What to Pack in Your Personal Item When Flying With Kids

When I fly with my kids, the bag I care most about is the one I can actually reach during the travel day.

We travel carry-on only most of the time, so our suitcase is usually somewhere on the plane with us too. But that does not necessarily mean I can get to it when I need something. It may be several rows away in an overhead bin, we could hit turbulence when someone suddenly needs a change of clothes, or the airline could ask us to gate-check it because overhead space is running out.

That is why I pack our personal-item backpack a little differently.

Right now, I usually carry one backpack with the things all three of us may need during the airport, flight, delays, and first few hours after we arrive. My kids are still young enough that if I give them each another bag to carry, there is a very real chance those bags eventually become mine too.

As they get older, I expect that to change. They can start carrying their own headphones, tablets, snacks, or activities once I can reasonably expect them to keep track of their bags themselves.

For now, though, this is what I keep in our personal item and why I want each of these things within easy reach.

What I Pack in My Personal Item When Flying With Kids

The exact contents change a little depending on the length of the flight, where we are going, and the ages of the kids, but when I fly with my kids, my basic personal-item packing list usually includes:

• travel documents and wallet
• medications I may need during the travel day
• electronics, headphones, chargers, and a portable battery
• backup clothes
• wipes and any bathroom supplies the kids currently need
• reusable water bottles
• snacks
• a few small toys or activities
• any important comfort item we do not want separated from us

I am deliberately not trying to fit everything we packed for the trip into this backpack.

Most of our clothes, shoes, toiletries, and everything else we will use once we arrive can stay in the suitcase. When I pack light with kids, I think about those things as part of our overall carry-on system instead.

This bag is mostly about the things I might actually need while we are still traveling.

Why I Keep These Things in My Personal Item

Even when our suitcase is coming onto the plane with us, I still do not count on being able to get into it whenever I want.

Sometimes it ends up several rows away in the overhead bin. Sometimes the seatbelt sign comes on and nobody is getting up for a while. And sometimes overhead space fills up and the airline ends up gate-checking the bag.

That last one is a big reason I am careful about what goes in the backpack too. Once a bag gets checked, even at the gate, there is always a chance it could be delayed or lost in transit. So I want the things we would really struggle without, both during the flight and right after we land, to stay with me.

That includes the obvious things like medications and travel documents, but also the practical stuff that solves problems in the moment. If someone spills something, needs a bathroom change, gets hungry, wants their headphones, or my phone battery is dying during a delay, I want to be able to reach what I need without digging through an overhead bin or hoping our suitcase makes it to baggage claim with us.

I also try not to fill this bag with things just because they might be useful. Space gets tight fast, so the things I bring have to earn their spot. Over time, I’ve gotten pretty particular about which travel items are actually worth carrying with kids and which ones just end up taking up room.

Medications I May Need During the Travel Day

Medications are one of the few things I am very particular about keeping in the backpack with me.

I learned that lesson the hard way on a flight to Disney World when I got a migraine and realized my medication was in a bag that had been checked under the plane. I knew exactly what I needed, but there was absolutely no way to get to it until we landed.

Since then, anything I might reasonably need during the travel day stays with me.

For me, that includes my migraine medication and the anxiety medication I use for my flight anxiety. Those are both things I want within reach from the time we leave home until we get where we’re going.

For your family, that list might look completely different. It could be an inhaler, EpiPen, motion-sickness medication, or another prescription that would be difficult or stressful to be without.

I do not carry a huge pharmacy in my personal item. I am usually comfortable buying common over-the-counter medication at our destination if something unexpected comes up. But anything we regularly rely on, anything that would be difficult to replace, or anything I might actually need before we get to the hotel stays with us.

Travel Documents and Wallet

All of our important travel documents stay in the backpack too.

Depending on the trip, that might include:

• passports
• identification
• Global Entry cards
• a child travel consent letter when I am traveling internationally without my husband
• credit cards and some cash
• reservation or transportation information that I want available offline

I keep everything together in a travel document wallet so I am not trying to find three passports at the bottom of a backpack while also keeping track of two kids and a stroller.

As my kids get older, they can take over more of their own stuff, but I’ll probably still be the one hanging onto the passports and other important documents.

Backup Clothes and Bathroom Supplies

Backup clothes have saved me enough times that I still make room for them, even though we need a lot less now than we did when the kids were babies.

One of the worst examples was before a transatlantic flight when my daughter had a full diaper blowout before we had even left the gate. It went through her clothes and onto my shirt too, so having a clean outfit for her and a spare shirt for me was very worth the backpack space that day.

When the kids were younger, this part of the bag took up a lot more room. I carried diapers or pull-ups, wipes, a travel potty seat when we needed it, and usually more than one change of clothes. Now I can usually get away with a much smaller backup setup.

This is one of those things that changes a lot with age. A baby may need diapers, wipes, a changing pad, and several outfit changes. A preschooler may just need a pull-up, wipes, and a clean outfit. For an older child, it might be nothing more than underwear and a shirt tucked into the bottom of the bag.

I also usually keep a spare zip-top or plastic bag in there for wet or dirty clothes, because I would much rather contain the mess than let it take over the rest of the backpack.

Electronics, Headphones, and Chargers

Electronics are another thing I always keep in the backpack with us.

For my kids, that usually means their iPads and headphones. I also have my phone, AirPods, charging cords, and a portable charger in there.

Before we leave, I make sure anything they might want to watch is already downloaded. I never really want to depend on the plane having usable Wi-Fi, and even when there is seatback entertainment, I still bring their own headphones because I know they fit and they are comfortable using them.

I have also learned to take charging a little more seriously than I used to. A short flight can turn into a very long travel day after a delay, a missed connection, or just a lot of extra time sitting at the gate. My phone is doing a lot on those days, from boarding passes and rebooking to directions and transportation once we land, so I like knowing I have a way to keep it charged.

