This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
At least once a week, I notice that someone forgets something and I say “You left home without ____?” I have learned to be prepared! Now, I’ve found my favorite 10 things to keep the car. Sometimes we will even grab our snack hack and take that with us, too!
I made this list of 10 must-haves for the car, when you have kids, a few years ago. I have found that even though our kids are now older, the things that I keep in the car remain the same. 🙂
This post contains affiliate links
We have four kids, so we are ALWAYS trying to find things in the car. When emergencies pop up, we like to be prepared. It was mostly “learning through experience” that brought us to this list. I’ve been caught without many of these too many times and I’ve learned my lesson! Our car is not “ready for anything” (most of the time, anyway!) Plus, Our kids are young and we need a little more than families with older children.
1. Coats or zip-up sweatshirts in the trunk.
I do this because our kids are constantly cold, especially in restaurants, so if I can have a coat handy, it works out great. I even do this in the summertime because this is when everyone has their AC on full blast and our kiddos get extra-cold if we are out to eat.
2. An extra pair of flip-flops
I can remember several times, when our kids were toddlers or young preschoolers, that they had just forgotten their shoes. Don’t ask me how I overlooked that little detail while we were getting into the car, but somehow it happened more than once.
I’ve also had each of our four kids break a flip-flop at least once during an outing.
Oh- and muddy puddles. How did I forget those?! When my kids were young, they stepped in plenty of puddles and they were left with soaking wet shoes.
Having an extra pair in the car is always a good idea. It may seem weird, but trust me… there is a reason. 🙂
3. Bandaids
You never know when you’ll need one.
4. Power Converter – my FAVORITE thing to keep in the car!
This little box turns any normal plug into a car plug. I can charge anything using this and I use it all of the time! I’ve used this on my laptop, portable DVD players, a cooler that works with a little air conditioner that’s powered by an outlet, the kids’ tablets on a long trip (since our back seat doesn’t have the right outlet for their devices), and so many more things.
This is life-changing for me! (I keep this & all of my chargers in the little-hidden console under the dash). Here is the power converter that we have.
5- Extra Grocery Bags
We always have stuff that needs to be thrown away when we are out & about (antibacterial hand wipes that I made them use after we left the last store, wrappers, broken pencils, paper, empty water bottles) and these grocery-store bags are the perfect way to get rid of it. When we stop to get gas, or when we are going to walk into a store, I will just grab one of the bags from the dashboard and pass it around. The kids toss any trash into the bag and we carry it to the nearest garbage can.
6. Snacks
I try to keep a few snacks in the car because sometimes plans change, and that trip that should have taken one hour is now approaching its third hour.
It just makes it easier if I have a snack to pass back to the kids. Plus, this stops everyone (including myself) from asking if we can stop for something to eat.
7- Sunglasses (extras!)
A few years ago my Mom & I were shopping at Michaels and they had their sunglasses on clearance for 50 cents. We bought about 6 pairs. I have lost most of them by now, but I still keep a few spare pairs of these sunglasses in the car, just in case I lose my regular sunglasses. My kids have also used them when they have forgotten their sunglasses at home.
Oh- I try to stock up each year, at the end of the season. They are always discounted.
TIP: You could even order a cheap pack of 12 and just keep them in the car, under the front seat.
8 – Water Bottles
I keep 3 water bottles in my trunk (in a tote bag). It seems to be a cure-all when we have sticky hands! (NOTE: It has been found that they can leak chemicals, so you might not want to do this. I keep them in there because we use the water to wash up when we are in a bind, but we usually have fresh (new that day) water to drink because the kids grab a new water bottle from the refrigerator in our garage before hopping into the car in the mornings.)
9- My “Restaurant backpack”
This is a backpack that I keep just for going out to eat or going somewhere like that. I keep hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, coloring books, crayons, some small toys & a few other little things. When the kids were young, I kept a high-chair cover and disposable bibs in the bag, too.
10- 3 pack of $.99 Tissues
It never fails that the kids need a tissue when I have none. Now, I keep a skinny box or travel packs of tissues in the glove compartment.
WHAT TO KEEP IN YOUR CAR: READER SUGGESTIONS
-
- Scissors (in case you need to cut a seatbelt)
- An extra pair of clothes for the kids
- Ziplock bags (for new clothes & then dirty clothes)
- “barf bags” using disposable diaper genie refills.
