What To Pack In A Kids Carry On Bag

This was my first time taking the boys abroad, and when I saw these kids carry on shark cases in Matalan I just had to get them. They have a handle and wheels so they can drag it along behind them, or you can push the handle back down and they can carry it on their back like a normal backpack, so you’ve got the best of both worlds.

My boys here were ages 5, and very soon to be 4, so both of their bags had pretty much the same items in.


Now, a food bribe is always needed when travelling with kids! Long car drive, waiting around in an airport for a couple hours, then flying and transfers the other side. I packed plenty of snacks to keep them happy (plus it’s cheaper to pack it than buy snacks in the airport) But be sure to check that none of them are classed as liquid or you’ll have to bin it to get through airport security.


To help keep them amused I packed their iPads (in a nice thick, padded kids case!) And downloaded some films for them to watch on Netflix. A lot of the games they had on there didn’t work without WiFi, so I would double check that & save yourself from having to learn the hard way like I did! They also had some kids headphones which are reduced to 85db so that they are safe and couldn’t turn it up too loud and damage their ears.

I let them pick 2 small toys each from home to put in their bags, of course they wanted the same one that the other one picked. But lets just keep it real and remember that going on holiday is just parenting abroad, the squabbles remain the same…

They also had a colouring/sticker book and some colouring pencils. My eldest made more use of this as he’s quite into colouring at the moment, whereas my youngest barely touched his. To be honest it probably took longer to get his tray down, and get it all out for him than the amount of time he actually used it!


The boys both had their bedtime teddies in their carry on case, these were used more on the flight home when it was very late at night and they were both exhausted. They cuddled up with them and both went to sleep.

I also packed them a jumper each, as it always seems to get so cold on aeroplanes! And obviously when you’ve landed back in England, when you step off the plane & remember just how chilly it is to be home!


They both had a pair of sunglasses in their bag ready for when we arrived, and also a cap ready to go straight out into the sun!

Top Tip

One tip I would say is to not pack too much in their bags, this is for a couple reasons.

  1. Because when there is too much stuff in there, it’s a pain to find/get anything out without having to pull loads of stuff out. Plus it turns into a game of Tetris to get it all back in again.
  2. If you make it too heavy, they won’t want to carry it and you’ll end up having to carry theirs as well as your own, plus boarding passes, passports and potentially having to give your children a piggy back too! … If only we had more arms.

Thats everything that I packed, if it was a longer flight I would have taken them a flight pillow too.

What do you pack in your kids carry on cases?