This past Christmas, my brother and sister-in-law gave us a unique and wonderful gift. They knew that we were planning a family road trip so they made us a road trip gift basket. It was full of everything we could need for the long drive and even had some funny items added such as earplugs to drown out the kids fighting!
They packaged everything in a sturdy box which was the perfect size for setting on the floor behind the front console, within easy reach of the passenger front seat.
Included in our gift basket:
- bottled water
- soda pop
- wet naps
- hand sanitizer
- headache medicine
- sunscreen
- hand lotion
- lip chap
- mints
- candy
- chewing gum
- Munchies
- band aids
- kleenex packets
- car air freshener
- ear plugs
- huge pack of chocolate bars
- McDonald’s gift card
- gas gift card
- Travel Bingo
- Barnyard Squiggle On the Go
- pens
This type of gift basket would be a welcome gift for any family planning a trip. I know that when we are on the road, we are going to be appreciating the care that went into putting together our basket! With so many kids, we may appreciate the ear plugs most of all!
Here are some other ideas that you could include in a road trip basket:
- Magic Ink books
- DVDs if the family has a portable DVD player
- CDs
- sticker books
- magnetic puzzles
- travel scavenger hunt
- Spot It! On the Road
- Mad Libs On the Road
- Travel Memory Game (we have this and have gotten a lot of use out of it)
- Etch-a-Sketch (this is hands-down our favourite travel companion!)
- baby wipes
- sticker puzzles
- magnetic travel games
- batteries
- mouthwash
- deodorant
- toothbrushes and/or floss sticks
You could even make your own binder full of games, puzzles, mazes, and activities using printable pages and plastic sleeves and add some dry erase markers. I gave each of my kids a clipboard for the printable sheets that I gave them on the trip. Each time we crossed a border into a new province or State, I gave them new printable sheets pertaining to that State or province. It was a fun way to mark those border crossings.
These are some free printable pages that you can use to create your own road trip activities:
Road Trip Drawing Prompts from Picklebums
Road Trip Bingo from Housing a Forest
Road Trip Activity Pack from Playdough to Plato
Car Games from 123Homeschool4Me
The License Plate Game (Canada and the U.S.) from Makeovers and Motherhood
Road Trip Journal Pages from Peace But Not Quiet
In the coming weeks, we will be traveling through British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Utah, and Montana.
