With Easter, spring break, and travel season rapidly approaching, parents all over are gearing up to drop the kids off at grandma and grandpa's house so they can finally get a 24 hour break, or at least a lovely evening together!
When it comes to your kiddo's very first overnight stay with their grandparents, you're probably feeling a mixture of two emotions: excitement, but also sheer terror. Panic sets in. What if your kid gets scared? What if they don't sleep?
It's natural to want to pack up your child's every single belonging into a chaotic laundry basket, but you need to take a second to step back and breathe! The secret to success at your kid's first sleepover with their grandparents isn't to bring the entire nursery, it's all about bringing a few high-quality comfort items that smell and feel like home. Here's our guide:
Sleep Anchors
Little ones rely heavily on sensory cues to fall asleep. Bedtime routines are very important, so getting them to go to bed in an unfamiliar location can be challenging. If the bed feels different, the house is a different temperature, or the room smells different, the little one will probably fight sleep come bedtime.
The best remedy? Bring their pillow from home. It feels familiar, smells familiar, and is great at grounding and comforting them once they get into bed.
Another great practice to get into with your baby or toddler is to start using sleep bags, like the ones we carry from Kyte Baby. Zipping them into their buttery-soft, bamboo sleeping bag every night familiarizes them with a routine, so when it comes time for their first sleepover, their brains will instantly go into "bedtime mode" the minute grandma zips them in, even if they're in an unfamiliar crib away from home.
The Brave Travel Buddy
Help prepare your kiddo for their first sleepover by equipping them with their brave travel buddy! This is going to be a toy or plushie, and you'll tell your little one that this is their sleepover buddy whose entire job is to keep them company in their new, unfamiliar surroundings.
We suggest a medium-sized toy for the travel buddy, nothing too big and cumbersome that will be a pain to get in and out of the car. A standard Cuddle & Kind doll or a larger Maileg plush are some of the best options. They're cute, super soft, have tons of character, and your little one will appreciate having a little friend to travel with. This isn't just a small toy, it's your child's little companion to give them a sense of bravery and security while mom and dad aren't around.
Major important tip: your little one's brave travel buddy shouldn't be small. This needs to be a self-contained toy that isn't too tiny, and it shouldn't have multiple pieces. Imagine, your little one takes his favorite little action figure to grandma's house for a sleepover, loses it, and drives grandma crazy with a meltdown... which you really don't want!
The "Early Riser" Distraction
Kids hate getting out of bed in the morning, unless it's at their first sleepover in a new place, in which case they're notorious for waking up, ready for action, at 5:00 AM. Your kid's travel buddy can double as their early riser distraction, but we suggest the distraction be a different toy. That way your kid has some variety to play with and won't get bored and bug grandma before she's even out of bed.
To avoid losing anything, make sure you keep it down to just one or two toys that, again, are self-contained and don't have tons of pieces. This can be a book, a few pencils and a pad of paper so they can draw, a smaller Maileg or Cuddle and Kind doll, or even one of the more compact Candylab cars. The key traits of this item are that it needs to be easy to pack and will keep little hands busy while grandma's making her morning coffee.
Check out our play section for toy ideas!
Go Enjoy Your Evening!
Hopefully now you're stressing a little bit less about baby's first night at their grandparents' house! Don't worry. You deserve a break, grandma and grandpa are going to have a blast, and your kiddo will have loads of fun and feel perfectly fine with their comfort items. You can be confident that it'll be great!
Ready to prepare for your kid's first sleepover?
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