Travel Kits: A Simple Way to Bless Others

    Do you dread packing up the car and heading out with the kids for a long trip?

    Would you rather never visit a doctor's office with your children again, due to the long wait and impatient children?

    I've just been reading through an eBook sold by The Old Schoolhouse Store, called Travel Kits:  A Simple Way to Bless Others.

     The author, Donna Rees, realized years ago when her own children were young, that trips, waiting times at doctors' offices, and many other “waiting” periods of time could go so much smoother if her children had a few surprises during the day to encourage them and keep their attention.

      She began planning ahead and preparing bags or containers of little, wrapped gifts, which included small toys, art and craft supplies, games, paper-and-pencil games, and much more. She found that occasionally during the trip or waiting time, she would hand each child a little surprise to unwrap and enjoy for the next few hours.

      It was so successful with her own children that she began providing similar “kits” or “Travel Kits” to other families who were planning trips or vacations. That's how Travel Kits began:  Mrs. Rees gathered her years of experience in being a blessing to others and has written it all down for us to enjoy.

 

      At first, I was just expecting to read a few suggestions on how to design a Travel Kit. Surprisingly, I found this and so much more!

      Select a container:  Travel Kits describes how to select an appropriate container for storing all of the little wrapped gifts and surprises. Some options were presented that I would have never thought of! I was impressed.

     Dividing up gifts:  A variety of options are provided for how to divide the gifts up for each child, and how often to open them for a more enjoyable road trip.

      Wrapping gifts:  I liked the suggestions on how to wrap little gifts in ways that save money, and also so that they may be easily identified by the recipient.

 

      Travel Kits also provides a number of considerations so that if you are making a Travel Kit, you are able to make it specifically enjoyable for the age and gender of each child in the family.

      Travel Kits is also filled with suggestions for road trip games and their accompanying website links, tips from fellow travelers, educational ways to make the trip easier and more entertaining, how to best prepare your vehicle for the trip, and specific ways to save money on snacks and meals while traveling.

      Also, I would encourage families to be careful to avoid toys, gifts, and snacks that would melt or be unsafe in a hot car during the summer: crayons, chocolate, very inexpensive plastic water bottles, etc.

      I personally haven't made a Travel Kit for our children this summer, because we haven't gone on any trips where it was required. However, I'm full of ideas now that I've read Travel Kits!  If only the long trips would be a part of our summer! We do love to travel as a family. After my children skimmed through the Travel Kits eBook, they were asking to go on a long trip somewhere...anywhere...as long as they get a travel kit for themselves!

      Designing a travel kit for a child can take as little or as long as you have to spend on being creative with this kind of project.

 

      We are friends with a family who will be moving across country this summer, so our family has already started planning to make a Travel Kit for their children, to assist them with their long journey.

     However, since this particular family is involved in missions and frequently needs to move and travel, we will be very selective on what kinds of items we will place in their Travel Kit. We don't want to overwhelm them with a lot of “junk” that they will just be throwing away or giving away when they arrive at their destination.

      Travel Kits is useful for children and adults of all ages. Plenty of suggestions for adults are also included, so that was fun to read about.

I received one electronic copy of Travel Kits from The Old Schoolhouse Store in exchange for writing an unbiased review.  No other compensation was provided.

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