Are you planning a family beach day or headed on a beach vacation? Make it a stress-free and fun day out with these 20 Easy Beach Hacks for kids.
You’ll be surprised at how these simple beach tips and tricks can make such a huge difference in your family’s day out. Follow our list of fun things to take to the beach to be ready to enjoy your beach day.
You’ll learn what to do before you go to the beach, what to pack for the beach, a cool fitted sheet hack to keep sand off your blanket, how to hide your valuables, and more. Don’t just survive your next family beach day have a great time making fun family memories.
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20 Beach Hacks to Survive a Family Beach Day
How to Prepare for Your Family Beach Day
Pack The Night Before
To make your beach day less crazy before you go, start packing up what you’ll need the night before. This way it’s one less thing to do when you’re trying to get your kids dressed and fed in the morning.
Pack Lunches and Snacks
Get your lunch and any snack made the night before. Then in the morning add them all to your cooler with water and drinks.
Get to the beach earlier in the day
The beach will be less crowded so you’ll get a better spot plus the kids are less crabby when they’re not as tired.
Stake out your spot
Now that you have arrived earlier in the day, you can stake out your spot on the beach with blankets, towels, and chairs. This way, when it does get crowded, you’ll still have some space for the kids to dig and play.
Decide if you would rather be near the water so you can see the kids easily swimming or further away so they can’t run into the water too quickly.
Bring a Blow-up Toddler Pool
For toddlers and babies, bring a small blow-up pool or use a blow-up boat as a small pool.
Fill the pool up with the lake/ocean water and place it under an umbrella for shade. This lets smaller children splash in the water and you won’t have to worry about them being in the ocean waves.
Worried about packing all that baby gear? Guess what you don’t have to with BabyQuip! An amazing baby rental company that delivers to your destination. Our favorite travel hack – BabyQuip.
Keep Cool
Use a spray bottle to mist your kids and keep them cool.
This is great for when they are so busy playing in the sand and not interested in running in the water or when the water is too cold.
We love using one that has a fan on it. This O2Cool spray bottle worked great for us. (pictured in green below)
You can also freeze water bottles the night before so you have cold water to drink at the beach.
Cell Phone Protection
If you plan to bring your phone to the beach, make sure to put it in a case to protect it from sand and water. You can use a simple zip lock bag or we love the Moko waterproof cellphone case.
You can hang it around your neck and bring it in the water with you to take pictures of the kids. The Moko allows you to still use your phone’s touch features and takes clear pictures.
We take it on every vacation and even use it when going to our local pool. It’s shown in the picture below.
Wear flip flops
Make sure to wear flip-flops that can get wet so you can easily wash off the sand at the showers on the way out of the beach.
Bring a change of clothes
If you want to wash off in the showers at the beach and head out to restaurants or shops after your beach day, don’t forget to pack some extra clothes.
Bag for Wet Bathing Suits
Bring along an extra bag to throw your wet bathing suits in. This can be just a grocery store bag or a clean trash bag from your hotel room.
What to Pack for a Day at The Beach
Beach Blanket Hacks
There are so many different beach blankets you can find. We like to find a beach blanket that folds up into a bag so you can easily transport it and that dries quickly.
This one below is great because it has pockets for your stuff and has stakes to hold the blanket down on windy days
Fitted Sheet Hack
Use a fitted sheet as your blanket to keep the sand off your blanket. You can place your cooler and bags to hold the sides up inside the fitted sheet. The sheet will go up higher and help keep the sand out. Which is pretty cool plus cheap.
Beach Bag
For the beach, you need a big beach bag for your towels but also one that has pockets to hold smaller things like your keys. The bonus is finding one that will also brush off the sand.
I love this beach bag because it folds up easily to pack in a suitcase and has tons of pockets.
Sand Toys
Save money when traveling by picking up some beach toys at the local dollar store or grocery store when you get there.
If you have room in your suitcase or are traveling by car, consider bringing the toys with you. Check out my Dollar Tree Travel Activities to find great beach items.
Beach Hack – Put the toys in a mesh bag so that all the sand falls out. I often pick up a mesh laundry bag from the dollar store and throw all the beach toys in there. It’s a cheap and convenient way to hold all your beach toys.
