A Date for Your Road Trip
Do any of you have a ROAD TRIP coming up in the near future? I have the perfect date idea for you! My husband & I recently traveled a tooooonnnnnn. Each summer, we travel to a new location for an internship for him. This past summer, we relocated to gorgeous Northern Cali for three blissful months – from HOT Vegas. Lots of time on the road! With SO much quality time together, I thought this would be the perfect time to throw together an “on the fly” date!
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My FIRST “turn to” when I am searching for something is GOOGLE!! *sigh* I can pretty much find just about anything I need on there! (Pinterest is a CLOSE second. WINK!) I was on a mission to find some FUN ideas that Jamie & I could do while sitting in a car. I almost started jumping up and down when I came across this AMAZING list of 30 of the Best Road Trip Games.
While browsing through it, I also thought that MAD LIBS would be the perfect road trip game as well. Even this Mad Libs on the Road edition looked SUPER cute!
I then set to work & created all of these FUN “Road Trip Survival Kit” printables to go along with my theme.
I made treat toppers to fit the top of a gallon-sized baggie AND a sandwich-sized baggie. One gallon bag I filled with Jamie’s FAVORITE treat: homemade cheesy popcorn! Another gallon baggie included all of the fun games & printables we would be doing, and the last baggie included other yummy assorted treats, including chocolate {which is MY favorite}. I then created a fun little countdown, grabbed a long ribbon & some clothespins, & mapped out our trip. I wrote down stopping points on the cards – which we would take off the ribbon as we hit/passed through each location.
This awesome printable pack includes:
- Small “Road Trip” Treat Topper
- Large “Road Trip” Treat Topper
- “Road Trip” Countdown
- License Plate Game
- “Road Trip” Questionnaire
This countdown was rather fun! I was definitely glad to see our progress when we went through areas like this….
Um, yeah. And this was SUMMER! We actually slid off the road at one point! It was so scary. Luckily neither one of us were hurt, but I think I had a mini-heart attack! 🙂
Overall, our trip was enjoyable. (Minus sliding off the road…) We had a lot of fun talking, laughing, playing games, eating yummy treats, and holding hands… er… I mean, of COURSE we didn’t do that! The driver always had hands on the wheel at the ten & two positions. 🙂
Originally we printed two copies of the “License Plate” Game for our trip, however it’s not really realistic (or safe) to have the DRIVER cross things off, so we combined efforts and just filled out one sheet. I couldn’t believe how many different states we saw! We scored with the big semi trucks. They were from everywhere!
The questionnaire was a lot of fun for us. (This would go perfectly with Lisa’s “Post-It” notes date)! I came up with 50 questions, but we only made it through half! 🙂 We laughed when we BOTH said our least favorite household chore was to clean out the litter box. Ugh!
I would definitely recommend this “Road Trip” date for ANYONE traveling in a car for a long period of time. You could do most of these activities as a couple, or as a family, especially if you purchase the awesome road trip games book I found! 🙂 It totally eliminates the question, “Are we there yet?”
Soooooo… do you have any fun road trips coming up?
We love your comments
I am so excited!! Our family is going on a road trip this weekend and I am so bringing these printouts!! I’m going to print 2 of the questionnaires so we can all answer, & 2 of the license plate game sheets- maybe we’ll play adults against kids or boys against girls- who knows?? I’m bummed the link to the ebook didn’t work 😕 Also, I have to ask- what month & year was this with the snow? I ask because I live in No Cal about an hour & a half or 2 hours away from Reno & in 2011 my son’s birthday party got SNOWED OUT in May!!! It rarely snows there at all!! So I’m wondering if you were driving through the same storm? Such crazy weather that year!
Oh man! So sorry the link isn’t working. That book was AMAZING! We’ll have to see if we can find something similar to link up. And gosh… I don’t know if I remember the exact year! lol But goodness, I wouldn’t be surprised if we WERE in the same storm! HA! So glad we were both safe!
Love this!! I can use this in my lassroom and on family trips. My 21 year olds will think a hoot. (twins) Especially with the snacks. (& boys)
Thank you so much! I’m going to use them in my English class for adults – conversation questions and the license plate game – when we talk about going on vacation.
Oh FUN! I’m so glad you like them! XOXO
Great ideas! We’re traveling from Wisconsin to Maryland for the first time. I’m sure this is going to be fun and will make the drive more enjoyable.Thanks for sharing
Sounds like a FUN trip! Thanks for your comment, Dawnie!
These printables are so great. Thanks for creating them!
Can I print that license plate page for my 8 year old? He wants to do that on our upcoming trip!
Thanks!
