You’ve got yourself a trip planned for Destin, you already know your trip will involve a great deal of swimming, pontoon boats (we got those!), and frosty beach drinks in koozies.
So, you want to pack light?
You keep referring back to that childhood game of what you would bring to the deserted island.
In an anxious sweat, you wonder what you should choose. Fear not, we got you with this Destin beach trip packing list!
Here Are The Top 4 Essentials That Our Guests Pack For Destin, FL
(With A Brief History)
Destin Beach Must Pack: Sunglasses (Of Course)
You will be in the SUNSHINE state where it’s SUNNY, it’s safe to say you’ll need to protect those gorgeous eyeballs.
We’re talking stunna shades of course.
Did you know sunglasses have been around since the prehistoric Inuit people?
Well, they were, and they were fancy too!
The glasses were made of ivory with a similar shape to racer-style sunglasses seen today.
To make things even fancier, the Roman emperor Nero would watch gladiator fights through these polished gems. Can you imagine the price of those babies today?
It wasn’t until 12th-century China that they made sunglasses, closely resembling what we have in modern times.
The 12th-century sunnies were made with flat planes of smokey quartz.
Unfortunately, these offered no protection whatsoever, but they looked cool AF.
James Ayscough experimented with different tints for sunglasses around 1752. These experiments were done mainly to correct vision.
During the 1900s, sunglasses were more commonplace, and in 1936, polarized glasses became available because of a man named Edwin H. Land. Not only did these sunglasses help protect people from UV rays, but they were helpful in World War II with their anti-glare attributes.
Today UV ray-protected glasses are almost a standard and are sold all over at reasonable pieces.
Now, as to what pair you should buy in the modern age…
Sojos Sunnies come in at #1 both for their price and style.
These sunglasses are unisex so you can share them with anyone, although for the price you might as well just buy multiple.
These sunglasses are lightweight, and the UV 400 protective lens will block 99 to 100 percent of harmful UV light.
The glasses come in different frames and lenses, can you say variety?
You really can’t ask for more when it comes to these shades.
Get out and block your haters with those new sunglasses!
Another Destin Beach Must Pack – Beach Blanket AKA, A Towel
Seriously, an absolute must! You’re going to need to add it to your Destin packing list.
The beach involves sand and water, and with that, you will probably want something to both dry off and lie on.
Who thought of this clever beach dryer offer anyway?
The original towel was Turkish and was called a pestema. The towel was used in a bathing ritual for brides. These were typically flat woven sheets of cloth or fine linen.
In the 18th century, the material doubled, and loops were created this design was named “the havly.”
To hone in on the specialization of “beach towels”, we’ll have to mention Coco Chanel, who played a major part in changing the direction of how we viewed tanned skin.
It is said that the designer accidentally got a tan in the French Rivera. Fans saw this and wanted to resemble their idol.
Long story short, the incident with Coco Chanel, along with bathing suits getting smaller, warranted a towel. With home towels being too small and the Havlu being too big, the beach towel was born!
In 1949, Henry Christy invented the first modern-day towel after a visit to Turkey and inspiration by their pestemals.
Today, beach towels are used for sitting and drying off. For anyone who has been to the beach, this is a much-needed help for gritty sand and salty sticky water.
There are a million and one beach towels out there, so which one should you choose?
The CLOWOOD Plush Oversized Beach Towel takes the cake here.
Reasons why?
This towel is thick, which means you won’t feel a thing when you sit on a hot surface!
Sit in luxury with this bad boy!
This towel was also rated pretty high for not holding onto the sand, which is probably the most annoying part about leaving the beach.
Lastly, the towel is made with cotton and bamboo fiber which absorbs water well even after a few washes!
Grab that towel and baste in the sun!
Where To Put All Those Beach Treats
While at the beach you could hit up every shop nearby for some food or beverages but who really wants to move during a lazy beach day? Just pack a cooler and save yourself some time and money. Plus, it’s always a good idea to bring one on that pontoon boat rental.
