15 Dollar Tree Vacation Essentials

Whether you are headed to the beach or on a road trip for your vacation, these essentials from Dollar Tree will help your family be efficient and save money while out of town. You will be surprised at how helpful these common items are when you use them in clever ways while you’re away from home!

Here you will see a handful of items I recommend buying and using while you travel. You will find all types of ideas that will transform your trip. These travel necessities can all be found at your local Dollar Tree! Or feel free to shop online and have it shipped right to your door stop.

More Travel Ideas

Dollar Tree Travel Essentials

1. Shower Caps for Packing Shoes

I love using shower caps to cover my shoes when they are packed in my suitcase. It helps keep the soles contained and keeps the dirt off of my clothes!

2. Sleep Mask for the Trip

Whether you’re hopping on a flight or driving across the country, keeping a couple of sleep masks for your family while on your way to your destination is a great idea! It helps my kids sleep without distraction so the trip goes by quicker for them! It seems like our family is much more likely to sleep on the way home than on the way to our vacation!

3. Jumbo Clothespins as Towel Clips

I have purchased expensive towel clips online before, and these plastic jumbo clothespins are nearly the same thing! Beaches can have a lot of wind blowing inland, and these clothespins secure beach towels to the loungers so they don’t blow away!

4. Laundry Bag for Beach Toys

I love to use the laundry bags as carriers for beach toys because all of the sand falls out the holes. Sometimes we purchase really inexpensive beach toys from a local Dollar Tree wherever we’re staying and leave them for the next family!

5. Extra Flip Flops

It never fails that a flip flop breaks at an inconvenient time! I like to pack an extra pair just in case I need them! Or, I really like to pick up a cheap pair of $1 flip flops for camping showers or daily trips to the beach, too.

6. Tote Bags for Day Trips

These inexpensive tote bags are perfect to take essentials to a day at an amusement park, or down to the beachfront. They’re large enough for everything our family needs, but there are some smaller ones, too, so each of my kids can bring their own and be responsible for their own items.

7. Sunglasses for Vacation Use

I have lost my nice sunglasses in the lake one too many times! Now, I like to stock up on inexpensive sunglasses whenever we’re going to be around water, a beach, hiking, or an amusement park. Believe it or not, Dollar Tree does have trendy styles for adults and cute sizes for kids, too!

8. Kids Activity Books for Traveling

These activity books keep my kiddos occupied (screen-free!) on road trips and on flights! They’re also great for afternoons at our condo when they’re tired from swimming all morning! I love that they’re only a dollar, so I can purchase a great selection.

9. Extra Night Light

Whenever we’re staying in an unfamiliar place, I like to pack a couple extra night lights for our vacation. It helps when we’re not used to where the light switches are during the middle of the night bathroom breaks!

10. Sticky Notes

You’ll be surprised at how often you’ll use sticky notes on vacation when you bring them! They have been super helpful when asking housekeeping to leave a couple of extra towels or when we need to leave a note for other family members about where we’re going.

11. Plug-Ins to Expand Outlet

Hotel rooms are notorious for lacking in electrical outlets! We always bring an extra outlet expander, which is helpful for our white noise machine, baby monitors when staying in a condo, or even you have teenage daughters who also use electrical elements to get ready for the day!

12. Baby Wipes for Messy Hands

I can’t tell you how many times in past years, we’ve had sticky hands on a road trip! Well, now I always keep baby wipes in the car. They’re perfect for cleaning up small spills, dirty hands, and even for cleaning hands on the beach before having a snack.

13. Plastic Slider Storage Bags

These storage bags so many uses on vacation! We use them for bringing snacks to the beach as well as for wet swimming suits! Also, when the snacks are gone, my kiddos like to bring home seashells in them without getting everything else sandy.

14. Glow Bracelets for Night Identification

Whenever a big group is gathered at a family reunion, on the beach at night, or at a park, these glow sticks SO helpful for keeping track of my kids!! What I like to do is purchase multiple packages for our extended family, so each family can have a different color for their kids! You intuitively know who belongs to whom, even when it’s dark outside.

15. Screw-Lid Container for Phones and Keys

Whenever we go down to the beach, I like to put our cell phones in this container. It is large enough to keep all of our things in one place without having to worry about damage to electronics from water or sand.

I can’t wait for you to grab these vacation essentials from Dollar Tree and try them out for yourself! I love finding unexpected purposes for items when we travel.

June 12, 2020