I’m the kind of mother who had 28 home-made (by me) frozen diners in the freezer weeks in advance of my daughters’ birth; has each of our activities colour-coded on our calendar and has baskets by the front door for our individual hats, mitts, and other paraphernalia (with a photo of each individual, including the dog, attached to each).

Yet when we are travelling, I instantly form a large hole in my Martha-worthy organizational skills and end up forgetting something important. I’m not talking about toothpaste or underwear (like my husband did when we set off for six weeks in Europe—do you have any idea how expensive underwear is in Iceland? But I digress). I’m talking about forgetting critical items, like the car seat (which I forgot last time) or clothing that still fits my daughter (actually, same trip).

Here’s what to do when you forget a crucial item

Playpens, car sets and other baby equipment
If you’re bending over to pop your wee one in their stroller, and there is in fact, no stroller, it doesn’t matter if it’s you or your sweetie who left it propped up against the winter tires in the garage. The fact is that you don’t have one and you need it.

Luckily, there are many places that rent baby equipment to travellers just like yourself, and a quick phone call will usually secure you just what you need (thenewparentsguide.com has a good list). Some even deliver to the airport. Many car rental companies also have car seats available if you are renting, so you may wish to leave the baby seat at home on purpose!

I’m not saying that you should do this, but you can also stop by a big box store, buy whatever it is you forgot, and return it on your way home (but you didn’t hear that from me).

Cherished items (a.k.a. “Lambie”)
O.K. it was my daughter’s mistake when she left her stuffed lamb at the hotel, and even though she was eight and probably at the perfect age for a “learning opportunity,” I just couldn’t look into her sweet face and tell her we’d probably seen the last of Lambie. But we wern't going to drive back the hundred miles to retrieve him.

Hotels usually keep lost and found items on hand for some time and, if returning to the hotel isn’t an option, you can do what we did and have the hotel send it to your next destination (or back to your home address, if the matter is less urgent).

I am embarrassed to say we have forgotten items more than once and some hotels don’t charge for returning some items via snail mail, while others are all-too-happy to ship Lambie and charge you as if he were traveling business class.

Clothing, critical and otherwise
Packing a bunch of clothes that no longer fit my daughter was reasonably easy to solve with a quick trip to the consignment store and laundry mat. And finding a kids clothing’s store at just about any destination is a cinch. But if you forget your kids’ bathing suit, it’s 8:00, the pool closes at 9:00 and you’re checking out first thing in the morning, some improvisation is in order. If it’s summer let them swim in shorts and a t-shirt, raid the hotel’s lost and found, or even improvise with some underwear (yours or theirs) and a few safety pins.

And if, like me, you set out for a cross-country flight with your squalling newborn and exactly one diaper in your diaper bag, don’t fret. Many airport family washrooms and even the planes themselves keep a supply on hand.

Sure, my newborn was swimming in a size 3 diaper wrapped under her armpits, but it beat the heck out of the sanitary napkin and toilet-paper version I was about to wrap her in!

Photo by Carina Ice