I’m thinking of heading out the visit the grandparents in Nova Scotia this autumn… that’s me, four children – two teens and two Littles, and a seventeen hour drive.  Ya.  I think I need a plan!  I need something to keep me from arriving one or three children short (in a long car ride, “survival of the fittest” often can prevail… so I really need something to keep them from killing each other off! LOL!)  I need Travel Kits!

Travel Kits, A Simple Way to Bless Others, an ebook by Donna Rees (available at the TOS Bookstore for only $12.45 USD) opened my eyes to the possibilities of creating simple baskets of blessings for others.  Collecting up small gifts and treats to keep children, adults or the grandparents happy on long journeys, hospital stays, or even missions trips, is turned into a work of art and a real blessing.  Donna floods the reader with ideas about wrapping, presentation, contents, themes, and even the infinite possibilities of the uses of variations of Travel Kits.  Travel Kits are for anyone at all, from newborns (why not?) to great-grandparents!

Now, some of the travels kits might at first seem quite extravegant in the book, but there are so many ideas of more frugal add-ins or even free suggestions (a brochure of the place the child is traveling to, a library book to be read aloud by an older sibling or mom on the trip – to be returned when you arrive safely home – or even the typed out instructions for a car game to be played by everyone!)  I think there really is something for everyone.  

For those that think that putting together a travel kit would be more like bribing their kids to behave on a trip (a practice I do not condone, and I doubt Donna would either), try to think of it like this – you’re gonna probably buy stuff for the car trip anyhow, ya?  Well… instead of just having all the juice boxes, granola bars, dollar store keep-em-busy stuff in a pile to be ravaged the second you are out of the driveway, turn it into “prezzies” as the milestones pass in your journey (by distance, landmark, time, etc…)?  Kids (and adults!) love presents, we love it when someone has taken time to make something special for us, even if it’s just lighting a candle at dinner time (kraft dinner by candlelight is awesome, btw! LOL!)   Oh, and for my environmentalist friends, why not wrap the prezzies in some comic pages from the Sunday paper that you’ve collected the months prior to the trip?  Donna offers some other frugal/environmentally responsible suggestion in the ebook as well. 

The only downside to receiving a free copy of this book to review was that I really received it too late to create a Box of Blessings (another chapter of the book and worth the price of the book alone!) for my son who was just leaving for a six week missions trip.  I wish I’d heard of Travel Kits and Boxes of Blessings sooner!!  Oh well, I guess I’ll be prepared for our trip to NS and hopefully a travel kit will help Mum arrive sane and rested enough to enjoy the trip when I get there! As for Boxes of Blessings… there’s always next  year!

I’ve already started to collect little trinkets and treats that will keep my Littles occupied for a little while on the journey… and am on the lookout for suitable prezzies for my Bigs.  The good news is that the Travel Kits Ebook is 93 pages PACKED full of inspiration and ideas!  No worries there, and I’m even starting to come up with some ideas of my own… it’s gonna be great!  Thanks TOS and Donna Rees, I think you’ve saved my vacation – Nova Scotia, here I come! :o)

Blessings!

I received a free copy of the Travel Kits Ebook to review honestly and received no other compensation for my review.