May I Introduce The Best Family Backpack For When Your Kids Outgrow Diaper Bags

Have you ever bought something just for you and wound up sharing it with your family? I have, and normally it’s annoying. Like when I get my favorite cookies from the grocery store and my kids eat half the package before I can even have one. This backpack is one of those things, but it turns out that the Venture Pal 40L Backpack is the ultimate family backpack and I genuinely don’t know what I would do without it.

Like everyone else, I started hiking a whole lot more during the height of the pandemic, and I found I really didn’t have a great pack for wandering the woods and scrambling up rocks. This one had good reviews on Amazon and the price was right, so I took the plunge. But for a single person hiking for just a few hours at a time, it was a little too spacious. I didn’t need all that room. But you know who does? My family of four, any time we’re out of the house for more than a few hours. They may not be babies anymore, but tweens at an amusement park, on a hike, or going to the beach still need snacks, water bottles, towels, and generally more than can comfortably fit in a standard purse, even a Mom Purse.

And so, from hikes in the Alps to visits to our local lake, Yosemite National Park to Disneyland to New York City and everywhere in between, the Venture Pal has proven itself indispensable over and over.

Stats

• Price: $33.99 on Amazon (I bought mine for $29 on sale)
• Sizes: This pack weighs 1 pound empty and contains 40 liters. A 35-liter design is also available.
• Colors: 13 different colors are available, including leaf patterns and multicolor combinations.
• Who it’s for: Best suited for average-sized adults, but my tweens have carried it without difficulty.

Why I love the Venture Pal 40L Backpack

Of course, there are literally countless backpacks on the market. Here’s what sets this bad boy apart:

• The structure (or lack thereof): Maybe doesn’t sound like a selling point, but I promise you it is. Unlike, say, your kid’s school backpack, the Venture Pal (made from nylon, by the way) is completely soft, which allows you to stuff pretty much anything in here without having to worry about getting precise about how you pack it.
• The compact foldability: This makes it really easy to store not only at home but in a suitcase while you’re traveling. I’ve found this bag to be especially helpful when I’m going somewhere I’m expecting to get souvenirs. Bring it along in its compact state and then fill it up with goodies and bring it home as a carry-on item.
• Two water bottle holders: There’s one on either side of the bottom of the bag, and we’ve actually fit some pretty large water bottles in there.
• Two main storage spots: This includes a front section with a smaller pocket inside it (handy for a wallet and keys) and the main compartment, which is very spacious and also has a smaller pocket inside.
• Built-in wet bag: Accessed from a zipper in the back (the part of the bag that will touch your back when you’re wearing it), the wet bag section is a little bit deeper than a large Ziploc and can keep wet/prone-to-leaking/sticky/sweaty/gross things away from everything else you’re carrying. This also gave us extra peace of mind while we were traveling in Europe and wanted to have our passports on us at all times. Since we could only access that section from the back, we were more protected from potential pickpockets, and also didn’t have to worry about anything leaking onto them.
• Lots of clips: You can fasten the two clips on each side of the main compartment to keep the bag more compact and the weight more evenly distributed, which makes things more comfortable. We don’t always use them, but it does make a difference. There’s also a chest clip, which definitely provides extra support. Unfortunately, one side of our chest clip somehow fell off the bag so we can’t use that anymore. But! The best part of the chest clip remained. The...
• Emergency whistle: We recommend not telling your kids about this because they will want to blow it at the most annoying times. I’ve never needed it in earnest, fortunately, but it’s neat.

How we use the Venture Pal backpack

To demonstrate the awesome power of the Venture Pal, I decided to show you one of the ways I’ve used it the most.

One of my family’s favorite spots to spend the summer is to hike to a local creek and spend the day splashing in the river. It’s always a beautiful day, but requires a lot of stuff for a family of four. In the past, either we would pack two large tote bags, or we’d overstuff one and my husband or I had to hike to a river with a cumbersome and unwieldy bag constantly slipping off our shoulder.

With this bag, it’s absolutely not a big deal. This is everything we’d need for a day out on the water, including towels for the family, a hoodie for me, who tends to get cold after splashing around, and an extra outfit for my daughter who, unlike the rest of us, hates making the hike back to the car in a wet bathing suit. (Said wet bathing suit can easily be slipped into the wet bag on the way back to the car.)

As you can see, it all fits very easily. I probably could have put other soft items in there if I really wanted to. I didn’t even have to undo the clips on the side to get it all in.

The materials

As mentioned, this backpack is made out of nylon, and the company touts it as tear- and water-resistant. I can confirm its resistance to water — I’ve been out in the rain and my items have stayed nice and dry — and as for tearing, well, I don’t get into wrestling matches with bears or anything, but over the years the material has held up beautifully. The zippers are sturdy and the bottom is double-layered, so you can carry pretty heavy items without worrying about the bottom dropping out.

And, of course, the question all parents need answered: yes, it is machine-washable, ideally on the gentle or normal cycle with cold water. Hang up on a line or rack to dry.

Pros & cons

Pros

• This pack is lightweight and very comfortable thanks to the easily adjustable straps.
• It’s extremely spacious.
• It comes at an affordable price point.
• It has lots of pockets to easily organize items.
• It can be neatly folded in on itself for easy packing and storing.
• The built-in wet bag is a game-changer, especially for parents of young, messy children.
• The wide straps distribute weight very well, so even a heavy bag is manageable.

Cons

• When the bag is fully packed, the water bottles have a tendency to fall out of their spots fairly easily.
• The chest clip can fall off.
• Because it’s nylon, it can get hot if it’s full and you’re wearing it for a long time.
• The straps are only lightly padded, which can get uncomfortable after a while if you’re carrying a heavy load.

The final verdict

When kids are babies and toddlers, you’ve got strollers with storage compartments, wagons, and ludicrously capacious diaper bags to haul all their necessities. As kids get out of the diaper and stroller phase, their need for loads of stuff diminishes, but not completely.

Between sloughing off the diaper bag and finding the Venture Pal, I would try putting everything my family needed for, say, a day wandering New York City, in my purse, which was uncomfortable and inconvenient. Now, not only do we have the perfect bag for wherever our travels and day trips take us, but both my husband or I can carry it comfortably, which lightens my load (no pun intended) as the family pack mule.

TL;DR

This is hands down the best family backpack I’ve come across, especially at this price point. It is a must-have backpack for amusement parks, travel, and outdoor family adventures.

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