Are you planning a road trip with twins? Here are our top tips for planning your road trip from setting expectations, planning for breaks, meals on the go, activities, and more!
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Table of Contents
Planning Your Road Trip with Twins
When planning a road trip with twins, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and want to just stay home. I’ve been there. Lol I got back up though and realized it would be worth it so I pushed forward.
Set Expectations (Low)
I don’t say this to be a buzzkill but rather so you aren’t hugely disappointed, set your expectations low. Twins are kids and kids often have difficulty with change. A road trip is a big change in your everyday routine.
There will be tantrums (hopefully just younger twins but who knows) and you will likely run behind at some point in your trip, whether that’s running late to get started or too many rest stops or random roadside attractions.
Give yourself plenty of time to get where you are going, say if you need to check in at a certain time or whatever the case may be. Plan big buffer zones around meals, bathroom breaks, roadside attractions, etc.
A trip that would take 3 hours if you drove straight through is likely to take 4 hours or more, depending on the age of your kids, potty training status, whether they nap in the car or not, and more.
Planning Ahead for Meals
Food is one of the best things about a road trip! Pile on the snacks, fun finger foods, and sweets! Ok…maybe not if your kids are really young but you could still indulge!
Really though, planning meals on the go doesn’t have to be stressful.
If you have the ability to get fast food for meals or stop at a restaurant, plan ample time for that. There may be long lines, waiting periods to sit down and eat, etc.
If you’re like us and have food allergies in the family or just prefer to bring your own food, plan and pack your meals ahead of time.
We use Plan to Eat to help us plan and get the groceries we need but even without that, here are some tips.
Use Bento Boxes
Bento boxes are amazing for road trips. We have a 6-pack so each one of us has one (plus an extra). Granted, when there are multiple meals on the go we have to plan a little differently but overall they work very well. It’s nice that each has it’s own cover to keep things contained, the tops are different colors so I can easily keep track of whose is whose.
They’re big enough so you can fit a sandwich in the large section or a wrap or meat and cheese, whatever you want. In the middle size one we tend to have crackers or chips or veggies. In the smallest we have a fruit or a treat.
They are great for having in their laps while they eat instead of having sandwich bags to open and stuff falling all over the place. In all honesty, sometimes we go for a drive in our van and pack bento boxes for a meal just to get out of the house and have a nicer dinner time as they tend to eat nicer and quieter in the van. Lol
Here are a couple of options:
Large Soft Cooler and Ice Packs
Another great thing to have is a cooler, especially a large soft cooler so you can fold it up and stow it away when it’s empty. Sure, the traditional coolers are great but they’re so bulky and heavy!
I recommend the ice packs below as well, or some of a similar thickness. I’ve found the thinner ice packs to thaw out much too quickly for road trips.
Planning Ahead for Potty Breaks
If your twins are potty trained or in the process, I highly recommend a travel potty seat in your vehicle if you can fit it. We have one in our van and we use it ALL the time, not just long road trips. By we, I do most definitely include myself as I use it as well. It’s so nice to not have to run into a dirty gas station and just be able to dump it out in the grass or down a drain.
We have this model in our minivan and have two seats taken out so we have room to use it comfortably, and to have more room to haul things as well as easier time getting in and out.
It does come with bags that you can do your business in but we tend to use those only on the rare occasion of when we poop.
Rest Stops and Playgrounds
If you’d rather use rest stops (which we do as well), you can plan them out in your route or find the ones that have something neat nearby. There is one that we tend to stop at on the way back from visiting a cabin every year that has a huge Paul Bunyan statue we like to have our pictures taken with.
Others have playgrounds that are great for kids to get some wiggles out before the next stretch of the trip.
Planning Ahead for Pumping/Feeding
If you are breastfeeding or pumping for your twins during your road trip, plan ahead for that as well. If breastfeeding, you may need to stop throughout the trip to feed your twins. You know how long that usually takes for your twins but keep in mind they may be distracted with new surroundings and you may be stressed and rushed which may hamper your milk supply.
The best way to relax is to make sure that you plan ahead so you have plenty of time and account for extra time due to stress and distractibility.
If you’re pumping, get an adapter so you can plug your pump into your vehicle, if you don’t already have one. This is ideal if you’re a passenger and while I don’t recommend pumping while driving, I had to do it plenty in the first several months of our twins’ lives. It can be done if needed.
If pumping, be sure to have a cooler bag with pump parts and extra bottles and enough space to fit bottles with milk. I go into more detail in my Breastfeeding and Pumping for Twins blog post under the heading Pumping on the Go.
In addition to having time to pump or doing so while in transit, you’ll likely need to set aside time to bottle feed your twins. This can most easily be done if they’re next to each other and you can just feed them in their car seats, but that’s up to you.
Feeding time is also a great time to check diapers and let your twins out of their car seats for a snuggle and a stretch before snapping them back in and hitting the road again.
