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20 Beach Hacks to Survive a Family Beach Day

20 Beach Hacks to Survive a Family Beach Day

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

Genius Beach Hacks for kids to help families survive a day at the beach. Clever beach tips and tricks to help you on family beach vacations or just a day out at the beach with kids. You won't believe you didn't think of these beach hacks before! #beach #beachtips #beachhacks #familybeachday #kidsatthebeach #familyvacation #beachday

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

How to make a fun beach day by setting up your spot with all your cool beach hacks.

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.

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Keep Cool

Beach Hack for keeping cool at the beach with a misting fan.

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

Protect your cell phone from sand at the beach with this cell phone cover case beach tip.

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.

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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.

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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

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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.

Easy Beach Hack for Sand toys - use a mesh bag to hold your toys so you can keep the sand off your blanket and car. Just shake the mesh bag and let all the sand fall out.
My Dollar Store Laundry Bag

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 Trick to hide your money at the beach.

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.

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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.

Grab your free printable Summer Bucket List ideas and plan your whole summer with your kids. Fun Indoor & outdoor kids activities, crafts and things to do in your local community. Your family will love checking off all the fun things to do this summer.

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

Naples, Florida

Marco Island, Florida

Wilmington, North Carolina

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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Free Printable Family Travel Checklist with everything you need to pack for family vacation. Be prepared to travel with kids with this handy printable checklist.

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20 Ultimate Beach Tips & Tricks with kids. Best beach hacks for a fun family beach day. Easy tips on how to plan for a day at the beach, what to pack, how to hide your money, get rid of sand & more. #beachhacks #beachtips #traveltips #familyvacation #packing #travelwithkids
20 Awesome Beach Hacks Moms will Love! Get these easy tips and tricks for taking kids to the beach. Clever ideas to hide your valuables, carrying things to the beach, safe areas for babies and so much more. #Beachhacks #travelwithkids #beachday #beachvacation #travelhacks #traveltips #familyvacation
Beach Hacks Every Mom Needs to Know. Simple Beach Tips & Tricks for kids to make your Beach day or Beach vacation fun and stress free. Save your next family vacation with the best Beach Tips for a memorable day out with the kids. #beachhacks #beachtips #familyvacation #beach #sand #travelhacks

More Great Family Vacation Destinations

Family Travel Tips & Hacks

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Genius Beach Tips & Tricks Moms Need for a family beach day. DIY Beach hacks with kids for a stress free beach vacation. How to hide your valuables, get rid of sand, what to pack and more.  Be ready with these 20 Clever Beach Tips for Kids. #beachtips #beachtricks #beachhacks #beachwithkids #beachvacation


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.