have the dilemma of STUFF. Diapers, clothes, entertainment stuff, snacks, and car seats and and and… I need to hire a sherpa or three, perhaps, but then I’d have to pay their fares, too.
That, and how do you change a poopy diaper on a plane, people? Those bathrooms are too tiny, and you know they have no change tables, and poop is not a stand up change situation.
It’s making me crazy, and I haven’t even started packing yet. (Except in my head.)
When my daughter was a toddler traveling by plane was hard. She wanted to get up and walk around. So I had to keep books,games,etc. in my backpack to keep her entertained. If the plane was not too full she could do some walking around up and down the aisle and the stewardesses did not mind.
my biggest dilemma is finding a cool diaper bag to have all the essentials. now i’m expecting baby number 2. I think it will be a bit challenging to find a bag to accomodate the aby and my toddler for traveling shorttrips. we usually end up packing tons of re-usuable shopping bags of stuff and end up with many bags to carry.
My biggest dilema is finding affordable accomodations!
My husband and I have wanderlust and our kids have more passport stamps than many adults we know! Now that we’ve added a third child to the mix, I find myself challenged to find accomodations :o(
Hotels cap their standard rooms to two adults and two children. With three kids, we now have to book (much, much, much!) pricier junior suites.
In the past, we’ve rented apartments…. luckily, we’ve had no problems, but sites like tripadvisor.com are rife with first-hand stories of the perils facing people who’ve rented apartments for vacation stays.
A very tired, crying baby on an airplane that is grounded on the tarmac…….oh what a trying experience! Must have much patience!
when the kids were a little older than baby age it was hard to find a way to carry things, and keep the kids happy. I often had to bring the stroller just in case. they wanted to walk, but they always got tired.
My dilemma is keeping the kids entertained during long trips so they don’t get restless and whiny. I try to take a lot of small games on our trips to keep them occupied.
We were travelling to the US and realized once we got to the border that one passport was missing. We thought it was left at home. Luckily it was just tucked into another pocket in the carry-on bag my son had.
2 adults, 3 kids, 2 large luggages, 3 carseats, 2 strollers a diaper bag and a camera bag. Add in island-hopping to 3 hawaiian islands because we’re suckers for punishment. Getting to each place with all of our belongings and kids intact was a dilemma in itself!
I remember once on a bus, some kid was wailing and wailing, the people were telling mother to shut the kid up…..\\
I was 24 and had a three yr old, I guess I was asleep upon waking did not know where I was…*L* now but not at the time. All I could think of was be quiet and mt son was sleeping in my arms. I kept repeating to myself dont wake up don’t wake up…..I also was on a full bus, travelling from Canada and in the states, dominant African American area, so you know what it was like on the bus all the mommas telling the other to shush that child *S*
scary dilemma is having a hungry crying baby on a plane or bus, especially if other travellers are grouchy and aggressive *L*
My biggest dilemma is always trying to find somewhere to eat that everyone can agree on! My son is soo picky and always wants the big M…
Trying to find familiar foods.
Travel dilemma- traveling a couple of times a year by car for 10 hours with a 7 and 9 year old. The big problem is having enough things to keep them from always asking “are we there yet?”. We do not have a video system in the car and we try to play a lot of word games, and listen to books on CD and I try to pack interesting games they can play together. One trip we took lego with us- it was fun for a while, but there ended up being lego everywhere covered with sticky stuff after a juice box tipped over. So much for arriving clean and refreshed. Just getting everyone where they need to go with the stuff they need is a challenge for us. The camera bag looks great. Thanks
Caroline (aka Parent Club)
I remember running through Frankfurt airport holding a baby, snack bag, activity bag and teddy bear thinking “I so don’t look European Mamma cool”.
The all-in-one solution of the Magz Bagz looks ideal for Moms like me who want to travel with what they need – but look good doing so.
I have the same problem carrying the important stuff for the 5 of us. Mind you my boys (ages 7, 7 and 12) carry their own backpacks when we travel but there are still some things that mom just needs to hold onto just in case. This photo bag is pretty cool.
My biggest problem is trying to fit everything I need into the diaper bag for a 7month old and a 3 year old. Whatever it is that I need always seem to end up at the bottom of the bag when I need it most!
I love the bag finder that is a brilliant product. No more wasted time trying to figure out who’s luggage is who’s at the baggage carousel. Wish i had thought of it!
The wireless luggage finder would be great as we have lost 2 bags in the past -temporarily – as others had picked ours up…Makes for some interesting conversations trying to get them back – but it worked out…
I was once on a trip with my kids and my daughter was very sick; I was worried about her the whole time we were gone away and she did not have a very good trip at all.
On our last golf/Disney trip to Florida last month was how the heck are we going to fit everything in the car to head to the airport? 3 adults, 3 golf bags, 3 suitcases, plus one 7 month old in a bucket car seat, a stroller, two back-packs and a camera bag! And that was us packing ‘light’!! We somehow got it all in the Rav4… the backseat passenger (me) had no leg room, because that’s where we fit 2 of the golf bags. Then the dilemma, how do you carry all the stuff around the airport? Well we did that to. The must have on all your suitcases are SPINNER WHEELS, I was able pushed 2 suitcases one handed because of the spinner wheels, they make such a difference, the other hand had pushed the stroller and I wore the back-pack. We were quite the wide load, haha!
The biggest problem I have is that somehow whatever I need is always at the bottom of the bag we pack so am trying to pack a bit different lately
My biggest dilemma is not being able to quickly and easily access stuff I packed to keep my kids entertained. When baby starts fussing or my preschool son starts fidgeting, I need a diversion NOW, not after five minutes of rooting through a bag! 🙂
This luggage finder is awesome. I started to purchase luggage in vibrant colors so you can pick it out of a haystack too as I was tired waiting around and searching for my bag. It seems when you are looking for your bags everyone go the same bag as you on sale at Walmart. LOL. Great ideas.
hmmm…why is it that every time you need something out of the diaper bag…it is the one on the very bottom of the luggage?! “Which Black Bag is mine” is a shoo-in! Great idea.
So simple yet so clever for “Which Black Bag is mine?”
Well my children are now grown but I remember the major dilemna was travelling with an infant; always make sure u pack their formula; as the place u stop just may not carry it and u do not want a sick baby on board.
A couple of dilemnas are, when we are travelling out of town in the minivan, it is at different times of the day, going in different directions. The sun always ends up shining in the little guy’s face. Also, he falls asleep in his car seat, and his neck is not supported and flops all over the place, making him wake up. These things drive me to distraction… 🙂
I love the Which Black Bag is mine, what a great idea.
the person who invented the airbak is a genious. usually the camera is ruined by all the leaks in the diaper bag! bottles, sippy cups…wet clothes! having a separate compartment is great!
i had to get 2 sleeping children off an airplane by myself once with some not so helpful airline staff. i’m taking one to the front to put in the stroller and the one says, “you can’t leave her here!”. duh! don’t know if there’s a solution for that! 🙂
I looooove that magz bag! I used a camera bag as my diaper bag when my kid was very little – the compartments are perfectly sized for baby things!