**This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click on a link and make a purchase, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.
This is PART 3 of 72-hour kits (AKA bug out bags). If you haven’t yet, go read Part 1 and Part 2:
Part 1 – 72-Hour Kits for Beginners – this has all the general tips, tricks, and things to think about before beginning to put you kits together.
Part 2 – 72-Hour Kits for ADULTS – this has a printable list of things to include in your 72-hour emergency kit (bug out bag).
I am going to direct you to the previous post (Part 2 of 72-Hour Kits) for the links to the items that were already covered for an adult pack for 2 reasons.
#1 – Depending on the age of the child(ren) you are packing for, most of the items that I have listed for an adult pack might apply for a kid pack as well. Even if not, I prefer to get as much as done as possible, regardless of age.
I mentioned that in Part 1 when I was giving general tips. Even my baby had a survival bag with things like work gloves and utility rope. I did this because I was buying things in bulk to update my entire family’s kits, and it made sense to just get it all done at once. It has been really nice as he has grown, to not have to worry about updating the basics, because they are already taken care of. The only thing I would not recommend purchasing that far ahead would be things that would expire (so most toiletries).
#2 – This would be a highly redundant post if I repeated all the things you might want to pack in a kid’s pack that are also covered in an adult pack. If you are packing a kit for a child or baby, that means you should also have one for yourself, and should have already gone through Part 2 for you.
So with that, let’s get started on kid-specific and baby-specific items to put in 72-hour kits.
I like the idea of backpacks for kids because they are hands-free. This frees up their hands to hold hands with each other when evacuating, or to help hold a last-minute item. It is also easier to hold more weight in a backpack than a bag on one shoulder or a hand-held bag.
**Money-saving tip: OLD school backpacks are PERFECT for this. And the best part is, they are FREE!!**
If your kids are really little and can’t carry much weight on their backs quite yet, I would recommend a rolling backpack. That way you can still pack what you need to and not worry as much about weight, but eventually they would be able to use the backpack feature.
When it comes to babies, this is a tough call. If you are in the thick of the baby days, I would say your diaper bag will be at the top of your GRAB LIST. And this baby will be walking and be able to roll a rolling backpack soon.
So if it were me, I’d probably start out the baby with a rolling backpack. Regardless of what you pack the baby in, you are going to need to carry it for the baby anyway, and a rolling backpack is just as convenient as a diaper bag, and would fit more stuff anyway.
If you look at the packing list for adults, there are a few things that I would add a note to, so here they are.
Flashlight – this can be a fun way to get your kids involved. I took my kids to Target and let them pick out their own flashlights. This made it exciting for them, and then we came home and they were able to put them in their individual kits. Involving your kids in this process is so important, and that is a simple way to make it fun for them!
Giving your kids some options and letting them choose what they want in their packs is a great way to include them. However, be aware that most snack-type foods will need to be rotated every 6 months to a year.
I decided to go with freeze-dried snacks from THIS COMPANY. The Snackies are great, as well as pantry cans of freeze-dried fruits, yogurt bites, etc. Most of these items have a shelf life of 25 years, so they require very little rotating. And they taste AMAZING! Each member of our family got to pick one freeze-dried fruit/snack to put in their pack. I love this option because I don’t have to rotate them!
**NOTE: the Snackies Pouches and Snackies Singles have a much shorter shelf life than the pantry cans (most of the Snackies are more like 2 years as opposed to 25 years for pantry cans). So I went with pantry cans, to avoid rotating.
To give you an idea, the ones we got are listed below. These are clickable (affiliate) links if you would like more information on each food favorite:
While the bulk of the food for our family is in a separate food bag, each kid’s pack has one meal ready-to-eat in it. It is very simple…one can of Spaghettios with Meatballs, one can of Mandarin Oranges, a plastic spoon and fork, and a few packs of Smarties. The cans are pop-top, so no can opener is required. I wrapped the cans with a couple of paper towels to give them padding, to prevent denting of the cans.
It makes me feel better knowing that each kid has one meal they can manage to eat by themselves, as I would imagine if we ever need to use these kits, those first few hours will likely be chaotic.
