Saturday’s Something Good: Holiday Packing

Packing for the holidays can be rough, You need outfits for so many different occasions and then on top of that, it’s probably going to be snowing where ever you’re going (if you’re lucky!). It’s been a while since I’ve thrown together a packing list for a trip during the winter, so it seemed appropriate, especially since how much of a pain it can be to pack for a trip to the snowy midwest (I won’t lie though, I love it). Before you dive in to grabbing pieces, make sure you have a general idea of what you’ll be doing. For instance, I know that for most trips home, they’ll be spent in fairly casual clothing, so I don’t ever pack anything overly dressy (unless I know I need it).

Here’s my strategy for packing for trips home:

1. Pack the pants. I generally aim for three bottoms, normally two of which are a pair of jeans (in different colors) and then a skirt or dress (or shorts if it’s the summer). Plus, they normally don’t take up that much room, so no harm no foul if you don’t loose them. For the pants, I learned one amazing trick from my mom. That trick? If you like skinny jeans or jeggings, pack those. Why? They’re generally less fabric so they take up less room!

2. Pick your tops. You want tops that not only go with your bottom pieces, but also stay in the same color groups (for mixing and matching purposes). I generally aim for white, black, and a color. However, for this trip I ended up with a white, gray, green, and blue palette. A little weird, but I’m treating it all as a neutral so it works. For me, the number of tops varies on how long I’ll be home. I luck out when I’m traveling home since I can do laundry and that can lessen the number of tops I need. Since I’m normally also traveling to the midwest, I pack tops I can layer. Lots of layers. Also, warm sweaters. They’re a pain to pack since they take up a lot of space, but I’ve never regretted when I grabbed an extra sweater.

3. Shoes. They’re the most important part in my opinion. For winter packing, I’ll grab three pairs of boots: winter boots, black boots, and cognac boots. These will vary between ankle boots, wedges, and riding boots, but I try to only pack a pair of riding boots if I’m going to take them on the plane, otherwise they can take up too much room. I also like to grab a pair of flats to wear around my house.

4. Accessories! As much as I love my jewelry collection, I try to only grab a few pieces when traveling. This means 2 or 3 of my favorites necklaces and a few rings. Also, blanket scarves. Because it’s winter. Hopefully I don’t have to explain that any more.

I didn’t pick them here, but I also like to pack work out clothes since my parents are pretty active so I’ll feel lazy if I’m the only one not working out. I obviously also pack the necessary jackets, underwear, socks, etc, but we don’t need to discuss that part here.

Do you have a plan of attack for packing for a holiday trip? Any must haves or rules you always follow?