What I Packed For A Beach Day

What I Packed For A Beach Day

My husband and I jumped at the first really hot day to head to the beach. We might have been a little bit too aggressive as it hit 100 on Tuesday. However, after an extra cold rainy stretch we welcomed the heat and day at the beach.

Just a note. Not all of our beach days look this healthy, especially when we are away, but it is what it looked like this week. I also share our non-food items we brought.

What I Packed For A Beach Day

Non-Food Beach Items

Yeti Cooler – I cannot recommend this cooler enough. We use it so much. It’s lightweight with a strap which comes in extra handy and has a good amount of room for a smaller cooler. Since it is a Yeti, it keeps everything super cold (with ice packs).
Woven Market Basket With Four Handles – Just a huge basket to throw everything into and you can easily see it all. It has four handles, but we use the long shoulder straps the most.
Turkish Bath Towel – Thin, lightweight towels that don’t take up much room and are easy to pack and travel with. They are not large or plush like a beach towel, but when we are packing so much, we welcome the compact size.
Sand Umbrella – The one I linked is not the one I have. I bought mine for less than $10 at a Big Lots in college. It’s kind of ugly, but it works great and I would never dream of going to a hot beach for a long time without one. I go under it whenever I’m feeling warm and want some shade and pop back out when I want some sun.
Suntegrity 5-In-1 Tinted SPF 30 Sunscreen Moisturizer – I put this Living Libations Everybody Loves the Sunshine on my face before we left the house and it really did keep the sun at bay for a good while. Once I started to get a little warm, I applied the Suntegrity SPF on my face and neck. Both worked great. I got a little sun on my face but not too much.
Babo Botanicals Sheer Zinc Continuous Spray SPF 30 – If you saw my fried legs on Tuesday you would know that I did not put this on until it was too late. I wanted to get some color on my legs, so I let those babies out in the sun (sans SPF right away) and I fried the fronts of them. Not proud of it, but it happened. Lesson learned. I have been using fresh aloe, which is great for burns, to rub on them (in addition to drinking blended aloe water). It works like a charm and brought the redness down pretty quickly.
Rael Clean Handwipes – I really like WaterWipes, but I bought these on whim since they were on sale and came in smaller packages. I had to use some very gross Chicago public beach bathrooms, so they came in very handy. I like to keep wipes on hand in the car and when I am traveling.
Large scarf for a cute “tablecloth”
Forks, Spoon, Cloth Napkins

What I Packed For Food

Water
A lot of cubed watermelon in a large plastic bag. Although I try to steer clear of plastic bags most of the time, I still have them for things like this, freezing bananas, traveling, etc. Plus it was the only “container” that I could squeeze into the cooler after packing the other food. Watermelon is great for keeping us hydrated so it is a perfect fruit to pack for a hot day in the sun.
Sliced Fennel, Cucumbers, & Radishes to scoop up the guacamole and tomato cucumber mixture.
Chunky Guacamole Mixture – Avocados, tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno, lime juice, cayenne, little sea salt
Tomato Cucumber Mixture – diced cucumbers, sliced grape tomatoes, green onions, lots of dill, lemon juice