Last September we took Theodore on his first holiday, he was just about 8 months at the time and was confidently crawling about the place. I used to go to Centerparcs a lot when I was a lot younger, but I never understood the intensity of packing for such get-a-way.
No wonder my parents never took me as a baby. BAGS UPON BAGS you’ll need. Luckily you can drive your car right up to your lodge and unpack, and then re-pack straight back into your car on the final day. So no worry of bringing too little or too much. If you don’t end up using something I’d say its better to be safe than sorry.
Now Theodore wasn’t the only baby on this trip, his younger cousin Archie (I’m sure you’ve seen them twinning on my Instagram) was there too. Archie was 7 months old at the time. Now any parent will know that this age they’re wanting to do everything a toddler can do but still come with all the added needs of a baby. They still need plenty of naps and feeds.
It took me and Tasha (Archie’s mum) a few weeks of planning ‘to pack’ lists but we finally got there. Because Centerparcs isn’t just like your regular holiday shoving clothes into a suitcase, you need to bring enough to run a miniature house for the week. That plus two babies… a lot of stuff.
Obviously you know to pack your essentials, your clothes, babies clothes, pack suitably depending on time of year and weather predictions, and of course pack extras, especially for baby, because as we all know accidents happen. Both Theodore and Archie were on formula milk so obviously we took tins of that for them, we also took a prep machine and a steriliser to share whilst away, it made everything quick and easier. Most lodges come with microwaves if you prefer using them for warming up milk, but I would double check this!.
So, I’ve made this free printable for you to use! I frantically searched the internet for something like this when we were planning our holiday but there was nothing about the place. Centerparcs is such a popular family holiday destination, especially with little ones because a lot is provided with your lodge. As long as you specify the number of infants attending you’ll get that amount of cots and highchairs. We imagined these would be little travel cots with rubbish mattresses but we we’re wrong! Proper sized wooden cots with thick mattresses, and the highchairs were lovely a had trays (this was at the new Woburn resort so things could be different else where so I would recommend calling ahead and checking this).
I hope this list helps solve your packing problems, you’ll feel like you’re packing everything but the kitchen sink, but that’s alright because a kitchen sink is provided…
