It may feel like spring is a long way off, but spring break will be here before you know it. Those are the weeks each year when you and everyone else is on vacation. That means you need a strategy to have fun in big crowds, whether you’ll be touring Washington, D.C., going to Disney or heading to Times Square.
These tips will help ensure you have fun and stay together, despite the crowds.
Skip the lines you can skip
Before you leave, buy tickets online if possible. You may be able to print them out at home. If not, at least you will be able to use the much shorter will-call line. As an added bonus, you may get a discount for buying online.
While you’re on the attraction’s site, take the time to study the map of the place so you’ll know what you want to see when you get there. It will help ensure you get to see the things you and your family really want to see.
Think like a tour guide
Put one parent in the front of the group (the leader) and one flanking the back (or maybe this honor goes to an older friend or sibling) to help keep the group together in a crowd. Consider donning a bright scarf, neon-colored T-shirt or even a fun flag to wave to ensure the kids can find you easily. The teens might be mortified in the moment, but they will enjoy making fun of you later in life.
Coordinate your outfits
Leave your teen further mortified by getting everyone to wear those same neon T-shirts so you can spot one another in the crowd. Or give everyone glow sticks, bracelets or necklaces to hold up if they need to be seen above the teeming masses.
Travel light
Small backpacks for each family member allow you to bring only what’s needed for the day. Only the basics should come along with you—credit card, cash, tissues or wipes, cell phone and portable charger, any needed medicines and snacks for the kids. Your shoulders and back will thank you at day’s end and you can still take pictures on your phone. Have your children pack what they may want and—here’s the most important part—carry it themselves. It’s a key way to raise life-long light packers.
While we’re on the subject, avoid strollers if at all possible. At the very least, do yourself a favor and invest in a cheap umbrella stroller. It folds up easily and you won’t be upset if it gets lost or broken in the crowds. Don’t bring your everyday stroller that carries more than your minivan does. Try carrying that up and down stairs and onto public transportation and you’ll quickly wish you hadn’t brought it in the first place.
Have a backup plan
At each location, plan where everyone will meet if someone gets separated from the group, and make sure everyone knows. Before moving from room to room or floor to floor, do a quick check to make sure everyone remembers the plan.
Be ready to call
If the worst happens and you do get separated, make sure your phone is charged and your kids have all needed phone numbers with them on a piece of paper. Instruct little ones to ask another mom for help. Men in uniforms — from police to janitors — can look alike to little ones. Moms with kids can be a safer bet.
For more great tips on family travel, download your free copy of 101 Family Travel Tips at TravelingMom.com, an online family travel magazine filled with tips and advice from moms who travel with their kids. Or visit TravelingDad.com to read an often humorous dads’ perspective on traveling with kids.