Happy Friday! It’s the weekend finally but last weekend I spent mine at a condo in the city. It was my birthday and I treated myself to a little staycation at Azure. I have fallen in love with packing for trips and love showing you how I do it so today’s post is a come pack with me for my 25th birthday staycation! Again, I will share my tips and what I packed on my 4 day and 3 night stay. The last time I did this was my end of summer almost fall staycation in Tagaytay which I wrote about here. Every time I do this kind of post my suitcase always looks different and I love looking back and seeing how and what I packed to get an idea myself and not just inspiration for you guys. Isn’t it funny that I use my own packing posts to get inspired from? I knew I blogged for a reason!
Last time I packed for 2 nights so I only packed a few bags but I was away for a little longer and I planned to shoot while at my staycation so I packed extra outfits. In total I brought a small suitcase, an overnight bag and a tote bag. For me that is pretty condensed considering I’m notorious for over packing just ask my family. So here is everything and come pack with me for my 25th birthday staycation!
Tech Tote Bag
Like the professional blogger that I am, I forgot to take pictures of the first bag I took with me. This is an H&M tote bag that doubles as a beach/pool bag. Instead of packing this inside my suitcase I used it to hold all my tech items. It’s actually a pretty spacious tote bag and holds a lot in which you can find here. So inside was my laptop and I put it in its soft purple case. If you’ve read my Tagaytay staycation packing post I linked above then you would have seen it already so no biggie. I have chargers, cameras and pretty much everything in here was cables and gadgets I need to take with me. You are not missing much inside besides a bunch of messy cords intertwined together. I’m still figuring out how to pack my gadgets so once I do I will make sure to show it in my next pack with me for another trip. If you want to see what I use to blog on the go and a look into what I took then you can read that here.
Hello Kitty Overnight Bag
The next bag I took with me was my hello Kitty bag i bought a few years ago for my local trips to my cousins. Again it is hot pink because everything I own is hot pink. I got it on discount and it was my first dip into investing in travel bags. I mean it is Hello Kitty and I should upgrade to an adult one but I’m going to use it a little bit longer before putting it away for good. It holds quite a lot and has so many pockets. There are two in the front. One you can see and the other is kind of like a secret compartment. On the back it has another pocket and the straps are really sturdy. I take this not only for trips but when I have a few outfit shoots I put this in the trunk with all the outfits, accessories like bags and shoes and just change in my car.
As for what’s inside this trip I have more of my beauty bits and the last packing cube plus a lot more:
- large packing cube: This could fit in the suitcase but I didn’t want it too packed. I have all my loungewear in here including pajamas and just basic casual wear.
- laundry bag: It fits my underwear including a few pairs of bras. I only took one with me and this is the medium size. I usually take all three but didn’t have the need this trip so I left them at home. A tip I brought up before was once you are done you can throw your dirty clothes when you are done so it is a two in one.
- skincare & wash bag: In here fits all of my skincare and bodycare so like all my facial washes and moisturizers to soap and body wash. It is new as I needed a bag to fit everything in and this does the trick plus it isn’t clothe but nylon so it’s okay if it gets wet unlike my cotton makeup bags.
- makeup bag: This makeup bag is much bigger and carries a lot of stuff inside. It’s more of my glam makeup bag and carries all of my high end brands inside. I do have my everyday one I took as well in the suitcase as it is more compact and flat so it went in there.
- jewelry pouch: It actually isn’t make for jewelry but it’s actually a money wallet however it worked perfectly for all of my statement earrings and other dainty bits so they wouldn’t get lost and all be in place.
What I’ve noticed this time around from my previous staycation packing post is everything has a home and I carry a lot of pouches to keep things in one place and be organized. I may be weird but the pouches are real lifesavers and I know where everything is in. I don’t have to dig around the huge bags anymore and can just grab what I need and then put it back. My tip is go pouch crazy and find a place for each category if you want to be extra organized.
Small Compass Carry On Suitcase
This is my best travel companion. I have taken it on all my trips with me from local to plane trips. I bought these as a birthday present last year for my trip to Palawan as I needed new suitcases. If you want to see what I packed in my carry on using this exact suitcase then you can find that here. I splurged and got the ones I knew I would use over and over and in my favorite color. So far it was worth the money and I love it so much. I own all three sizes now. I have the small which is the one in the pictures and I have the medium and large size as well. I love when all three are together and they are sitting there all matching and it makes me so happy. I don’t know why having the matching set makes my heart flutter but it’s the best feeling having all three of them. If you know me then having matching things makes me so happy so seeing them is indescribable. I got all three at The SM Store and it’s by the brand Compass. I’m not sure if I can find it online but I linked similar options below. If you could find the exact ones in store then go for it as they are so worth it and not too expensive.
It holds quite a lot for being the small size. I can fit the largest packing cube on one side and the medium one on the other. It fit 3 pairs of shoes and 3 bags on one side as well. I’m surprised how much it fits in and I fill it up and it still zips up.
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Inside the Left Side
When you first open it up and lay it flat you see this. I tried to maximize the space and fit pretty much a lot in. Then I just fasten it in place to flatten it down.
- 2 pairs of shoes – heeled sandals and gladiator style flat sandals
- medium packing cube – 5 or so outfits including tops and bottoms
- pouch – 3 swimsuits (The swimsuit I bought last you comes with it’s own pouch so I added 2 more inside of it so it can be in one place.) It’s underneath the bag.
- bag – I left it in it’s dust bag as I treat it like the real Chloe Nile
- hair accessory – I could have put this in another bag but I threw it in last minute.
Inside the Right Side
I put nothing in the net zipper compartment this time around but I could have if needed for extra storage. When unzipped you find more of mishmash of my stuff:
- everyday makeup bag – This carries all my everyday makeup essentials in a convenient box that holds quite a lot and doesn’t take up too much space.
- skincare set – I threw this in. (It was a birthday present so I wanted to take pictures of it that’s why it’s in its box.)
- haircare pouch – It carries all of my haircare stuff including my curling iron.
- everyday bag: I brought another bag to be an everyday bag. Also I needed a less formal bag than my Chloe Nile dupe.
- towel & etc – I laid my towel flat underneath and threw in some last minute skincare products.
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For the first time I used pretty much everything I packed. That is new because as I said I tend to over pack and over estimate myself and think I will wear everything. I used all the outfits and the shoes and bags with those outfits. I did pack some snacks which was in a separate bag but I don’t thin you needed to see my reusable grocery bag with snacks in it. I think for me these three bags were enough and surprisingly I could carry it all with me to the condo. I can’t wait to actually use my three piece luggage set all together and of course I will do another packing post if I ever do a long haul international flight.
That was everything I brought and hope you enjoyed my come pack with me for my 25th birthday staycation. I love posting these whenever I go on a trip and do enjoy reading what everyone else packs with them as I’m very curious about this stuff. There will be a lot more posts about my birthday staycation so look forward to that. I always get the packing one first as it sort of kicks off a trip I went on. I managed to link most things or something similar to what I own. I hope you liked that as I’m trying to be more helpful linking everything more now. Some of the stuff I own isn’t online but it is getting better. So let me know what you are packing for any upcoming trip and if you want to see more packing posts!. I actually need to unpack a week later now as I’ve been putting it off. Why is it funner packing then unpacking? I’m going to go but at least it’s all organized so won’t be too long for me.
