Packing is one of my favourite things to do. I pondered what to pack for a round the world trip with kids for months, and I actually packed and repacked for at least 3 months before leaving. I think I repacked all our bags four or five times. Every time I did Randy made fun of me, but I don’t care!! With each repack I did a better job, and the pile of “stuff” got smaller. I’d rather repack more times than bring along too much stuff!

Updated after 6mo on the road…find the updates below in Blue!

We’re spending our year-long RTW trying to chase the summer as much as possible. However, we’ll end up in a few places that’ll require slightly warmer clothes. I’ve tried to keep my packing list as versatile as possible to account for whatever weather we may encounter. I’ve also made sure not to include any of these things from Ali’s wonderful list of what NOT to pack in a carry on!

The kids’ll carry most of their own stuff, but not all of it. Currently their packs are about 10lbs each. This is a bit heavy for extended walking. I’m able to take out the 2 small packing cubes from each girl’s bag, and redistribute them between mine and Randy’s packs (meaning I get the 2 smallest, and he gets the 2 medium sized ones!). This cuts the weight down to about 6lbs, which is perfectly reasonable for them to carry for extended periods of time. The only time they’ll have to carry the extra weight is through the airport.

Read More: There’s so many other things to think about when planning a trip, including all these awesome tips from Viola

What to Pack for a Round The World Trip with Kids?

These are all the items for one girl, unpacked (to the left) and packed up (to the right).

When I look at their clothes all laid out, it seems like a lot! I’ll likely end up ditching a bit of it along the way. (Update: I’ve ditched SO much!!) They just get so dirty when they travel that I keep leaving it all in. If I think it’s too much once we’re on the road, I’ll send something back with my mom when she visits in October!

Everything packs into 3 eBags packing cubes, in their REI Tarn 18 backpacks. Although we absolutely LOVE these, they’re not available in Canada (sad face), but they are available in the US (happy dance)!! We also have the Osprey Jet-18 and love them too. The torso is a bit longer than the REI packs, so they’d work well for kids that are a bit bigger than my tiny little peanuts!

Also, check out these 8 mistakes Melissa at The Family Voyage made when packing for their RTW, and make sure you don’t make the same mistakes!

Kid’s Packing List (per girl)

Clothes

Tops
  • 3 2 T-shirts
  • 3 Tank tops
  • 1 ultralight weight & 2 1 Long sleeve Merino wool shirt
Bottoms
  • 2 1 Merino wool leggings
  • 2 Capri pants (sent these home because they weren’t wearing them, bought a pair of Elephant pants in Thailand!)
  • 1 Convertible pants
  • 2 1 shorts
Other Stuff
  • Bathing suit
  • Pajamas
  • 6 5 Underwear
  • 3 Socks (Only one pair now)
  • Beach hat
  • City hat (in Mom’s pack) (lost these somewhere. Kacela has a new one she bought in Nepal)
  • Strappy Sandals (in Mom’s pack) They carry these themselves now!
  • Keen Running shoes (sent them home after trekking in Nepal)
  • Fleece zip-up hoodie (not pictured – in Mom’s pack)
  • Stuffable down jacket (not pictured – in Dad’s pack)
  • Sarong (They’ve used these as a blanket almost every night of the trip so far!)
  • UV Buff
  • Stuffed animal
  • All the beanie-boos on the front of the pack!!
  • 500mL and 1L Platypus water bottles (Sent these home)
  • backpack rain cover

All packed up it looks like this!

UPDATE (after 6mo): We’ve ended up swapping out some of the girl’s clothes because they’ve bought stuff along the way or they just weren’t wearing it! For clothing, they each have: 1 pair of socks, 5 pairs of underwear, 2 t-shirts, 3 tank tops, 1 long sleeve shirt, fleece hoody, rain coat, 1 pair of icebreaker leggings, convertible pants, 1 pair of shorts, 3 dresses (2 bought along the way), Thai “elephant pants” (bought along the way), hiking sandals, crocs, bathing suit, pyjamas.

