We love a good road trip. One of our goals is to squeeze every little bit we can out of summer, including all the road trips we can manage. But traveling with kids can be tricky if you’re not prepared. And great road trip snacks are a major factor of success.

I have put together a road trip snacks kit that is sure to save the day.  It’ll keep the whole car happy – and that means momma doesn’t have to spend the whole trip opening juice boxes and chucking bags of chips into the back seat.

ROAD TRIP SNACKS KIT

PUTTING YOUR SNACK KITS TOGETHER

This part is the most crucial part. But that’s ok, it’s important but it’s also pretty easy. You’re just dividing up snacks for each person – yes, like you do every day – but, today it’s for the entire day… at one time. You got this! It’s a little more work, but it will be worth it. Ready?

Materials for your road trips snacks kit:

– small baskets that are easy to see inside – it will be easier to find what you are looking for if you can see it.
– snack friendly foods – I’ll get more in-depth in just a second.  It’ll be worth it, promise.
– small containers or ziptop bags – consider serving sizes when selecting these.

Directions to put together a road trip snacks kit:

– Purchase or make your snack-friendly foods and divide your road trip snacks into single serving sizes.  Not single serving in terms of nutrition facts, but how much you want to consume (or to be consumed) at a single time.

– Fill your small containers with your single-serving sized road trip snacks.  Consider the age of the kit’s owner as to how much you put in each container.  For example, I wouldn’t give my husband and my three-year-old the same sized snacks.  There would be a mutiny on my hands.

– Store all road trip snacks inside the small baskets.  Each person gets their own basket.  Place the baskets within easy reach of each person’s seat.  If you will have to hand out snacks to the kids, make it so you can reach them.

– Depending on the length of your trip, you can decide if you will refill the road trip snacks baskets at a certain time or not.  On our nearly-900 mile trip, I will be refilling the baskets about every 200 miles.  This will help my family pace themselves in their snacking and, hopefully, help avoid any carsick episodes from overeating.

ROAD TRIP SNACK IDEAS

DISCLAIMER: These are just ideas. Depending on the age and diets of your travel companions, you may want to adjust this list and consider choking hazards. Choose foods your family enjoys and focus on your specific snacking needs. The kit I created was for me and it doesn’t include all the items listed. I would make adjustments to my kit for both my kids and my husband. Do what is best for each member of your family. That’s why everyone gets their own kit.

– licorice
– candies
– chips
– pretzels
– trail mix
– fruit cups
– granola bars
– applesauce
– dried apple slices
– dried apricots
– dried bananas
– dried mangos
– crackers
– string cheese
– cheese cubes
– raw almonds
– raw pecans
– pistachios
– peanuts
– grapes
– apple slices
– cucumber slices
– grape tomatoes
– baby carrots
– celery sticks
– jicama slices
– mango cubes
– fruit snacks or leather
– Water

ROAD TRIP BINGO!

I also made a little game up for my kids.  Because 900 miles is a long way.  And they are on a Bingo kick right now.  This is super simple to put together and it might help pass a few miles with out the “are we there yet?” version of 20 questions.  There are two ways to play.  You can mark off the boxes as you see the item in each box along the road.  Or you can print an extra Bingo card and make little cards out of them that you draw and then each player can mark off the picture on their game board.

Materials:
– The Road Trip Bingo game boards.  There are three versions of the boards.  All the boards have the same pictures, but in different spots.  Make prints of the same game board to see who is being the most observant and race each other to Bingo!  Or print off all three boards and see who can get Bingo first the traditional way.
– Laminator and laminating sheets (or contact paper will work too)
– Scissors

Directions:
– Download the game boards.  You’ll have to click each link to download and save it to your computer.
Version 1          Version 2          Version 3          
– Print the game boards.  If you opt to make a set of cards to draw and play that way, I would suggest printing at least the extra game board on card stock so you can’t see through the paper.  I didn’t even think about it and just used regular paper – so my cards are see through.  Do as I say, not as I do.  It’ll save you some paper and ink.  And time when you have to print and laminate them again.

– Laminate the boards.

– Cut the extra board apart on the black lines.

– Lay out the squares on a laminating sheet.  Make sure there’s enough space between each card.  Laminate the cards and cut them apart.

– I made a little pocket on the back of one of the game boards to hold the cards when they aren’t being played with.  I just took some duct tape and taped a ziptop bag onto the back of the board.  Totally optional and it doesn’t look real pretty, but it will help us keep from losing the pieces.

That’s it!  Super easy.  You can use a dry erase marker or pencil to mark off the boxes as you play.  If you put the pocket on the back of one of the game boards, you could store the dry erase markers in there too.  Or just use pieces of your road trip snacks kit to mark off the boxes.  First one to “Bingo!” gets to eat their board markers!

HAPPY ROAD TRIPPING!

AND HAPPY ROAD TRIPS SNACKS!