Sure! They are all free in this post. Just download them. 😉 XOXO
Thank you so much! I have four kids and this will help a LOT in our 9 hours drive!
God Bless you
Such fun ideas! I used some of these on our last road trip. The kids are begging me to do the tickets for this road trip. I make them earn the tickets by doing activities. They love getting the prizes. Thanks for the wonderful ideas and links!
You are SOOOO welcome! XOXO
These ideas are fantastic! I plan on using many of them on our trip from Buffalo, NY to OBX. Can you tell me what font you used for the words “road trip”.
Love this! Such cute things!
These are perfect for a road trip with kiddos! I’m going to link this on my website http://www.theeducationaltourist.com where I write about traveling with the kiddos. Would love a shout out from you!
Thanks for posting!
Natalie, The Educational Tourist
Love this idea! I am currently planning a Date Night WEEKEND for our date night group and we will be traveling 5 hours to our destination. I’ve been trying to come up with fun things to do beforehand to help get the couples excited (who’s not excited about a getaway with their spouse though), during the trip and while we are there. This is really helping me out! Thanks a ton!
You are SO welcome! Have so much fun! XO
Thank you for sharing!!! I printed this 4 per page so I could add them to my journal/mini smash book. In addition, I plan to use some of the questions for wedding interviews. While we travel, we will video tape the Q&A and use some of the footage for some viewing fun at our reception.
Thank you again!!!
I may have missed it, but why are there tally boxes on the questionnaire sheet? I love these ideas and plan on using them this week as we travel. It is only a three hour trip, one way, but it still helps us from getting sleepy and enjoying being together in a different way! Thank you!
Hey KellyB!
I would read the question aloud & try to guess what his answer was….if I was right, I received a tally mark & vice versus. It’s fun to play with or without the tally marks. If you DO decide to use them, you should come up with a fun prize for the spouse that gets the most. A backrub….passing along an unwanted chore…lol…
Have FUN! XO, Tara
This is genius! Although we’ll have 4 kiddos during our upcoming road trip (20 hours one-way…ugh!), these ideas will be fun for all of us! I especially am excited about the countdown….hopefully less ‘are we there yet’ nagging! Thanks so much!
Thanks so much for this! We too are headed to Idaho traveling from Kentucky (where I’m from), only not for a vacation but to live while he is in helicopter pilot school! My husband is from there and has finally retired from the Army! We will be traveling with our 8-year-old and 5-year-old and cat Bella. Needless to say, it will be an adventure. Thanks for the games and things, I have been looking everywhere for printouts for them! Adventure date begins June 2, 2014! Prayers needed and appreciated! Thanks again!
Oh WOW, Samantha! It definitely will be an adventure! We wish you the best of luck!!! So happy you get to be with your husband and what a neat thing to go into! Plan on a bunch of stopping points for the kiddos {and cat} to run around to get their energy out. Maybe you can put Bella on a leash so you don’t lose her when you take those breaks? 😉 XOXO
This looks like fun and my husband and I are taking a quick anniversary trip to Morro Bay, CA from Vegas which is a 7 hour drive one way. We’re driving straight there but on the back want to make it a road trip and take our time. What way did you guys go and do you have any recommendations of sights to see, cool places to eat or things to do along the way?
Oh my goodness! That was so long ago! I don’t know if I can remember! lol However, I DO remember that there are fresh fruit stops along the way. If you see any, you should take advantage! We stopped at a strawberry one where you could pick your own strawberries. It was AH-mazing!!
Have SO much fun! XO
Hi! Thank you SO MUCH for the Road Trip Printables!!! My grandkids are visiting from WI (I live in TX)and I needed things for them to do in the car while driving to our destinations. A couple places we need to go to are quite a drive. I know you made these for couples and I may need to change the questions slightly (I hope you don’t mind) but other than that it’s perfect. Ya’ll are AWESOME! Thanks again! Grandma Dawn
Grandma Dawn – I am so glad you found this post & are able to use the printables with your sweet grandkids! We don’t mind one bit that you made adjustments. These were meant to make road trips fun! Enjoy! XOXO
I love your license plate page – want it badly, but can’t seem to print it out. I didn’t have a problem printing out your road trip countdown just the license plate one. I even called both my printer and tablet companies to make sure that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. So I was wondering if you could perhaps e-mail it to me. Maybe I would have better luck. I’ve never had a problem like this before, so I am sorry to bother you. Thank you for your time! Amanda Sue
Amanda – do you have the most recent version of adobe on your computer? Try downloading the latest version. It’s free! Hopefully that should do the trick. Good luck! XO
Oh my! This sounds amazing! I will be traveling with my husband and 4-year-old son this fall and we’ll be in the car for about 15 hours. I can’t wait to try this!