- Sticky Notes made FOR YOUR VISOR (love this idea!)
- If you have a potty trainer, keep a mini baby bjorn travel potty in your car.
- A coloring book (we love our Potty Training Coloring binder that we made).
- A bag of books
- Decorate a shoe box as their special car toy box- let them pick the toys that go in it.
- Keep a roll of toilet paper in a plastic bag in the trunk
- 1/2 a roll of paper towel (takes up less room, but does the job.)
- Car laundry basket. Everything goes in there and then into the house (sports stuff, etc…)
- Spare change
- A towel, in case you get caught in the rain (or jumping in puddles!)
What else can you think of?
..
MORE POSTS YOU MIGHT LIKE:
Road Trip tips for Kids
Or check out this master list of freebies.
we have alot of the mentioned stuff and also keep qt of oil for car and gloves for the car emergency stuff. with 3 kids and only a midsized car they each get one of those sm kiddy back packs to put all of their own ‘stuff’ including clothes and toys for car trips.
Good idea!
A restaurant backpack is a great idea. I try to keep everything in my diaper bag and with two kiddos it’s always huge.
🙂 Mine is huge, too!! haha! My husband made a video on his blog (yourmoderndad.com) where he showed what was in my giant purse! lol!
Did not read all comments, but a fleece blanket is always welcome when mom and dad have had fun with friends and kids will fall asleep on the way home. Ours are 11 and 9 now, but love to snuggle up on the way home.
My son constantly gets car sick, we carry either an empty baby wipes container or coffee can with us. Great because bags leak, but these we just snap the lid on.
Just found your post and I have most everything mentioned in my van. One thing I do to store water and food like granola bars is to put them in a insulated, collapsible cooler. It has wheels and a handle if I have an emergency and need to leave my van with my gear. One of my kids can pull it if needed. I haven’t had a problem with my water bottles getting too hot or the chocolate in the granola bars melting. Just a thought!
Great idea!
My mom always kept a coffe can, with food lion bags, wash cloth, bottle of water in it. It’s the throw up kit. I keep mine in the trunk because THANK GOD my kids don’t get sick, but if they are ill and we get in the car I’ll hand it to them. I’ll take the stuff out and line the tub with a few bags so if they get sick I remove the bag and keep Rollin! You can obviously tweak it according to your family’s needs!
I’ll also keep an “extras” bag of some sort… Similar to what she’s posted here but just 1 bag in the trunk that has the extra jackets, extra shoes, a ziplock of snacks, bottle of water, washcloth, beach towel, an extra outfit per kid, big t for mommy, and a couple of cloth diapers and pack of wipes. My reasons for cloth diapers: it’s come in MAJOR handy in a bind!! We part time cloth, so if I forget diapers or forget the whole diaper bag (don’t judge) I’ll have them. Another time a friend of mine called on her way to the er with one kid, and I told her I’d meet her there to grab her infant. When I went to pickup I forgot his diapers. NO PROBLEM!! My cloth diapers are one sized, so I not only had some in the car, I was prepared for that baby! Lol
My kids are older but I still always have wet wipes
Tweezers for the slivers my daughter always seems to get. Also a hair brush and a couple if pony tails but this is usually in my purse. It’s good to have them in the car for dad though.
We use empty ziploc bags as barf bags. That way I can zip it closed and dispose of it at the next stop, and no one has to smell it for too long. We use a metal/cloth basket to keep a few books and toys.
I also pack water bottles and snacks daily so we don’t leave them in the car.
Oh you have a happiness family
Love to read this article. I’m very much glad to find this article. It gives me some valuable information that I’m looking for. Thanks and keep sharing 🙂
Parents must take note of this article to keep their kids most especially when traveling with them.
Chapstick…my whole family is addicted! And hair ties…seems like the girls always need to have their hair up and never have hair ties!
You are SO right. I can never keep enough hair ties around. I swear they disappear into thin air!!
Hi, thank you so much for sharing your helpful tips with us especially sometimes it is hard to deal with kids inside the car. I’d like to ask what are the best way to have rules inside implemented to minimize the chaos of kids to happen inside the car? Thanks a lot!