‘Everything I bought to keep my toddler happy on a flight’

There’s nothing like the thought of trying to wrangle a screaming toddler on a flight to make any parent feel physically sick.
With a flight to Fiji – roughly four hours from Sydney – coming up, I started to prep hard with anything and everything to keep my 15-month-old entertained and happy for the flight.
The last time we flew with her she was about five months old, a gorgeous little potato who slept from here to the Sunshine Coast and did the same thing on the way home. No one even knew we had a baby, it was perfect.
Safe to say I wasn’t lulling myself into a false sense of security and thinking we’d get a repeat of that, so I stocked up with plenty of things to keep her entertained. 
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All up, I think I spent just over $100 – please don’t tell my husband – and I can safely say some of it worked, and some of it didn’t. 
Books 
My daughter loves books, we’ve got a stack of them in the lounge room and try to rotate through them often so she’s always got something new for us to read. 
But for the flight, I went out and got a few new ones, going for options that were interactive. 
The puppy puppet book was a huge winner. The loved the fact we could make the dog do things.
The pop up animals and the peek-a-boo-style book were other winners because there was so much to do. We read these books a lot through the flight and on our holiday too. 
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Fidget toys 
She’s definitely not at the age of understanding fidget toys, but the giant ladybug popper was a winner from the moment she saw it in the shops. She screamed at me until I gave it to her, so I knew we were safe with that. She loved it on the flight and throughout the holiday. 
Same goes for the little fidget spinner things – best part? They came in a mixed bag from Kmart for $5. 
The tubes that stretch out also kept her busy, along with anything with suction cups. 
Snacks
Pack all of the snacks. I repeat: Pack all of the snacks. 
I had all of her favourite things stocked up in different containers to keep the thrill of getting a new treat ready and to make sure we weren’t going to have a hangry toddler at any point. Aim for things that aren’t going to be messy, or stain your clothes, because if you’ve got a toddler on your lap there’s no escaping their grubby hands. 
Something to watch 
I know screen time is controversial, but on a flight with a toddler it’s about survival. I had downloaded a couple of videos of things she enjoys, but the real thrill for her was watching videos of herself on my phone. It was enough to calm her down after one screaming fit, so it became the backup if we needed it again. 
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Colouring books 
I bought two of the ‘magic reveal’ colouring books, where the pen makes the colour appear on the pages. She’s definitely not old enough to grasp the idea of it and shoved the pen straight in her mouth and tried to rip the pages. After that it was shoved back in my bag. The second one never came out of my suitcase. 
Suction cups
I thought this were going to be fantastic, but they hardly stuck to anything on the plane and ended up being more fun for her to throw on the ground. Anyone who’s flown with a lap toddler knows how squishy it can be, so it was a nightmare to retrieve them.
They were expensive and not worth it. She did play with them during the trip, but not worth it just for a flight. 
An extra tip for packing it all:  
I packed the toys in two lots, one for the flight there and one for the flight home, both in clear cosmetics bags I got last-minute before we went away. 
I saved the most engaging “fun” things for the way home, just to make sure she had something new that she hadn’t seen for both flights. It worked so well because she had a heap of new things while we were away, but I had backup for the flight home.
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