I’ve been sneaking peaks at your site for a while now but haven’t been able to put any of it to use yet (my husband has been gone with the Navy for a majority of our short marriage so far). To make up for all these absences, we are getting ready to take a 3 WEEK road trip across the country!! I knew I could find something here that was road trip related – you guys have an idea for everything! I love them
Thanks for this print out. LOVE IT! I’ve been playing this game since I was a kid and National Geographic WOW (for kids) printed something akin to it on their back page. Now I am in North Dakota and I have got ALL the states twice (can you say, Hawaii, whaaaat?) except Rhode Island (??). West Virginia was hard to get too, but I have a photo to prove it to myself. Haha. My daughter is growing up with her mother exclaiming at each out of state license plate. Thanks again, and come on by my site sometime. Reverie of a Picture Book
Thank-you!!! Such amazing ideas, can hardly wait to get started on our roadtrip from Toronto to Orlando!
Thanks for the road trip downloads! We’re going to SC (from PA) next week for vacation – with our 6 year old and 5 month old – its going to be a loooonnngggg trip. LOL This should help to keep my son (and me and his dad) occupied for awhile. 🙂 Thanks!!
Thanks so much for these printables — fantastic! I reduced the game to fit into an Altoids tin for my grandsons’ vacation travels. I so appreciate all of your free stuff!
Hi, we’re going on a road trip, touring the 13 original colonies. We printed out license plate game you made available, and I wanted to give credit to whoever made it. Did you make it?
Hey Mark! If you mean, did I put all of these plate on this printable, yeppers, I did! Have so much fun on your trip!
Thanks so much for making these different things available. They’ll be great for our family trip coming up! 🙂
I’m SOOOO glad I found this!!! I will be moving to Las Vegas from Clarksville, TN (near Nashville) in September 2013. My boyfriend and his mom are flying out here and we are all gonna take turns driving and then entertaining my son in the back (will be 9 months old at the time of move.) Thank you for making this! This will be a blessing! 🙂
I just came across this on Pinterest! I am thinking that this will be fun for us on our family vacation this year! Thank you for sharing your cute ideas!
Hey! I think we were on that road with you driving through the snow somewhere between northern Cali. & Reno!!! Crazy stuff. Thanks for the great ideas. Im sure to use them on our way to Disneyland this spring!
I am going on a road trip to Williamsburg, VA with my Boyfriend for his best friends wedding! I can not wait to do this! It will be about 15 hours to Williamsburg..this trip is almost a test of our two year relationship. Wish us luck & thanks for this post love this site! & thanks to Pinterest I found you!
These printables are great! We’re moving across the country in a couple of months and these will be perfect. 🙂
My daughter sent me the link to your page. My hubby and I are in the middle of a looong road trip right now. California to Atlanta and back. This should make the rest of the trip much more fun.
Thank you for the license plate printable. We shared your link on our blog post today: https://sistersplayinghouse.blogspot.com/2012/07/heading-out-west.html
Love the creativity! I will definitely use this game for my husband & daughter on our next trip to North Myrtle Beach. I’m thinking palm trees, sand dollars, crabs, and “shaggers” on the tags. Can’t wait for vacation even more now! (Oh! And how about a tailor made set of cards for a water park trip? Slides, towels, tubes, treats, etc. I’m psyched!). Thanks for the inspiration.
Hi there! I love your license plate game and blogged about my version on my blog!
Our family is taking a LONG road trip and we are so excited to play your license plate game. Ingenius. Thanks so much.
What a great way to make a road trip fun and romantic. I am going to have to use this idea and the license plate bingo in two weeks.
Thank you!! I have plans to use all this for up coming road trip! I am so excited! I am going to buy each of my boys(2) thier own personlized license plate as we travel! when we get home we will string them all together starting with thier birth state! Maybe one day they will have all the states!
I love the license plate game! And living in Florida, I don’t even have to wait for a road trip, that’s a trip to the super market!
Thank you so much for sharing! I found you on Pinterest! This will be great for our road trip to California and the Oregon coast in a couple weeks ! – Annette/ Boise Idaho
So glad you like it, Annette!
We have to go on a road trip usually yearly for my daughters dance competitions. I love the countdown, I’m for sure using that this year!
Hey! I love this road trip idea! Just curious what your husband does that requires so much traveling? Thanks!
Hey Jordan! He is in the PGA program at a fab university. Each summer, we travel to a new place for his 3-month internship. Craziness but lots of fun! xoxo
Thanks so much for the cute ideas. I have seen a few before, but LOVE the downloads! Super Easy- thanks! Heading to NC from WI this summer with my Husband, son, and my parents. 🙂
You are SO welcome, Ashley! Have fun on your road trip! xoxo
I am taking a road trip for my honeymoon this summer. I will absolutely be printing out some of these games. Thanks for the ideas!
