Itssaffb

Hello my darlings, you know we love our staycation weekends away in the UK, I’ve shared on stories some of the things we take away with us and have always been asked where you to can find them, so I thought I would do a post of all the holiday essentials we take every time we go away! 

We have two children so some of these are great for kids but would also be perfect for your couple or solo traverlers as well.

I hope it gives you some inspiration and if you are going away, have the most amazing time be sure to let me know where you go, we always love to hear people’s recommendations. 

Tripod

Ok here me out, a folding tripod is not just for us content creators, I think everyone should own one. Honestly document those memories, set it up a little way away from yourself and film you on your own, as a couple or family making these memories, capturing the moment. 

Now as we know I am a creative so I have soooo many and have purchased a ridiculous number of tripods. I think I’ve finally come across the holy grail of easy to use, compact to take out but sturdy tripods. Where has it been all my life?

It’s a need! You spend all the money on the holidays and come home with little to no video memories of you ALL in it and remember you can take screen grabs of the videos and have photos! Normally someone else is behind the camera. This Tripod comes with a remote switch so you can set it up and control it from a distance. Of course, this tripod isn’t just for holidays it’s for Christmas too ha! Think setting it up Christmas morning and filming you all around the tree, priceless memories you while cherish for years to come. 

Shop the best of the best here 

Beach overhead towels 

Now if you’re a child or adult, heading to the beach or hot tub, these are honestly amazing. We have used hooded poncho towels for years now, especially for the children. If you have ever been to a beach with a child before you may know how tricky it is sometimes to get them off the beach while carrying everyone’s shoes, clothes, towels, beach bits etc. So, we just throw these towels on over the boys put the hoods up to keep them warm… we don’t have them moaning about being cold, or the towel falling down dragging along the floor, I feel like you know the vibes.

The material of the ones linked isn’t a proper towel material, I would describe the material as a soft microfibre style… but helps you to dry off. It doesn’t absorb all the water making them heavy or hard to dry which is perfect for when your away especially in the UK as we haven’t always got the sun to help dry them off in the evening. They dry super quickly on their own meaning there ready to use again the next day.

(They fit myself at a size 20 they fit my husband who is tall and they fit both the boys who are 8 and 10 they just look like little Jedi’s until they grow a little taller)

Shop the towels we have here

Hot tub test kit 

If you know our past experience, then you will know these are now an absolute must for me! We have had a couple of traumatic encounters with hot tubs. I don’t know why I still book places with them, but now I carry a tub of these test strips with me. So we can test the water every time making sure all the levels are right and no yucky germs. 

Shop the ones we use here

Hanging travel bag

These style travel bags are super handy, they hold everything in from your toothbrushes, tooth paste, have a zip compartment for sanitary products and then ample space to put in shower gels, razor, shampoos etc and the best thing about it, being waterproof with a hook to just hang in the bathroom or behind the bathroom door, makes the whole packing & un packing process easier for us. 

Here’s a great one

Beach Shoes 

All four of us have beach shoes now and I will explain why, firstly I got them for the boys for water parks, like the one in Lego land. There perfect for them to wear around in the day and splash about without worrying about bringing a spare pair of socks and shoes. We have invested in some sturdy ones that the boys wore around Lego land twice two days in a row and didn’t complain once that their feet were sore. Even on water rides they were brilliant no soggy socks. 

We love them for little country walks with streams, beaches with stones like Brighton beach, and a lot of beaches have horrid weever fish, if you don’t know what they are a quick google will explain how vile a sting is from them. So, they help to protect your feet in the sea from sharp things too! 

Shop ours here

Power pack  

An absolute must, especially if you are traveling with children. You never know when your sat nav could fail and you need to use your phone, we always carry a power pack on us. There’s a couple we have for different reasons. 

Power pack 1 – we have a couple of these there perfect to plug into your phone, the Nintendo switches or tablets and have about a full charge on them. These are light and easy to through in backpacks. No charging wire is needed. 

Shop here 

Power pack 2 – Is the big one! Its slim and a little heavy but has a very good battery life, it can charge multiple things at multiple times, it’s got every sort of port you can think of so you can plug your charging wire into it to charge any device. It’s a must for a backup. Especially if you’re staying somewhere far away that you want to be safe for battery life or to a place that is limited on plug sockets like a hotel. 

Shop here 

Plugs & Extensions 

Talking of plug sockets, we always bring one of these where ever we go,

Plug number 1 – Its perfect to take with us to be able to charge things using a usb wire but also has the option for a plug as well, its small and light. 

Shop here & here

Plug number 2 – this is perfect for the hotel stays, or even if you’re camping and have access to electricity or in a mobile home. It’s an extension with multiple places to charge you usb cables and plugs with a good length to be able to stretch it to where it needs to. 

Shop here

Head phones and dividers 

Children and their technology on car journeys just arnt the one! We always make sure they have the airphones as well as a ear phone splitter so they can both listen to there own thing or share a screen. These have come super in handy when we have shared hotels together and can’t have own space. In the mornings it means they can entertain themselves while we get a little more zZzzZZz

Shop headphones here

Shop divider here

Box with all meds first aid 

I do this every trip, the husband thinks it’s to much but I think it’s a necessity and the fact I pack It means we don’t need it, if I didn’t pack it best believe we would need it. It helps me know we have every base covered. Some may say its un necessary I would say organised ha!

I have linked any bits you can get online, click on the name to shop. 

• Digital Thermometer – Just in case 
• Swiss Army Knife – You never know when you will need something sharp or some scissors, bottle opener etc 
• Lighter & Matches – Handy for BBQs
• Citronella Tea lights or Candle – these are amazing if you camp our spend time outside, they help keep those annoying insects away! 
• First Aid kit – you know your girls clumsy
• Travel Sew kit – handy to have
• Hand Sani – can never have to much
• Tweezers – Great for splinters  

Then of course your, Calpol, pain killers, cold and flu tablets, ibuprofen, anti-sickness bands, Piriton etc 

Speaker

Our Bluetooth speaker comes absolutely everywhere with us, it has amazing battery life great sound quality and is super durable. Always handy to have to either take to beach, use by the hot tub etc 

Shop speaker here

Kindle

Very recently we brought the boys their 1^st Kindles and it’s been so amazing to see them read more. They read with the kindle so so much more than they did with their books. We got them the style where it’s JUST books nothing else so no distraction. What I love about the kindle is there perfect to take away as the battery life is LONG you can adjust the light settings so they can be read in the dark or on the beach when the sun is glaring down. Perfect way to relax and unwind and for the children to also disconnect from the real world. 

Our boys have these kindles here 

Amazon duffle bag 

Never thought I would be raving about a bag! These are blumming amazing and we have two of them, they fit absolutely everything in, we could fit all 4 of our clothes and some for a weekend away. Highly recommend for holidays in the UK where your packing bits in your car. 

These are our ones here

Clip on sun tan 

Sun tan lotion is a must we all know this, but I absolutely love the clip-on versions we make ourselves at home. It makes things a lot easier when you’re out for the day, to clip it onto your bag for easy reaching. Leave the chunky bottles at home. You can buy clip on bottles that are ready to be filled with your suntan lotion, if you need labels making give me a shout and we can do some for you. They’re also great for kids school bag.

Shop clip on bottles here

Small salt pepper, ketchup and mayo 

If your condiment monsters like us then this one is for you. A lot of holidays we go on we either cook for ourselves or we will maybe order in a chippy for example, 9/10 the place we are staying doesn’t have sauces and, I mean there a must! So we have mini virions we take with us! 

Shop the handy travel condiments here

I would love to know what your holiday essentials are?

Saff xo