Surviving 2 Under 6 While Flying Alone

We are going on our 7th snow day and I am finally feeling almost normal sick wise so I finally unpacked the last of our stuff from our trip to Disneyland.
I flew with my two boys (ages 5 and 2) alone and I prepared and researched activities, apps, and snacks for months prior to our flight. I OVER-PACKED AND OVER PLANNED! I had so much packed that my bag would not zip closed! 

I had:

•  2 coloring books
• 2 packs of crayons
• felt street Busy Bag with toy cars
• the pill box pom pom color game
• a Melissa & Doug Water Wow
• Travel pack Color Wonder
• a kid's tablet
• an old phone with baby games
• my Surface Pro
• headphones for us all
• a headphone splitter
• blankets for both kids (I wore a blanket scarf)
• packed breakfast boxes
• 2 kids' thermoses (I purchased a bottle of water, a bottle of apple juice to split, and a highly caffeinated soda for me once we got through security)
• a bag of suckers for the take off and landing
• extra snacks
• extra clothes (pants, socks, shirt for youngest and shirt for oldest)
• 3 times the amount of diapers and wipes I normally have (8 diapers and a full thing of wipes)
• both disinfecting wipes and travel spray
• travel flush-able wipes for my oldest
• 2 extra pacifiers (his Wuby pacifier with animal attached and extra pacifier)
• my wallet 
• my keys
• my IPod (which I forgot to charge) 
• pill box with medicine for us all
• an external battery pack with three charging cables
• the homemade bib my friend made me (since my youngest won't use the disposable bibs, he just stares them off)
• a wet bag in case I needed to change them
• my zipper pouch that had odds & ends (lotion, chapstick, tide pen, pouch food straw attachment, toy teethers, extra pacifier clip, band aids, diaper rash cream, sunblock stick) 
• and of course my stroller! 

Holy crap! No wonder the bag didn't zip shut! Even with my oldest carrying his own backpack and my youngest little backpack being clipped to the stroller... I still carried a diaper bag and a computer bag plus blankets. We did have about an hour layover both going and coming home but but the time we deplaned, found the bathroom to go potty and change the diaper, then find a store to get some snacks, and a Dr. Pepper for mommy and found our next gate we had maybe 20 minutes before they called us to board the plane so not very long. 

Everybody's kids are different. Some kids need a bunch of activities to keep them entertained and don't like to eat or snack all the time. I quickly found out I did not need half of the stuff I had brought with me:The toy cars were fine but I didn't need the street because there wasn't enough room to build it. The pom pom game got thrown on the ground under the seat in the airplane so that didn't work. My oldest liked his Color Wonder little pack better than the bigger coloring book with the small colored crayons because they easily got lost and the Color Wonder markers were easier for him to find and put away. My youngest didn't like either coloring option because he just threw the markers and colored crayons on the floor and tried to color on the seat. However he did really enjoy the Melissa & Doug Water Wow coloring system. 

It's cardboard with a little non drip water pain that you color on to reveal things in the picture. It's about 3 or 4 pages long, nice size pages that once you've colored them all you wait for them to dry and then you do it again! It kept him entertained the longest.

The suckers, although they were hit, caused both of my kids to become very very hyper and that's just not something you want when you want them to sit still and be quiet on a plane full of people! So for my kids coming home instead of the suckers on takeoff and landing, I gave them some medicine (Kid's Tylenol and Kid's Dramamine, not at the same time! Kid's Dramamine on take off so they would go to sleep and Kid's Tylenol, 1/2 their normal dose, little bit before landing). The pill box also had: Aleve, Sudafed, Pepto Bismol, Anti-poop medicine, Dramamine, Kid's Tylenol tablets and Kid's Pepto Bismol. 

On our layover they ate the breakfast boxes I made them which had: mini muffins, pop tarts, dried apples, yogurt melts for my youngest, cereal and breakfast cookies. They could eat whatever they wanted because they both had the same things (expect the yogurt melts) and it was a huge success making nose the only issue I had is I packed them vertically so a little spilled but not much. 

The tablets were obviously a huge hit! I got a bunch of their favorite games and about four of their favorite movies downloaded to work in airplane mode. I also purchased $5 headphones per each kid. The problem was my youngest didn't like having his headphones on and my oldest headphones broke halfway during the trip so that meant no movies and Note tablet because neither one of them could use my earbuds. I wish we would have gotten these before the trip but for Christmas we got them headband headphones, it's exactly what it sounds like it's a soft headband that goes around their heads and it has built-in speakers that go over their ears. They're about 20 bucks each depending on where you buy them from, and they're perfect we should have purchased them before the trip because both my boys have fallen asleep in the car wearing them and my youngest no longer has an issue wearing them and they don't fall off at all. So if you have kids with tablets I highly highly recommend you purchase some headband headphones especially for your kids that are younger! They are a lifesaver and my youngest's currently stay in our diaper bag so that when he wants to use my phone at the grocery store I don't have to hear it anymore. Plus the headbands fold-up and the ones we got are washable, the speakers come out and we can wash the headband.

On Left: The new headband headphones we love! Plus they have a volume restriction so the kids can't turn up their tablets too loud. The old phone for my youngest and their shared tablet (although it's really more used by my oldest) and the headphone splitter under it and the cheap, always falling off kids' headphones on the right.

I limited the amount of fluids both my boys drank before getting on the airplane and since I gave them medicine on take off, they slept the majority of the flight. My oldest did not need to use the bathroom on the plane and he was very good at holding it till we got to the airport and found one. I could've pack only 3 or 4 diapers and would have been fine with a travel-size pack of wipes for my youngest instead of the 10 I packed and a full thing of wipes. It would have saved me a lot of room in my diaper bag! And although it's always nice to have extra clothes in your diaper bag, both my boys are older -they're not babies anymore so I probably could have left my extra clothes in my suitcase and not packed in the diaper bag. And I also didn't need my an extra clothes for both my boys packed into a Ziploc bag and my wet bag both in my diaper bag. I should have simplified my odds and ends pouch - I didn't need a sunblock stick in my diaper bag for the airplane. I didn't need 3 charging cables for the external battery pack, and I really should have charged my iPod the night before!

So the next time I fly with my kids I will make sure that I have a simplified packed diaper bag with:

•  3-4 diapers (Hopefully next time I will not need diapers at all)
• travel wipes
• still both travel-size disinfecting wipes and travel spray
• a zipper pouch (band-aids, food pouch attachment, chap-stick, diaper cream, travel lotion, 1 pacifier with extra clip)
• travel flush-able wipes
• the pill box with medicine for us all

Activities for my boys (in each of their backpacks):

• a charged tablet with a couple of their favorite movies
• headband headphones
• their favorite blankets
• Color Wonder travel set for my oldest and the Water Wow for my youngest
• 1 toy car each
• snacks

I added carabiner clips to both their backpacks so when I had to hold them, I could easily hook them to the stroller 

My tip for you Moms is - don't overthink it. You know your kids, and most likely you'll be the one carrying everything. You don't need to take everything in the kitchen sink just take what you think will entertain your kids the best and keep them well-behaved on the airplane.

 Happy Mommy-ing!