Last week, I told you that my family has started making lots of day trips to the beach. Now that the kids are older, it’s much easier to be more spur-of-the-moment-y. (Not EASY by any means, but EASIER.) These things used to take a lot of planning, but now if the beach finds its way into our list of weekend plans, we can do usually do 100% of the prepping the night before and/or morning of the trip.
Here’s our beach day “punch list,” as my husband calls it:
- towels
- sunscreen
- rash guards/cover-ups
- goggles
- beach chairs
- change of clothes
- buckets/shovels/toys/boogie boards
- water
- snacks
Of course, there are other things that we might toss in the car, depending on the circumstances. Books, magazines, extra bathing suits – but the things on the list are the essentials.
As I told you last week, I had the opportunity to bring along some snacks from Smucker’s on our trip this past weekend. First of all, you can pretty much never go wrong with PB&J. We brought lots of fruit, including peaches and apple slices, and I scooped a couple of spoonfuls of extra peanut butter into a container to spread on the apples (my 9 year old loves it). Peanut butter + some type of carbohydrate really is a perfect snack to keep our brains + bodies happy on long, hot days.
With that said, of all the Smucker’s snacks that we sampled, the Jif To Go Dippers are a new family favorite. Pretzel chips and peanut butter are exactly the type of carb + protein snack that we need. I was actually hoping to “unveil” them for the kids on our beach trip, but my 9 year old (the peanut butter lover) couldn’t wait to get her hands on them as soon as we brought them home from Walmart. She loved them so much that 1) she’s started taking them to school for her daily snack, and 2) I had to go back to Walmart to buy two more packages just to make it through the weekend.
Somewhat off topic – the new Jif Whips are OMG delicious! The Whipped Peanut Butter & Chocolate Flavored Spread is CRAZY good. But this is more of an indulgent treat versus a protein/carb combo snack – they’ve got less protein and more sugar than regular peanut butter. But still – if you’re into sweet nut butter spreads, you NEED to try these.
Anyway, we had another amazing day at the beach. I didn’t find any shark teeth, but the girls built a fort and made some new friends. Bonus: no one had a meltdown!!! And any trip without a meltdown is a success in my book.
For help preparing for your next trip, make Walmart your “SNACKATION” Destination!
Deborah @ Confessions of a Mother Runner says
You can’t go wrong with pnb dippers! yum