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• quick shop

  beach chairs // beach umbrella // Mariella Vilar beach bag, similar HERE // white bikini // palm print kimono // straw hat // palm print beach towel // palm print cooler tote

  

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved preparing and packing my beach bag. Once our vacation was planned, I would start a month or two in advance (even as a kid)! It started with deciding which bag I wanted to be my designated “beach bag” – which book I wanted to bring along to read on the beach (it had to be the perfect one), picking out my sunscreen, and packing hair products so that I was ready for any wave that would come my way. If you’re headed to the beach, there really is something fun about preparing your beach bag ahead of time – it really amps up your excitement for finally being at the beach!

So on that note, today I thought it would be fun to share what’s in my beach bag. This year I’ve been using my Mariella Vilar straw tote (similar HERE) as a beach bag and I’m unabashedly obsessed with it. You can personalize these totes however you want to, and the monogram comes in several different colors. The thing I really like about the Mariella Vilar totes is that there’s both a short handle and a long handle. The long handle really comes in handy when you are heading to the beach – if you’re like our family, we are all carrying 50 different items at once! A beach umbrella, chair, cooler tote, etc. So it is nice when you can put a bag on your shoulder 🙂 The last thing I will say about the Mariella Vilar tote is that it’s definitely big enough to fit everything you need at the beach – especially if you have kids and need even more room in your beach bag!

First, I always carry a waterproof bag within my beach bag. This is an essential since you’re at the beach and there’s a high probability of your beach bag getting wet. This one is the exact one I have – it’s less than $25 and super roomy inside – plus it has little lemons, limes and oranges all over! It’s large enough for me to fit my sunscreen, hair products, brush, and more, inside.

This portable bluetooth speaker is an another essential on the beach, especially for my husband! He has trouble sitting still on the beach and needs music to be playing at all times haha. I found this one at Target for only $10, and it works really well for how small it is. It’s bluetooth-enabled, so both Chris and I took turns playing music from our phones. It also has a little clip so you can clip it to your bag or beach chair.

I’ve blogged about Coola sunscreen before (even years ago in this post) and I really do love it! My favorite beach sunscreen is still their sunscreen spray in the pina colada scent – it’s the easiest to put on and it smells the best. Chris and I tested out their Organic Mineral Body Sunscreen this past trip – I really love the fact that it’s 1. organic and 2. a mineral sunscreen (which creates a physical barrier from the sun, rather than using chemicals to block the sun’s rays). If you’re a health freak like I am then it’s an amazing sunscreen – however, it does leave a little bit of a white cast on your skin so just be aware of that before purchasing!

Moving on, this Unite 7-Seconds Detangler Spray has been a beach bag staple of mine for quite some time now. I used to buy the full-size bottles, but I found the mini ones on Amazon so that’s what I buy now! One mini bottle like this is usually enough to last me the entire summer long. This detangler spray makes your hair sooo soft and manageable – whenever I go swimming in the ocean, I spray this one right after and brush my hair out. If I let it dry after a swim in the ocean, I will NEVER get it detangled!

This mini detangler hair brush is perfect for using along with the detangler spray. It’s small so it doesn’t take up much room in your bag! I love Wet Brushes because they’re the only brush I’ve found that works with wet hair.

Lastly, you will never find me on the beach without my puzzle book and a good read! I find these variety puzzle books at the drugstore or at Barnes and Noble, and they’re my FAVORITE! For as long as I can remember, my mom and I have done puzzles on the beach. It’s a fun activity to do because it get’s your brain working but you can still relax on the beach at the same time.

Some other items I always pack with me include a hair tie, water bottle (I recently bought this one and love it), sunglasses and a hat. And maybe a Michelob Ultra (with a lime) too 🙂

If you have any beach essentials that I’m forgetting, let me know in the comments!