Blog

23. April 2026

How to pack for your holiday and have everything you need, stylishly!

My six step guide to take the stress away from holiday packing

Most of us find packing for a holiday stressful*. We also tend to deliberately overpack**.

When our holidays are often the first thing we think about to cheer us up when Christmas is over, and we look forward to and save for most of the year, isn’t it a shame that packing then causes us so much angst?

There’s a few explanations for this, which include

Wanting to make the most of our time away and not finding ourselves with ‘nothing to wear’.
Not having the confidence to mix and match items to make the most out of what we take.
Our regular wardrobes already have too much choice in them and so a holiday pack is just a repeat of this.
The overall anxiety that many of us feel in preparing to leave.

Having a ‘capsule’ wardrobe in your suitcase that gifts you an outfit for every occasion and most importantly reflects who you are will not only save you the stress, but also give you ideas for how you shape your regular wardrobe at home.

In this blog I will share six steps that will glide you into holiday packing calm. They will help you look at your wardrobe through a different frame, encourage freedom and creativity so you make the most of what you have.

How to pack for your holiday in six clear steps

Start early. I’d suggest weeks rather than days for an annual or special trip. That gives you time to buy any complimentary or replacements items you will need. Get everything you are thinking of taking into a spare room, on a spare bed or if you have one, a spare rail or section of your wardrobe.
Try your clothes on. Yes I know you think your body hasn’t changed since you last had a holiday, and trying clothes on is a hassle, but if there’s any doubt or you don’t want to, it’s best if you do.
Consider the holiday’s occasions and activities. Are you walking alot, dining alot, needing to cover up, needing to lie on a beach (!)...... I’ve put together a simple one pager to help which you can use to note all this down, as well as the advice written in this blog - download it here.
Consider a colour palette or theme that could run through your holiday wardrobe. For example are you taking clothes in a certain palette e.g. neutrals, or are they in a certain style, e.g. romantic. What is the theme staring out at you from your pile or rail of clothes that you already have? Edit out the ones that don’t fit in where you are doubling up on items.
Now with what you have left, look to combine items for different outfits.
Using your sheet for activities and occasions for your holiday, have you enough or too many to cover them? What else can you take out? Write a list of what additional items you need to buy. Don't forget, you can download this here.

Some final tips

Wear a key piece jacket to the airport. If it’s light you can layer it to keep you warm on the plane. If it’s bulky that’s another reason to wear it as it’ll save you space in your case.
Put a fine layer of tissue paper between trousers and tops to prevent them from creasing.
To protect the shape of any rounded items e.g. hats, bras, fill these with underwear or creaseable clothes.
Take a laundry bag and put clear items you don’t wear back in the suitcase. That way you save on washing and you know what you didn’t end up wearing!

Working through these steps will give you a set of clothes that work together.

It’s likely that what you end up with reflects your style personality, and one that is also in your regular or everyday wardrobe. Taking out the few items that ‘don’t fit’ style wise will not only save you case space and stress, but will strengthen the consistency of your style both on holiday and when thinking about what you wear day to day too.Download my free holiday packing guide with the occasions and activity chart

here.

My holiday packing service will give you

Your fully functioning capsule holiday wardrobe.
A host of shape and style tips to use elsewhere.

Is £75 and can be booked by emailing me.

* If you aren't one of the, whoopee, but research done in 2019 amongst 2,000 adults shows 65% are. ** More recent research in 2024 found 45% of people intentionally overpack.

Photo by Apostolos Vamvouras on Unsplash