This sweepstakes is now closed. Random winner is… 144.
What’s safe and cushy as a spa chair? The Evenflo Momentum 65 (with e3 side impact) car seat, that’s what.
As bloggers for Evenflo’s cheeky-but-useful savvy moments in parenting blog (stuff like potty training at 30,000 feet, mantras for grandparent visits, and to DVD or not DVD on road trips), we were each given a car seat to take for a test drive as well as one to give away you. Read Whitney’s take on the car seat.
Want one? Evenflo provided us one to give to a lucky reader.
To win the Momentum 65™ car seat, comment below with any savvy parenting travel tips you have used recently (or even a tip you plan to use for future travel).
child not included
Comments will close at midnight on December 2 (US-residents only. Sorry!). We’ll pick one winner at random on December 3 so you can get it in time for Christmas travel.
We travel ALOT and I have made several 9 hour road trips with my two older kids, by myself. While I rely on a dual screen DVD player for some of the trip, I have also found that personal CD players have worked well too. We visit the local library and check out audiobooks for them to listen to. I also pack a backpack for each of them with their toys in it. This could be books, toys, leapster etc. In there I also have new toys that are a surprise. They also have their own water bottle sitting in their cupholders as well as a lunch bag with snacks in it. Also, headphones are a nice thing to have for their audio books and DVD player. When they were younger I had all of the snacks up front with me and I would dole them out when needed. Make sure to look on a map to check when you can schedule rest stops and bring a ball or plan on doing some running races with them to help burn off energy. Sounds extreme, but those kiddos have been in their 5pt harness carseats for awhile!
All in all, it is still a road trip and you will still get the “are we there yet?” questions, but it can be good.
Keep a ziplock baggie full of wet washclothes for any messes.
We have an 11 month old and he has already gone in 5 roadtrips not mentioning the plane rides. What we’ve learned is that if possible we travel at night, that way he’ll sleep thru it. Also I keep snacks and water close at hand. He has certain toys we only use when we travel that I keep adding to according to his age. For some reason he likes my singing and when I talk to him, so I do it for a while. We don’t put lots of DVDs, just for a while, not all the trip. Either me or my husband will switch and go on the back and play with him so he wont feel alone. I like the CDs of recorded books, I will use it next time. So far we haven’t had a trip where he’s had a hard time. I hope it continues that way.
Wrap toys up in tissue paper for the baby to unwrap. Keeps them entertained.
We always have a small bag of snacks with spill proof cups of juice handy to pass out when one little one decided that they are hungry and you have no time to stop or have no idea where the next place to stop and eat is located. Also in the fornt of that bag is hand wipes to clean messy hands when done with the snack.
We need a new seat for our 5-month old. He is growing so fast! This one looks awesome!
This rookie mom plans to keep our 7 month old on his eating/sleeping schedule (as closely as possible) on our 6 hour car ride (day 1) and 3 hour ride (day 2) to visit family for Christmas. (We let him sleep all the way the first time we took him at 3 months, and my husband and I got no sleep the first two nights of our trip.) P.S. We could really use a new car seat right now as my son has already outgrown his Chicco keyfit 30 – what a great giveaway!
Invite grandma along….. J/k.
For long trips, we also like to try to keep the kids on a schedule by traveling at night. Although this doesn’t always work. Good thing there is something ironically entertaining about a 2yo singing at the top of her lungs in the backseat at 10pm in a pitch-black car while driving a packed car down the dark highway. We also keep lots of snacks and water and a toy bag in the car. The toy bag goes in and out from the car at least once a week so car toys are on a boredom-limiting rotation.
Don’t bring the snacks that stain.
We just returned from a looooooong week of traveling. (Our travel days were 15 hrs. long) My 3 1/2 yr old and 6 month old baby were amazing. Our tricks were simple, cheap, and fairly long-lasting: new, yummy snacks (finger foods that last awhile), wrapping up small toys & books to open as presents on the plane, and a couple library-borrowed DVDs to watch on the plane rides as well. We survived, but hope not to do that for a long time.
This car seat would be so wonderful for my baby to grow into! Thanks for the giveaway.
