Packing kids' clothes in Ziploc bags

[delarosa]

For those of you who have packed your kids' clothes in Ziplocs for each day, what size bags do you use? My niece is 12 and she wears a junior size 1, so her clothes are not itty-bitty. I was thinking gallon sized, but I pulled one out last night and it seemed way too tiny.

Any suggestions?

(Sidenote--Even though she is older, I am doing this with her because she is very disorganized. Her idea of "packing" is opening her closet and throwing in whatever is nearby. I don't want to spend an hour each morning with her deciding what shirt to wear with her shorts.)

[Beast_fanatic]

I haven't done this, but I just pulled out a gallon bag and looked at it, and I think I could pack my clothes for a day at WDW in one (and I'm not a junior). In general, my clothes would consist of undies, socks, a pair of shorts and a top. If necessary, you can roll the clothes to get them to fit.

[tlpowell35]

The ones I use are the jumbo Hefty ziplocks. I can only find them at Target here in FLA. They are bigger than the gallon,not sure of the exact size. They are big enough for a full set of clothes,even for an adult.

[WDWhuny]

I always pack may kids clothes in ziplock bags, even my junior high age boys. Their shorts, shirts, socks and underpants fit in a gallon, freezer-size bag. Boys shorts are a lot longer and baggier. Girls shorts are smaller and shorter. I'm sure their outfit would fit in a gallon bag. I use freezer bags because I find they last and I use them over and over from trip to trip. This method helps kids who are terrible packers but also helps kids who can not put a matching outfit together. I hate to admit it but I do this for my husband. At home year round, I use twist ties to attach shirts and slacks hangers. On vacation he gets ziplocks! [img]graemlins/muscles.gif[/img]

[Googlie Bear]

I've always used gallon size bags, and lets just say I'm not a Junior size 1. Fold them carefully, and once you squish the air out of the bag, it will fit fine. It only works with summer clothes: Dont try a pair of jeans!

[Dare To Dream]

We have a system for packing that I have used for over 10 years.

First we take 3x5 cards and write down the day of the week and what we are going to be doing on that day for the entire trip. Then we lay them out on the bed in order. We then begin picking outfits for each day and put them under the cards. For "shared" items (i.e. sweatshirt, shoes), we put a card for that item under the day and the actual "shared" item into a "shared" pile. In doing this we have been able to make sure we had all of the essential coordinates (scrunchies, earrings). It also has helped to prevent over packing.

My 16 DD has taken this one step further. [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] She takes dry erase markers and writes on the mirror in her bathroom things she needs to pack the morning of the trip. One list is for her carry-on (retainer) and the other for her suitcase. She starts this list several days in advance.

If the gallon bags are too small - Target sells 2 gallon bags. They can even hold an adult ensemble.

We are now planning what our DD will pack for a 3 week trip to Europe. She is supposed to limit herself to 20 pounds going over. This will put our system to a new test.

[Alligirl]

If you don't want to use the bags try to just roll an outfit together. I put the shorts down (folded in half, longways) and then the socks,undies and then tshirt (folded in half, long ways) and then roll everything up and tie with curling ribbon. Each DD gets a different color ribbon and so it is a lot easier in the am. I find that this takes a lot less room in the suitcase as well.

[TheMartellFamily]

We use the gallon size bags. even though the clothes seem bigger than the bag it always seems to fit. we fold it as tight as we can then put in a bag. then when it goes into the bag we clothes it and squeeze out the rest of the air.

[Catzle]

Dumb question here, why are you putting clothes in bags? To have an outfit sorted for each day?

[Momof2boys]

Yep -- our boys are very independent & like picking out their own clothes but sometimes they don't pick things that match all too well

We used the 2 gallon bags. We found them at Target last year. In each bag we put shorts, socks, underwear, and a shirt. It worked well because then at the end of the day they'd put their dirty clothes back in the bag & that bag would go back in the suitcase. It helped keep the dirty clothes from the clean clothes.

Each morning while dh & I were getting ourselves ready they could look in their drawer & pick whatever bag they wanted. We had the shirt on top so that's how they choose - by what shirt they wanted to wear.

[ April 13, 2005, 10:50 AM: Message edited by: Momof2boys ]

[FourMsMom]

Great idea. We'll give it a try. Hopefully it will cut down on the crying when DS 8 can't find his socks and underwear. [img]graemlins/clappy.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/silly.gif[/img]

[WDWFanatic]

We tried this for the first time last year and it worked great. It was so nice in the morning to let the kids just pull out a bag of clothes! I used the Hefty Jumbo bags. I may try to find the two gallon because the hefty were a little to big. Had to make sure we got all the air out of the bags or it was hard to fit it all in the suitcase.

I also labeled the outside of each boys bags so we could easily tell what bag belonged to whom.

[Catzle]

I think I am going to try this. Put there names on them and have everything sorted and ready for them.

[taytertots]

This is such a great idea... DD (4) LOVES to pick out her own clothes, but it takes forever, so maybe this will help [img]smile.gif[/img]

[KylesMom]

We always bring zip-locks to put dirty clothes in, but have never utilized for clean ones!

I have a question - does the ziploc bag make the clothes wrinkle more?

[cckelly]

I have a question - does the ziploc bag make the clothes wrinkle more?

You'd be surprised. I think you get LESS wrinkles this way. As long as you let all of the air out of the bags (as if they are vacuum-sealed), the clothes should not wrinkle at all.

[tlpowell35]

We always travel with a spray bottle of Downy Wrinkle Release. This cuts down on ironing and is great to spray away the wrinkles...even after you're dressed!!I love the stuff!!!

[mickeynuts]

We used to do this, but have stopped because of how the bags slip around on each other, making them hard to stack nicely in the suitcase or in the drawer at the resort. I found myself fishing through a sea of bags looking for one bag per child.
What we do now is fold together a full day's clothes for each person (socks, undies, accessories folded inside the shirt and shorts) and then stack everyone's outfits for each day together. I then just open the suitcase and take out one big stack and all 6 of us have everything for the day. We usually do laundry once during the week and just fold the outfits together again so they are ready to go.
As a side note, we dress alike (bright colored tshirts) every day for several reasons:
1. so we can keep up with each other easily in a crowd
2. so in the event of a lost child we can immediately describe what they are wearing, and they can immediately describe what we are wearing
3. no fussing in the morning about who is going to wear what
4. it looks cute in the pictures!
[img]smile.gif[/img] Laura

[brownie]

You can get 2 gallon ziplocs, and they'll fit clothes for a day for just about anyone.

[Mary Poppins fan]

Hmmmmm, I may be using some of these ideas on my husband (the ultimate over-packer.) I can pack clothes for myself and 3 kids into one large suitcase while my husband has 1+ just for his stuff (not including his last minute carry-on stuff!)