Keeping car organized/sleep on a long drive

[jm106]

We drove from NJ in October and much as we said we wouldn't, we are driving it again.

I hated how the car became a disaster quickly. I am interested in ways to organize kids activity stuff, kindles, books, drawing stuff. Tried art caddy but things kept getting dropped, the caddy fell off seat and got really disorganized. Any ideas as to another way to keep it all.
I had a pile on the floor by my feet, was climbing over to retrieve items it stags behind my seat.

Also do you use regular bed pillows for kids? We won't drive through the night but I want them to be comfy. I made the mistake if getting seat pets and they weren't great. Any tips are appreciated. I was ok with driving again originally but now dread is taking over

 

[maxiesmom]

When we drove each person had a bag for their stuff. A backpack or tote bag full of their books and games and whatnot. If they were not using it, it went back into the bag.

How old are your kids?

 

[Lisaren]

Snacks are kept in the truck and eaten at gas and/or bathroom stops. Sometimes we stop at rest areas to eat a snack and walk around just for the break. This does extend driving time, but does keep trash to a minimum. Travel toys are kept to a minimum. One electronic medium per child (not including phone or music player if owned by that child) and a book or two. We use an old set of trivial pursuit cards that I read the question and see if anyone knows the answer to entertain the whole car at times. Everyone seems to enjoy this. We also discuss the areas we are traveling through. I have two children and one always insists on having a blanket in the backseat, but pillows are not really necessary for us. The best way to keep down clutter is to not bring it along.

 

[jm106]

Thanks. I'm ok with them having a bunch if comforts and items to keep busy. 18-20 hours is a long time in the car.

 

[jm106]

When we drove each person had a bag for their stuff. A backpack or tote bag full of their books and games and whatnot. If they were not using it, it went back into the bag.

How old are your kids?

6 and 9. I just can't figure out where to store the bag bc once buckled in, they cannot reach a bag on the floor(My kids are tiny, my 9 year old is still in a booster!) That's why art caddy seemed ok but fell off. I looked at some over the seat options.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

Have them each bring a bookbag. Put them in the middle seat and run the seatbelt through the straps. Then they are always within reach and won't fall to the floor. Blankets and pillows can be folded and stacked under the bookbags. If it doesn't fit in the bookbag, it doesn't go.

 

[BigTigger]

If your back seat has seating for three then you also have the three sets of clips for car seat anchors on the seat tops. You can use the middle ones to clip two backpacks to that holds items for each of them within easy reach. You may need to fiddle around to find the right backpack, but most have one or two clips on the top to covert the backpack from two arms to one arm sling. Use that single clip to hold the top of the backpack and it will also keeo it upright and free from spilling its contents.

On the pillow side, I used to joke that my kids took their bedrooms on vacation too, but I'd have them take as many pillows and blankets as they need to sleep through the overnight drive. The rule of kids is one is always cold and one is always hot so the car temperature is never to the liking of all. Safe travels!!

 

[MAJPLO]

I travel frequently on long car rides with my now 6 and 8 year old. I am usually the only adult so I have to have things easy to reach without taking my eyes off the road. I use either a plastic box about the size of a double shoe box or a square fabric box and leave it on the passenger seat. In it I put all snacks in a gallon zip lock back, DVDs (titles facing up!), books, toys, etc. I keep the most popular toys in the back seat pocket so the kids can reach them on their own. For pillows I would use either a half size airline type of pillow or those curved pillows they sell at airports. I try to bring thin but warm blankets to minimize the volume of space used up! When there is another adult, I usually do the same thing, but put the box of entertainment in the middle seat between the kids and keep the snack on the floor up front with me/the adult passenger. We try to take things on car trips that they don't use every day so I will buy a new play pack of crayons with stickers and coloring books or a new puzzle book from the dolaar store. They like those magnetic drawing boards (small ones) or etch a sketch. I try to keep these out of the regular every day rotation so they are still interesting when we go on a road trip. As far as trash I just try to keep a spare plastic bag and put things in there and dump it any time we stop. Have fun!

 

[canadiankim]

What about a seat back tidy that has different pockets in it. If your kids can reach the back of the seat in front of them this might help keep things more organised. Of course it also depends on the type of car you have too.

When we drove last our kids were 7 & 10 and we had a mini van. We ended up taking out a row of seats and so the kids had lots of room. We let them bring their bed pillows as it was not just a comfort thing but a familiar thing for them. They had a dvd player that hung from between the seats and we had a cooler box on the floor that the 10 year old could reach for everyone. We also put in a little foot stool for our youngest as her legs were too short to reach the floor and she had found it tiring on a previous long journey with her legs just hanging.

 

[ljcrochet]

We drove from Long Island to WDW in December. Each of my girls took their beach bag which is like a bucket tote that doesn't close with stuff for the car. They had a pillow that i made for the car that was long and thin. We also took out one of the seats and put in a cooler with drinks and some snacks for the ride.
We had a ton of plastic bags that we used as garbage bags which we dumped every time we stopped.
We had planned on stopping over night- but I took a nap as soon as we hit the road, so was good to drive most of the night. DH took over in the early morning when I got too tired, but he had slept most of the night. We listened to podcast most of the way. I found the trip down much easier than the trip up since my girls mostly slept unlike the drive home.