Packing tips please for beach resort holiday with three small children

[KristinaM]

We are going to Greece in June with our three children 8,3 and 2. Last time I went on a beach holiday I was footloose and child free ( as well as 3 stone lighter )

Advice, please, on what to take/leave behind. Apart from taking passports and sun lotion obviously....

mossie repellent for all
stuff for kids to do on the plane (colouring, reading, sticker books)
snacks for both plane journeys
small first aid kit (plasters, antiseptic cream, etc)
E111 equivalents - whatever they are called these days

not many clothes - i was in greece last week and it was hot hot hot.

meet and greet parking at the airport is brilliant

ih lala you are a mine of information

what clothes shoudl i take for the kids - just shorts and t shirts? did you live in a swimsuit?

Do women get dressed up in the evening or just put on a clean top and a pair of earings?

shorts & t-shirts for daytime
smarter clothes for evenings (dresses, skirts, long trousers)
sunsuits for the littlies plus hats, and sandals/beach shoes
swim goggles
sarong/cover-up
sachets of calpol/nurafen
wet wipes
aloe gel (in case of too much sun)
filled pencil case and pads of paper for crayoning or games such as noughts & crosses
a backpack each for the dcs for travelling (fill with a comic, boxes of raisins, small toys, the above-mentioned colouring kit etc)
mini electric fans are good for hot evenings or equally hot airport transfers

I can probably go on & on, so if any other ideas needed, just ask

short and tshirts all round, with one slightly heavier top for the evenings (which I doubt you'll need but you never know). we did live in swimsuits during the day (and in fact dd's swimsuit started falling apart while we were there). my dd is 5 and wanted to dress up in the evening - so if your 8 year old is a dd, then maybe talk to her about that before you go!
as far as dressing up in the evening is concerned, we didn't go bananas, but i did have a dress and a couple of pairs of 3/4 length linen trousers which I mixed and matched with clean tops. showers/baths all round after the beach, so doubt you'll want to slip back into those clothes anyway.

oh yes, second the goggles (good if you have them too) and the calpol/nurofen. also piriton is good if they are bitten.

Take a tube of travel wash with you and use it every evening to wash the swimmers with. This will stop them from rotting with all the chlorine.

Also, Asda do very cheap swimmers for children. My advice would be to take several sets for each child.

Get a clicker from Boots for insect bites. They are really really good.

Another thing I found really useful (as I have 2 dds) were those hair towels which tie up with a cord & a button that you can buy in the travel accessories section in M & S. You can wrap your dc's hair up in one of those and it won't fall off, whilst bundling them up in a towel to dry. It means their hair is half dry by the time you're finished, with very little effort. I also used to take 2 little travel hairdryers so that DH could dry one dd's hair and I could dry the other dd's hair, simultaneously Thus saving time in the evening, when everyone was hungry and desperate to get ready for dinner...

oh i saw teh clickers is boots and wondered if they were a gimmick! How do they work? Are there really lots of insects - its mainland Greece BTW

There can be mozzies anywhere where there is water, like pools for example. The clickers work by clicking on the itch and they sort of itch it for you with a little electric shock . Which sounds scary, but really isn't. It stops you scratching yourself silly. To prevent getting bitten in the first place, make sure every evening (when the mozzies come out) you have sprayed yourselves with insect repellant.

8yo is indeed a girl, although not a very girly one IYSWIM. will she be ok with pretty t shirt and cut off type leggings ( her idea of dressing up)?

she doesn't really do pretty dresses

i have sunsafe clothing for the kids. Will lots of the other kids be wearing something similar or do they all just wear bikinis??? the Lo's wont care but 8yo wont wear hers if no one else is

like this

Some will, some won't. What we do is wear normal swimmers in the morning, then cover them up in the afternoons in their sunsafe stuff. Alternatively, you could just make her wear a t-shirt over her bikini when the sun is at its hottest. Mine were so absorbed in the stuff they're doing on holiday, that they would wear anything so long as they could continue unhindered

Oh I'm so glad you started this thread, as I'm starting to think about exactly the same subject! I haven't been on a beach holiday since pregnant with dd1 (now 13!) and we're off to Greece this summer.

The only things I've thought of so far are a pack of cards and a beach ball!

Don;t make the same mistake as we did when we went to the maldives in Feb with 2 DC's aged 1 and 4. We literally took everything bar the kitchen sink but failed to realise that the kids would live in their swim suits every day! Therefore take half of what you think you will need for the kids! Shoewise, you can get away with one pair of sandals and some bach type flip flops/jelly shoes.

Entertainment for the plane is good - if the kids are old enough, let them take their own "CASE" and make them responsible for looking after it. we had a very sweey one on wheels which held all the paraphenalia for both of them!

Old t-shirts for cover ups as well. Mine lived in sunsuits that had protection so only needed 1 high factor cream for the whole 2 weeks...just rememebr to rinse out so that the don't bobble from the chlorine/salt in sea!

As for you and DH, again as little as possible!!

Have a lovely time

oh pesto, thats good.as long as some of the others girls are wearing similar. she doesnt like bikinis (too girly)and so far is happy with teh sunsafe stuff as its sporty/funky not pretty IYSWIM

will buy a clicker and more repellant

have 2-3 pairs of swimmers each and beach shoes and hats

maxandmonty - I'm worried about over packing too. i am so used to holidays with the car and you can just throw in an extra...whatever. how many outfits do i need for teh kids? BTW 2 and 3yo are boys so dont care. we have a max too. woudl love a monty but doesnt work with surname. sigh.

please dont tell me they are your dogs

do i need to take beach towels or will they be supplied? Did you take nappies with you or buy more there?

i consulted the Mn fashion police some weeks ago who instructed that i shoudl buy good control swimsuit ( for flab), hat and and floaty kaftan thingy to waft about the beach

sarong apparently not allowed for fat middle aged women

so now am just worrying about packing for kids

Don't do what I did and and forget a beach bag. I ended up using a black leather satchel around the pool

Take your own beach towels, the place you are staying in will more than likely supply ones for showering/bathing. Keep your beach ones strictly for beach only as they will get mucky!

Forgot to add, some places do supply pool towels, but you can't really rely on these as again, they can be a bit skanky

thanks pesto - i have checked the website so there is nothing about towels so I guess i will have to allocate half of one suitcase to 5 large beach towels. i think i will just take the ones we have already, which are a few years old and leave them at the end of the holiday. will that be Ok or will i be embarassed as everyone else shows off their brand new silky colourful matching towels????

i mean ours are not rags just washed a few times? mostly used with the paddling pool in the garden

can you tell i am worried how smart/posh/designer everyone else will be????/ I don't get out much and we are country bumpkins

Anyway the other half of one suitcase will be filled with nappies , as 2yo not toilet trained and 3yo still wears them at night. sigh

Take small, plastic tea set and set of stacking pots - will keep the 4 and 2 year old amused at the pool

sorry, just spotted this CB, what a great tip! We have loads of these and the LOs just love them. i woudl never have thought of taking them