It’s a well-known fact that holidays with kids aren’t really holidays. There’s a lot of orchestration needed and managing of people’s expectations and emotions.
Parents are still doing all of the day-to-day stuff that comes with having kids – the only thing that’s changed is your location.
With this in mind, we’re all for making our lives easier – and we aren’t over-egging it when we say one viral travel hack that’s doing the rounds on TikTok has blown our sleep-deprived minds.
Mum-of-two Stephanie (@betterwithchardonnay) tried the packing hack for herself and was more than pleasantly surprised. “It’s gonna be a game-changer,” she said in her video, which has a cool 6.2 million views.
What’s the hack?
Basically, you need to invest in one of those space-saving shoe organisers that typically hang over the back of doors.
Before you go away, plan each child’s outfit for the day and roll or fold it up. You then put one outfit in each compartment. If your child is older, and therefore their clothes are bigger, you might need to devote a couple of compartments for their outfit.
“I am using this one organiser to pack for two toddlers for a six day trip,” she explains in her video. If you have compartments left over, you could add spare clothing or any other items you need for them – such as nappies, toiletries, etc.
Once everything has been packed away into the organiser, you fold it up and put it in the suitcase.
She continues: “Then when you get to your destination, all you have to do is unroll it and hang it over the door, and you have easy access to all their clothes.”
In the comments section, one parent explained that they use the hack for day-to-day life, too: “This is how I do my kids clothes every day. It hangs on their doors and they pick out which outfit to wear. No messy dressers.”
The video prompted others to share their top tips for making packing with kids easier. “I used gallon ziplock bags and squeezed all the air out. They could just pick a bag every day!” one parent said. Another uses vacuum bags to save on space.
The overriding theme from those popping up to comment was that the idea is “genius” whether you have kids or not. And we’d be inclined to agree.