Where the heck did coolers come about anywho?
Long before any form of the modern cooler, some barrels would transport food from place to place or even just feed passengers on long voyages. Of course, these barrels were missing the key ingredient to regulating temperature, they were not insular.
A farmer named Thomas Moore was stuck with the job of transporting his homemade butter to the local market before it went bad.
This circumstance brought on the invention of an oval tub that he called the refrigeratory.
The tub consisted of cedarwood, with a rectangular tin box inside with ice on top. As an added way to make things weird, or just more insular, he would then line the box with rabbit fur to keep the ice from melting.
The entire concept was pretty clever and way before his time.
When Thomas Jefferson, yes the president, caught word of this, he wanted one for himself to put meat, butter, and even ice cream in!
In 1944, Dow Chemical invented Styrofoam, which as you may already know is a fantastic tool for insulation.
In 1953, Richard C. Laramy patented the Portable Ice Chest which used Styrofoam to keep things cool. Laramy’s company, Queen Stove Works, was sold shortly after, and their pattern was given to the Coleman company.
Colemans’ original coolers were made with galvanized steel, can you imagine trekking around the beach with that?
Thankfully, Coleman switched to plastic and modern-day coolers took off from there!
It’s 2023 and we’ve had a few years to get our cooler manufacturing together.
With so many options, which one should you choose?
What better investment than in one of the original inventors of coolers?
The Coleman 62 Qt Xtreme Rolling Cooler is an upgraded version of a classic.
Why this cooler?
It can hold up to 95 cans, stays cool for up to 5 days, and has wheels.
This, paired with affordability and you have yourself a winner.
Roll on out with your new chest full of treats and save money on costly beach vendors.
Destin Must Pack: Beach Protection
Again, we’re in the sunshine state so there will be a lot of sun.
With the sun comes sunburn and there’s nothing more tragic than trying to enjoy yourself with a painful tint of red on your skin.
The feeling and appearance are enough to want to grab yourself some sunscreen but then there are of course the more serious repercussions like skin cancer.
Needless to say, we’re glad the invention of sunscreen is here, but how did it get here?
The initial form wasn’t as luxurious as what we know today.
In 1944, Benjamin Green, a pharmacist, used an oily red veterinary petrolatum as protection between him and UV rays, he shared this goop with soldiers in World War II.
In 1945, Green mixed this oily petroleum goop with coconut oil, making it a little more pleasant to apply, he called it Coppertone Suntan Cream.
If you’re familiar with sunscreen you might have seen the infamous Coppertone girl, the illustration was drawn by Joyce Ballantyne, and the child drawn was her daughter. That illustration stood the test of time, still living on to this day.
It wasn’t until the 1970s that Piz Buin came out with sunscreen that provided ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) filters.
Then in 1978, the FDA decided to get involved and proposed to regulate sunscreen with a safety standard.
It took until 1988 for the FDA to approve the ingredient in sunscreen that gives you UV protection, before this date, there was only UVB protection available.
What’s the difference?
UVB protects you from sunburn while UVA protects you from skin cancer and aging.
While for many years distributors could tell you that their sunscreen had the ingredient that provided UV protection, it took many more years for the FDA to decide on a guideline that would show just how effective their protection was, all the way until 2011.
In 2022, the FDA came up with even more requirements, making our sunscreen now safer than ever.
Being that sunscreen is so important, which one should you buy?
Hawaiian Tropic Island Sport Sunscreen Spray is listed as number one.
Why?
For starters, this sunscreen is an easy application, spray on and beach on!
Second, the product doesn’t leave that awkward sunscreen residue.
What’s more, this sunscreen spray is both water and sweat resistant for 80 minutes!
And where it’s hot, you know you’ll be sweating.
Lastly and most importantly, this sunscreen is expert-approved at 30 SPF and does not carry the chemical ingredients that the FDA among other studies have stated to be dangerous.
Get out there and play in the sun with the peace of mind that you’re protected.