Essential things for a long car journey with children
First of all is wet wipes! Even if you don't eat or drink in the car children can get messy. Wet wipes are brilliant as they quickly clean up grubby hands, faces and anything else that needs a wipe!
Kids Toy Bin
A rubbish bin for the car! Not a full size wheely bin, although after some car journeys it might feel like you need one, but something smaller than can be sealed to get rid of anything yucky that smells. Old plastic tubs are perfect. Save your ice cream tubs through the year and remember to put one in the car for the journey back too! They're perfect for putting dirty wet wipes in, bits of fruit peel or dropped sandwiches in as well as other bits of wrappers and rubbish you'll create on the way!
Paper tissues are useful too for drying up snotty noses or wiping hands dry after a wet wipe!
Refreshments are essential. Even if you're planning to stop at services on the motorway you'll find it so much easier and cheaper if you just pack some food and nibbles for the journey. Packing their favourite sandwiches is always a good idea and taking some fresh fruit is always a good idea. Take bottles of water for them to sip on the journey, find bottles with sports caps will mean that they spill less too. If you're traveling in summer then a cool bag is a good idea for keeping everything fresh and cool. You can take chocolate but prepared for lots of cleaning up.
At each services stop make sure everyone uses the loo! Let the kids run around a bit if there's a play area so they get rid of some of the pent up energy they'll have from being cooped up in a car.
Taking plenty of activities for the children so they're kept busy in the car during a long journey is as essential as anything else. Take music or even talking books for the in car CD player or if you've got portable CD players then each child could listen to something different which can stop arguments about who picks what you listen to.
Having some crayons and colouring or quizzes is good too. For older children you can play lots of games which encourage them to spot what you're driving past. Younger children will appreciate some toys and perhaps songs too! Keep a couple of items back for part way through the journey so they don't do everything at once! Number plate games where you may up sentences using the letters of the number plates you see if good fun and will produce some great sillyness that will take their mind off the journey! There are even special books for keeping children busy on car journeys.