I’m so glad I found this before our trip! I’m putting together my car bag and I can promise ALL of these are going into my bag!!! Thank you for all your ideas!!
How fun!! Thanks for sharing!
You are so welcome! Hopefully you were able to get some ideas for YOUR next trip! 🙂 xoxo
We are going on a roadtrip this summer and I know my boys are going to love the License plate game! Thanks so much:)
Great ideas! My 2 year old would love your homemade cheesy popcorn! Would you like to share the recipe?
Thx!! 🙂
I second the motion!
OMG! This is so cute! I’m not married or engaged (not yet anyways!) but my boyfriend and I need to add some excitement to our dating-life so I’ve been scouring the dating blogs and websites and FORTUNATELY have come across The Dating Divas…WOW…what a page! This road-trip idea is definitely right down our alley! We love going on trips and your ideas are definitely something I am going to incorporate the next time we go on a road-trip! Thank you! I’ll let you know how it goes!
Awesome! So glad you are loving our ideas! Have fun on your next trip! xoxo
Loved the license plate template you made. I did something similar with my kids over the summer but I printed out a map of the US and they colored in the states as they found a license plate. It allowed them to learn about the geography too and why it might be very difficult to find a plate from Hawaii or Alaska (both of which we found!) I’m now thinking about creating a game where they get points for finding different plates. Plates from our home state or border states are worth 1pt, states further away count for 2+plus, provinces from Canada are worth 5pts…..
Great ideas!
I was looking at the questionnaire I couldn’t figure out what the tally marks were for? Is this for guessing how your spouse will answer? Just curious..love this idea!
I was wondering the same thing!
Hey Kimberly! I would read the question aloud & try to guess what his answer was….if I was right, I received a tally mark & vice versus. It’s fun to play with or without the tally marks. If you DO decide to use them, you should come up with a fun prize for the spouse that gets the most. A backrub….passing along an unwanted chore…lol…
Have FUN! XO, Tara
How fun is THIS??? Thanks for taking the time to do it and sharing it with us! All of my family will love this!
So glad you were okay when you slid off the road!
You are SO welcome, Sarah! Oh man…WE were glad we were OK, too! {lol} Soooooo scary!!
What a fun idea. I am so excited for our next road trip!
My brother in law and his wife are leaving to move across country for military life and I’m fixing them up a bag with these ideas!!! Thanks so much!
My husband and I just finished a 6 month roadtrip to see all 48 continental states. This would have been soo much fun for us. Sad I saw it too late. : )
THIS ROCKS!!! I am excited to be able to use this this month! Wahoo!! Thanks sis!
Oh, I SO wish I had these ideas 2 weeks ago! I will definitely use them another time though! 🙂
Oh man, I wish I had this date years ago! Would have made some of those longer trips no so dull! lol! But we’ve got another trip in a month that I am super excited about. I’ve already printed everything out and I’m ready to get rollin’! Thanks for this awesome idea! For surely I will never have a dull trip again!
Wow, what perfect timing this is. My husband and I are leaving this Saturday taking our family on a cruise. The drive from home to the port is about 8 hours so I’m excited to receive this just in time!
Thank you so much and I’ll be passing this, along with many of your other fabulous date ideas to my readers as well.
Tara where were you? That looks like the Sonoma/Mendocino coast in that last shot. Great idea for a date and glad to see the shout out to my neck of the woods 🙂
Hey Barbara! I believe that was around the Reno, NV area….?? Crazy, huh! It was SUMMER! Who knew it had weather like that when just a hop-skip-jump away, Vegas is BURNING hot! 🙂
Great job putting this together Tara! I’m so excited to print some of these things off…It seems we are in the car all the time and could put this to good use!
This is awesome! We are preparing to move from Charleston, South Carolina to a small town above Albany, New York in October and this should make our trip a bit smoother. It will be my husband, myself, and our three year old son! We had a very long road trip last year when we moved from California to South Carolina.. this would have made the trip so much better! Thanks again!
We just moved across the country. Wish I would have had this! I’ll have to keep it in mind for future moves!
oh my heavens! i am DEFINITELY bookmarking this post for our next trip from Oklahoma to Utah. LOVE ALL OF THESE IDEAS!! thank you so so much!
Thank you so much for posting this! I love it! We are planning a family trip during the Christmas break this year and I have always thought how fun it would be to have road trip things to do and now I have them. :0)
Wish I had this when we moved last year and drove 2500 miles across the country in a moving truck!! Thanks for sharing this great idea!