I organize my snacks – I give my 2 1/2 year old the boring ones first, then pull out progressively more exciting ones as she gets squirrely. That way we avoid the sugar high until the very end of the trip.
Wipes can turn into the best toy you’ve got! My daughter loves to “clean” with them and she’ll stay busy cleaning what’s in front of her for a while
I find it most helpful, and more comfortable for me to sit in the back with our 9 Month old son and the dog and daddy in front driving.
Take wet wipes! And if you are going quite a ways – learn how to geocache. It’s a nice way to break up the trip!
I take lots of alcohol wipes to clean the airplane seats so I don’t worry about all the germs.
Good snacks and good music make all the difference when traveling with my son.
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I like to let them travel in their pajamas, something warm and comfortable so that they are comfortable in their car seats.
Have an iPad and plenty of water waiting for the kiddo – the ipad distracts them and having water is just needed!
also always have at least $10 cash tucked away in the car you may need it for that unexpected food craving of the kiddo.
Go to the AAA website and print out a TripTik before you leave. It’s way more detailed than using MapQuest or Google Maps and will mark where rest areas are. It’s always important to know where you’ll find the next one when you’re traveling with little people! Also, be sure to pack some healthy snacks (carrot sticks, ants on a log, etc…) in an easy to reach cooler so you won’t be tempted to go to too many fast food places.
My cousin is having twin girls… this would be great for her
Buy a few new (and cheap) toys for the trip and wrap them up. During the trip bring them out as needed. Etch-a-sketch is a great one!
remember to buckle up the little one close to the skin, THEN bundle up the baby for warmth rather than putting them in a big jacket, they can still slip out on impact if they have too many layers on…..
I am entering this contest for my son, his fiancee, and their new identical girl triplets! Their mom has cystic fibrosis, it is very rare for someone w cf to have multiples. My son cares for her when she is ill, and will soon have three babies to add to his plate (once out of hosp), and add him working his tail off, I am looking for anyway I can help (live northand they live in the south) !! They need three of everything! And that adds up! But if I can win just one car seat, it helps!! I travel alot. My five year old often needs me to find ways to occupy him during our long drives. I always keep wet whipes in the car, a couple of books, and no spill juices. Some rides we talk, sing or practice counting, abc’s n such. Some we look for animal shaped clouds, some rides he watches a movie (portable dvd player, so worth it), we also have travel size games (such as etch n sketch, hungry hippo). We count how many red cars we see too, and I also have him look for road signs. I think the best way to keep them happy, is to switch up what you do each ride. Otherwise they loose interest! Happy Trails
We travel often in the car, many trips being a 10 hour drive to grandma’s and grampa’s. We plan ahead by finding easy to access playgrounds on the route we will be traveling. (The drawback to this is that we have to plan to be at the PG for at least an hour–but it is worth it.) My 2YO daughter loves to draw, so I invested in a car seat “tray”-like thing, which is soft in case of impact, but it holds her crayons and coloring book in place well. As an emergency back up, I loaded up my old iphone with videos from itunes before upgrading my phone. The videos still play as long as the phone is charged, and i don’t have to worry about my phone getting ruined or that she is calling the pediatrician’s office by mistake.
I like to keep my toddler on our home time so it is not so stressful.
We travel with our 1 yo and 3 yo almost every weekend, about 2 hrs in each direction. Despite my initial resistance (and swearing I’d never have one) we got a portable DVD player for our 3 yo and it’s PERFECT. That plus he gets a lunch box with 3 snacks in it. The snacks are in bags or containers he can open himself so he can manage his own snacks and not continually beg for more.
The trick with our 1 yo, who still faces backwards, is just to continually replace flung pacifiers and lovies. I also provide a couple of snacktraps of Cheerios which she happily throws all over the car.
Another great thing we discovered are books on CD for our 3 yo. They sometimes come with a real book, and there’s a “ding” sound when it’s time to turn the page. He loves to follow along. And then I don’t have to feel so guilty plugging him into a movie all the time!
We really need this carseat for my husband’s car.
No kids (one on the way!), but I can totally buy the iphone/ipad/itouch for long trips (games or movies).
Bring a portable potty, large ziplock bags, wipes. That way when you hit a ridiculous traffic problem and someone yells “I have to go potty”, you are covered.
