Beach living is our life. If you are vacationing this summer at the coast then you need to read my 15 Best Beach Tips that will make your vacation a fun, safe, beachy breezy blissful experience! Look like a local with these tried and true beach tips.
15+ Best Beach Tips
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1. BABY POWDER TO THE RESCUE
There is nothing worse than a hot and sweaty sandy baby or kid and no fresh water to rinse it off. What do you do? Simply sprinkle sandy areas with baby powder and the sand falls right off!
2. SANDY FEET JUICE JUG
Keep one or two juice jugs filled with fresh water in your car to rinse off those sandy feet right before you drive home. Trust me, your car mats will thank you. This is especially helpful for beaches that allow driving 4-wheel drive vehicles along the beach.
3. INFLATABLE BABY POOL
While the big kids play in the surf the little ones can enjoy their own little inflatable baby pool. Inflate the pool when you get to the beach and then fill it with buckets of sea water. This is a mommy lifesaver!
4. FROZEN WATER BOTTLES
Be sure to toss a few frozen water bottles into your cooler. Not only do they keep your drinks cool longer but they take up less space and weight than icecubes and you also will have icy cold water to drink on extra hot summer days
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5. EASY BREEZY BEACH SHEET
Bring a sheet to lay out on the beach instead of a blanket. Sheets take up little space in your bag, dry quicker than blankets and sand brushes off easily.
6. JELLY FISH STING REMEDY
Jelly fish stings are simply part of life along the east coast. If you get stung understand that the sting will last approximately 20 minutes to several hours depending on the amount of body stung. The #1 thing is DO NOT RINSE YOUR STING WITH FRESH WATER!!!! Fresh water will cause the jelly fish venom cells to burst open, there by increasing your pain. Rinse with more sea water and gently brush off any remaining jellyfish tentacles with the edge of a credit card. We always bring a ziplock bag of baking soda to the beach. Make a thick paste of sea water and baking soda and apply to skin. This will deactivate the stingers. Vinegar works also. Apply an ice bag if desired.
7. PROTECT THE PHONE
Protect your cell phone from sand and salt water splashes by keeping it in a ziplock plastic bag on the beach. It will still work even in the bag.
8. BEACHCOMBING BAGS
Bring a zip lock gallon bag labeled with each kid’s name on it to store their beach combing treasurers. Be sure not to bring home any live shells or sea life. No only is it illegal but in a few days your home will smell like rotting fish!
9. DIG IT DEEP
Avoid an embarassing and potentally very dangerous beach umbrella blowing down the beach. To properly anchor a beach umbrella, dig a deep hole at least 18″ deep into the sand (24″ would be even better). If you use an Easy-Up, then strap your backpacks, beach bags, and cooler to the corners of your shelter.
Angle the postition of your umbrella/Easy-Up INTO the wind so that it doesn’t get picked up by the wind. If winds exceed 15-25mph then please just close your umbrellas and slather on more suncreen.
***Sadly a woman just died this past week at our beach from being impaled by a fly-a-way umbrella. I’ve rescued many tumbling umbrellas over my lifetime. Please beach responsibly.
10. FRESH WATER SPRAY BOTTLE
Pack a mini spray bottle filled with fresh water to spray and rinse away the saltwater sting from eyes and faces. It also is handy for rinsing off the salt spray from sunglasses.
11. COFFEE CUP CAMOFLAGE
Hide your valuables in an insulated coffee cup. Take only what you need to the beach, like keys, cash, ID, and a credit card. Leave the rest in the beach house or in your hotel room safe. Do NOT bring a purse to the beach and do not leave a purse under a car seat. If you must, then store it in a locked glove box in the car.
12. BEACH BALL NO-NO
Ask any beach front life guard and they will tell you that if they could, they would pop every beach ball and small inflatable. Nothing says “I’m a tourist who has no clue”, as bringing a beach ball to the beach.
Beach balls should be reserved for pools only. They always blow away. This goes for all types of feather weight inflatables. Sadly, I have witnessed countless people, especially children nearly drown because their beach balls quickly float out to sea and they tried to swim after them. Please, we beg you, leave the inflatables at home. If they do start blowing away… let them go! A dollar store purchase is not worth losing a life over.
13. METALLIC TOOTSIES & BIKINI BLING
Avoid painting your toenails and fingernails with metallic nailpolish. Metallic nailpolish mimics reflective fish scales under water and attracts the attention of larger fish. The only attention of larger fish I desire is on the end of a hook and then baked.
Just like the metallic nail polish, save your beautiful bathing suit all blinged out with metal accents, jewels or sequins for the pool. You don’t want to wear anything that will attract sharks and mistake you for a floundering fish.
14. FISHING PIER FEARS
Locals know, you do not swim next to fishing piers. Not only do you risk getting snagged by a fishing hook or stepping on one in the sand but it is also where sharks are attracted to because of all the bloody bait in the water. Just walk down the beach 100 yards or so if you have the option.
15. SAND TOY STORAGE
Use a pop up mesh laundry bag to store and carry all your sand toys, pails, and buckets to the beach. Even your little ones will be able to carry this bag themselves.
16. SUNSET SUPPER
Ok, this is my last shark tip. Locals never swim at sunset or at night. Why? Sunset is the time when sharks and other large fish come near to shore to feed. Evenings are warm, balmy, and immensely romantic on the east coast and the idea of an evening swim in 85° water is very tempting but trust me, take a nice walk along the beach instead.
