These are the practical things that help make our summer (plus: inspo for your summer outings!).
Summer fun can’t happen without a little organization and always a lot of stuff! A great summer day out whether to the beach or lake or even just a friend’s pool requires some great summer products. I have rounded up some summer favorites that I use every summer with my family.
Taking the Food to Go
First let’s start with the food because isn’t that always the most important thing when heading out with the kids? Hangry kids or even parents do not make for a fun summer day so it’s important to always have some great bags to fill with lunch or snacks. These cooler bags from Target are a go-to for every family outing for any season. Love this backpack cooler bag to be able to throw on my shoulders when out and about. This one is a great harder shell option. I love to pack up our picnic in these containers- this one is great for fruit and veggies and sandwiches while this larger version is perfect for pastas. These will always be our favorite water bottles to keep our water cold all day long. I have had this water resistant picnic blanket for over ten years and still use it! It can be thrown into the wash to clean and is perfect for a picnic.
Goggles & Sunscreen Picks
Once we have the food taken care of we need all the accouterments for summer fun. My kids require goggles for swimming but they always complained about getting them on and off. Until a friend told us about these goggles with a clip in the back (duh!) and they are now the only goggles we own. They work great for kids and adults and can be adjusted to fit to size. The sunscreen is a crucial summer necessity but getting it on the kids can be difficult. My kids like the roll on sunscreen and this option is zinc based and comes on blue! The roll on like this one sometimes needs to be rolled around a bit to get the product on the ball but then it’s just like applying a roll on deodorant. A little bit pricier but might be worth it to not fight with the kids to apply is a brush on sunscreen like this one.
Hitting the Beach
When you are hitting the beach this summer here are some beach favorites that we love to bring along. The first thing we love that works double for us is our beach wagon. It can be a little difficult to pull across the sand–although I really want to try the beach hack I saw of a dad putting the wagon wheels on sleds to pull it easily over the sand! It’s a schlep pulling it but doable. It really helps to fill all of our stuff and then we also use it as a crib when needed if we have a baby or napping toddler along! We didn’t bring any extra baby setups when we had our wagon because we would pad the wagon with some towels and clip on a fan and it was like a porta-crib (perfect for a baby but even a larger toddler could nap in it). This one has a larger wheel for an easier pull on the sand but starts getting expensive. A beach cart is also a great option if you don’t need to use the wagon as a crib as well. We love to pull our beach wagon and wear our chairs on our back. We love the Tommy Bahama backpack folding beach chairs and they are an investment piece we use from summer to summer. We have not yet invested in the right beach shade but considering this type or this one which was all over the beaches of South Carolina on our Outerbanks vacation last summer. After a day at the beach there is always sand to deal with and baby powder is a great one to keep in the beach bag or the car to get all the sand wiped off. Saw this cute fish that looks to work great as well to get all the sand off!
Summer is such a beautiful season of getting to be outside and with family a lot more than during the year and having summer products organized year to year helps us get to the fun.
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