18 Plane Ride Tips for Toddlers

Writing about travel tips during a pandemic is pretty ironic, but being that I have more "free time" directly because of this pandemic, here we go.

My husband and I are semi-preparing to take our 3 year old and 1.5 year old boys on a trip to California, and I needed ALL the tips we could get for our 6 hour plane rides.  Obviously, traveling anywhere out of Hawai'i is a minimum 5 hour flight and since our kids are so young and so energetic, I reached out to our Instagram 'ohana and wow, they came through with some amazing tips!  Sharing is caring, so here is the gist of advice they gave for traveling on long plane rides with toddlers!

• Wrap small gifts:  anything wrapped in gift wrap makes it 1,000 more appealing to kids!  Wrap small toys or books and have them unwrap them over the course of the plane ride.  
• Playdoh!
• pro tip: have them create animals and parents have to guess what they are
• Window clings to stick on the plane window
• Have family photos and videos on your phone and let them watch 
• Dress them in pjs right before you get on the flight (not before you get to the airport)
• No sugar at least 1 day before the flight!
• Lavendar essential oil
• Fully charged iPad with kid headphones - get them used to headphones before the trip
• No benadryl! Besides it being controversial to use for this purpose, there are some kids actually become more energetic from taking it!
• Post its: kids can draw on them and stick them all over the place
• Target dollar spot goodies
• Melatonin!
• Lego sets to create on the plane (for older kids)
• Triangle shaped crayons so they don't roll off the tray table
• Magic coloring books: the marker it comes with ONLY shows up on these specific coloring pages, so you don't have to worry about your kids drawing on the seats, etc.
• Hour fun packs:  separate all your things to hourly bags.  They get to open one bag each hour of the flight and play with the items inside.
• Jet bed box:  turns the airplane seat into a comfy bed space.  Kinda pricey, but doubles as a ride on luggage.
• Tire them out before the plane ride!  Don't let them nap right before.

These tips are amazing and already make me feel more prepared.  Bottom line and perhaps the most valuable bit of advice I received: "Don't have any expectations; just do your best.  And remember, you won't see majority of the people on the flight ever again!" Haha.  

Hope everyone is staying safe and doing well!