Flight entertainment advice

[LouiseB2girls]

Can anyone give me and tips or advice for a 7 hour flight with 1 & 2 yr old DD's ??? i am dreading the journey as they hate being restricted and are at the stage where the older one, takes EVERYTHING from the youngest - i have an ipad which i plan on downloading some stuff onto but this will not keep them entertained for 7 hours (plus another 7 on the way back) eeek. any advice is mucha appreciated!

I flew to Australia when mine were 2&5 by myself. And it was four years ago when there were no iPads.

I just said yes to nearly everything. Apple? Yes. Movie? Yes. Story? Yes.

They honestly watched 8 hours or tv straight.

I recommend getting kids headphones for them and plugging them into the tv

I recently did an 8-hour trip to the Caribbean with my 2.5DS and, despite sleepless nights dreading it (I posted on here for tips too!), it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be! So try not to be toooo fearful! I thought my DS would be running up and down the aisles the entire time, but actually he enjoyed being in his seat (a first!).

I downloaded tons of CBeebies onto the iPad, as well as apps, and that really helped. He also loved watching the children's in-flight entertainment.

I went to Fara (the kids' charity shop) and bought about five 'new' toys which I gave him at strategic intervals during the flight and which kept his interest the whole flight.

I kept snacks - raisins, hula hoops (not too much sugar) - and water close at hand. And for his ears I gave him a lollipop for take-off (although he ended up sucking his dummy which was good). And he loved getting his aeroplane food (make sure you book the kids meals for them - they don't do it automatically).

I also bought him a Pillow Friendz pillow (a tiger) which was brilliant the whole holiday. Nice soft place to rest his head on the flight as the aeroplane pillows aren't comfy, and you can attach them to the armrest.

And the BIGGEST advice I can give you is that you need to try not to feel stressed. (Easier said than done I know). The plane's engines are actually quite loud - so even if they're kicking off big time, even a few rows back you can barely hear it. Seriously. AND most people are sweet to kids and smile and interact with them. You do get the odd meanie who looks grumpy or sighs, but really, who cares. You'll never see them again. And you can always smile kindly and say I'm so sorry, but I'm trying my very best. If you have any ideas, then do please share them.

And remember - IT WILL END. And Children have just as much right to fly as anyone else.

Good luck!!!

And yes - get kids' headphones as the ones they give you are too big.

Not done such a long flight with DCs but have done 4.5 hrs with almost continuous iPad for 2.5 year old &1 year old just sat on my knee.All rules about sweets & crisps went out of the window too!

We recently did a 4 hour flight with 2.5yo DS. Well, the flight there was 4 hours, the flight back was diverted due to a medical emergency and consequently took 6.5 hours, but that's another story.

I was dreading it because DS is quite active. I took lots of little things to do - new books, cbeebies magazine, colouring, stickers, pipe cleaners and pasta tubes for threading, little tub of play dough and googly eyes, etc etc. In the end he was fine although there was a half hour spell where he used me as a climbing frame , and we even had comments from some of the other passengers about how well behaved he was [proud mum emoticon].

So anyway, my top tip would be to take one carry-on bag full of activities, (try googling 'busy bags' for some ideas), and don't forget about the trip home - e.g. I saved a couple of 'new' activities for the return journey.

I have a 9 and 6 year old and we had 2 flights to Seychelles (6.5hr and 4.5hr) and to be honest they both watched the films on board. However I did have sticker books, colouring/doodle pads, comics and anything small that I could get from the pound shop.

I did buy them kids headphones and airplane adapters from amazon which was a god send.

We have got a 5 hour stop over in the way back so I've kept back the mags, comics etc for that.

Thanks everyone! I'll be sure to stock up on activities and some child friendly headphones. And most importantly- snacks!!!! Wish me luck ;0)

Get a splitter as well for the headphones so that they can both hear the ipad at the same time. Only a couple of quid from Amazon.

I've just done a 9hr flight with 3yo and 6yo, the in flight entertainment systems are so good now it was easy! (although your dc ages are more difficult). I did a lot of long haul flying as a child and it's incomparable.