Thankfully we have had a lot of good beach days lately. It’s such a good time to go with toddlers – too cold for (most of) them to want to do anything but dip their toes in the ocean. I’ve gone alone with the boys and with our friends recently, and each time has been fun. Fun! Actually I dare to say, relaxing?! Not kick your feet up with a book relaxing, we are a long way off from that, but relaxing as life will allow these days. Wes is no longer wanting to eat sand, and seems perfectly content to play with it, watch Tuck, and toddle around. He is completely obsessed with sitting in chairs (??), so sitting in his brothers beach chair, with a bit of pirates booty to eat, watching tuck run around alone or with his friends, had him content.
Since posting a few photos on IG I’ve gotten a couple of messages from friends about how to tackle the beach with babies. I am by NO means an expert, there’s always at least one hairy moment with my kids, wherever we go… but I’ve gotten our beach routine down a bit.
Here’s what I recommend, and I’d love to hear any beach hacks you have!!
- disposable bags (could be grocery bags but I use ziploc in case something is wet)- one for trash, one for wet clothes, a dry bag, etc.
- baby powder – I never really needed this for the boys so I have a couple of unused bottles, and one goes in my beach bag. It gets sand off of feet in a second!
- babiators – babiators kindly sent us these and we love them. They are even polarized which is great for when JB takes Tuck fishing. Wes is still getting used to them. He is not a fan of having anything on his head or face! 🙁
- salt water sandals -y’all probably know how much I love these sandals since they are on my kids all the time! They go in and out of water and still are in great shape.
- beauty counter sunscreen – this sunscreen is healthy for me, and for my kids. I love that I don’t need two different tubes to carry around. It also smells so good!
- cooler tote – when I look at the amount of snacks I have on any given moment I always laugh and think of michael scott when he’s dating pams mom and he asks her if she has snacks, because moms always have snacks! It’s true. For the beach this cooler is packed with water bottles, mandarin oranges, squeeze pouches for wesley, pirates booty, cheese and almonds.
- beachcomber foldable wagon – I actually just got this wagon (which I love!) but before I used our bob stroller. loaded it up, with the help of this oxo hook.
- packable pails – I am so glad I bought this last summer! It now comes with us on every beach trip here and abroad.
- iplay swim diapers – while tuck is out of diapers, wes will need them for a while. I like these better than the honest ones because they do give you a bit of grace where pee is concerned. Though the honest ones are cuter!
- a big towel or sheet. a couple extra regular sized towels.
- beach chairs. one for you, and one for the toddler. I may have to get wes his own now! Both of ours are also able to made into a backpack which is helpful for carrying them out.
- Both of my kids hate to wear hats. But bring sun hats, if your kid will tolerate it!
- I love the all over rashguards from mini boden! but otherwise my kids are in swim trunks and a long sleeve rashguard. If we are just stopping by I let them just wear their trunks and cover them in sunscreen.
- shade! we don’t have this pom pom umbrella but holllly cute. ikea has some cute ones too (and much less expensive!). We use this one which I love on days that aren’t windy -when there is a breeze I usually don’t take it with me. My girlfriend has this pop up tent and I couldn’t get over how easy it was. Great for wes to crawl around in as well!
- floats – this sunnylife flamingo float is so cute! I got one for Ava and can’t wait until she’s old enough for it! But that’s no surprise because evvvverything sunnylife is adorable.
- a positive attitude! you’re at the beach after all! (:
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