Traveling with a 5 Year Old

[Shaunna]

Hey guys! I'm looking for some advice about what to pack when traveling with a 5 year old to an All Inclusive (Barcelo Palace). Below are the things I plan to pack for him:

-Sunscreen
-Life Jacket (Do I need one or do they provide these for swimming in the ocean?)
-Arm floaties (for pool)
-Swim Shirts
-Sand Toys (Are these really necessary or will they have them at the resort? I'm just not sure how practical they will be to pack.)
-Sunglasses
-Hat
-Nintendo DS (for plane ride)

Then obviously clothes, flip flops, basic hygiene items.

Thanks for any advice!!

[Shammy]

If you want him to use a life jacket, bring your own. They do have life jackets at the hotel but you have to check them out and can do so for one hour at a time. Plus, they may not have his size at the time you need one.

Same goes for sand toys - they might have some at the kid's club left behind by other people. But if you want him to have his own, to use anywhere and whenever, bring them. They do sell them in the gift shop - obviously for more than you would pay at home - so if you want to save packing space and are ok with overpaying for the sake of convienence, then by them there.

[jevans]

Originally Posted by Shammy

If you want him to use a life jacket, bring your own. They do have life jackets at the hotel but you have to check them out and can do so for one hour at a time. Plus, they may not have his size at the time you need one.

Same goes for sand toys - they might have some at the kid's club left behind by other people. But if you want him to have his own, to use anywhere and whenever, bring them. They do sell them in the gift shop - obviously for more than you would pay at home - so if you want to save packing space and are ok with overpaying for the sake of convienence, then by them there.

I agree with Shammy. Remember when our kids were playing on the beach about that age? Damn, where does the time go.

You can also buy alot of that stuff at Wal Mart or Mega.

I'm not too sure about the all inclusive as I've never stayed at one.

Your kids will love it.

[Shammy]

Originally Posted by jevans

I agree with Shammy. Remember when our kids were playing on the beach about that age? Damn, where does the time go.

You mean like this?

[Rissask]

The shops at the Barcelo, as Shammy said, have a wide variety of sand toys and floaties for kids...I would save the space and just buy there! Beside all the pools there is even a little shop with doughnut floaties, rafts, water wings, fish food, sunglasses and all sorts of hats, etc.

That actually reminded me....I was standing in line at the Palace main gift shop and the clerk was not paying close enough attention when blowing up a small raft for a little girl...he overfilled it and BOOM....scared the crap out of all of us in line, and especially that poor little girl, who promptly burst into noisy tears. Until she was quickly reassured her dad would go grab another one, no harm no foul.

[jevans]

Originally Posted by Shammy

You mean like this?

Or this :



or when i was dumb enough to let my kids do this at crococun.