Packing cubes have been part of my life ever since 2012 when I flew to Bangkok on a one-way ticket with nothing but a carry on suitcase. I still have that packing cube and it’s been on every trip with me since – 60+ countries and counting.

But packing for a toddler is just a completely different game. The goal isn’t only fitting everything into the suitcase. It’s being able to find what you need without digging through the entire bag.

There are the pajamas, swimsuits, socks, backup outfits, diapers or underwear, random little toys, snacks, medicine, toiletries, and the extra outfit you absolutely need to have accessible because the one time you don’t bring it will be the time your kid spills an entire smoothie on himself before you even get on the plane.

That’s why I love packing cubes for kids so much. They turn one giant suitcase into a bunch of smaller, manageable compartments, and the best ones make it easy to unpack at your destination too.

These are the toddler packing cubes and travel organizers I would actually consider:

Cube Quick List

• Best see-through packing cubes: No Reception Club Sliders (Pairs very well with the diaper bag)
• Best Luggage with Built-in Packing Cubes: No Reception Club Duffel or Rollaway
• Best Packing Cubes for Clothing: Eagle Creek
• Best toiletry + medicine bag: Dopp Kit

See Through Packing Cubes

No Reception Club’s Sliders are technically packing organizers rather than traditional packing cubes, but when you need to actually see what’s inside of the packing cube you’re pulling out, they’re super useful.

Instead of opening a cube from the top and digging through everything inside, the Sliders are designed to pull out more like drawers. That might sound like a small difference until you’ve got a kid who needs his pajamas right now and you’re trying not to explode the entire contents of his bag across a hotel room.

They come in different sizes. I like using a larger Slider for clothes, then smaller ones for things like underwear, socks, toys, or all of those miscellaneous toddler items that otherwise end up floating around the bottom of the bag.

While these stand alone just fine, it’s when you have the No Reception Club system that things really start to work well together. Everything is built around being able to access things quickly, which is exactly what matters when traveling with a toddler.

No Reception Club Hideaway Carry-On Duffel: Best Complete Toddler Packing System

If you’re going all in on organization, this is the piece that ties everything together.

The Hideaway Carry-On Duffel has dedicated compartments for the kinds of things parents are actually carrying, including an insulated section, smaller interior pockets, a side pocket sized for the Dopp Kit, and a separate expandable area at the bottom for dirty clothes. It also includes a laundry sack.

I also like having a bag where the packing organizers were designed for the bag rather than playing suitcase Tetris and hoping all of my random cubes happen to fit. You can also pull out the inner bag with the full organizer inside and place it right into a drawer. Can you tell this is a brand created by parents?

Things got even more interesting when they recently launched a rollaway bag, which is designed horizontally rather than vertically specifically so that you can stack the duffel on top:

For a trip where I’m trying to pack carry on only, this is probably the setup I’m relying on.

Eagle Creek Pack-It Cubes: Best Classic Packing Cubes for Kids (and adults)

You guys the photo above is me circa 2017 with the same packing cube I had been punishing since 2012, and still punish today. I mean I STUFF this thing. One of the zippers has only just started to give out, 14 years later.

The Pack-It Reveal cubes have mesh panels, which I particularly like for kids because you can immediately see what’s inside. When you’re standing in a hotel room trying to remember which cube has pajamas and which one has shirts, visibility is useful. Their current Reveal set includes extra-small, small, and medium cubes.

I usually use the smaller cubes for my toddler and the largest cubes for myself, and while they’re pricier than some of the cheaper knock off options, the fact that mine has lasted for as long as it has is testament to the benefit of spending more upfront to spend less in the long run.

No Reception Club Dopp Kit: Best for Toddler Toiletries and Medicine

This isn’t technically a packing cube either, but it solves one of my biggest packing annoyances, which is keeping all of the little bathroom and medicine items together.

I don’t want my son’s toothbrush in one pocket, sunscreen in another, children’s medicine buried somewhere in the suitcase, and nail clippers mysteriously disappearing into another dimension. Yet I still do want a clear separation between medications and toothbrushes. That’s why having two sides is so useful.

The No Reception Club Dopp Kit has a clear front and interior mesh so you can actually see what is inside, plus a hook so you can hang it in the bathroom. It’s also designed to fit into both the Hideaway Duffel and the Getaway Bag, so the whole thing works as a system rather than a bunch of unrelated pouches.

For toddlers, I would use this for toiletries, medications, sunscreen, a thermometer, Band-Aids, and whatever other little health and hygiene items we inevitably need while traveling.

While much of this list is No Reception club, I just genuinely think they make the smartest items out there for toddlers – and we’ve brought them all around the world. So far, there’s been no breakage or questions on quality. The same obviously goes for the Eagle Creek, which I’ve put through the ringer. So tried and true, this is the winning packing combo for us after hundreds of flights and dozens of countries.

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