Our Beach Vacation Must-Haves!
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We’re big fans of the beach in our family. My husband grew up in South Africa, which meant he had some amazing opportunities to visit the beach for a long period of time every summer as a family. And I grew up going to the beach at least once with my family every summer. While we don’t have easy access to beaches in South Africa, we do live only a few hours from the beaches on the East Coast, so my husband and I said early on in our marriage that we wanted to make beach trips a priority in our family since we love them so much!
For the past 4 summers, my husband and I have been visiting Bethany Beach, Delaware for at least a week at a time. We fell in love with this beach after our first visit there and have made sure to visit at least once a summer since then! Bethany Beach tends to have a “slower pace” feel to the community, and also is super family-friendly! We love to try and get to the State Parks early in the day and spend most of our day there (even with a toddler!) - huge bonus is easy access to the bathhouse for bathrooms and it never feels too busy or packed since there is limited parking available.
Our Favorite Beach Items
This year, I wanted to share a few of our favorite beach items that we use the most or were brand new this year that we absolutely love!
MY FAVE SWIMSUITS + ACCESSORIES
SummerSalt | The Sidestroke
I absolutely LOVED this swimsuit! It had full coverage for my chest & bottom and felt so flattering while it was on! I can’t magically make my “mommy tummy” disappear, but this suit with the diagonal stitching made me feel more “put together” while chasing after my toddler on the beach. The only downside is the lack of padding, so I will probably be looking for some type of inserts that I can add in myself for extra modesty.
Albion Fit | Hang Ten Game Changer Top + Ruched Matte Black High-Waisted Bottoms
This is the suit that I will hands-down choose almost every time that I need to be ready for water! I prefer the ease and practicality of a two-piece and love how this one feels and looks like it is almost a one-piece! I find the high coverage of the top and the bottoms to be extremely flattering and I had SO MANY random moms stop me on the beach and ask where I got my suit!
Old Navy | T-Strap Flip Flops
Usually, I don’t totally love flip-flops. on the beach, because they tend to throw sand all up my back while trekking through the soft sand, but these T-strap flip-flops from Old Navy help to keep them closer to your feet and result in far less sand throwing!
Black & White Striped Romper Swim Cover-up
Grabbed this super cute romper from Amazon for a great price to use as a swim cover-up and loved how easy it was to slip on and off! Plus, pockets are a must!
Gray + Rose Gold Sunglasses
I grabbed an extra pair of sunglasses this summer to make sure that I always have one pair that lives in my home for walks around our neighborhood, and one pair that always stays in my car when I’m driving.
SUNSCREEN FAVES
Sun Bum has been one of my favorite sunscreen products for several years - it doesn’t have a strong smell and more importantly, doesn’t feel sticky after it’s on! That is such a huge win for me. A new product that I tried out this year at the beach was the Face Mist, which was SO pleasant to put on and felt quite refreshing! Sun Bum would also be safe enough for our little guy, but I’ve been buying the Babyganics line of sunscreen for him (also not sticky), and made sure I had a tube of lotion as well as spray lotion for reapplying while we were on the beach. I highly recommend both of these brands!
OUR BEACH GEAR
Heavy Duty Folding Utility Wagon
As far as wagons go, this one has been incredible for the ease of folding it up for travel! It is so practical for fitting into our trunk and popping it open to place all of our stuff into it. Wagons like this aren’t exactly the easiest thing to lug across lots of sand, but depending on the beach that we chose to visit, worked really well for us! Also super practical for camping trips!
Beach Blanket with Backpack
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I would think of this blanket, but having a GIANT blanket that I can stake down at the corners was such a GAME-CHANGER for us on the beach this year! I can’t believe how soft it is and love that it folds up into its own carrying bag. I’m recommending this blanket to ALL of my friends!!
BONUS: get 10% off this beach blanket with my code SIMPLEMODESTMOM
Beach Umbrella
This is not the exact umbrella that we have, but it is the same color. A new umbrella with a “sandbag” attached to the bottom is on my wishlist for next summer’s beach trips - I hate when the umbrella starts to lean if it’s a windy day!
COPA Backpack Beach Chair in Blue
Love love LOVE these backpack chairs! They are so sturdy and easy to pack up and place in our wagon or for each of us to carry on our back for a quick beach trip without lugging our wagon behind us.
COPA Backpack Beach Chair in Pink
This bright pink color is SUPER easy for me to spot when we are on the beach! I love being able to easily recognize where we placed our stuff when I’m walking back towards our spot after being down at the water or having walked back to visit the bathrooms.
Kids Camping and Beach Chair with Umbrella
I picked up this adorable little beach/camping chair for Ollie to use this year. I picked this one because of the color (can you tell that I love teal for the summertime?!), but also because of the little umbrella that can be attached to the chair. Also - such a great price on Amazon!
Mesh Beach Bag
I’ve been using a mesh bag like this for years and really love it! Super practical to make sure there is less sand gathering in my beach bag of stuff! I tend to keep some dry/wet bags in here for clean diapers/clothes for Ollie, more dry/wet bags for our wallets, keys & phones, our sunscreen in the outside pockets, my swim coverups, etc.
Collapsable Waterproof Tote
This was a new purchase for me this year! I love that this tote is collapsable - easy for packing and storing at home! I used this to carry our dry snacks on one half (chips, granola bars, candy, etc.) and stacked all of our towels on the other side. Worked so well!
Stainless Steel Water Bottle with Built-In Straw
I’ve had this bottle for over a year now and it is an absolute MUST-HAVE for me on the beach! First - it’s stainless steel and keeps my drink COLD even on the hottest days on the beach! I always hated when I would open a cold drink from the cooler and then it would be lukewarm just a few minutes later. So now I take this along and pour my cold drinks into the bottle throughout the day. Second - this bottle has a built-in straw!!! This was the kicker for me when I was looking for a bottle - I wanted to be able to SIP my drinks (I love straws), but wanted to know it would stay COLD. This bottle met both of my MUST-HAVES!
Opalhouse Beach Towel
Picked up this new towel this year and LOVE how large and plush it is! Plus, it has proteas on it, which are one of my favorite flowers.
Hearth & Hand Beach Towel for Two
Another new towel for us this year - and this one is HUGE! It’s called a “towel for two” and it did not fall short. I could easily wrap this around both myself and my toddler.
Kids Hooded Beach Towels
I grabbed two of these hooded towels for our toddler and was so glad that I did! It was so easy to throw this over his head when he came back to our blanket from the water to warm up. And then I knew he was fully covered and staying warm, without having to worry about a towel falling down.
Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker
This little portable Bluetooth speaker is waterproof and is a great price on Amazon! Perfect to throw in your beach bag and get out for some family music or listening to an important sports game on the beach.
Waste Bags
These waste bags were CLUTCH for any food trash that we had while at the beach, plus for collecting dirty/wet diapers. And the fun summer colors were a bonus! I kept a roll in my beach bag or snacks bag or cooler at all times.
Dry/Wet Bags
I really love this dry/wet bag! It’s super high quality and a really cute pattern. And it’s large enough to fit several diapers plus a change of clothes for my toddler.
I would love to hear your beach favorites in the comments below!
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