We were supposed to be heading to Hawaii, I’m still soooo sad about that, as are my kids. We didn’t end up needing all the beach-y things, but we will still be spending plenty of time in the sunshine in St. George!! If we were headed to the beach, here’s a few things we would definitely be bringing. They’re mostly from Amazon in case you needed quick shipping before you leave. Most of them can totally be packed up and brought across the world easily, a couple of them can’t…
1. Beach Bags – Heres the thing.. it depends on what kind of trip you’re going on. Do you have kids with you? Are you going for cute? How much stuff will you be hauling? I do love a good mesh bag for the beach.. sand toys, goggles, etc. get tossed into it and it doesn’t matter if they’re sandy because the sand literally falls right out and you end up bringing nasty stuff home.. Lots of people have the cutest beach bags, but I tend to think more practical. I did recently buy the Aloha Collection day tripper bag and it was awesome for Hawaii. I LOVE that it has a zipper up top to keep all the sand out. I used it for a week in Hawaii a few weeks ago and I didn’t get any sand in it! This one from amazon is my absolute fave it comes in a few colors.. tap pictures below for other options I like!
2. Sun Hat – this hat has amazing full coverage but you can still see with it.. it’s the one I took to bora bora and Hawaii. It’s pretty inexpensive — it’s also on both boys and girls teen gift guides! I’ve also had this visor from amazon before, which rolled up amazing for packing in a suitcase. The all time best visors are the Free People Baha Visors, though.
3. Swimwear – Anisten + I are loving our Coral Reef Swim.. I have a whole highlight on my instagram called “coral reef swim” that shows us in a bunch of different styles. The leisure bottoms are for sure both of our faves, but we like a variety of tops. One amazing thing about them is they have toddler all the way up through XXXL adult (Code TARA should auto apply through the link)! If you’re looking for other ideas, check out my teen girl easter gift guide.. it has some of Em’s target faves on there. This is one of the coverups that I fell in love with last year! I got the dark beige color.
4. Beach Games – okay, after the water, before the sunbathing, between the snacks – my kids get bored. Shocker, right?? I just want to sit on the beach and relax.. but, they (mostly meaning the boys at this point) usually need something to do. You’ve seen Em, she will sunbathe in 40 degree weather if the UV is right, so she’s content on the beach. I grabbed this bung hole toss last year (why does this name gotta be so cringe?!?!), and it was a huge hit in Mexico. I also grabbed skip ball for the boys for Christmas for us to try out this year.. Can’t forget about the nerf football.. Here are some other ideas:
5. Jack Black Lip Balm – This is SO important.. you 100% need an SPF for your lips – along with your whole families. If you haven’t sunburned your lips before, consider yourself lucky + just start using this as a preventative.. if you have, you know how important this is already. There are a ton of SPF lip options, but this is Braun + I’s fave after testing a bunch of them.
6. Beach Towels + Changing Poncho – Geometry recently came out with their new beach towels and we LOVE them. They pack up so small, but are actually HUGE! Braun asked if we could replace every towel in our house with these because of the room we would save, and they’re that soft! Code TARA always works on their site! (these were our fave beach towels before we got geometry..) These changing ponchos are something I grabbed for the whole family after my friend Jasmine gave me one as a gift on our Red Aspen trip! They’re basically giant hooded towels, but if you need to change under them, they’re roomy enough to do so. Makes it nice to take a wet bathing suit off before hopping back in a vehicle at the end of the day + you don’t have to be barefoot in a gross public changing room.
7. Sunscreen – I feel like this is a no-brainer, but, we definitely have some favorite brands. For babies thru little kids: babyganics (the spray + face sticks are the best) – or I just barely saw that cerave has a baby SPF and their brand is usually really amazing for skincare. For the rest of the family I like to check for a couple of things… mineral sunscreen + reef friendly, plus as clean for ingredients as it can get.. Sunbum is our favorite for bodies, and the DIME wonderscreen (code TARA20) or Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen is our fave for faces!
8. Sunshade or Umbrella – okay, this is the one that isn’t very travel friendly.. but if you’re going to a local beach or somewhere in driving distance I 100% recommend something like this.. The sunshade is basically a beach tent open on one side. It’s really awesome for families with littler ones, we even used to use this at things like soccer practices or games while waiting for an older kiddo to finish up. This umbrella has super good coverage being 8ft. If you go the umbrella route – consider this sand anchor for making sure it stays put, this table tray or this hook set up for hanging towels to enhance use!
9. Beach Blanket – it’s a bit bulky to travel with but if you’re bringing geometry towels, it basically would take up the room allowed for normal towels.. plus, it’s super handy at the beach. The sand slips right through it + keeps your bum and sandwiches mostly sand free. This was SO helpful when the kids were littler.
10. Sand Toys – the boys had this exact set of sand toys for years and years. We even traveled with them.. the good thing about them is that they’re under $20, so if you really don’t feel like traveling home with them…. you can 100% chuck them and replace them when you get back and feel less guilty. Here’s some other options:
11. Baby Powder – seems silly, but do you want to know the ultimate hack for getting wet OR dry sand off?? Baby Powder.. You just put it on over where the sand is and it brushes right off instantly. That means no more rinsing off and getting wet all over again before leaving. It’s such a time saver, and it’s awesome right before a beach picnic too. Or, use one of these awesome things. They work great, too! (but then ya gotta deal with a sandy mitt.. baby powder is just so easy!)
12. Bluetooth Speaker – what’s the beach without music?! This thing is sand, dirt, and waterproof. It’s been one of our favorites throughout the years! We’ve had ours since 2018.
Hope this was helpful for spring break or for this coming summer!! If you’re traveling for spring break – come tell me where! I love knowing where everyone is going. 🙂
