16 Things Every Family Packed for Vacation in the 1960s That Vanished

The 1960s family holidays were slower, heavier, and more hands-on. Parents prepared for everything because help was not always available. Paper maps, metal coolers, postcards, and coins kept pay phones working. Cases held formal attire, soap dishes, alarm clocks, radios, travelers’ checks, and address books. Each object had a tiny tale and a function. These items revealed how families handled distance, boredom, hunger, money, and memory before computerized travel assistants. Technology, lodging services, online booking, and casual habits revolutionized how people moved, removing many. Warm images of families meticulously preparing for the journey ahead remained. The loss made travel easier but less personal.

1. Folded Paper Road Maps

In the 1960s, families often wouldn’t trust their memories of vacations. Before every trip, large paper route maps from companies like Rand McNally were stuffed into glove compartments and back seats. Parents spread out giant maps on the hood of the car while youngsters stood expectantly by gas pumps. Before they left, many travelers would circle highways with ink or highlight the picturesque routes. Wrong turns often led to protracted discussions since the maps were so fiddly to refold properly. Torn corners, coffee stains, and faded inscriptions were all part of the adventure. Today, GPS has replaced practically all those huge paper guides. Decades later, when digital navigation became the norm, most families stopped packing thick maps for holidays.

2. Metal Picnic Coolers

Family trips in the 1960s always included heavy metal picnic coolers. Coleman was one of the go-to brands on the road because restaurants were too expensive for big families. Before morning, mothers packed sandwiches, fried chicken, hard-boiled eggs, and bottled soda in big containers full of ice. The coolers would sit between kids in cramped station wagons on lengthy summer rides. Families would stop along highways, beaches, or at roadside parks to have picnic lunches together. By midday, melting ice made paper napkins and sandwiches soggy, but nobody complained much. Gradually, these clunky metal boxes that previously ruled the family holiday scene in America gave way to modern lightweight coolers and fast-food expediency.

3. Polaroid Instant Cameras

Vacation memories were different before smartphones. In the 1960s, families packed Polaroid instant cameras because they produced images in minutes. On every stop, parents excitedly snapped children by motels, large roadside sculptures, or national park signage. While families eagerly awaited new photos, they slowly began to appear. The white photo borders became mementos and were kept in wallets or scrapbooks. Every film photo was more valuable than a digital one, since film photos cost money. The kids were warned not to waste film on foolish shots. Family vacations gradually abandoned instant cameras as smaller film cameras and smartphones became more practical.

4. Train Cases for Toiletries

In the 1960’s, hard train cases were in almost every vacationing household. These little handled cases neatly housed hairbrushes, shaving kits, toothpaste, cold cream, and perfume bottles inside padded compartments. Train cases became an important item of travel equipment, and many women had matching baggage sets from fashionable manufacturers such as Samsonite. Even on turbulent road excursions across multiple states, the containers remained tidy. These pretty tiny cases were then replaced with plastic zip bags and little travel kits. Today, most younger travelers don’t carry, or even recognize, the typical train cases for family vacations.

5. Portable Transistor Radios

In the 1960s, transistor radios amused families on long travels. The little Sony or RCA battery-powered devices played baseball games, weather forecasts, and popular music on beaches, campsites, and motels. Rock stations were discreetly listened to by teens at night when parents relaxed. While traveling abroad, radios provided local news. The travel experience included crackling signals and drifting stations. Families stopped at roadside cafes or campgrounds, listened to crucial sports broadcasts. Vacation radios were replaced by smartphones, streaming apps, and automotive entertainment systems.

6. Vanity Postcard Sets

Families loved sending postcards on vacation in the 1960s. Many tourists left Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks with postcard albums or gift sets. Parents urged kids to send small greetings to family back home. Bright postcards of motels, beaches, gigantic fish statues, and gorgeous highways proved the trip happened. Some families collected postcards from every state they visited during summer holidays. Later, the cards filled scrapbooks and kitchen drawers for decades. Postcards were slowly replaced by social media and instant messaging. Few families today travel cross-country with postcard sets.

7. Travelers’ Checks

In the 1960s, many families loaded up on travelers’ checks for their holidays, because too much cash seemed hazardous. American Express traveler’s checks were very popular, and parents kept them stowed away in pockets, purses, or hotel envelopes. At motels, gas stations, and tourist stores, clerks would take them after comparing signatures. “It was formal, but gave families peace of mind on long trips. Children hardly understood why their parents signed the same paper twice at the counter. Lost checks could easily be replaced, and therefore, they seemed safer than bills. Over time, traveler’s checks disappeared from the typical family vacation packing list, as credit cards, debit cards, and ATMs became the norm.

8. Matching Hard-Shell Suitcases

Many 1960s families took matching hard-shell bags on vacation. Station wagon trunks, motel lobbies, train stations, and airport terminals held Samsonite and American Tourister cases. Though elegant, their square shapes were hefty before garments were inside. In stiff compartments, parents packed Sunday outfits, pajamas, swimsuits, socks, and perfectly folded shirts. Children typically perched on lids while adults locked them. Trips were identified by scratches and destination stickers. Later, rolling luggage transformed travel. Most family vacations no longer included heavy clasp suitcases when wheels and soft-sided bags became common. At major roadside stops, families knew them immediately.

