The unusual advantage of this list is that we are inside a lot of Long Beach Island rental houses, every week, all season. We see which kitchens have a bottle brush, which houses have a high chair with a missing strap, and which "fully equipped" listings mean it.
So this is not a generic baby packing list. It is what to bring to LBI specifically.
What LBI rental houses usually do have
- Beach chairs and umbrellas. Most houses, in the outdoor shower or under the deck. Check the listing before you buy new ones.
- Some sand toys. A graveyard bucket of them, usually. Quality varies wildly.
- A cooler. Nearly always.
- An outdoor shower. The single best baby-related feature of shore houses. Sand comes off outside.
- Beach badges or a tag system. Often included, but confirm, because they are not cheap to buy fresh.
- Basic kitchen kit. Pots, a blender maybe, a microwave almost always.
What they almost never have
- A safe, modern crib. Covered at length in our LBI crib rental guide. Assume nothing.
- A high chair you would strap a baby into. If there is one, it is old and the harness is usually gone.
- Stair gates. Basically never, and shore houses are vertical.
- Outlet covers or cabinet latches. Never.
- Blackout anything. This is the big one. See below.
- A bottle brush. Comically consistent. Bring one.
The five things that matter most
1. Blackout blinds, the portable kind
If you take one thing from this page, take this. LBI faces east, sunrise in July is a little after 5:30am, and beach-house bedrooms have thin curtains because nobody buys blackout curtains for a house they rent out. A portable blackout blind with suction cups costs about $25 and will buy you an hour of sleep every single morning of the trip.
Backup plan if you forget: black bin bags and painter's tape. It looks appalling. It works perfectly.
2. A sound machine
Shore houses are noisy in a specific way: thin walls, everyone up at different times, the outdoor shower running directly under the bedroom window, the neighbors' deck. A cheap travel sound machine covers all of it. The rushing-water setting also masks the fact that the ocean is nowhere near as loud from indoors as people expect.
3. Sun protection that actually works on a baby
- A pop-up beach tent or sun shelter. LBI beaches have essentially no natural shade. This is not optional with an infant.
- UPF swim suits with long sleeves, far more reliable than reapplying sunscreen to a wriggling toddler.
- A wide-brim hat with a chin strap. Without the strap it is a gift to the ocean.
- Mineral sunscreen for over-six-months. Under six months, shade and clothing only.
4. A wagon, not a stroller
Stroller wheels do not work on soft sand. A folding beach wagon carries the chairs, the cooler, the tent, the toys and, on the way home, the child who has decided walking is over. The distance from most LBI houses to the beach path is short but the sand section is unforgiving.
If you only have a stroller, that is fine for the Boulevard bike path and the Beach Haven shops. Just do not plan to push it across a dune crossing.
5. More swimsuits than feels sane
Three per child, minimum. Nothing dries overnight in shore humidity, and a damp suit in the morning is a fight you do not need to have on vacation.
What to stop carrying
- The crib or travel crib if you are here three nights or more. That is the whole point of renting one: it meets you at the house on your check-in day, and it takes back a third of your trunk.
- A full-size bath tub. Kitchen sink, or a laundry basket in the tub. Or the outdoor shower, which toddlers love.
- Every toy. Sand is the toy. Bring three things and a bucket.
- Bulk diapers and wipes. There are supermarkets on-island and in Manahawkin. Bring two days' worth and buy the rest.
- The good stroller. Salt, sand and sun are hard on it. Bring the umbrella stroller you do not mind ruining.
The beach bag, specifically
- Two litres more water than you think
- Wet bag for the swimsuit
- Pop-up tent or umbrella
- A muslin blanket, which works as sunshade, changing mat, towel and blanket
- Snacks in a hard container, because everything soft becomes sand
- A dedicated sandy-hands towel, kept separate from the drying towels
- Baby powder or cornstarch, the sand-removal trick nobody tells first-timers. Sprinkle on dry skin, sand falls straight off.
The rhythm that actually works
Beach from about 8am to 10:30am, home for the nap, out again after 4pm when the sun is soft and the beach half empties. Midday on an LBI beach with an under-three is hot, crowded and a losing proposition, and it maps neatly onto nap time anyway.
That rhythm is also why a proper crib matters more than people expect. If the middle of the day is nap time, the nap has to actually work. There is more on the shape of an LBI day with a small child in our island guide.