What to Pack for You and Your Toddler

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Whether I was packing for me or for our little one, it was all about layers, layers, layers. The tricky part about Napa Valley is that it’s in a valley. The weather is in the 40’s at night and can get up to the mid-80’s during the day. That’s partly why the wine is so good. That said, it makes dressing for each day a little more challenging. I’d start our little guy out in trousers, a short sleeve polo, and layer a Minnow sweater over it all. And, of course, a hat and sunscreen.

I brought long, maxi dresses that were lightweight and worked well with sweaters or cardigans. I am wild about olive, brown, and earth tones as of late and have found that sticking with a set of colors makes packing everything so much easier. I packed a neutral J.McLaughlin sweater that I’ve had for ages. It served as my main layering sweater (similar here). My Barbour wax jacket is what I pulled out in the early mornings and evenings when the temperature tended to drop.

Here’s my packing list for our 4-day trip:

  • Mother denim Hustler jeans, cropped.
  • Tretorn comfort tennies with navy blue stripe.
  • 4 maxi dresses, lightweight. My favorites currently are by Sea New York. They’re lightweight and can be easily dressed up or dressed down. We often ended up doing a tasting or two in the afternoon that would run late, so we would head straight to dinner in what we wore to that day. The RealReal has some terrific options right now from this brand: here, black and cream, white (read: fresh palette for a fun cardigan), great basic navy, pink with detailing, this amazing red and cream dress, this blue one that’s sold out everywhere, and this cream floral one.
  • 3-4 short dresses, also lightweight. This one by Sea is perfect, and I also love this blue. These sleeves are so great. I’ve really been so happy with Sea’s sundresses. You truly can’t go wrong, and they strike a good tone in Napa. Last favorite for now.
  • Lighter jacket or coat. My Barbour wax jacket was great, but that’s mostly because I haven’t been able to find the perfect denim one yet.
  • 2 sweaters: 1 cashmere, 1 lightweight cotton or knit. This neutral cashmere sweater is cute and on sale.
  • 2 pairs of sandals.
  • Swimming gear if your hotel has a hot tub, mineral springs, or pool.
  • 2 pairs of pajamas.
  • 2 sets of workout clothes.

And, my packing list for our little:

  • 6 polo shirts (because they often need changing after meals and exploring). We live in Lacoste polos because they’re longer and stand up to lots of washes.
  • 4 pairs Cadets shorts (we love them)
  • 3 pairs of trousers (love the linen trousers from Janie and Jack)
  • 2 long-sleeve shirts (hello, J.Crew’s collab with Saint James)
  • pair of tennies
  • 2 sets of Minnow knitwear: shorts, trousers, and sweaters. We have this set in cream/Breton stripe and light blue and it is one of the best sets of clothing I’ve purchased for him to date. I’m recently purchased the navy set. We literally have every piece in every color (except pink). I often changed him into the matching trousers and sweater for the morning with a polo layered underneath and by lunch he was in the polo and the matching shorts. These sets are also the BEST for resorts. We are on year 2 of them and only now do we have to go up a size. They’re terrific.
  • 2 sleep sacks (turns out we needed one more here)
  • 3 pairs of pajamas (again, needed just one more spare)
  • 2 pairs of Minnow swimming trunks
  • 1 coverup (surprise: it’s Minnow)
  • baseball hat
  • loads of socks (love the non-skid’s by Polo Ralph Lauren)