While onsite for a recent event, some of my colleagues were talking about the creative things that they did to keep in touch with their loved ones back home. For most event planners, traveling for meetings and events is a lot of fun, but it can be stressful if leaving family behind. For most parents, they are leaving their significant others, or other family members to pickup the slack that they won’t be there for. In many cases, the most taxing part are those families with children, and the complexities of making sure the traveling parent’s presence is still known and important to the kids while away from home. So what does one do to keep in touch while on the road? Here is a fun list of items for you to try:

• Buy a unique gift from each location you visit (ie. snowglobes, stuffed animal, etc)
• Facetime (video chat, oovoo) for communication!
• Tuck your children and read a bedtime story by using video chat, Facetime or phone.
• Pre-record yourself singing your child’s favorite song. Let them have it to remind them of you while you are away.
• Schedule date nights with your significant other or family (try Words with Friends, Heads Up or other digital game)
• Give a personal item to your child for them to ‘keep’ until you get home
• Have love notes placed in lunches while you are away
• Prepare little letters to your kids
• Have fun with Instagram by showing family your day in pictures
• Write a blog about your travels
• Go old school – send postcards
• Freeze meals so that your family has your ‘home’ cooking while you are away
• Play a treasure hunter game with the kids. Tell kids about a hidden treasure and hide it in the house. Each day give them a clue to figure out where to find it
• Bring one of your child’s stuffed animals (ie. Flat Stanley) on your trips and take a picture in different places with it. You can even post them online so that he or she can see where you were.
• Share your schedule and itinerary…sometimes kids have fun tracking your flight as you come and go!

I’m sure there are many other ideas, but these are just some to start. Don’t forget to spend some special time with family when you return home. Do you have a unique way that you keep in touch with your family that you would like to share? Please leave a comment, and let me know. Would love to expand on this list of ideas!

Photo credit: airplane by Kuster & Wildhaber Photography via Flickr