Flying long-haul alone with two kids was one of those things I spent considerably more time worrying about than I probably needed to.
We recently flew to Barbados, just me and the kids, and I had visions of approximately hour three being the point where everything unravelled.
It didn't.
They were genuinely brilliant.
Both ways.
Did they spend quite a lot of the flight on their tablets?
Absolutely.
This isn't that sort of website.
But I also packed a handful of small things that gave us something different to pull out every few hours, and that worked really well.
Nothing elaborate. Nothing requiring me to carry an entire craft cupboard through security. Just things that actually earned their place in the hand luggage.
The Fire tablets
Let's start with the obvious one.
The tablets did a lot of heavy lifting.
Both kids have Amazon Fire tablets, and for a long-haul flight I am completely happy for screen-time rules to become considerably more relaxed.
I downloaded things before we left so I wasn't relying on airport or onboard Wi-Fi, made sure everything was charged, and that was basically our main entertainment setup.
They watched, played and generally entertained themselves very happily.
If you're flying alone with children, I personally don't think this is the moment to prove anything about screen time.
Why it earned its place: hours of entertainment with very little effort from me.Their own wireless headphones
Each child has their own Belkin SoundForm Mini wireless headphones.
We have one blue pair and one pink pair, which is handy because there is absolutely no question about whose is whose.
They use them with the Fire tablets and they worked brilliantly on the flight.
Wireless also means one less cable getting tangled around trays, snacks, blankets and everything else that somehow accumulates around an aeroplane seat.
Why they earned their place: comfortable, easy and everyone can hear their own thing.The mini magnetic tiles
I wanted a few things that weren't screens but also didn't take up half the hand luggage.
These little magnetic tiles were ideal because they come in a small metal case and are genuinely compact.
They're something the kids can fiddle with, build little shapes from and come back to without needing a huge amount of space.
On a plane, that matters.
Why they earned their place: tiny enough for hand luggage and still interesting enough to use.Crayola Color Wonder
Mess-free colouring is exactly the sort of phrase I want to hear when I'm trapped in an aeroplane seat with children.
The Color Wonder sets only work on their special paper, which means I don't need to spend the flight worrying about pen marks appearing on seats, clothes or tray tables.
It's simple, quiet and easy to pull out when they need a break from a screen.
Why it earned its place: colouring without me becoming nervous about the upholstery.Sticker books and little activity books
I took a few different sticker-type activities rather than one big toy.
We had a Squishmallows sticker mosaic book and a reusable dress-up kitten sticker book.
The important thing was less the exact activity and more how I used them.
I didn't hand everything over as soon as we sat down.
I kept the little activities in my bag and brought something new out every few hours, usually when I could tell they were starting to get bored.
Somehow, something they might have ignored at home becomes considerably more exciting when it appears halfway across the Atlantic.
Why they earned their place: cheap, flat, easy to pack and useful for breaking up the flight.The sensory threading board
This is another good hand-luggage activity because it's small and doesn't require a pile of separate pieces scattered across the tray table.
They can thread the little silicone pieces through the board, pull them back out and start again.
It isn't going to occupy a child for the entire flight.
Nothing is.
But that's not really the point.
I wanted lots of little changes of activity rather than one magical toy that was somehow supposed to entertain them for eight hours.
Why it earned its place: compact, reusable and gives busy hands something different to do.Fidgets and articulated animals
I also took a couple of small fidget-type toys.
We had the little galaxy fidget set and some articulated 3D animals.
These were useful for the moments when nobody wanted to colour, nobody wanted another programme and they just needed something in their hands.
Again, I wouldn't expect miracles.
They are small distractions.
On a long flight, several small distractions add up.
Why they earned their place: tiny, easy to pack and another option when boredom starts creeping in.The things I'm glad were in my bag
Not everything in the hand luggage needs its own exciting Amazon listing.
I packed spare clothes for both children, because if you don't pack them that will obviously be the flight where somebody spills something spectacular.
I also had wipes, Calpol, chargers, neck pillows and snacks.
The airline provided blankets, so I didn't bother taking our own.
Snack-wise, I wasn't creating elaborate travel grazing boards.
There were crisps.
Everyone survived.
I didn't give them everything at once
This was probably the most useful bit of the whole setup.
The tablets were available, obviously, but I kept the little new activities tucked away.
Every few hours, if they were getting restless or bored, something different appeared.
A sticker book.
Some magnetic tiles.
A fidget.
Something small and new.
I didn't have a complicated schedule and I certainly wasn't timing activities with a spreadsheet.
I just kept a few things back instead of using every trick I had in the first hour.
Mostly Sorted rule: don't use all your good ideas before you've left European airspace.