This is all about the best gifts to get for travelers with babies and toddlers.
We’ve traveled a lot with our now 17-month-old, Lincoln, starting from when he was only three months old, including long international trips! We’ve learned a bunch about what is great to bring when traveling with a baby, and now a toddler (that makes me a little sad to say!), and what is a hassle to pack. These items are only the very best and most essential items to have you travel the world with your family!
For a complete list of what we bring when traveling with a baby, check out the Ultimate Baby Travel Packing List!
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Price Guide:
$$$ – Over $75
$$ – $25 – $75
$ – Less than $25
LIILE Baby 6 Position All Seasons Carrier $$$
This is the all-time best gift to have when traveling with babies or toddlers!
There are sometimes when traveling that a stroller won’t work. It’s too crowded, there’s too many steps or hills, or places are too narrow for it to fit through! These times a baby carrier is much easier to use to carry around your kids hands free.
And most babies LOVE baby carriers and will happily nap as you walk. Toddlers like it because they feel like they are part of the action seeing things like you do. It’s like getting to cuddle your baby all day as you explore (and can still hold a gelato as you walk!).
It’s also perfect on the airplane with little babies and will help them sleep during the flight. Read more about How to Fly with Babies
But some baby carriers KILL your back after just an hour or can’t be used with bigger babies. These are the reasons that the LILE Baby 6 Position is the best gift for travelers with a baby OR toddler.
- You can use it from newborn to 45 pounds! You will only have to buy one carrier ever. (As an aspiring minimalist, and a frugal mom, this makes me SO excited)
- You can close or open the venting so that it is warmer or cooler depending on weather.
- You can adjust it a million ways to carry the baby the best way for each situation. Legs in, legs out, front, back, side, head support, etc. This SAVES your back because when one position gets uncomfortable it’s easy to switch to another, sometimes without even taking baby out!
- It is ergonomically designed to keep babies’ hips in good alignment. Other carriers can cause hip pain and cut off circulation to their tiny legs!
- It looks less girly to wear than other baby carriers and so my husband will wear it too.
- It comes in LOTS of great colors and designs.
- It’s easy to get baby in and out, even by yourself! So, when your toddler (inevitably) wants to get out it and back in after 2 minutes, it’s a fast process.
I bring this baby carrier on EVERY trip we ever go on. It folds down reasonably small and is beyond helpful.
Travel Stroller $$-$$$
There are still certain times and trips that you are going to want a stroller. Vacations where you walk most of the day, like museums or Disney World, are much easier when you have something to carry both baby and your stuff. A travel stroller is going to be your friend in these times.
A travel stroller is a small, light-weight stroller that is easy to carry around and use on the go. It makes a great gift for people traveling with babies and toddlers because they won’t have to wrestle with bigger strollers or worry about more expensive ones getting damage on the plane.
Also, most other countries aren’t big-stroller friendly. European sidewalks are small, many countries have cobblestone streets and metro stalls in big cities are narrow.
These are the four necessary things you should look for when getting a travel stroller as a gift for traveling families:
1. Lightweight and easily maneuverable
2. Folds up small and is easy to carry
3. Has a basket under the seat for storage and a sun visor
4. The seat can recline for naps
The one I bought, love, and recommend to friends is the Summer Infant 3D Lite.
It folds up so small and thin that you can carry it with one hand! It’s so narrow it fits thru just about any gate for the metro in any city we have been, and if it doesn’t it’s so lightweight you can easily pick it up with baby inside!
Lincoln takes long naps in it as we walk around so we don’t have to stop exploring for nap time. (This took practice to teach him as our setup changes as he gets older, read more about How to Help Babies Sleep when Traveling)
Backpack Diaper Bag $$
This gift is great for travelers with babies and toddlers because it’s so much easier to use on the go than your typical purse diaper bag!
It keeps your hands free to push a stroller, hold a baby or eat more gelato as you walk around. You can wear it on your back while using the baby carrier in a front position. Plus, since it’s not a purse, my husband doesn’t mind wearing it around all day.
It’s important to start packing for kids with a good bag because it makes organization and access so much easier. Backpacks are easier to carry around and things shift around less in them than a purse style bag. Also look for one that has lots of pockets (both inside and out) so things are easier to organize and find later.
This is the exact one that I have used on over 14 flights and four countries. You will love how you can just throw it in the wash when it’s dirty (or after every trip) and it is the perfect size to be a day bag for everyone’s stuff when you’re out and about!