Kid-specific Toiletries (In Dad’s Pack)

  • Toothbrush
  • Hair brush
  • Lots of Hair elastics
  • Hair Clips

Games

Since we’re gone for a year I wanted to bring some games. We can play these as a family, the girls can play them together, or on their own. I’ve spent a bit of time collecting small card games, and then we’ve added a few of our favourites. They’re packed in Mom’s pack.

  • 2 Kanoodles (can play alone or race each other)
  • mini Uno – a travel staple
  • 2 decks of mini cards
  • Wizard (sent home)
  • Sushi Go (sent home and got the iPhone app instead!)
  • Mini packs of a few easy card games (we played these a bunch at first, then gave them away and moved on to more “grown up” games!)
  • Math dice (6)
  • Regular dice (6)
  • Pass the Pigs party

Along with their big packs, the girls each have their own cross-body bag. These are very similar to what we always take for the plane. You can find that (short) packing list HERE!

Click above to see our (short) cross-body bag packing list.

UPDATE (after 6mo): Kacela lost her bag, and Calais’ was sent home when Grandma bought them new purses in Nepal! They currently have lego, a few shopkins, mini boogie board, pencil crayons, a small colouring book, a notebook and post-it notes.

You can find our favourite kid’s packing items here:

 Keen Oakridge Waterproof Hiking Shoes 

 Icebreaker’s Merino Wool Clothing

  Timberland Kid’s Sandals

 Osprey Jet-18 Kid’s packs

 eBags Slim Packing Cubes

 Kid’s Cross-Body Bag

Mom’s Packing List

When I started packing for our RTW (months before we left!) I knew I wanted minimal clothing that was all comfortable to wear. I didn’t really set out to create a capsule wardrobe. When I laid it all out however, I realized that’s exactly what I’ve got! It’s a collection of very specific items, all in a couple colour families, that all goes together.

Clothing

My goal was to stay below 33 items of clothing and accessories not including bras, socks & underwear.

Tops
  • 4 tank tops; blue, grey, coral, black 3 tank tops; blue, black, elephant design (bought in Thailand)
  • 3 short-sleeve t-shirts; black, coral & traded in a blue for pink, I needed more colour!
  • 1 long-sleeve merino wool t-shirt; grey
  • 1 long-sleeve button-up BugsAway shirt; coral (sent it home as I wasn’t wearing it)
  • 1 long sleeve light weight top I bought in Nepal
  • Short hipknotie; teal & blue ombre (sent it home, took up too much room in my bag!)
Bottoms
  • Athletic shorts; black
  • T-shirt dress; grey
  • Merino wool skirt; grey (sent it home because I picked up the dresses below)
  • 2 light weight, long dresses I bought (China & Thailand)
  • Capri leggings; grey
  • “Elephant Capris” purchased in Thailand
  • ExOfficio Cargo-type pants; grey
  • EnCircled Dressy sweatpants; black
Outerwear
  • MEC stuff-able primaloft jacket; teal (sent it home)
  • Marmot lightweight rain shell; blue
  • Merino Wool zip-up hoodie
  • Small merino wool toque (beanie); teal
  • 2 UV Buffs; teal & coral
  • Lightweight scarf; light blue & coral (wasn’t wearing it, sent it home)
  • Hat (lost the original, recently bought a new one!)
  • Ipanema sandals; grey
  • Sketcher’s go-walks; blue
  • Keens hiking shoes; teal (sent these home after trekking in Nepal)
  • Bathing suit; teal (bought a new one in Bali!)
Underwear
  • 8 5 pairs of ExOfficio underwear (5 2 thong, 3 full-bum)
  • 3 1 SmartWool merino wool socks
  • 2 1 IceBreakers merino wool ankle socks
  • 1 pair of compression socks; blue & teal
  • 2 sports bras; one black, one nude

The total comes in a 25!! Down from 29 (including the one new pair of earrings I’m wearing, not including any of the under-wear).