This is perhaps the worst thought about preparing for the unknown: the possibility of being separated from your kids. While I just can’t imagine ever being faced with this, IT HAPPENS. Use the following list, grab an index card or piece of cardstock and create yours now:
Part 1 – 72-Hour Emergency Kits For Beginners for tips, tricks, and things to think about before starting to build your 72-hour emergency kits!
Part 2 – 72-Hour Kits for ADULTS
Part 3 – 72-hour kits for KIDS / BABIES – this is the page you are on right now.
Part 4 – 72-Hour Emergency Kits for Pets
Part 5 – 72-Hour Emergency Kit GRAB LIST
Part 6 – A 16-Week Schedule to Actually Finish Your Family’s 72-Hour Kits
Part 7 – DIY First Aid Kit for Families
OR if you want all of this information in one location, where you can start and stop steps conveniently, you might be interested in my 72-hour kit course. It’s a comprehensive program that includes video lessons to hold your hand through every step of the process to putting together 72-hour kids for your entire family. Click on the button below to learn more.
There will always be things we don’t think about before we encounter an emergency. But, I’m here to help you think about some of the non-food storage items you might want to keep on hand for the next rainy day.
Why you should schedule an emergency preparedness weekend every 6 months, and what you should be doing, reviewing, rotating, and maintaining. Free printable checklist!
Why I love Thrive Life corn for my 72-hour kit I eat this stuff by the handful. Literally. It’s a great snack, just dry right
This is PART 3 of 72-hour kits (AKA bug out bags). If you haven’t yet, go read Part 1 and Part 2:
Part 1 – 72-Hour Kits for Beginners – this has all the general tips, tricks, and things to think about before beginning to put
Part 2 – 72-Hour Kits for ADULTS – this has a printable list of things to include in your 72-hour emergency kit (bug out bag).
I am going to direct you to the previous post (Part 2 of 72-Hour Kits) for the links to the items that were already covered for an adult pack for 2 reasons.
#1 – Depending on the age of the child(ren) you are packing for, most of the items that I have listed for an adult pack might apply for a kid pack as well. Even if not, I prefer to get as much as done as possible, regardless of age. I mentioned that in Part 1 when I was giving general tips. Even my baby had a survival bag with things like work gloves and utility rope. I did this because I was buying things in bulk to update my entire family’s kits, and it made sense to just get it all done at once. It has been really nice as he has grown, to not have to worry about updating the basics, because they are already taken care of. The only thing I would not recommend purchasing that far ahead would be things that would expire (so most toiletries).
#2 – This would be a highly redundant post if I repeated all the things you might want to pack in a kid’s pack that are also covered in an adult pack. If you are packing a kit for a child or baby, that means you should also have one for yourself, and should have already gone through Part 2 for you.
So with that, let’s get started on kid-specific and baby-specific items to put in 72-hour kits.
One more thing: If you want a step-by-step guide that walks you through every single step of preparing 72-hour kits, from preparing a functional space to store your 72-hour kits, all the way through to a rotation guide for when they’re done, click here. This is a COMPLETE GUIDE to 72-Hour Kits for families. And when I say complete, I mean COM-PLETE! It is kind of insane how much I put into this thing. No more having to come back to the website, or subscribing and finding your free printables in the resource library, and clicking around the website. This is ALL in one spot. One PDF with all the kid tips, budget tips, pretty much every tip/hack imaginable with 72-hour kits. It comes with 25 supporting printables that are updated and amazing. This guide takes you through all of the steps in the schedule I outlined above, and more. Much more. Click on the picture to learn more and even see sample pages 🙂
If you’d rather check things out post by post, then just keep on reading 😉
**This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click on a link and make a purchase, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you**
I like the idea of backpacks because they are hands-free. This frees up kids’ hands to hold hands with each other when evacuating, or to help hold a last-minute item. It is also easier to hold more weight in a backpack than a bag on one shoulder or a hand-held bag.
**Money-saving tip: OLD school backpacks are PERFECT for this. And the best part is, they are FREE!!**
If your kids are really little and can’t carry much weight on their backs quite yet, I would recommend a rolling backpack. That way you can still pack what you need to and not worry as much about weight, but
This is a tough call. If you are in the thick of the baby days, I would say your diaper bag will be at the top of your GRAB LIST. And this baby will be walking and be able to roll a rolling backpack soon. So if it were me, I’d probably start out the baby with a rolling backpack. Regardless of what you pack the baby in, you are going to need to carry it for the baby anyway, and a rolling backpack is just as convenient as a diaper
If you look at the packing list for adults, there are a few things that I would add a note to, so here they are.
