20 Beach Essentials and a Beach Hack you Didn’t Know You Needed

There’s nothing like finding peace by going to the beach and if you’re anything like me, you want to have some beach essentials to optimize your beach day. As a peace-seeking beach goer myself, I’m giving you the top beach essentials that my family and I swear by.

You are going to learn about plenty of beach essentials from portable beach tables to sun protection for your phone. There’s also a cool little hack that comes in handy at the beach.

After grabbing a few or all of these items, you’ll be ready for a fun-filled beach day.

Let me be forthcoming, these are all my Amazon affiliate links, so if you purchase through here, I get a commission. It’s not necessary, but thank you if you do. Hey, I’m happy if I can inspire you to get yourself fully prepared for your beach day!

BEACH CHAIRS

You’re gonna need some chairs. I like these because, they look comfy and all ergonomic and whatnot. There are plenty of color options and most importantly, cup holders! They also have inserts for your Kindle reader or book and your phone. Pretty nifty.

2. BEACH TABLE

You need a place to sit the snacks. We have one of these and it’s perfect to get the snacks a little further away from the sand. And it folds up nicely so it’s super portable.

3. BEACH UMBRELLA

We like the sun, but we also like to protect the skin. I like the colorful options of these adjustable umbrellas that are easy to stick into the sand. This one even has a place to hang your bag. The lady in the pic did a matchy match with her bag & umbrella. That’s cute.

4. MORE SUN PROTECTION

Like I said, we like the sun, but skin protection is important. Leave the beach with Good Vibes Only and not a sunburn. This kit has lip balm too.

Supergoop was recommended to me by a friend who works at a high end spa. She wasn’t wrong. It’s my personal favorite. I use it daily…beach or nah.

5. THE EYES HAVE IT

Okay Jackie O! Ladies, you’ll be too fly (do people still say fly?) protecting your eyes in these.

6. EVEN MORE PROTECTION

You can never have too much protection. May as well wear this cute fedora.

7. BEACH BAG

I saw this bag in Tabitha Brown’s Summer line at Target. I LOVE Tabitha Brown! It’s really cute, holds a lot and folds up to a nice compact portable size. Colorful and fun. Perfect for the beach!

Buy at Target

8. BEACH TOWELS

Don’t forget the towels. We have these and for some reason, I think the kids get excited just to see these pulled out of the cabinet. Just seeing these colorful striped towels means we are about to enjoy some family time next to the ocean.

9. SOUNDS TO ACCOMPANY THE OCEAN WAVES

You may want to listen to some tunes while chillin’ on the beach. I like this cute little portable waterproof JBL speaker (camouflage in honor of my son, the Airman :). There are other color options too.

10. DIVE INTO THE OCEAN & A GOOD BOOK

Get lost in Bewilderment by Richard Powers. I read this one because it was on Oprah’s Book Club. Very good read for the beach.

Another great read is Dangerous Mistrust by Tracci Johnson. It was my book of choice during my last trip to the beach.

11. KINDLE

You prefer your books digitally? Grab a Kindle. Then when you’re ready for a nap, you can place it right next to you in the side tray of your new beach chair.

12. KEEP YOUR COOL

Fruit, sandwiches and drinks gotta stay cool. Here are a couple of cooler options depending on how much you want to pack or how many peeps are with you on your beach trip. Of course, with 3 teenagers, we have to go with a larger size to keep the sea creatures happy.

Here’s the Roberts Family size cooler!

13. HAND-HELD FAN

Speaking of keeping cool…sometimes it’s just really hot at the beach and you need this fan.

14. PHONE PROTECTION

You decide to pick up your phone to take a pic of your kid playing in the ocean and get that temperature gage on the screen telling you that your phone is about to blow up! I know…a little dramatic. But get this case and protect your phone.

15. BEVERAGE PROTECTION

We’ve protected the skin, the head and the eyes, but what about the Chardonnay? This Corkcicle tumbler will keep your wine cool and well protected for hours.

16. BEACH BLANKET

This blanket is great for the kiddos (or even you) to hang out, nap on, scroll on their phones. (insert thumbs down emoji here). And look how small it folds up!

Beach Hack: Grab yourself a king size fitted sheet and place items in the corners to prop up the sheet and keep the sand out. We found this idea on Pinterest and used it during our last beach trip. People couldn’t stop commenting on how smart it was. Keep scrolling to see this hack in action.

17. BEACH PILLOW?

Yeah why not? Since you’re making them lay on the blanket, maybe a pillow for them would be nice. You might enjoy it too!

18. AQUA SOCKS

These are made for the beach, so go ahead, choose a color, grab a pair and protect your tootsies.

19. BUILD IT AT THE BEACH

A trip to the beach wouldn’t be a trip to the beach without building a sandcastle. I saw this one and think that even my full grown teenagers would like it. I like it because there are not a ton of pieces, you can make bricks and stack them like an actual castle. And it comes with that little mesh bag to clean it up easily when packing up.

20. BEACH WAGON

You gotta bring everything with you from the car, so you may as well stack it in this handy dandy wagon that rolls easily over the sand with the big wheels. Perfect little duty for your teenager.

The most important thing is to get in some quality time with the fam! Here are a few pics from our last family trip to the beach. Now we are down to only 2 kiddos at home. Wishing we made more trips to the beach because this was relaxing and so much fun.

Pack up your beach stuff, the kiddos and friends and make a day of it. Shoot, some of this can be used for camping too if you’re not near a beach, so grab it and go!

Please share if you know of any cool beach must-haves.

Enjoy!