Best Beach Essentials for Families

I’m excited to share my top beach essentials for families with you today. We just returned from a spring break trip to the Caribbean and I felt like, after several beach trips by plane and by car, we finally figured out the perfect packing list. I kept thinking that I wish someone told me when I was taking my two young kids on our first beach trip that I would barely touch the ENTIRE SUITCASE of stuff I packed for them. Here’s our list of what to pack for your next beach vacation.

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Beach essentials

Beach Essentials for Families

We love this beach blanket because it’s super easy to pack. The blanket is huge and can fit out whole family on it. The best part is that the sand slides right off and it dries quickly. This one comes with stakes to help it stay down and each corner has a pocket that’s great for hiding small items while you’re on the beach.

We have purchased these googles multiple times and always pack two for each kid on a trip just in case one gets lost. The kids love them because they are super comfortable and don’t fog up in the water. I love them because they reflect the sunlight and clasp in the back so we don’t have to deal with the rubber straps pulling their hair. They are inexpensive and come in a two pack. One of our favorite beach essentials. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

If you have young kids that hate putting on sunscreen, these sunscreen applicators are a game changer. You fill them with the sunscreen to easily roll it on without the mess. They are great for kids and adults!

If you’re heading somewhere where you plan to snorkel, I highly recommend this snorkel mask and this snorkel vest. The mask fits over your whole face and eliminates the need to have the old school tube in your mouth. My kids absolutely love it because it’s easy to put on and never fills with water. The vest is great because you can inflate it easily with a tube and it doesn’t take up much space in your bag. They have sizes for kids and adults!

Reusable water balloons are something that we just purchased last year and they are a huge hit! They come in a bag of 12 and fill up easily just by dropping them in the water. They are easy to dry and store in the mesh bag. We love them for pool time on vacation.

We try our best to avoid any type of sunburn, but I always keep some of this after sun soother in my bag just in case. I love the way it goes on and it seems to work so much better than the gel that we always used when I was a kid. We have sensitive skin around here and have never had a problem with this one.

A waterproof speaker is great for the beach and for listening to music in the room. We love that it is easy to pair with our phones and the kids love that it lights up.

These waterproof phone pouches have been a life-saver for me. It’s great for keeping your phone safe while you’re having fun at the beach. I loved that I could carry my phone with me without worrying about anything getting stolen or ruined. You can also use your phone while it’s inside the case so you can even take pictures while you’re in the water. Be sure to follow the instructions to test it before using.

My kids hate having sand on them after they leave the beach. I used to use the good ole’ baby powder sand removal method, but that got messy. We found these sand removers and will keep them in our bag from now on. They do include powder to help get the sand off, but they are much easier to use and work great to get sand off easily.

We love collecting things on our daily beach walks. These beach shell bags are perfect for shells or other small items we pick up along the way. I love that they are breathable so things dry easily and they don’t collect as much sand as some of the bags we have used in the past.

On most trips, I skip the beach toys and just pick up a small set when we get there. However, I recently found these collapsible toys and loved that they fit easily in my suitcase and we had them ready to go when we got to the beach.

The adults and the kids in our family love these inflatable pool hammocks. They take up minimal space and are easy to inflate. We use them in the pool and when lounging in the ocean.

The kids love to surf the waves so we tested these inflatable body surfing boards on our last trip. They are very durable and held up well throughout the trip. We have also used them at home with our slip and slide and they are still holding strong.

If you want to see what I pack for myself on any trip, check out this post.

Do you have must-have beach essentials we should add to our list? Let us know in the comments!

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3 thoughts on “Best Beach Essentials for Families”

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