Essential Family-Friendly RV Gear You’ll Love

This post may contain affiliate links. I will receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you purchase something recommended here.

G6 travels all over the country, and over the last several years, we have accumulated a list a of our must have RV gear. We use every item on this list. While some items may be more helpful to us because we are a large family, I think most items are essential regardless of your family size. Obviously, this is not a comprehensive list of what we pack when we travel, but we pack these each of these items every time we travel.

Phone Chargers. Do NOT leave home without multiple charging cords, especially if you have children. Between ipods, ipads, and phones, we travel with at least eight to ten cords. I’m not sure it’s just my kids or not, but we go through phone chargers like we go through toilet paper! Between losing them or breaking them, it’s crazy how we constantly seem to need more. So, I always bring one for every device we need to charge. Plus, I add a few extra to cover those that get lost or broken. We usually buy these, because they’re cheap, so our blood doesn’t boil quite as quickly when the kids ask for another. Phone chargers probably top our list of must have RV gear!

Multi-port charger. With six of us, this has been a real lifesaver. Not literally, but it has made charging a gazillion devices at once much easier. With ours, you can plug in two blocks, three USB and one USB-C port, so we can charge nearly all of our devices at once. Plus, we don’t need blocks for everything. It’s super convenient. It doesn’t seem that they carry ours anymore, but click here for one that is similar. I like ours, because it is small and has a fairly long cord. The only downside to it is that it does seem that when you have all of the ports filled, it gets pretty cumbersome with all the cords going every which way. Having said that, I’m not sure that other options would fix this. I think it’s likely just the nature of plugging in that many cords and devices at once.

Collapsible Dish Drainer. If you camp at all, you know how precious storage space is and how important it is to pack small. Whether you tent camp or have a Class A motorhome, this collapsible dish drainer works great. It collapses nearly flat. It doesn’t fit a huge amount of dishes. But that’s what our teenagers are for! As I wash and fill up the drainer, they take them out and towel dry them. Alternatively, I lay out a towel for larger items and the drainer up with smaller items. Again, there are six of us and we cook a lot when we travel, so we tend to have a lot of dishes.

Collapsible Utility Totes. Again, storage is a always front of mind. We have quite a few Thirty-One utility bags of varying sizes at home, so we usually grab a few and throw them under our bed. We use them all the time! We load them up with snacks if we’re going to take a day trip. If we go to the beach, we pack toys in them. We use them for groceries. They are so versatile. We never leave home without them.

Collapsible Laundry Bag. Have you picked up on a theme here? We love collapsible items we can easily store in our rig. We have gone through quite a few laundry baskets. Either they broke, didn’t hold enough, or were unwieldy to use. Click here for the one we found that we absolutely love. It folds up quite small. I love that you throw it over your shoulder, carry it like a duffel bag, or even use both straps like a backpack. AND, it holds a TON of laundry. Our kids can go through some serious laundry, especially the teenagers. When we travel, I try to do laundry every 6 to 7 days, so it can pile up. But this bag holds plenty and makes it easy to transport it to and from the laundry room.

Storage bins. We primarily use these to organize food, particularly snacks. I have a chip bin, a sweets bin, a savory bin, and a campfire bin. We use one to organize plastic bags also. They really help to keep the rig clean and organized. While they may not be fun must have RV gear, we highly recommend them. We use these because they fit perfectly in our overhead cabinets. But you will want to look at the measurements in your cabinets before you go with these. Even if these don’t work for you, we recommend finding a size that works for your rig.

Small storage containers. Have you ever gotten to your campground and opened up your bathroom cabinet only to have the entirety of its contents unexpectedly fly out of every crevice and corner? To combat this, I grabbed some small storage bins from my local grocery store. We have one for kid medicine, one for adult medicine, one for deodorants, one for bathroom tools like clippers, tweezers and such, and some small ones for hair ties, rubber bands, cotton swabs. The containers might not be the most exciting things to buy, but they may just save you from the unwelcomed excitement and maybe even near heart attack that often follows those toiletry ambush experiences. This set would be a great option for any rig.

22″ Blackstone. While this does not fit into the category of space saving gear, it has been a game changer for us. The 22″ Blackstone Tabletop Griddle allows us to quickly cook meals for our large family. If I tried to cook grilled cheeses for our family on the stovetop in the camper, I essentially have to cook them one or maybe two at a time. On our Blackstone, we’re cooking all of them at once. We can cook a large breakfast in no time, cooking pancakes, eggs, and bacon all at once. Our rig has a quick connect to the propane tank, which makes it incredibly convenient to use. But even if you don’t have a quick connect, you can use the small green propane tanks, which are also easy to use. Seriously, if you have the room or can make the room, take a Blackstone on your next RV trip!

Cuisinart Air Fryer. Another non-space-saving-but-game-changing cooking essential when we travel. We store it and set it up with our Blackstone when we put up our outdoor kitchen area. We literally use ours EVERY SINGLE DAY. We love it so much that we have one in our kitchen at home and then have one that we keep in our camper. From chicken nuggets to tater tots to waffles to leftovers, we use this thing for everything. We even bake in it while on the road. It bakes, air fries, toasts, and broils and does so quickly. When you’re feeding six, speed and convenience are key, and this is both! I think our model has been discontinued and replaced with this upgraded version (which also has a grill feature). I highly recommend it!

