Everything.

Full stop.

We were shopping for last minute vacation supplies, and everything else that one buys at Target, and we came across the bags section. Now, my husband had had about enough of me (which is rare) but I told him we had to have a beach bag. “Can you imagine taking Baby’s backpack down to the beach?! Seriously, whose cover-up does that clunky thing go with? Not hers!” (sometimes I refer to myself in the third person pronoun because I’m obnoxious).

After a thorough eye roll and our usual epic stare downs, she won (me. I won).

So that’s how this huge beach bag came to be ours. And luckily enough, it also fit into our checked luggage without much fuss.

Anyway, where was I?

Ah, yes. What’s in this massive bag, anyway? I’m glad you asked.

Sunscreen

I came across Black Girl Sunscreen on Instagram and actually won a free bottle; which was amazing because I literally never win anything, ever. And I ended up loving it. Just like the company suggests, there’s no greasy or white/grey residue after applying this sunscreen. I have two bottles and my husband uses it too. I affectionately refer to it as my “magic” because why not? 🙂

Aside from sunscreen and my Ray-Bans, everything else in this bag belonged to baby boy: little swimmers waterproof diapers (which suck, by the way), extra bottle, hat, sunglasses, change of clothes, blanket (yes, it was hot, but he could have needed it?), his toiletries cube which includes snot sucker, vitamin D drops, nail clippers, thermometer, etc., a pair of shoes that were too big and he loved to kick off while laughing at me, two different toys and pacifiers. As I’m writing this post, I’m remembering that we used approximately none of these items except for the extra bottle.

I’m a big believer in “better to have and not need, than need and not have” (Hey, dad, I listen!) so if I’m able to carry around a bag full of things he might need, I’m going to do it. I didn’t forget anything and when you have limited time because your vacations now run based on your infant’s schedule, it can be so time consuming to go back to your room for anything.

I want to know from parents and people who vacation without kids, how do you plan for a few hours at the beach or by the pool?