Packing Lists
We’ve found it’s helpful to have a packing list either on paper or a Google Doc that we can print out if desired. We have one packing list that we copy and repurpose for whichever trip we’re going on, whether it’s to a hotel or a cabin where we need more supplies.
We’ve found it’s fun for the twins to have their own packing lists as well. We have laminated ours and we fill in how many of each item they need and they get to check it off once it’s in their suitcases. We double check of course but it’s great to have them take some ownership of it. We started this when they were 4 years old.
Travel Planner
If you’re looking for more guidance on planning a trip and packing, check out our Travel Planner printable! You can use it digitally on your tablet, iPad, phone, or computer or you can print it out and use it that way.
Breaking Up the Trip
Even on our typical 3 hour road trip to a cabin we go to once a year, we often find ways to break up the trip. On longer road trips I’d highly recommend it!
Here are some things to look into ahead of time
- Playgrounds: Before you go, look for any playgrounds along your route or even an alternate route if you have time.
- Geocaches: If you have even more time to explore you could see what geocaches are along your route, if you’re into that, and plan your route and stops out that way. Keep in mind you may have to walk a ways for some of them so they may take some time.
- Roadside America: If you’re looking for all the neat attractions throughout America, check out RoadsideAmerica.com. They have so many fun random things you can see while you’re out and about such as the largest Sunfish (statute), Paul Bunyan, Smiley Face Water Towers, the SPAM museum, and so much more!!! You can even download their app! We’ve been to a lot of Roadside America destinations, they’re so fun!
In Vehicle Activities
Between all these fun stops you now have planned, you will need to some driving, and it might get boring for the kids. Here are some activities that our kids enjoy:
Travel Bingo with sliders is great because there aren’t little pieces to keep track of. It’s all in one!
LCD Writing Tablets are great because they are mess free and your child can draw and erase as much as they want! We actually have these around the house for making lists. If you get one, I highly recommend getting one with the writing implement attached to the tablet.
Travel Tangram Puzzle this magnetic pattern block book looks really fun! The pieces are magnetic and your child just needs to flip the mini page to see a new design to create.
Activity Books there are activity books that are great for kids while traveling. There are many on Amazon or you can use mine digitally on their tablet / iPad or print it out and put it in a binder or staple them together! I know with twins you’re always buying in duplicate but if you purchase a printable from me you only have to buy it once and you can use it for both of your twins (and all your kids!).
Click the images below to see two of my kids activity printables.
More Mess Free Activities I wrote a blog post on Mess-Free activities for young children that would be great for road trips!
Podcasts!!
I absolutely LOVE podcasts and we just discovered podcasts for kids last year before we went on our road trip. I’m SO glad!! Not only were they learning throughout the drive they were QUIET which rarely happens with my 3 boys!
The young kid podcasts we like are:
- Brains On! Science Podcast
- But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids
Pro Tip: If you have space on your phone or other device, download the podcasts ahead of time so you can stream them without worrying about using all your data or areas where data isn’t available.
Make a Playlist: What I did was go through both podcasts and make a playlist of the episodes I thought my guys would enjoy. When we were done with the first part of the trip (way to the cabin) I deleted the ones they already listened to so I had more room for photos on my phone. When we got home, I deleted all of them until this year when we go again.
Depending on your vehicle, you may be able to connect via Bluetooth, USB, or headphone jack to get it to go through the sound system. Luckily, our minivan has separate front and rear sound systems so I was able to have it just go to the rear headphones so my kids could listen while my husband and I could listen to something else or talk in peace (rare occurrence!!)
Also check to see how many headphone jacks there are in your vehicle, if any, and if you’ll need a splitter or extender for the headphones to reach your kids. We need a splitter in our van since we only have 2 headphone jacks and 3 kids.
Road Trip with Twins Odds and Ends
Sharing a Room / Overtired
If your twins don’t usually share a room but will be during the road trip, expect that they’ll likely stay up talking, or fighting, and will be short on sleep for the first couple of nights. This is what happens with our twins every time we go on vacation, they chat and giggle for hours before they finally fall asleep.
Do I worry they’ll be overtired and grumpy the next day? Sure I do! Me worrying about it and constantly reminding them to go to bed won’t help though, then I’ll just be grumpy. So I’ve learned to let it go other than a few reminders, especially before I go to bed. Typically they’ve been fine the next day and by night 3 are tired enough and the newness of sharing a room has worn off so they don’t stay up giggling.
Now that I’ve shared all my road trip with twins tips, what are some of yours?
As a mom of identical twins and a son two years older, I have gained invaluable experience in the realm, and chaos, of parenting. With a Master's Degree and Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology, I spent years as a school psychologist, helping children navigate through their educational and emotional challenges. Now as a stay at home mom and professional blogger, I combine my areas of expertise to help you in your parenting journey.