What To Put In A Kids Emergency Car Kit

I’ve seen it called a kid’s emergency car kit, but to me, they are really “mom emergency car kits!” When your child has a potty accident, a throw up accident, or some other random ’emergency’ while you’re out and about, what are you supposed to do? Read on to see what I put inside my “kids uh-oh car kit’…

Today on the way to the grocery store, my toddler complained that she was too hot. It was cool in the car, so I just assumed she was tired and a little grumpy.

Then she threw up.

Which made her wet her pants.

And throw up again.

(As far as throw up cases go, it was very mild, but it still was a car emergency!)

Luckily, I had some things in my purse and in the car to take care of the situation, a blanket, a wet bag, some cloth diapers, and some wipes and hand sanitizer. But I didn’t have a change of clothes, so after cleaning her up the best that I could while pulled over in the weeds, we drove the 15 minutes home.

We don’t go out every day, and we usually go places where supplies would be in reach if we needed them (grandma’s house, friends house, or the store, for example, will always have some kind of towel, sack, extra diaper, etc.) But I started thinking, what about those times we go to the park, or we’re just on the road and something happens?

Or what if the backup supply of diapers in my purse runs out, and I need a backup for my backup?

Usually, we are close enough to home that if we had a diaper situation, a wet pants situation, or whatever, we would be fine to wait 10 minutes to fix it. But I wanted to be prepared just in case a day like today happened again but I didn’t just happen to have extras nearby.

What Do We Keep In The Car For Back Up or Emergencies?

Kit or no kit, we already keep some things in the car/ in my purse that are always on hand. Some of these things are emergency/survival type things, and some of them are just random kids gear that somehow found their home in the car. 🙂 A few of these things include:

• “Car” toys and books
• A few Blankets
• Car phone chargers
• Pens & Paper (I am surprised how often my kids get bored with the toys I brought for them and they just want my pens and paper!)
• Hand Sanitizer
• Diapers
• Wipes
• A Wet Bag (This is so good for anything that is wet, not just cloth diapers! swimsuits, towels, etc.)
• Hair elastics (I always need these for something! Tying a bag closed, or putting my/the kids hair up if its windy, etc.)

In addition, when we go somewhere I obviously try to take things like snacks, extra toys, water, blankets, or whatever items would be appropriate for that particular outing.

But thanks to today’s throw-up-party, I decided to throw together a little “Back-Up” kit that will live in the car forever, for those just in case moments.

You can’t plan for everything, and you probably don’t have the space to anyways, (I don’t either!), but these are some simple things you probably already have around the house that are easy to throw together and give you extra peace of mind. (I’m surprised I made it this long without having a backup kit!)

What’s In My Kid’s emergency car kit?

Friendly reminder that this is not medical advice. This is just throw up, pee on pants, and other random parenting mishap advice. 🙂

These are all things I already had around the house. It was super easy and kind of fun to just put them in a little container! This was free for me, but even if you had to purchase a few things, it is a very inexpensive project! Here’s what I put inside for today:

• Extra Cloth Diapers (For when my ‘backup’ stash in my purse mysteriously vanishes! These can also be used as towels, wipes, rags, etc.)
• 2 little receiving blankets (I can use these as towels, blankets, bandages, tie them into bags, the possibilities are endless)
• A Change Of Clothes, Pants, Shirt, & Underwear (I specifically chose a hand-me-down outfit that is a few sizes too big. This is so that I won’t have to think about rotating it any time soon.)
• A Few Menstrual Pads (I usually use menstrual cups, but sometimes it just happens and you’re unprepared! Plus, menstrual pads can be used for all sorts of emergency situations, like as a bandage or a mop.)
• Some Paper Cups (For drinking water, which is the obvious use, or holding snacks. I also once used a paper cup in the car because we were on a long car trip and I needed to express milk when we couldn’t get off the road, lol!)
• A little container of Coconut Oil (I use coconut oil for all sorts of things: lip balm, sunscreen, lotion, diaper rash cream, a snack, etc. Here is a great list of 50 Things To Do With Coconut Oil)
• A Tiny Flashlight
• A Sharpie
• An Extra Phone Charger
• A Mini First Aid Kit (This first aid kit was a free-handout from our local hospital, it includes bandaids, hand sanitizer, a needle and thread, and antiseptic. This would be easy to DIY!)
• Several Plastic Grocery Bags (Good for storing wet towels, soiled clothes, throwing up inside, etc. I also have paper bags I might add, as well. I almost always carry some of these in my purse, too!)
• Random Extras (I filled a little jar with several small extras that are less likely to be used or needed but still good anyways. An extra pocketknife, tooth picks, matches, little rubber-bands, safety pins/diaper pins, bandage wrap, tweezers in case of a sliver.)

Pocket Knife Side Note! A neighbor of mine shared a scary story with me: she was out playing at a friends house with her small grandchildren, when suddenly her 2 year old grandchild ran up to her and had somehow wrapped fishing line all around her arm and hand. It was cutting off her blood circulation. Luckily, this super-grandma had a pocketknife with her, and she whipped it out and cut that line off and probably saved this little toddler’s hand!!! Luckily. they didn’t have to go to the emergency room, everything was fine. You never know what random things kids will find outside!

• Not Shown: candy or non-perishable snack for emergency, napkins, waterbottle (for washing hands or rinsing a wound)

There are so many things you could put in an emergency car kit.

It starts to get frantic when you think about all the scary situations you could be in!

But from a practical standpoint, most of the time I have a phone, am near people, and have a vehicle, so I am pretty covered. These are just some extra things to tide us over until we can get home or get to a store or hospital if needed.

There is one more essential item I am SO glad we had in our car today. This item was my husband’s idea, and it seriously saved me from having the worst day ever!

A waterproof seat cover underneath the kid’s carseats.

I won’t give you all the drippy, smelly, awesome details about today’s throw up occurrence, but it sufficeth me to say that our car was saved because we had wipe-able seat covers over ALL the seats in the car.

The waterproof seat cover was such a relief. I just wiped it off and the seat underneath was fine! Halleluiah!

I feel so much better now that I have this homemade kid’s emergency car kit!

One year UPDATE: I have totally used this kit multiple times since I made it! It’s been a “we need an extra pair of pants!” lifesaver!

Kids throw up in the car, they wet their pants right when you get to the park, they get bloody noses at the grocery store, they roll around in the mud in their sunday clothes, but if you have a backup kit prepared, these situations won’t be so stressful I was prepared with some items today, for which I am grateful, but now I will be even more prepared!

Now that I have this emergency kit put together, I feel a LOT better. Getting organized and prepared relieves a lot of anxiety! I am trying to organize my home and prepare for emergencies with food storage, power outages, etc. This is just one super easy, simple way you can prepare yourself and your car, too. It took me 20 minutes!

If you have kids, I think this kit, or a kit similar to it, is a must! I hope this experience inspired you to get one in your car, too.

I want to know, do you have any ideas for items to put in an kid’s emergency car kit?

Like this post? Take a look at these two SUPER handy tips to organize your kids clothes!