Road Trip Tip: The Gift of the Goody Bag
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I started “goody-bagging” fellow travelers/roommates over two decades ago, and it’s probably one of my favorite tips. Simply put - it’s a small gift of words or object for each day of the trip, cutely wrapped and tied with a pretty bow. You plan one for each day and pre-wrap it. Then, each morning or night, you give your goody bag to your spouse, friend, or your child - and watch the magic happen - for both of you.
It all started when I was 23 years old, a first year teacher traveling with a veteran teacher on the eighth grade Washington D.C. trip. (Out here in Orange County schools in California, eighth graders go with their class, and a select number of lucky teachers, to Washington D.C., surrounding big cities, and battlefields for about 2 weeks.) I knew that rooming with a fellow teacher for 14 days was possibly going to be rough on our friendship, so I came up with the idea to goody bag her each day. Since she has the same faith as me, I wrote out 14 Bible verses and rolled them up like scrolls, tied them with a ribbon, and gave her one each morning. It made the biggest difference - she looked forward to each morning and always wanted to read them aloud to us. The Bible verses encouraged both of us each day and released the tension we may have felt from spending so much time together.
It’s easier if it’s just one to five nights - and then you can do more than words, you can give actual items! I actually get items that they can use on the trip. Here’s some items I have given in the past.
travel candle & matches
comfy slipper socks
single use face mask
chapstick
my favorite hand sanitizer (Trader Joe’s has a lovely lavender one too)
aroma spray for the bathroom (I love this travel one)
bath bomb
beaded bracelet (that I made)
a pair of donut patterned stretch pants (it was a donut road trip!)
charm bracelet with a charm for each day
Starbucks $5 gift card for a coffee drink on you
mints
Trader Joes chocolate covered almonds. (Make sure they don’t melt!)
For each little gift, you can write what you love about them, a Bible verse, or an inspirational quote that loosely matches the object.
Put these goodies together early. About 2-4 weeks prior to your trip, plan to take about 20-45 minutes (depending on quantity of days) to assemble and wrap the goodies. Adding enriching words will take even more time. The may seem like a frivolous extra and may feel like it takes too much time to do…
But it’s worth it.
Trust me, I know from about a dozen or more trips that I’ve done this. It truly is the gift that keeps on giving.
Just be sure that your gifts won’t take up too much space in their suitcase!
For more tips for road trips, check out our blog posts 10 Tips for Road Trips: Planning, Favorite Enrichment Book Series, and The Bag O’ Fun. You can also check out our podcast Road Trip episodes 53, 56, and 60. Our Car schooling podcast episode will give you lots of educational ideas too.
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