35 Beach Gear Essentials You'll Need This Summer

There's always the conundrum of having to leave your valuables on the beach blanket if you want to take a dip in the ocean. You can feel more secure going if you have this portable lock box that requires a three-digit custom combination code or a key to open it. It can fit a phone, keys, wallet and any other small items. That way, you can surf the waves without worrying about your phone being stolen from your bag.

This folding chair is ranked as the best value option in our beach chair round-up, this budget-friendly chair boasts over 4,600 five-star reviews on Amazon. It can double as a campground and beach chair, it weighs only 5.3 pounds and it includes a cupholder and backseat pocket so you can make your beach setup as comfortable as possible.

This great travel dress can serve as a beach cover-up as well as a nice outfit for dinner. Available in 33 colors and patterns, including florals and stripes, this style even comes with pockets. I love loose, flowy, casual cover-ups like this one because it won't stick to my wet swimsuit as I drive home and keeps me well covered.

You'll need a large bag to hold all your beach essentials. This tote has multiple pockets along the side for smaller items and a large zippered compartment to hold towels, toys and swimsuits. Not only is the mesh fabric more suitable for wet towels, it also makes the bag lightweight and easy to fold the flat to fit inside a suitcase.

RELATED: The Best Tote Bags to Carry Everything You Need

Carrying a cooler just got a whole lot easier with this neat backpack. I love that I can fit ice packs, drinks (up to 20 cans!), snacks, lunch and sunscreen in the bag and carry this cooler backpack from the car to the shore hands-free. When I bring this bag to the beach, my fruit and canned cocktails stay ice cold for hours. My insulated 32-ounce water bottle even fits in the side mesh pocket.

RELATED: The Best Soft-Sided Coolers, According to Testing

The beach is meant to be relaxing but there's nothing relaxing about lugging towels, boogie boards, sand toys and snacks from the car to the sand. This all-terrain wagon can hold up to 150 pounds and features large, treaded wheels designed to roll easily in the sand. Plus, it collapses down to about 10 inches thick so that it will fit in the trunk.

RELATED: The Best Beach Wagons, According to Testing

You cannot head to the beach without a towel to lay on and dry off with. Our experts ranked this Lands' End towel as one of the best beach towels for its extra-long size and plush cotton terrycloth fabric. The towel is absorbent, thick and fluffy.

"It's a towel I would want to wrap up in after a cold swim," said one GH analyst. Choose from four striped options and you can even personalize it for an extra fee.

Laying on a towel all day is not as comfortable as sitting in a chair, but lugging a beach chair is my worst nightmare. The lightweight Tommy Bahama's backpack chairs are much easier to carry, thanks to comfortable shoulder straps that do not dig into your skin. One of our GH testers appreciated how easy it was to recline back and called this a "top-notch" beach chair.

RELATED: The Best Beach Chairs You Can Buy

Prevent your music from cutting off mid-beat and keep your phone fully charged with a portable charger. Our Media and Tech Lab experts ranked this as the best portable charger for its features, efficiency and price point. It's truly an all-in-one power bank, with the option of magnetic charging or using the built-in USB-C cable, so that you can keep the tunes flowing all day long.

Avoid the hassle of setting up an umbrella with the easy Shibumi Shade. Here at GH, we love this wind-powered canopy because the setup process is quick, the entire tent fits into a small bag and it weighs less than four pounds. After setting up, the ocean breeze will make the canopy fabric float horizontally to create shade without the heaviness and hassle of an umbrella.

The UPF 50+ tent provides 150 square feet of shade, which can fit up to six people underneath. If you're heading to the beach alone or with one other person, the Shibumi Shade Mini weighs less than two pounds and fits two people.

READ OUR FULL REVIEW: Is the Wind-Powered Shibumi Shade Beach Canopy Worth It?

Leave the sand at the beach with this microfiber towel that easily releases sand, rather than collecting granules in your beach bag. While it's a little less absorbent than a soft, fluffy towel, it dries faster, folds flat in a suitcase and it comes with a mesh carrying case. It's also available in 25 reversible patterns.

It's not a beach day without playing some catchy tunes. This waterproof outdoor speaker is IP67 waterproof and dustproof to withstand the elements and has 20 hours of claimed battery life, so you won't have to worry about it getting splashed or it dying midday. "It's super rugged, durable and perfect for listening to music on the beach," said GH Media & Tech Reviews Analyst Olivia Lipski.

Powder sunscreens are ideal for protecting your hairline, scalp and face from sunburns. This SPF 30 sunscreen powder is sweat- and water-resistant for up to 80 minutes. You can even dust this over makeup when it's time to reapply for some shine control and extra protection.

Particularly if you have a baby or a toddler, a beach tent or canopy provides the perfect escape from the sun for a nap during a long day at the beach. This canopy tent offers tons of shade, has windows for more air flow and is more stable than an umbrella if you're facing gusts of wind. We also love that this lightweight tent has a UPF 50+ rating to further protect you and your little ones from a sunburn.

Wearing a sun hat in addition to applying sunscreen will provide you with the most protection from the sun. This safari-esque unisex hat has a wide brim, neck flap and UPF 50+ sun protection. Perfect for the beach, camping or hiking, this hat comes in nine colors and features a drawstring to prevent the wind from blowing it off your head.

The best beach bags are water-resistant and are easy to wipe sand from its surfaces. If you're looking for something a little more private than a see-through mesh bag, this solid-colored tote bag can hold all your beach essentials. Available in 33 colors and patterns, this roomy bag boasts over 8,000 five-star reviews on Amazon and has two large side pockets, one main pocket and a back zippered pocket.

Diamond-shaped kites are fun and all, but have you seen these octopus kites? Kids (and adults!) will marvel at the colorful tentacles soaring high in the sky as they run along the shore or let the wind do all the work. They're 13 feet long in the sky but can be folded down into a much flatter, smaller size for easy packing. Plus, each order comes with three kites, so multiple kids can fly the kites together without taking turns.

If you're a fan of Tommy Bahama's Backpack Beach Chair or you use a backpack as a beach bag, you can't use my favorite cooler backpack. Instead, opt for an easy-to-carry mini cooler like this one from Arctic Zone. Rated as one of the best coolers by our experts, this combo cooler has a soft exterior with a hard interior so that it's lightweight yet structured. It's easy to carry and clean, and it's available in 9-, 30- and 48-can sizes.

Gather your friends or kids for a Spikeball tournament to see who will be the ultimate champion. The goal of this addictive game is simple: Players have to bounce the ball on the mini trampoline net without letting the ball hit the sand.

It takes up less space to play Spikeball than other beach games like volleyball, frisbee or even a game of catch. And considering how lightweight and easy to pack the game is, it's the perfect activity for teens and adults to bring along to the beach.

RELATED: 20 Best Beach Games for Kids and Adults

Using sunscreen specifically for your face is ideal if you have sensitive or acne-prone skin. This Banana Boat sunscreen is a Good Housekeeping Beauty Award winner for its barely-there, weightless finish. It earned high scores in our tests for not leaving a residue on skin. I love how soft my skin feels after applying this SPF 50+ sunscreen and how it layers seamlessly under makeup.