It’s part of the trifecta that makes the beach a site of bliss: sea, sun and sand. Sandcastles, sand moats, sand holes, sand burying your feet — yes. But sand in your snacks, sand around the neck of your water bottle and sand in your dry clothes? No, thank you.
What to do? A beach chair will keep your wet swimsuit up above the grains, but won’t help with your food and water. A towel or blanket will start out as a sand-free space for your things, but between the breeze and what people are tracking in on their feet, you’ll have to move everything and shake it out fairly often — and even then, there’s just a certain amount of sand drift that is inescapable.
Would you believe that the answer to this dilemma is a simple thing that you surely have sitting around the house? In fact, you probably saw one before you even got out of bed this morning.
It’s a fitted sheet. Yes, a fitted sheet and not a flat one. Stretch it out and keep it in place with a heavy object in each corner ― a beach bag, a cooler, etc. ― and voilà: your own private, sand-free oasis.
Add a bucket of water somewhere on the perimeter to rinse your feet before entering, and your little island will remain sand-free all day long.
Casey Major-Bunce is the mother of a 13-year-old, an 8-year-old, and 4-year-old twins who shares parenting hacks with her Instagram followers. In one post, she demonstrates how she sets up a double fitted sheet for her family’s beach days.
She learned this trick from her own mother when she was a child. “My baby brother hated sand,” Major-Bunce told HuffPost.
“I love that it provides a sand-free zone for kids and when we eat,” she said. She keeps the space sand-free by having everyone dip their feet in a collapsible bucket of water at the edge of the sheet.
To make set-up easy, Major-Bunce also recommends piling up your gear in a wagon to transport it to the perfect spot.
“We always spend the whole day at the beach, so we take lunch and tea with us, along with lots of buckets, bed sheets and collapsible bowls,” she said.
Shannon Doherty is a mom of four kids, ages 10, 9, 7 and 4, who lives in Connecticut. When her family heads to the beach in the summer, they also take a fitted sheet with them.
She recommends this hack, as “a fitted sheet is something everyone has at their house.”
“I normally put down the sheet and then put our bags on each corner to hold it up,” Doherty told HuffPost. She leaves her bucket of water just outside the perimeter of the sheet.
“[We’re] always looking for easier ways to make beach days happen!” Doherty said.
She focuses on making the most of summer months, when the weather is right for such excursions.
“Beach days are the best and time goes by way too fast,” she said.