****(Sorry for all the shark related tips. We had 8 shark attacks right near here last year, one of which was in front of our beach house. I don’t mean to scare anyone away, but we all need to understand and respect that we are playing in THEIR playground).
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I hope you enjoyed all these best beach tips! The beach has been my front yard since I was a small child and all my babies have been raised on the beach. I hope these tips help make your vacation to our little paradise more relaxed and enjoyable!
Share with me YOUR best beach tips! I’d love to hear from you!
KIM
This is all wonderfully helpful information. I will be passing it along. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much Lillace! Have a wonderful weekend!
Great tips! Some new, and some tried-and-true for us! Our addition to that list are Bungee Cords! I always have a bag with a half do or so. Once umbrella is planted (deep!), we bungee it to the heavy cooler. Trash bags get hooked to the back of a chair or we use them to make a ring around the middle all the wet and Sandy towels, so easier to hang and dry the majority when hoofing to and from car. If one end is anchored to the right cooler or chair, we make a clothes line and use others hang lightweight stuff.
Can’t wait for the beach! Almost warm enough in Boston/Cape Cod/Vineyard to go in and stay in 🙂
Happy summer!
YES!! Fabulous tips Lynn! We do the same also! We anchor our Easy-Up to the cooler and several back packs. Beach breezes should never be under estimated! Thanks for sharing! ~ KIM
Great tips! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you Sherry!
Great tips and more than meaningful. We didn’t live at beach but when youngest was 17 months old we moved to San Diego, lived inland but we were at beach as often as I could get away with. Older 3 kids loved it as we had lived in Tucson, no beaches there but lots of heat for months. My kids got their share of jelly fish bites, OUCH, learned the hard way, no body warned us
. Did learn to take precautionary medicine with us for them tho. Might say our kids grew up at beach too and continued to until we one after another moved away.
Our two oldest are back in S.D. area again. Two youngest live here in Grand Junction, CO area.
Youngest daughter/family are on their way home from S.D now, went to spend time with their oldest daughter before she goes to Italy to be AuPair for summer. She took train from college outside San Rafael, CA to S.D. to stay with her aunt until she went to Italy. Hubs and I will be going to S.D. on our first vacation in many years on 22nd. to visit our oldest son and his two boys who live/go to college in KY. We haven’t been back since we left in May/1992, when we moved to MT. Daughter tells me traffic will drive me crazy, probably.
Is that very brown toe headed little boy in photo yours? He reminds me so much of my boys when they were little. They were so brown and hair so blonde. They are 16 months apart.
We were lucky in S.D. where we went to beach, bathroom and showers were close so took kids in for good rinsing off/clean clothes before long hot ride home.
You sound like smart caring Mom who watches out for your kids at all times. At beach Moms need to be extra careful and you sure sound like you are. Have wonderful weekend.
What a lovely comment JaneEllen! Thank you! It sounds like you have a wonderful family. My hubs is from Huntington Beach and we love driving down to SD. It’s a beautiful area. And yes, that is my youngest son (we have 4 kids). That photo was when he was 2. He’s 9 now. 😉 Thanks for stopping by the blog! I really appreciate it!
Great tips! I never thought of the reflective nail polish one! I will definitely keep that in mind! I already do the cell phone in the ziploc one. I always take my phone with me to the beach to communicate with whoever is still back at the house. Plus I use it to take pictures. I would hate to get it full of sand! Thanks for the great ideas and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Shelley
Thank you for sharing your tips Shelley!!!! Have a fabulous week!
All great tips, and I cannot agree with the shark commentary more – I live in your area, so I know. That mesh hamper – we have the exact same ones, and I pack all our clothes for the week in them. Each one of us has a hamper full of our own clothes that gets unpacked upon arrival, and the hamper then becomes – a hamper – for the duration of the trip. They compress better than suitcases in the back of the car so they take up less room. This might not work if you have a lot of pressed, hanging, fancy clothes, but if you’re taking clothes like that to the beach, well, I’m sorry. LOL.
FABULOUS hamper idea Karin! I’ll have to try that. Thanks! PS- you totally made me laugh… pressed/fancy clothes at the beach…LOL!
I didn’t learn the baby powder trick until I was an adult – wish I would have learned it a LOT sooner! Love these other tips too!
As a Midwesterner who enjoys traveling to beaches, I thank you for your tips. I was stung by a jellyfish once, ouch! Now, I know what to do.
Yep, jellyfish sting are not fun for sure! Thanks for stopping by Mary!
I really enjoy your blog, Kim ~ I live near Ottawa, Ontario – a gorgeous city but no ocean in sight! My suburban bungalow, however, mimics your beach-house; we’ve travelled the East Coast from PEI to Florida… I know what I like! By the way: Canadians celebrate Father’s Day, too! <]=°=°=[ Linda
Thank you so much Linda!
great tips, we have a home in FMB, Fla.. and are always at the beach. Pat M., Syracuse, NY
Thanks Pat!
Your tips for the beach are very helpful. I travel to beaches around the world and will use several of your ideas. I learned my lesson about beach umbrellas flying away last winter on a beach in Florida. I will never bother to fight the wind with an umbrella again after hearing your story about someone dying. I can’t wait to try the baby powder tip.
Thank you!