Giving your kids some options and letting them choose what they want in their packs is a great way to include them. However, be aware that most snack-type foods will need to be rotated every 6 months to a year.
I decided to go with freeze-dried snacks from THIS COMPANY. The Snackies are great, as well as pantry cans of freeze-dried fruits, yogurt bites, etc. Most of these items have a shelf life of 25 years, so they require very little rotating. And they taste AMAZING! Each member of our family got to pick one freeze-dried fruit/snack to put in their pack. I love this option because I don’t have to rotate them!
**NOTE: the Snackies Pouches and Snackies Singles have a much shorter shelf life than the pantry cans (most of the Snackies are more like 2 years as opposed to 25 years for
To give you an idea, the ones we got were:
While the bulk of the food for our family is in a separate food bag, each kid’s pack has one meal ready-to-eat in it. It is very simple…one can of Spaghettios with Meatballs, one can of Mandarin Oranges, a plastic spoon and fork, and a few packs of Smarties. The cans are pop-top, so no can opener is required. I wrapped the cans with a couple of paper towels to give them padding, to prevent denting of the cans.
It makes me feel better knowing that each kid has one meal they can manage to eat by themselves, as I would imagine if we ever need to use these kits, those first few hours will likely be chaotic.
This is perhaps the worst thought about preparing for the unknown: the possibility of being separated from your kids. While I just can’t imagine ever being faced with this, IT HAPPENS. And I have made it as easy as possible for you to prepare for that.
Print out the Emergency Information Card (cardstock is preferable) and fill it out. (This printable is available to all subscribers)
1 – Write the child’s name and age at the top. If you don’t want to have to update the card every year, just write their birthday with the year. But you will need to update the picture every year, so I just write the age and switch out the whole card every year.
2 – Fill out allergies/dietary restrictions. If you need more room, write it on the back.
3 – Fill out medical concerns. Just write NONE if there are none, and direct people to the back of the card if there are concerns to explain
4 – Fill out BOTH parents’ names, phone numbers, email addresses, and physical addresses. If there are stepparents, you should have enough room to squeeze it all in if you need to double up.
5 – Fill out siblings (I put names and ages in parentheses)
6 – Fill out a local contact who is NOT a parent. Whether it be a family member or close friend, put someone that your child is most comfortable with if neither parent can be found/reached.
7 – Tape a picture of the child to the front.
8 – Tape a family picture to the back
9 – Laminate this card or stick it in a Ziploc bag to keep it safe and dry.
To get your free printables for this post
If you are already a subscriber, these printables are available to you on the subscriber-only printables link that is included in every email.
The packing list is only an addendum to the ADULT LIST. You will want to print out the Adult List PLUS the Kids/Babies List to pack a 72-hour kit for a baby or a child. Print them both out, cross anything out you DON’T want to include, and then get to work.
And remember, if you would rather have a step-by-step guide that walks you through every single step of building your 72-hour kits, from preparing a functional space to store your 72-hour kits, all the way through to a rotation guide for when they’re done, click here. This is a COMPLETE GUIDE to 72-Hour Kits for families.
Part 1 – 72-Hour Emergency Kits For Beginners for tips, tricks, and things to think about before starting to build your 72-hour emergency kits!
Part 2 – 72-Hour Kits for ADULTS – this has a free printable list of things to include in your 72-hour emergency kit (bug out bag).
Part 3 – 72-hour kits for KIDS / BABIES – this is the page you are on right now.
Part 4 – 72-Hour Emergency Kits for Pets – This post has a free printable checklist for pets.
Part 5 – 72-Hour Emergency Kit GRAB LIST – This has a free printable GRAB LIST, which are the items that wouldn’t be pre-packed, but you would really regret not grabbing if given the chance.
Part 6 – A 16-Week Printable Schedule to Actually Finish Your Family’s 72-Hour Kits
Part 7 – DIY First Aid Kit for Families with a Free Printable List
To see other topics under the category of Emergency Preparedness, click here.