Summer time is such an amazing time of year, full of new adventures and family beach trips. I love that that the days are so long, even the sunsets seem more beautiful. We already had one successful beach trip this year with a toddler and leave next week for round two. I am excited to share everything you need for your next beach trip with a toddler. This is what worked for us, any tips and tricks we learned along the way. If you see or want to add to this list drop a comment below. All other mom tricks are welcome!

If you are able to fly I would 100% do that. For us, it really wasn’t an option. We haven’t had to mask Eloise and since she has only been two for a month we did’t really feel like her first plane ride would be a great or fair place to start. Therefore we drove, and I say let screen time rules go out the window and just show them the movies. The iPad clipped to the head rest was an actual life saver. Be sure you download movies, shows or games to the device prior to leaving because you can’t play them in the car otherwise!

For sleep I try to keep things as close to home as possible and this seems to work for Eloise. We bring a portal monitor, her same sound machine and a home crib sheet so it smells like home. You can obviously do a pack and play. Sometimes we will bring this insert just to add some padding or my mother in law has these pop up cribs at their beach condo for all the babies to use.

Once you get travel and sleep down it’s pretty much just getting to the beach and lots of toys! Here is a complete packing list with links below! I hope this is helpful.

Toddler Beach Trip Packing List

• Baby pool
• Buckets, nets, shovels, any kind of sand toy
• Sunscreen and bug spray
• Hat, towels, water shoes
• Kid chairs
• Snacks, snacks and more snacks
• Insulted cup that can keep water/ juice cold
• Swim / Regular diapers and wipes
• Extra Aquaphor – used for skin and booty felt like she was extra dry from the sun
• Massive beach bag you can put everything in
• Fan
• Stroller you don’t mind getting a little sandy
• Wagon
• Onsies
• Sound machine, camera, crib sheets, pack and play or pop up crib
• Spray bottle for water to rinse sand because you waste water bottles trying to clean their hands
• Puddle jumper (what we personally use)
• Cups for snacks to help keep the sand out
• Extra hair ties a must because all the girls kept breaking
• Personally love having my loopy case so I could take my phone everywhere
• Tent or umbrella for shade
• Good cooler usually love one that rolls

Thank you so much for stopping by, photos by Erin Miller Photography .