You’ll want to “rough it” in the wardrobe department. We wore most of our clothes. We carried our backpacks all day on Friday (or your first day), so we wanted to keep them extremely light!! If you take small suitcases you’ll have to drop them off at the hotel before exploring the city.

Girls all over the city are wearing their GS uniforms, you’ll be able to see each other better if you make your own t-shirts or hats to wear on the trip (we didn’t even bring our vests). We tie-dyed bright pink and purple shirts to wear! You’ll wear one pair of jeans all 3 days (really, that’s fine! Carrying an extra pair adds quite a bit of weight.) We wore our tie-dyed t-shirts one day and our bridging t-shirts the next and the cleanest one of the two for the ride home.

We brought one warm sweatshirt with a hood or warm hat (it could be as cold as 45 degrees out on the bridge, subtract 10 degrees from the temperature given on the weather report and add gusty wind!) and brought a windbreaker or warm jacket and plastic trash bag/poncho (wet fog or rain are a good possibility). If you’ve been looking at the photos from our trip you’ll see that we wore our sweatshirts and jackets the whole weekend.

We brought 2 pairs of undies and 2 pairs of socks and we wore a pair of comfortable, broken in, athletic shoes. The bathrooms were in the hall at the hostel where we stayed so we brought a pair of pj bottoms to wear with a t-shirt to bed. We took a Ziploc bag with toothbrush, little or empty tube of toothpaste, little soap & motel room size shampoo 3oz or less (unless you’re at a hotel where they’ll be provided), hairbrush & hair ties. Towels, linens and pillows are provided, no sleeping bags needed.

When my troop went to San Francisco we were 6th grade juniors and a few of the girls had started their periods. This might be a good opportunity to talk to the girls about being prepared or reminding them that you will carry some supplies if they discover they need them (for the first time) on the trip.

We brought plastic grocery bags to put all our clothes in, so we could use the backpack on Saturday and leave the clothes in a locker at the hostel. You can put all the “clothes bags” easily in one or two lockers (not so if you’ve got suitcases). Take a few combination locks to lock them up if you’re staying at a hostel. You could do it the other way around and leave your suitcases and take a small daypack for the day if you’re at a hotel.

Bring another Ziploc baggie for spending money (my girls took $20 spending money and I had them keep it and do their own budgeting while shopping for souvenirs), few tissues, and chapstick. Take a camera (disposable or inexpensive, extra batteries, charger or film if needed) or phone with a camera. Bring a water bottle (leave it empty till you get through airport security then you’ll fill it up at a drinking fountain) and lightweight paperback book or magazine, deck of cards, pen and paper or whatever will keep you entertained on the flight. Probably a granola type bar would be good in case you’re starving and we took a brown bag breakfast that we could eat at the airport or on the flight. There is a plastic bag ban in San Francisco so bring along your own plastic bags for souvenirs or a reusable bag to avoid a bag fee. That’s it!!

Learning to pack lightly will serve your girls well for the rest of their lives! It’s great if you can brainstorm your packing list with your girls so they understand why you are and aren’t packing some things. Model the outfit you’d like them to wear and show them what should be packed in their backpacks by bringing the items to a troop meeting. (It might be a good idea to show their moms too! Moms have a tendency to throw in lots of things that they “think might be needed”.) Remind them that any medication should go to the first aider for distribution.

Here’s a great sample packing list from Angie’s troop #5109

Packing List

MUST BE backpack, duffle, or SMALLEST carry-on
Size limitations as per the airline: 10 in x 16 in x 24 in or outside linear dimension of 50”; under 30 lbs; must fit under seat in front or in overhead bin

Wear to SF: jeans, t-shirt w/long sleeve under, sweatshirt around waist, sturdy walking shoes (not new shoes to avoid blisters)

____ Sweatshirt with hood (Troop sweatshirt a good choice)
____ Windbreaker (to layer)
____ T-shirt for Friday
____ Troop t-shirt (Sat)
____ Long sleeve to layer under
____ 1 pair jeans
____ 1 pair jammies
____ 2 pairs socks
____ 2 pairs undies/undergarments
____ Toiletries (liquids in quart-sized bag; no more than 3 oz. each)
Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, hair brush, hair ties, deodorant, sunscreen
No shampoo/conditioner, soap, towels, or hair dryers (provided by hotel)
____ Book
____ Water bottle (empty)
____ SMALL Daypack (empty & packed in backpack or duffle)
____ Spending money in a small wallet ($20)
____ Chapstick
____ Tissues
____ Ziploc bag with SWAPs
____plastic bag or reusable bag for souvenirs
____ Snacks (optional and limited to granola bars & cracker snacks)
(absolutely no candy, chocolate, chips)
____ Rain poncho or trash bag

Adults add: forms, maps, itineraries, envelopes with girl money, items for sack lunch on Saturday (bags, food items, etc), camera, phone