9. Wind-Up Travel Alarm Clocks

In the 1960s, a vacation morning often began with the tick-tock of a little travel alarm clock beside a motel bed. Many motel rooms had no reliable alarm service, so families carried wind-up clocks. Parents turned the metal key, set the hands, and hoped the bell rang before checkout time or an early drive. The sound was loud enough to wake everyone in the room. Sometimes the kids would bury the clock under pillows to make it quiet. Families used these small clocks to catch ferries, trips, church, and breakfast hours. Digital clocks, wake-up calls, and phones make wind-up travel alarms obsolete. Families trusted the ticking over of sleepy front desks.

10. Portable Electric Hot Plates

In the 1960s, families commonly brought portable electric hot plates on inexpensive vacations. Many hotel rooms had no microwave, refrigerator, or coffee pot. Parents soothed soup, boiled water, heated beans, or made modest breakfasts with a little hot plate. Some families also utilized them in cabins, camp sites, or rented beach cottages. Rooms never meant for cooking are filled with canned chili or instant coffee. Not all motel owners agreed, but families attempting to save money used what they had. Hot plates gradually fell out of holiday bags, banished by modern hotel equipment, fast meals, and safety regulations.

11. Rolls of Coins

In the 1960’s, no family vacation was complete without a roll of coins. Parents loaded up on dimes, nickels, and quarters for pay phones, vending machines, toll booths, parking meters, and laundromats. A kid might be put into a petrol station to make a quick phone call while the grownups consulted a map. Coins purchased drinks from glass bottle machines or food from motel vending sections. The small tinkling in a pocketbook or ashtray indicated convenience on the go. Later, credit cards, mobile payments, toll transponders, and cell phones eliminated the need for vacation coin rolls. Families would count them meticulously before they went into another town.

12. 8mm Home Movie Cameras

Families brought home movie cameras on significant 1960s vacations. Kodak Brownie and Bell & Howell 8mm cameras photographed youngsters waving at beaches, grandparents leaving motels, and men posing by national park signs. Films were expensive and scarce; the camera appeared only in rare moments. Parents told kids to calm down, smile, and stop staring at the sun. After the trip, reels were shown on the living room projectors during family gatherings. The unsteady silent films were loved. Smartphones, digital cameras, and camcorders replaced 8mm movie cameras for vacations. Every reel was treasured by families.

13. Motel Coupon Books

Motel coupon books were a staple in many families’ bags on 1960s road trips. These brochures advertised Holiday Inn, Howard Johnson’s, and independent automobile courts on important routes. Parents glanced through them at gas stations, trying to decide where to spend the night. A coupon could mean a cheaper room, a pool, complimentary coffee, or air conditioning. Kids rated motels by neon signs and pool photos. Adults watched the budget. Often, the booklets stayed in the glove box until the next trip. In time, online booking, travel applications, and loyalty programs replaced traditional coupon booklets. Families believed such pages more than faraway ads.

14. Dress Clothes for Dinner

Today, many travelers are less likely than families in the 1960s to pack dress attire for trips. Mothers arranged gowns for church, men packed sport coats, and children took out shoes polished for dinners, Sunday services, or trips with relatives. There were even times on road trips when everyone was supposed to appear presentable. A family might spend the morning at a beach and then dress up smartly to go to a restaurant like Howard Johnson’s or to a hotel dining room. Wrinkles were ironed out with care, patience, and motel irons when they were available. Formal vacation attire gradually became less necessary as the informal travel culture grew. Families believed that good manners included clean clothes.

15. Bar Soap Dishes

In the days before disposable travel packs, families would take soap dishes, either metal or plastic, on their vacations. After every motel shower or campsite wash, a bar of Ivory, Dial, or Lifebuoy soap was inside the tiny container. Parents hated to waste a fine bar, so it went from sink to sink all through the vacation. The soap dish sometimes leaked, leaving slippery traces in the toiletry bags. Still, it felt sensible, familiar, and affordable. Then hotels started offering wrapped tiny soaps, and liquid body wash became ubiquitous in the home and on the road. The simple soap dish for the holiday faded gently from view. Money was important, and families rarely left it behind.

16. Printed Address Books

In the 1960s, families commonly took printed address books with them when they left home. In these little volumes were the phone numbers and addresses of family, doctors, neighbors, and emergency contacts. Parents used them to mail postcards, call ahead from pay phones, or reach a person if the car broke down. There were many pages with handwritten revisions, figures crossed off, and notes in the margins next to family names. That tiny book was my connection to home during long voyages. It also reminded passengers that earned a postcard from the road. Cell phones, cloud contacts, and messaging applications make physical address books disappear from vacation baggage. Families kept it low-profile, like a travel insurance policy.

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• 1960s