Kelty/camping chairs. This may just be my favorite must have RV gear. We bought our Kelty loveseat three years ago and absolutely fell in love with it instantly. We never, never travel without it. It’s so comfortable, we love being able to sit together. We currently have just the one Kelty and several individual camping chairs for the kids. But, the Kelty Lowdown Couch is on my wish list. If we end up taking the plunge and investing in that, we’ll get rid of some of those individual chairs. We are truly Team Kelty and hope to eventually be fully Kelty-ized!

A few small games. In the sense of full disclosure, we are a HUGE board game family. And by a huge board game family, I mean Eric and me. We try to drag the kids into our nerdy board game obsession. They are fairly resistant, especially the teens. But we refuse to give up and will continue to be those parents that make their children to play games with them. And that includes while traveling. Understanding that storage is an incredibly limited luxury in a rig, we still highly recommend having at least a few small games on hand. It’s always nice to have them in the event of bad weather or, as in our case, to force some family bonding time. If you’d like suggestions for great camping games, read our blog post on our favorites.

Individual backpacks. Backpacks are especially important if you hike a lot or do a lot of walking of any kind. I used to try to pack everything for the entire family in one backpack that I would carry. A friend of mine pointed out the error of my ways. Each of her kids have their own pack. Since we have transitioned to this theory, my back feels much better on our hikes! Each kid is responsible for her own snacks, extra clothes if needed, water bottle, and anything else she might need for the day. Seriously, it has made such a difference. When not in use, they don’t take up much space in the camper. And, we don’t have crazy expensive packs either. We have these, and two years in, they have held up really well. We rate these pretty high on our list of must have RV gear.

Cooling towels/neck fans. I include this for the trips where you are encountering heat. I initially bought these for a Disneyworld camping trip in June. Both these cooling towels and these neck fans were heavily recommended. I bought both, because I wasn’t sure which would be better. Honestly, I think we liked the cooling towels better. Being that they are fabric and lightweight compared to the heavier plastic of the fans, I just think they were overall more comfortable. Plus, I think keeping them wet truly cools you off more effectively than the fans circulating already hot air. Don’t get me wrong, the fans did help in the heat. I just think the cooling towels helped a bit more. Additionally, the kids each throw one into their backpack, since they are so small and lightweight.

Rain Jackets. Every single person in our family owns a lightweight rain jacket. We each have a variation of this Columbia one. They fold up incredibly small, and they take up very little room in our packs. We don’t always use them, but we are so thankful we have them when we do. I cannot count how many times we have left our campground with clear skies only to hike into a rain shower. These jackets take up little space, are pretty water resistant, and are fairly cost effective. We’ve been lucky enough to catch them on sale. For the adults, they’ve lasted us several years so far and still look brand new. For the kids, we’ve had to repurchase as they grow, but they hold up really well.

Water Bottles. One more item for everyone’s individual backpack is a water bottle. I absolutely love my Owala water bottle. I use it every day, not just when we are traveling. Every person in our family has one. They fit perfectly in our backpacks. Before we head out for the day, I remind everyone to fill theirs up. Then, they put them in their water bottle compartments on each of their packs. They are easy to use. Our four-year-old loves that she has a “big girl” water bottle. It keeps everything cold for hours upon hours. And I love the “straw” feature. These water bottles are definitely high on our list of our must have RV gear for the whole family.

Camping Journal. When we first started camping, Eric bought me this camping journal. Five years later, I still write in it every single trip. I keep track of campgrounds, sites, weather, and even what we did while there. It helps us when planning future trips. I have even used it several times when others are planning their trips. Plus, it is fun to go back and read through old trips every once in a while to relive some of those memories. I highly recommend a camping journal of some sort. I truly count it as one of my must have RV gear items!

Fly Fan. A neighbor introduced us to these fly fans, and they are now an essential staple in our camping gear. They make outdoor meals so much more enjoyable in the buggy, summer months! We seriously could not recommend them enough.

Cash/change. This may be true of any kind of traveling but especially RV traveling, we always recommend carrying cash, including change. If for no other reason, you may need it for laundry. Even if you are a weekend warrior and don’t think you’ll need to do laundry, just keep a bag of quarters in your rig. You never know when you’ll have a laundry emergency and need to do a quick load and will appreciate having them (along with some detergent and fabric softener). Campground laundry facilities don’t always have change machines, and, where they do, they are commonly out of order. In addition to change for laundry, we also recommend carrying some cash as well. Read this article about our time in Michigan where we discuss roadside stands. On this same trip, we also ran into a situation where we needed to wash our rig. We drove through a truck wash. Eric went inside to pay while they started washing it only to find that you could pay for the wash with card but could not tip. We felt terrible! Learn from our mistake and always have some cash with you.

Honorable Mention: RV Garmin 890. If you have a smaller rig, an RV Garmin 890 may be overkill. But if you have anything on the larger size, whether in height or length, this can truly be a lifesaver. You enter your specific dimensions into the Garmin, and it ensures that your route includes only roads that are safe for your rig. No matter where you travel, you can encounter roads and/or bridges that are not suitable for RV travel. Our Garmin has literally saved us countless times from traveling a route that does not work for our rig. What I like about this one is that it creates routes specifically for our motorhome. While you can use online options or RV apps, I find this one to be simple and incredibly accurate. And it connects right to our audio system to give real-time directions. In our opinion, we find it to be better than the apps and websites, which is why we include it on our must have RV gear list.

While this may seem like a long list, many of these items are small and can be packed in your rig easily. Others help you to stay organized, which is essential in RV travel. Some just make camping really convenient. Regardless, we never leave home without these items. What do you include in your must have RV gear list? Comment below with what you never leave home without.