Christmas Gift Travel Tips

My husband and I travel every year for Christmas in order to visit with my side of the family during the holidays, and we make the trip by car with Christmas gifts, our luggage, baked goods, and our dog Lola. Needless to say, it's important to make sure that we have everything packed well, and that we travel with as little damage to our gifts (and ourselves) as possible.

We have a 4-door car with a medium-sized trunk, so as long as I take my time and pack things with care, I usually don't have any broken gifts or damaged baked goods when we end up at our final destination. We have a large Labrador Retriever who takes up the entire backseat of the car, so our gifts typically end up in the trunk. We usually find that it is easier to store our luggage on the floor in the backseats, so that all of our gifts will fit neatly together in the trunk.

I wrap all of the gifts before we leave home, and put them in order by where we are traveling first. For example, if we go to my Dad's house first, we make his gifts the most accessible so that all we have to do is open the trunk, grab his gift bags, and nothing else is disturbed or has to be rearranged. It's better to pack heavier gifts toward the back of the trunk, as it seems to stabilize the other gifts as we travel around the curvy West Virginia roads. I have had very few gifts actually come unwrapped or rip, so this doesn't seem to be a problem. If you are worried about gifts breaking, you may want to consider purchasing gift cards, as they obviously don't need to be wrapped and travel well.

I also make sure to pack baked goods (such as pies, cookies, breads) in separate gift bags or boxes, then wrap them in kitchen towels, and then I put them in boxes in the trunk so that they won't move much during our trip. This has been the best method for me, and I end up without any broken cookies or damaged pie crust.

If you follow these tips, you should be able to travel easily with your gifts throughout the season. Have a happy holiday season, and be careful as you travel!