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Growing up my mother would make long car trips entertaining with a bag of supirses! She would tie a colored ribbon to various new and potentially fun travel objects. As the trip would progress, my brother and I would go “fishing” grabbing a ribbon and seeing what was on the other end. Though she didn’t spend a lot on any of the objects, each one would ensure another 30 minutes of peaceful travel.
Though today we have DVD players and other electronic fun to help ease the pain of traveling, I fully intend to create a prize bag for my daughter when she is a bit older (10 months is a bit young for fishing). Until then, Momma and Daddy will keep traveling at night, with her sound asleep in the backseat.
My kids love listening to music and dancing. It makes it so much fun to watch them groove in their car seats.
For road trips with our 5 and 2 year olds we keep 2 small ziploc baggies with small, ‘new to them’ toys from the dollar store or toys from birthday party pinatas they’ve forgotten they had. It’s a small bag for them to discover and trade and play with–tops, bouncy balls, mini figures, stickers, stuff you would find at the dentist’s office works too! This has provided us with at least a few hours of entertainment!
If visiting family, ask them to stock up on everyday supplies ahead of time so you can pack lighter and have the comforts of home for your little ones.
Plan your travel around nap time!
We actually limit food and drinks while we are on long trips. More drinks = more bathroom stops. It also means more mess to clean up once we have arrived. These are the things we LOVE to have on a long car trip:
*tub of books
*song book (yep, we are that family!)
*story books on tape
*notebook and pen for the kids to write notes to each other.
*small bag of toys – little animals, dolls, army guys, etc.
*training potty, toilet paper, 2 liter bottle of water for rinsing (never had to use it yet, but we are prepared in case of an emergency)
*big roll of paper towels
*blanket, pillow, and snuggle toy for each child for the all important nap!
For my younger ones I have a bag for each child. It is filled with things that they do not play with often, so it keeps there attention. For my older children books, Zunes and Nintendo DS do the trick.
My little sister used to get so sick to her tummy on road trips that we always took toilet paper and wet wipes, large plastic ziplock bags for casualties she wouldn’t let us throw away, and cleaning supplies to help ensure the rest of us didn’t get sick to the stomach too.
Planning ahead and bringing lots of toys and provisions so we don’t need to buy fast food!
Try to travel during nap time!!!
We have gone on a lot of road trips in my 20-month-olds short life. Many from Wisconsin to St. Louis, and one from Florida to St. Louis, and TWO from St. Louis to DC (and back!!). The thing I’ve learned the most is just to chill out. If all the tricks and interesting snacks and catchy CDs you packed along the way are not doing the trick anymore, reach into your purse and pull out the thing you never let your child play with. Now is the time to just let go and give it to them. Let them chew on your germy keys; let them play with your chapstick. Chances are, you are seated right next to them, and your child or the object will not suffer any damage!
Make sure to keep plenty of drinks and snacks in the car. We also like to leave a part of the car free for diaper changes.
Pack ahead of time, if possible. That way you aren’t running around at the last minute and forgetting things.
When traveling with our newborn, we have found that feeding immediately before and after the leg of the trip has been extremely helpful just as having mom ride in the backseat with the baby, so that he has someone to play with when he wakes up of we are still on the road!
We take a cooler and in nice weather have picnics at parks instead of eating at restuarants. It is cheaper and the kids get to burn off some energy.
I have heard only great things about the Evenflow car seat from family and friends and that they prefer the Evenflow car seat over other, more expensive brands on the market – and it gets rave safety reviews which is of course super important. When traveling, always a good idea to surprise the tots with a “new” small toy (or activity book) to keep them occupied.
I try to schedule flights so the layover is during naptime. That way I can stroll my toddler around the airport in hopes that he will sleep.
We like to play the “alphabet” game. It’s fun for adults, toddlers, and kids of all ages and stimulates thought and learning. Starting with the letter “A”, you come up with a name, an adjective describing your personality, and an occupation.
For example,
“My name is William, I’m a winner, and I wash windows.”
It’s really entertaining, fun, and funny.
We make a travel book of things we might see (like attractions that we will pass, and some random items that we might see… semis, cows, etc) – then when check the card off when we see it.