Preparing for the Beach

lc&jw

We'll be going on DH's family vacation in a couple weeks and will be spending a week on a lake with a beach. We've never taken the kids to a beach before so I'm not exactly sure what to expect in terms of managing the sun, sand, and water.

Should I have a sun umbrella or some other way to provide shade for them, or is it totally ridiculous to think they would spend any time sitting under there? How often do I need to reapply sunscreen to them?

Any other tips for things I should bring with me or issues I need to prepare for?

lbonga1

I have a pop up tent that I bring with us to the beach, but DD doesn't sit under it much. I just make sure she's wearing a sun hat. It should say on your sunscreen bottle how often to reapply, maybe every couple hours, and more often if they're getting wet? And I would bring baby powder with you. It gets the sticky wet sand off skin like magic.

SummerLove21

I second the pop-up tent, and I try to bring clothes with coverage (jackets, hats, pants) to protect from the sun and keep warm if it is cool (it usually is at the beaches we frequent).

ericalee27

Yes to a lot of previous post! Baby powder is magical! Especially when you have a kid (like DS2) who loses his or her mind the second feet touch sand. We always wear long sleeve sunshirts on DS2, hat, sunscreen, and shade from multiple umbrellas. Good luck!

singingsea

I just got back from the outer banks a couple weeks ago. I think on the sunscreen bottle said to reapply after an hour and a half of sun exposure. So I tried to follow that. He also wears swim shirts with long sleeves.

Um lets see Don't bother with hats. They (well at least mine) won't wear them unless you slip it on without them noticing. I bought a pop up sun shade but we never used it. Little dude was constantly on the go. I just made sure I soaked his face and scalp with sunscreen.

Bring flip flops or crocs for super hot sand. Pack a butt ton of snacks, water and juice.

Buy one of those sand castle kits with the pail and shovel. Kids LOVE those things and it keeps them busy.

brachysira

Yes, I agree with pps.  My child would never sit under an umbrella, but I have seen other children her age that will.  She does like hats and keeps them on pretty well--we have one with a velcro strap that makes it stay on pretty well, although she can take it off if she wants.  We also do a short sleeve suit so her body is more protected from the sun.  She has water shoes--just inexpensive ones from the grocery store--and will wear those in.  We liberally apply sunscreen every couple hours, especially if the hat is off.  She loves the sand toys and will try to take toys from others, so bring a bag of your own.  My child will also run into the water like she is a sea turtle or something and so it takes a ton of energy to stay on her heels all day...but this is pretty much how it is anywhere we go.  She can go far in in seconds and then not know what she's doing, so staying near is key. 

wells2010

we took our first beach trip in June. It was awesome! We did an umbrella and blanket. The blanket I got was from Bed Bath and Beyond and was a fold-up one with a strap. The material was great since the sand didn't stick to it and it dried quickly. We also did an umbrella. I thought about the tent, but I don't think my daughter would sit in it. The umbrella was good too because you can have the toys and stuff underneath it too so they can still play in the sand. 

We did a pinterest-type idea where we dug a hole in the sand then put a dollar store shower curtain over it and buried the edges in the sand. We filled the pool with water for the kids to splash it. It was a huge hit! We had kids from 1 yr to 6yrs and they all loved it. At the end of the day, we'd roll the curtain up and keep it in a pail to use for the next day. 

We had a few sets of cheap beach toys. I think one set was from Target and the other from Five Below. We did bubbles too. Ikea has some nice beach toys that a friend had. Don't get anything expensive because they get lost/mixed up easily. 

Baby powder gets the sand off easily!

There is no ideal way to change a kiddos diaper at the beach. Sand will get in tricky places. 

We also got DD a floppy hat. Normally, she won't wear hats, but I think she got that it was keeping the sun out of her eyes and she really liked it. 

We had so much fun! Sunscreen should be reapplied every 2-3 hours or after swimming. I did kid's spf 50 and that worked well. We had no burns (except my husband, but that was his own fault!). 

Hope you have a great time! Peyton hated it at first. We had to ease her into it. We put her on a clean towel and had her playing with a large bucket of water and a shovel. Slowly, we put more and more sand on the towel and began inching the bucket away from the towel. Eventually, she loved the sand and water!

lc&jw

Thanks for all the helpful tips ladies! I just found a pop-up shade tent on craigslist for cheap. Hopefully I can snag that for our trip.

Quick question about the baby powder though. How do you use that to get sand off? Like if their feet are covered with wet sand, you rub baby powder on it and it magically comes off? :-/

ericalee27

lc&jw said:

Quick question about the baby powder though. How do you use that to get sand off? Like if their feet are covered with wet sand, you rub baby powder on it and it magically comes off? :-/

Yes!  I don't know or why it works like that, but it does!