Update (after 6mo): I’m down to 3 tank tops, 3 t-shirts, 1 long-sleeve shirt, 1 fleece, rain jacket, 1 athletic shorts, 2 capri pants, 2 long pants, 2 long dresses, 1 t-shirt dress, bathing suit, 5 pairs of underwear, 3 pairs of socks, 2 bras, 1 hat, sandals, walking shoes. 

Obviously there’s a lot more in my bag besides the clothing!

Mom Specific Toiletries (in Dad’s pack)

  • Toothbrush
  • Diva Cup (find your perfect menstrual cup!)
  • Hair elastics
  • A few under-arm waxing strips (for when we’re at the beach!)
  • 90 pairs of daily contact lenses
  • 2 pairs of eyeglasses (that change to sunglasses)
  • 1 pair of regular eyeglasses
  • Prescription sunglasses
  • Non-prescription sunglasses (2 cheaper pairs, 1 pair or Maui Jim’s)

Miscellaneous Stuff

  • stainless steel mug (x2)
  • electric heating element to boil water (it’s so random, but I love to be able to make tea or Nescafe wherever we are!)
  • sarong
  • 2 microfibre travel towels, but I’ve got my eye on these Teasalate towels after reading this review!
  • Large soft-cover notebook
  • Small soft-cover notebook (to record expenses) (I use the Travel Wallet app now)
  • A few pens
  • My black planning book (I took pics of what I needed and sent this home)
  • USB chargeable headlamp (2)
  • Medium Longchamps bag (used for food, water, etc when we’re on the road. It’s also a great beach bag!)
  • 2 dry bags
  • Laundry bag (Our Scrubba) – sunlight bar soap, travel clothes line (barely use this), universal sink plug, powdered laundry detergent
  • Filter Water Bottle for Travel (see which one we chose, and the rest of our complete water system here!)
  • 4 2 sporks (we’ve broken 2)
  • 2 Loqi shopping bags
  • 2 small produce bags (bought in Thailand)
  • 4 sets of chop sticks (I’m considering ditching these now that we’re not in Asia)

Are you looking for a great travel backpack for women? Check out this post from Melissa at The Family Voyage. It’s really comprehensive and covers the best packs out there!

Dad’s Packing List

Clothes

  • 5 t-shirts (Icebreaker & ExOfficio)
  • 1 long sleeve Icebreaker shirt
  • 1 2 pairs of shorts (one he had made in Vietnam)
  • 1 pair of pants
  • 1 long underwear (sent these home after trekking)

Underwear

  • 7 5 ExOfficio boxers
  • Compression Socks (plus 1 pair of cotton ankle socks bought in Kyrgyzstan)
  • Speedo swim trunks
  • Board shorts (bought in Thailand)
  • PacSafe metal-free belt

Outerwear

  • ExOfficio Lumen Hoodie
  • Rain Jacket
  • Stuffable PrimaLoft Jacket (Sent home after trekking in Nepal)
  • UV Buff
  • Ball cap
  • Waterproof running shoes
  • Nike flip flops Flip Flops purchased in Luang Prabang when the Nike ones broke!

Toiletries

  • Toothbrush
  • Razor (he found the perfect travel razor/clipper combo)
  • Extra razor blades
  • 90 pairs of daily contacts (replenishing along the way)
  • 2 pairs of prescription glasses
  • 1 pair of prescription sunglasses
  • 2 1 pairs of non-prescription sunglasses (one was lost in the Mekong)

Randy’s done the best job carrying the least clothes, it’s so much simpler for men!

Read more: If you’re wondering how to pack it all, check out this awesome post on how to pack a suitcase efficiently by the Travel Leaf!

Our Massive Electronics Packing List

Our electronics are a bit outlandish, which is what happens when we’re trying to blog and make videos along our travels. It’s an entire post on it’s own. Even if you’re not blogging but want to properly document your trip, head on over and check out our electronics packing list!

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