As my kids get older, this is probably one of the first categories I will start handing over to them. Once they are old enough to reliably keep track of their own bags, they can carry their own iPads, headphones, and chargers instead of all of it living in mine.

Snacks and Water Bottles

I actually do not usually pack a bunch of snacks for our flights. The exception might be a really early morning flight when I am not sure when we will have a chance to stop for breakfast, or another travel day where I know the timing could get weird.

Most of the time, we eat before we get on the plane, and I usually let the kids pick out a snack or a piece of candy at the airport. That has become a little travel-day treat for them more than an actual packing strategy.

That said, I think snacks are something you should think about based on your own kids and the flight you are taking. Meal and snack service can be delayed or skipped because of turbulence, and even when food is available, there is no guarantee it will be something your child wants to eat. If you have a kid who gets very hungry at predictable times, has food allergies, or is particular about what they eat, I would absolutely keep enough food in your personal item to get through the travel day comfortably.

The same goes for longer flights that cross a normal mealtime. In that case, you may want something more substantial than a few small snacks rather than relying entirely on what you can buy at the airport or what the airline serves.

We do always bring reusable water bottles and fill them once we are through security. I keep those somewhere easy to grab because my kids ask for drinks constantly, and having their own bottles is much easier for me than trying to manage open airplane cups.

If you are traveling with a baby or younger toddler, you may also need space for formula, breast milk, bottles, pouches, or whatever they normally eat during the day. I would just plan that part of the bag around your child’s usual routine and how long you will actually be traveling.

A Few Small Activities and Comfort Items

I do bring entertainment besides the iPads, but I keep this category pretty small.

Over the years, we have tried a lot of travel toys. Some have been great. Others have taken up far more backpack space than the amount of attention they actually earned.

The things that tend to work best for us are small, lightweight, and easy to use without creating a mess all over the airplane. Sticker books have been a favorite for years. Small cars, a simple LCD writing tablet, and a few little toys we can pull out when everyone needs something different to do have worked well too.

I avoid bringing a huge collection of activities just because we might use them, and I am especially wary of anything with a lot of loose pieces. Anything that immediately rolls under three rows of airplane seats is not my favorite form of entertainment.

Comfort items are a little different. If your child has a favorite lovey, blanket, pacifier, or stuffed animal that helps them settle in or sleep, I would keep that with you too. My son is 5 1/2 and still brings his Elmo with us on every flight, so this is definitely not just a baby or toddler thing.

As kids get older, more of this category can start moving into their own bags. If they can reliably keep track of a backpack, they can carry things like their tablet, headphones, book, and a couple of activities themselves.

How I Organize the Backpack

I care almost as much about where things go as I do about what I pack, because there is not much benefit to having wipes in the backpack if I have to unload half of it onto the airplane floor to find them.

I use a backpack that opens more like a suitcase than a traditional top-loading bag, which makes it much easier to see what is inside. From there, I mostly organize things based on how likely I am to need them during the travel day. Water bottles, travel documents, wipes, headphones, and chargers all need to be somewhere I can grab them pretty quickly. Backup clothes and other things I hopefully will not need can go farther down in the bag.

I also try to keep similar things together instead of having everything floating around loose. Charging cords stay together, bathroom supplies stay together, and small toys stay together. That way, if someone needs a bathroom change or I need to pull out the electronics, I can grab what I need without digging through everything else.

This mattered even more when my kids were babies. I would keep diapers, wipes, and a clean outfit together so I could just grab that group of things for a bathroom trip instead of hauling the entire backpack into a tiny airplane lavatory.

As Kids Get Older, Who Carries What Can Change

Right now, I still carry our main personal-item backpack myself. My kids are young enough that handing them each a backpack does not necessarily mean they are going to carry it through the entire airport. If they get tired, lose interest in carrying it, or set it down somewhere, it just becomes one more thing I am managing.

For us, keeping most of the flight-day stuff together in one backpack has been easier. I do not expect that to be our setup forever, though.

As they get older and get better at keeping track of their own things, I can start shifting some of the lower-stakes items into their bags. Things like iPads, headphones, snacks, books, or a couple of activities are all easy places to start.

I will probably still keep the important stuff with me, like passports, medications, and paperwork I do not want anyone else responsible for.

How you divide everything up is probably going to depend a lot on your kids’ ages and how much they can realistically manage. A parent traveling with a baby may have almost everything in one adult bag, while a family with older kids may spread the same categories across several backpacks.

What I Want Within Reach When Flying With Kids

What lives in our personal-item backpack has changed a lot over the years. There was a time when it was full of diapers, bottles, wipes, a potty seat, extra clothes, and toddler toys. Now there are fewer bathroom supplies and a lot more electronics.

I am sure it will keep changing as the kids get older, but I still think about the bag the same way. I want the things we are most likely to need during the travel day, or the things that would be a real problem to lose access to, somewhere I can easily reach them.

For us, that usually means documents, medications, something to eat and drink, a backup plan for spills or bathroom emergencies, electronics, and enough entertainment to get through the flight.

When I am traveling alone with both kids, having those things organized and close by makes a big difference because I am not trying to solve a problem while also digging through an overhead bin or wondering which bag something ended up in.

And if the part that feels overwhelming is everything that happens around the packing, from getting through security with kids to bathrooms, strollers, boarding, gate-checking, delays, and baggage claim, my Airport Survival Guide for Families walks through the whole airport day step by step.

Have questions about this post or want help thinking through the logistics for your own trip? Join my free Facebook community for parents planning family travel. You can ask questions, share what you’re working through, and get real-life advice from other parents who understand how many little details go into traveling with kids.

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