Read more about How to Pack a Diaper Bag for Flying
Tablet $$$
The holy grail of child distraction. This is a great gift for travelers with babies and toddlers because it’s so versatile!
You will use it on planes, train rides, at restaurants (I know not ideal but you gotta eat in peace sometimes!), and a million other useful times.
Not only is it useful in so many situations but it is so adaptable to your baby and their current age! Little baby? Load Baby Einstein videos, family pictures, and animal pictures. Toddler? Add coloring pages, baby games, cartoons, and digital picture books.
You don’t have to have it always on for your baby (and you shouldn’t!) but at the right times it helps distract and calm a crying little one, making traveling much easier.
There are two tablets that I recommend for babies and toddlers:
An iPad
The iPad is a wonderful gift for traveling families because it’s useful for everyone. You can use it for movies and games for baby but bring a keyboard and it’s a mini laptop too!
Use family share and only ever pay once for all your movies, games, books and apps but download them on all your devices.
This is what we use for every trip. I love how Apple products can also be taken to an Apple store if you are having ANY issues and an expert will help you troubleshoot it. Great for non-techy people. Get a refurbished or older model if you want to save more on it.
An Amazon kid’s tablet
Another great and cheaper option is the Amazon Fire Kid Edition tablets. They have a 2-year Worry-Free Guarantee where they will replace it even if your kids break it! These items are eligible for the warranty:
- Fire HD Kids Edition Tablet with Kid-Proof Case
- Fire HD 8 Kids Edition Tablet
- Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet
- Kindle for Kids Bundle (comes with a case) – currently unavailable 🙁
Whatever you get, be sure to get a kid-proof case to protect it! This is the one we have for the iPad.
Headband Earphones $
This gift is useful for the traveling baby or toddler that love Baby Shark and won’t keep earphones on (so basically all kids).
These soft and comfortable earphones are worn like a sweat band around their little heads and have flat thin speakers inside so they can fall asleep with it on without squishing their ears. The cord also goes behind their head so they won’t see it and try to pull it off!
They also work the times when your little one REFUSES to wear it by just placing it near your baby and they will still hear it (but the person behind you won’t!).
They come in great colors and cute different animals so you can get the perfect one for your little traveler!
EarPlanes $
These are lifesavers.
Babies’ ear canals are shaped differently than adults and they have a hard time allowing pressure changes in their ears. When the plane changes pressure during ascent/descent, their ears can become suddenly painful!
Poor Lincoln even woke from a dead sleep screaming once because it hurt so bad. These ear plugs have a little hole down the center that open up their ears and allow pressure to flow in and out. Once we got them, we have never had an issue since.
We distract Link to put them in right as we are taking off and again when we start descending.
The one thing I don’t like is they are so easy to lose! I highly recommend gluing a bit of string connecting them because we have lost so many.
Portable Sound Machine $$
This is a necessary gift for baby and toddler travelers to help them sleep for bed and naptime in unfamiliar places! It helps them feel comfortable and if you also use a sound machine at home it makes the new place feel more familiar.
Get one that can stay on all night, doesn’t use batteries (who wants to pack extra batteries when traveling?), is small and easy to attach to strollers for naps on the go.
We’ve tried several and this is the best one. It has multiple sound choices, a lock out function and a little night light option.
Nursing Cover Scarf $
Nursing is hard enough already without having to worry about finding places to nurse your baby in an unfamiliar location!
This is a great gift for the nursing traveling mom because it makes a mini-shelter for baby to nurse no matter where you are. AND it covers you all the way around, not just the front, so your back will be covered too!
It is also a great multi-purpose gift because it can double as so many other things! Not only can you wear it around disguised as a cute scarf. It can be a car seat cover, highchair or shopping cart cover or even a swaddle in a pinch!! With endless colors and patterns, you can find one in a style you like.
International Power Adapter $
Ok, so this gift isn’t specific to travelers with babies and toddlers. But it is a necessary item for anyone who is leaving the country.
The power outlets in other countries are all different, and if you don’t have an adapter you won’t be able to charge or plug in anything! Plan ahead and get an adapter so you can keep taking pictures and charging up that tablet for the flight back.
After testing several, this is the one that is the most useful because it works for all outlets anywhere in the world. It also has USB spots so you can charge multiple things at the same time! And it folds in very small so it’s easy to pack so matter how light you pack.
Any other gifts you think are perfect for traveling families with babies and toddlers?