Collapsible Sand Bucket
Another great beach toy hack is getting collapsible sand buckets. They fold down flat so you can fit them in a suitcase on vacation or in your beach bag. No more bulky sand buckets to carry to the beach.
Hide Your Money
When you’re ready to head to the water, do you get nervous about leaving your purse or wallet on your beach blanket? Nothing ruins a beach day like having your money stolen.
Beach Hack – Hide your money in an empty can of Pringles or a Chapstick holder. Thieves will think it’s just food and ignore it.
Bring a Bag for Trash
Make sure to bring with you a bag to throw out all your trash. If you plan to picnic or even just bring snacks, it’s nice to have a small plastic bag to throw out all your trash.
Beach Clothes
If you plan to be in the sun all day, it’s a good idea to wear a protective swim shirt or rash guards and a hat with SPF. This will help keep the sun and harmful rays off your skin.
Our whole family wears rash guards to the beach and it has been a huge help in reducing sunburns.
Sun Tent and Umbrella
Keep your kids out of the sun and cool on your beach vacation with an umbrella or beach tent. Our favorite beach tent pops up and is set up in minutes, which is great when you’re keeping an eye on excited kids at the beach.
If you want an umbrella, I suggest you use one that you can screw into the sand to make sure it doesn’t fly away in the wind. We like a fold-out handle to help you twist down the sand anchor on the snail beach umbrella. It makes the umbrella much more stable and easy to install.
Life Vests
If you have younger kids, I like to bring a swim vest for safety. It helps them stay afloat and makes it easier for you to swim with the kids.
I like that the one below has a handle at the top so you can easily grab your kid out of the water if they are struggling to swim.
Bring Baby Wipes
Use baby wipes to get sand off your hands before you have a picnic lunch or snack.
Cooler
Get a cooler that you can also use as a table. Try to find one on wheels that you can pull over the sand and has indentations for drink holders.
Beach Cart
It’s hard to carry all your beach supplies and your kids to the beach. Even if the kids can walk, they are not a big help in carrying your stuff. I suggest getting a beach cart if you are going to regularly go to the beach.
Make sure you pick one with big wheels that can easily be pulled over the sand and look for one that can hold your beach umbrella, too. I like the one above because it’s well made and has a plastic holder for the beach umbrella which is more sturdy than the velcro ones on other carts.
Beach Wagon
Another great option is a beach wagon that you can throw all your stuff in.
We found a great one that folds so it’s easy to pack up in your car. It fits all your chairs, umbrellas, boogie boards, and more. You could also give a tired kid a ride in it on your way back home. Here’s what ours looked like.
The only thing I would change if I buy another one is to get larger wheels to glide over the sand like this one below.
Did you find a great beach hack for your next beach vacation? I hope these tips will help you have a great beach day with your kids! If you have any questions or your own beach hacks, please share in the comments. I love to hear from my readers.
Fun Beach Vacation Ideas
We love taking beach vacations in Florida and North Carolina. They all have beautiful beaches and tons of fun activities for the whole family. You just need to decide if you want to be on the Gulf or the Atlantic Ocean.
Our Favorite Beach Vacations
Topsail Island, North Carolina
Midwest Beaches on Lake Michigan
Travel Hacks to Keep Kids Busy on Family Vacation
Keeping kids busy on a family vacation is the difference between us all going crazy and having a great trip.
My favorite place to pick up cheap travel games and gadgets is Dollar Tree. You save money and if you lose it on vacation no big deal.
If you don’t have time to shop before vacation, check out these great Amazon Travel Gadgets for Kids.
We love the travel tray for the kids to play on in the car and kick mats to hold the kid’s iPads and games on a road trip.
Visiting friends or family & need cribs, car seats, or strollers? Don’t pack it all have it delivered to their door with BabyQuip. Our favorite travel hack from BabyQuip.
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Karen
Tuesday 4th of June 2019
Great tips for planning a day at the beach! A bit of preparation always makes taking the kids easier.
happymomhacks
Wednesday 5th of June 2019
Yes a little preparation really does make the whole day easier and more fun. Have a great time at the beach this summer!
Lauren
Monday 3rd of June 2019
I love your beach ideas especially hiding your money in a pringles container!
happymomhacks
Wednesday 5th of June 2019
Thanks!! I love the pringles can tip too. Hope it helps you out at the beach this summer.