Advice on kids first holiday?!

[AbiiMx]

Just some background on who is going...
Me - age 21 - been on holiday twice (age 14 & age 20)
Partner - age 25 - holiday once (age 24)
My son - age 4 (5 August) - never been on holiday
My partners brother - age 10 - never been on holiday.

I'm just wondering if anyone could give me advice on what to take and what to do? For the plane, how many outfits/clothes/swimming stuff, bed time, swimming aids, should I take a pram? (My son hasn't been in a pram since he was able to walk)

Any and all advice appreciated. I'm worried I'll not take something I need or something....

Thank you for reading.

Oh, if it makes a difference: we're going to Costa Del Sol, Spain.

We have just come back from my ds(4) first holiday abroad. We found the following worked well:

Watch youtube videos in and outside of the plane to see what happens when it takes off. Meant he wasn't scared at all.

We didn't take a buggy and don't think he would have gone in it if we did.

Flight entertainment was top trumps (also played many times a day!) and a magazine he chose at the airport.

He generally slept until 9ish, siesta for an you at 5pm, then we'd go for dinner and he was happy staying out watching the entertainment, playing with the other children until about 10:30/11pm.

Crocs were great for beach and pool, no slipping on wet floors, 3 pairs of swim shorts and 2 swim tshirts were plenty. He can swim but bought armbands on the first day which gave him a bit more independence. A swim cap with a neck protector bit was handy, as he never wanted to be out of the pool.

He had a clean top for each night but mixed and matched shorts, couple of hoodies for when it got cooler in the evenings. Didn't need much for the day as mostly in swim stuff.

Have a great time and don't stress, you'll be able to buy anything you forget out there.

*siesta for an hour!

How exciting for you all! Do you know where you're going yet?

My kids are littler (3.5 and 1yo) so probably messier but I took 2x outfits per day for them. Then for the grown ups I took an outfit per day plus a couple of nice things (dresses/ shirts) to change into in case we went for a meal/ drinks.

I took spare sun hats and lots of suncream. Also plasters, calpol and stuff to put on insect bites just in case.

Also some snack food - little packets of crackers/ boxes of raisins etc so we weren't just relying on buying stuff there all the time.

Where are you staying? We did self catering so we did bedtime normalish time and then the grown ups sat out on the balcony after they were in bed. (I'd recommend taking a baby monitor if you can get your hands on one) Also take a few of those plug in adapters for the plug sockets if you're going abroad (you can get them at boots)

Have a great time!

Thank you Dansak and nota doctor.

We're going to torremolinos.. All booked for the end of July (5 weeks as of yesterday). It's all inclusive and my son eats anything if we say it's his dads favourite so I'm hoping food won't be a problem.

I didn't think of calpol, will add that to my list!!

And diorltye or however you spell it, just in case of any tummy upsets.

We recently came back from our first holiday abroad as a family of 4 - Our just turned 4 year old's first time on a plane We didn't take a buggy and didnt feel that there was any time that we wished we had. Tips I picked up from MN were
*lollipops for take off take off helps with popping ears.
*talc helps to get sand off easily
*pick up inflatables from the pound shop (not rings though as they are small)
*if you carry a spare set of clothes put them in a ziplock bag and it acts like a miniature version of a vacuum bag
*take some snacks for around the pool, during evening entertainment and in the plane
*activity/sticker books from the works/ poundshop and tablet kept them entertained - the 10 year old may enjoy the ispy airport book

Have fun

Oh and we took 2 sets of clothes for each day and probably only needed one for everyday and an extra 4 sets of clothes. We took 3 sets of swimwear, one to wear one to dry and ond as a spare, which worked well

First aid kit:
thermometer
calpol/nurofen
Painkillers for you as well. Your OH's brother can take adult nurofen as well if he can swallow tablets already. DD can and it makes life a lot easier.
plaster - various sizes DD and DH really got bleeding feet from the pool, the bottom was very rough.

You will get an English speaking pharmacist easily and in any more difficult case see a doctor which means getting a good travel insurance on top of your EHIC card.

Sun hats for everybody, sunglasses also for the children and lots of suncream. Doesn't matter if it says water resistance, you need to reapply after coming out of the pool, even when you sit in the shade.

Take a couple of dry snacks like biscuits, cereal bars etc. Our AI did great breakfast, lunch and dinners but only cake or fries/burgers inbetween and then not always what DD liked. We bough some stuff in a local supermarket but it was good to have something in the bag. Chocolate will melt as soon as you leave your room.

We didn't do siesta but went to the room around 5-6pm for an hour rest, shower, dinner. It also depended if DD attended the kids club or she was still playing with other children. The kid's pool/family pool normally started to clear out around that time.

Some card games like Uno or snap is good and small. Books for everyone, some magazines/activity books for the younger one plus crayons. Take another set in the suitcase for the flight back.

Take the cuddly toy or whatever is needed for sleep in the hand luggage.

Hi, best tips I can give:

Tablet with a kindle app is great for bedtime story if the kids like that.
We get activity books for ds7 but keep them hidden until we go. Also got mini lego kits for the plane this year and taking a pack of cards as ds likes to play things like go fish and snap.
For 1 week stay last year we took one pair of swim shorts, a pair of shorts for every day and around 10 tshirts (one if which he kept on in the pool all week). Also had 2 pairs of jeans and 2 hoodies. This year we are going for 2 weeks and it will be warmer. Rather than taking loads of extra clothes though I have bought some washing liquid in a tube. I got it on Amazon for only a couple of pounds. I have bought actual swimming tshirts this year. Footwear we had a pair of sandals, a pair of pumps, a pair of flip flops and a pair of trainers for ds.
Take more than one hat.
Loads of suncream and don't forget some for lips as they burn easily. Last year I used the yellow Vaseline and none of us burned.
A cuddly toy if they have a favourite or something else that smells of home. We have a bear that is very well travelled! The homely smell makes bed time settling easier.
We bought arm bands, a bucket and spade and a beach ball there, all of which we left behind.
As ds spent the entire week in the pool we needed very little else for entertainment. There were a fair few kids for him to play with too.
We downloaded some stuff from the bbc iplayer app (not sure if they still allow this) for tv time. Got him some headphones to watch while on the plane.
Take calpol, plasters, mosquito repellant, bite spray in case you do get bitten (highly recommend the one by jungle formula), dirolyte (however it's spelt!), talc, aloe vera gel (amazing for burnt skin), after sun, antihystimines, pain killers for grown ups, cotton buds, tissues, plug in mosquito repellant for your room (or one per room if not in a studio).
When we went to Greece we kept ds on UK time and sat outside when he had gone to bed. We tried to keep a similar routine as he has at home.
Can't think of anything else right now but it may come to me.