Planning for a holiday adventure with your family can be exciting and stressful, especially if you happen to be traveling with little ones. For many families, road trips are happy events, which can bring about bonding and make for fun memoties. They can also quickly be cast aside, and deemed as stressful, causing unwanted anxiety for parents who have to make the trip a success, while keeping the kids happy, and keeping the family safe on the road. Here are a few simple travel hacks to make the trip a safe and memorable one.

Rent a car for the trip

If you're worried about not having enough time to prep your family car for a road trip, you might want to seriously consider renting a car. The car will be ready for a trip, clean, and you won't have to worry about putting additional mileage on your family vehicle. Just keep in mind that if your kids are prone to getting sick in the car or making huge messes, this might not be the best option for your family.

Keep extra clothes in the car.

You know those back seat pockets? Use them! Put an extra pair of clean clothes in large Ziploc bags- one bag for each child. Don't forget to include clean undies and clean socks. This is just in case there is an accident in the car, a spill, a child may get sick, etc. You'll have a fresh set of clothing, and a bag to place soiled clothing in. Easy!

Limit the toys and games in the car.

If you have kids under the age of 10, they're going to want to bring everything they own with them in the car for the car trip. Limit the amount of toys they can bring to one doll or action figure, a small game, and then pack some easy activities for them like coloring books and crayons. Crayola Color Wonder products are perfect for little hands and won't make a mess in the car.

Keep devices charged.

Nothing sours a road trip faster than devices that are dead! Keep the devices charged in the car, and make sure you have plenty of ectra batteries on hand. If your kids are old enough to use them, give them a pair of headphones with a volume limiter, and then you won't have to listen to competing noise in the car. Limit the screen time to 30 minute increments, and then take a break to play a family car game, listen to music, or encourage the kids to play or read. 

Make small snack boxes for each child.

It's so easy to make a fun snack box for each child. Use a small craft organizer or bead box with a lid to give kids a variety of snacks. Fill each compartment with small snacks like crackers, fruit, trail mix, etc. Make it easy on yourself and don't include crumbly snacks like muffins and cookies. They'll just make a mess that you will later have to clean.

Keep a trash bag in the car.

There will be trash, so keep a plastic grocery bag in the car for items that need to be tossed. Either empty the bag or toss the whole thing each time you stop for a potty break. Keep extra bags in the glove compartment.

Traveling with kids can be a lot of fun, so take a few extra steps to do a little bit of prep work for the trip, and you'll all have an enjoyable time on the road together!

Brought to you by Don Vance Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep & RAM.