Our family of 7 is gearing up for a month long vacation exploring parts of Europe. Now that all of the planning is done, I am shifting gears to think about packing. By nature, we are quite minimalistic, but even more so when it comes to packing for our trips. When you have a large family, I think it is particularily important to minimize that amount of stuff you’re carrying with you. It is hard enough to keep track of everyone and also fit everything into cars, cabs, etc. Reducing the amount of luggage will alleviate some of the stress on travel days.

We are going to be hopping around quite a bit on this trip, so I don’t want to be lugging around a lot of luggage on subways, buses, trains, and planes. We are also flying on budget airlines, and they have extremely strict luggage restrictions.

So we are committing to only packing 4 carry-on suitcases and a backpack for each person.

I’m sure at this point you are seriously questioning how we could possibly pack for our family of 7 for an entire month in this amount of space, so I’m going to give an inside peek into how we are packing!

Backpacks

With the kids’ backpacks, I like to keep them as light as possible, but also it is their only toys for the whole month. I am a firm believer in not packing too many toys, and instead give your children ample opportunity to grow their imaginations and explore the new places they’re in. Every time I pack, I question whether or not my kids can get away with the little amount of toys they’re bringing, but the answer has always been yes! Once we are in Europe, kids will use their backpacks getting around the cities to carry their own water bottles and snacks.

So, what’s in everyone’s backpacks?

Ron - Kindle, water bottle, camera equipment

Brooke - Kindle, water bottle, travel potty (necessity with a freshly potty-trained kiddo!), first aid kit, change of clothes for little guys, Anders’ blankie

10 yr old - Kindle, water bottle, stuffy, Monopoly Deal, Uno, sewing kit

8 yr old - Kindle, water bottle, stuffy, Sleeping Queens, Skipbo Jr, chess, bag of legos

5 yr old - Kindle, water bottle, stuffy, Guess in 10, bag of duplos

4 yr old - water bottle, stuffy, Old Maid, bag of duplos

2.5 yr old - water bottle, stuffy, bag of Duplos

Suitcases

This was the trickiest part. I actually didn’t have any issues fitting everything into 4 carry-ons, but we are flying on a budget airline that has strict weight limits on carry-ons (22 lbs). But to me, it’s just like figuriing out a puzzle, and now all bags are safely at 21.8 lbs!

For any trip, I am a firm believer that no matter how long the trip, you never need to pack more than a week’s worth of clothes. I made sure that our accomodations have at least a washer every 7 days of our trip, and we should be good to go! We also go even more minimalistic when we travel.

So let’s take a peek into the suitcases!

Suitcase #1 - Ron’s clothes, toiletries, laundry pods

I like to be prepared for anything, especially with kids. I’ve got travel tylenol, benadryl, aquaphor, thermomter, and bandaids for days.

Suitcase #2 - Brooke’s clothes, sound machine, pull-ups

Sometimes I opt to just purchase diapers/pull-ups while I am in country, but this time I decided to just bring them with me since I had the space. In our toiletries,

Suitcase #3 - 2 kids’ clothes, everyone’s shoes

Everyone wears sneakers on our travel days, and I pack everyone crocs/flip flops, and that is all the shoes we bring.

Suitcase #4 - 3 kids’ clothes, a few picture books

And that’s everything! We’re packed and officially ready to embark on our European adventure!

Packing for a Month Long Trip with 4 Carry-Ons

Backpacks

Suitcases