This season it’s all about the bag

The beach bag that is, a successful Beach Mom is prepared for anything. Your beach bag needs to be portable, well stocked for any situation, organized and if you can manage to make it trendy kudos to you. The basics:

• Sun block: To be most effective it should be applied at home and then reapply throughout the day. At our house this is very often a cardio event involving running, hiding and heavy lifting. A few strategies that have worked sporadically for us have been having the kids put sunscreen on us, pretending its make up and of course bribery.

• Cell phone in a zip lock bag: Because at some point a juice box or bucket full of sandy water is going to land on it. All veteran Beach Moms have an assisted cellular death story.

Mine was two years ago, I was checking out this great beach that could only be reached by wading around a cove when a wave came out of no where and soaked my beach bag complete with unprotected cell phone (I was more focused on making sure the child didn’t wash away). My poor phone, it was horrible, it shook and flashed and beeped, trying to find some reception and then it stopped, forever.

• Benedryl cream tube: The day you forget it is the day your child will have a jellyfish tentacle entangled in their swimsuit leaving behind barbed wire style welts all over their tiny body accompanied by heartbreaking sobs and excruciating pain.

• Swim wear: If you’re going to be spending long hours at the beach its worth the investment to get long sleeved rash guards. We use a lot of EXCEL, Lands End and an awesome Hawaiian brand Oiwi Ocean Gear.

• Don’t forget the hats and sunglasses: Yes, it’s a battle of wills but even if they only wear them sporadically its better than nothing.

• Beach toys: Doesn’t need to be anything fancy; a shovel, bucket and watering can will entertain them for hours. Due to the trade winds here, I avoid inflatables, my attention needs to be on the kids not chasing after a lousy beach ball which has suddenly become my daughter’s most prized possession as it floats off to the Moks.

• Beach friendly snacks: Nothing works up an appetite like being in the middle of nowhere, with no option to purchase food. We have a small lunch bag with a cooler. My kids like PB & jelly sandwiches, cheese sticks, yogurt tubes, granola bars, raisins, tangerines and packages of seaweed.

• Water: While juice boxes are easy and convenient, they do produce garbage you will have to lug back to the car and the fruit sugar will only make the kids have to pee, just like your morning coffee. If we’re going to a facility free beach, I’ll often skip the morning coffee by promising myself a trip through the Starbucks drive thru on the way home.

Despite great preparation, its important to remember that there is nothing you can put in your bag to fix overtired melt downs once they’ve started. As a result it is essential you can carry both this well stocked bag and a teary, sandy, wet child back to the car in one trip.