Yes, we are all adults that know how to pack spring break essentials. But over lots of years of travel, both on girls trips with friends as well as family trips with my husband and daughters, I’ve found a few items that are necessary to pack, but not always intuitive. We actually have a trip to the Big Island (our favorite of all the Hawaiian islands) for Spring Break, so this couldn’t come at a better time. Here is what I’ll be packing for all of us!
No-duh Spring Break Packing Essentials:
Let’s start out with some basic bitch Spring break essentials! For starters, I am going to assume you’ve already packed things like clothing, undies, pjs, swimsuits, and the like. So we will go a step farther. First off, let’s start with my favorite face sunscreen. Supergoop has been a tried and true for me for many years. They do have a great matte one called “Unseen sunscreen”, but I prefer the Glow Screen. It has a tint to it that gives off a nice little glow when you’re wearing it with minimal makeup.
Along the lines of sun protection, you of course also need a packable hat and a good pair of sunglasses. And when I say good pair of sunglasses, I don’t mean expensive. I mean, you need a pair that actually fucking shields your face. Aviators will come and go, but they are forever my favorite type of sunglasses to wear on vacation. You get way more coverage than some of the smaller pairs on the market. I love these inexpensive ones and have them in both the black tint and the brown! As for hats, I love this one because it can fold down small into your carry-on for the flight as well as your beach tote.
It wouldn’t be a spring break essential list if you didn’t have a fun beach tote. I love ones like this, that can be smashed small and stuffed in your suitcase for the flight. I use mine not just for beach towels and sunscreen, but also for seashell collecting with my girls!
Spring Break Safety items:
These will come in use especially if traveling to a dicey place. I’m talking parts of Mexico, Jamaica, the Caribbean, etc. They’re beautiful destinations but also have decent crime against tourists. So if you’re about to go on Spring Break for a girls trip, I have two safety item MUST-HAVES! First, is this personal alarm. You put it on your keys and simply tug on it and it sounds a loud alarm and flashes a light to bring attention to yourself. It’s SO easy to pull, I have to handle my keys gingerly to ensure I don’t accidentally set it off when digging for my keys. But it is a perfect item to have when traveling. It’s also TSA approved!
For a second safety item, I highly recommend this portable door lock. It easily installs in between the door and the strike plate. I think it’s an excellent extra safety precaution when staying in a sketchier hotel or part of town. It also stops small children from being able to open the door and wander out of the hotel room. I highly recommend this if you travel a lot for work or work for the airline industry!
Spring Break Essentials for your suitcase
I won’t lie to you, probably my favorite packing tool is basic one-gallon zip loc bags. They can be used for larger bottles of shampoo and conditioner in (when checking a bag where I can have larger bottles than the 3 ounce ones.) They also double to bring back wet swimsuits in. I also use them to hold things like kids Tylenol and tubes of sunscreen. But if you’re a bougier bitch, I just found these expandable silicone caps that cover all bottles! It stops them from opening in flight and look much nicer than Ziplocs. (But still toss one in your suitcase for other uses…you can thank me later.)
Along the lines of checking your bag, I hate to beat a dead horse, but just trust me that you should be using air tags. (You have to get the air tags themselves directly from Apple.) And once you have them, slap one of these water-proof air tag key chains on to protect them. Then, simply connect them to your phone, toss them in your checked bag, and you’ll be able to track every movement your suitcase makes! Hot tip: I bought this exact same pack and I wrote an “S”, “V”, “L”, and “W” on the back of each one to remember which one is for my suitcase versus my husband’s or kids so I know which suitcase I am stalking on my phone.
If you are carrying on your bag versus checking, then I highly recommend these travel size product bottles. Toss your favorite shampoo, body lotion, etc. in these puppies and you’re still good to go through TSA without issue.
If you don’t want to mess with bottling your shit up into smaller containers, I love this entire kit of minis from Dae. It’s Amber Fillerup Clark’s line and I can’t say enough good things about her products. Her conditioner is one of the few that detangles my oldest daughter’s thick, tangly, curly hair!
Spring Break Essentials for when you’re at your destination:
If you are vacationing in a place with clear water and you don’t go snorkel, are you even living? (No…you’re fucking not.) You won’t catch us on a trip to somewhere tropical without our handy snorkels in tow. Especially when in Hawaii, Vince and I intentionally keep our snorkels in the rental car. Then, as we are driving around the island, if we see a random spot that looks fun to explore, we have our snorkels on hand!
Along that same vein, if you know you’ll be spending time near water, be it the pool, ocean, or lake, you need these waterproof phone pouches. Let me paint you a picture here. You’re watching your kids splash in the shallow surf, or are watching them build sand castles. You pull out your phone for a scenic picture of them when BAM! A wave comes up and splashes you and your iphone. You won’t have to sweat it if it’s in these pouches! Yes, you can still use your camera while the phone is inside this pouch! It’s also a great way to keep sand from getting into your camera lens.
Spring Break Clothing:
Of course I am assuming you’ve packed your basic clothing needs. I highly suggest throwing in a top that can either be worn over tank top or over your bikini top like this one. I have the exact one in taupe, but it comes a ton of cute colors. It’s a nice alternative to standard swimsuit cover.
I also love a good romper when vacationing some place warm. Toss it with flip flops and a beach tote for casual look. Or put on some leather sandals, a more structured bag, and some bronze, beachy makeup, a couple chunky bracelets, and you’ve got your look for a night out. Plus, it is easy and compactable to pack.
This may be a little “extra”, but I love having 2-3 swimsuits, all in different cuts. Not for the sake of fashion, but for the sake of comfort if you get a sunburn. Now, of course I am hoping you’ll slather sunscreen on and don your hat. But life happens, you lose track of time and forget to reapply sunscreen, and inevitably get burned. That is when you’ll be so thankful to have another suit that doesn’t hit you in the same spots. So pack a basic one-piece like this one, but also toss in a strapless bikini, or halter tankini to cover your bases.
Miscellaneous Spring Break Essentials
I am here to set you guys up for success. So I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you to learn from my mistakes. Pack as if one, if not all of you, will get violently ill. Am I a downer? Yes. But having just found myself in this exact situation a couple weeks ago, just trust me, you’ll be happy to have certain provisions on hand. We went to Santa Barbara for the weekend and as soon as we checked into our hotel, my oldest daughter started puking and she puked allll night long. The next day, my husband ran to Target for meds. Soon after, I started puking, then him, then our youngest daughter. I only wish we had some Zofran or other anti-nausea meds on hand like these.
And of course, if you’re traveling with kids, it’s a good idea to pack some kids Tylenol. I’ll also always pack ibuprofen for adults (hello next morning hangover.) It’s also a good idea to pack some Imodium. We were so thankful to have this so we could pump ourselves full of it before getting on an airplane to fly home after our trip from Hell in Santa Barbara. No one wants to be on the news for shitting all over an airplane. Except that one guy I guess.
I created this FREE Spring Break Packing List if you want to download it and adjust it yourself. I tried to include even the tiny shit that is so nice to pack but not always top of mind. (Think band-aids, OTC meds, Q-tips, nail scissors, aloe vera gel, etc.) If you want to see how I pack for a girls weekend, check out my blog here. I also linked everything above in my Amazon storefront here.
If you need ideas on where to go during Spring Break, we’ve been to some great warm-weather locales. Check out my blog here on Costa Rica, here on St. Lucia, and here on Kauai. And if you’re traveling with kids, here are my ultimate items to pack for long flights! As always, thanks for stopping by!
