Dance Mom Survival Guide: The Inside Scoop on Competition Travel

If you know, you know.

Early call times. Late awards. Lashes on the bathroom counter. A hotel room that looks like a costume shop exploded.

Welcome to life as a dance mom, where your weekends are booked six months out, your camera roll is 90% buns and backstage mirrors, and your car quietly becomes the most reliable member of the team.

This is not a Pinterest packing list. This is the real, city-girl-turned-dance-mom survival guide.

The Hardest Part Isn’t the Dancing — It’s the Schedule

Everyone thinks the chaos is costumes and hair.

It’s not.

It’s the whiplash between:

6:00am call times
10:30pm awards
and a kid who still has schoolwork due Monday morning.

Real takeaway for moms:
Build the weekend around your family’s stamina — not just the studio schedule.

If you can arrive as late as possible and leave immediately after your last routine…do it.
Your tween’s mood (and your coffee intake) will improve dramatically.

Book the Hotel for the Mom, Not the Dancer

This is your first real dance-mom upgrade.

You are not booking for a cute girls’ weekend.
You are booking for:

curling irons
fake lashes
emergency sewing
and at least one emotional spiral over a bun.

What actually matters:

real counter space
good lighting
elevator access
a fridge
blackout curtains

Skip:

tiny boutique rooms
moody lighting
one lonely outlet hiding behind the bed

Trust me. You will feel this decision at 5:12am.

Your Car Is the Real Headquarters

On competition weekends, our car becomes a locker room, snack bar, glam station, changing room and post-awards therapy office.

Our Hyundai has quietly become one of the real MVPs of dance season.

Not in a commercial way — in a very real-mom way:

enough cargo space for garment bags, duffels, makeup cases and a steamer
USB ports everywhere (phones, ring light, speaker…all charging at once)
smooth, quiet rides for early mornings and very late drives home
strong air conditioning (full hair and makeup is not meant for warm cars)

Real takeaway:
When you’re doing this almost every weekend, comfort and space stop being “nice.”
They become functional parenting tools.

Check out the new Palisade here.

Brody’s Dance Essentials: The Training Gear We Actually Use

Linking it all here for you on Amazon!

This is the part I get asked about most.

Not the cute bags or matching sets. The real training gear that helps your dancer stay consistent between studio days, competition weekends, and hotel-room rehearsals.

These are Brody’s true essentials — and I’ve linked our exact favorites on Amazon in this section.

Our go-to dance basics:

Proper dance shoes for each style
Having the right shoes packed, broken in, and ready before competition is non-negotiable.
Blisters and last-minute swaps are a nightmare.
A wall mounted ballet barre
This has been a total game changer for:
stretching, warm-ups, cleaning routines at home.
Turn boards / spin trainers
Perfect for quick practice without needing a full studio.
Stretch bands and flexibility tools
Easy to throw into a dance bag and actually use between routines.
A compact practice mat
Great for conditioning, core work and protecting hotel room floors when they’re marking dances.

Real takeaway for dance parents:
You do not need a full home studio.

A few smart, portable training tools help tweens and teens stay loose, confident and prepared — even during chaotic competition weekends.

Food, Hair & Emotions: The Real Survival Zone

This is where most competition weekends quietly fall apart.

Hair & makeup

Do not wing this. Someone always:

underestimates curl time
forgets foundation
or decides their bun looks “different today.”

What finally works for us:

practice the exact look at home
take photos
save them in a shared album

Less arguing. Fewer tears. Faster mornings.

Food

No one talks about how emotional food becomes on competition weekends.

Your dancer is:

nervous
overstimulated
running on adrenaline
suddenly very picky

What actually works:

familiar snacks only
protein and carbs they already eat at home
nothing experimental

I also keep a small post-performance bag in the trunk:
protein bars, fruit snacks, Drinklits electrolyte drinks (use this link for 30% off), wipes and an extra hoodie.

After they perform, the crash is real.
This bag saves everyone’s mood.

Real takeaway:
Plan food like you plan hair and costumes.
It matters more than you think.

The Backstage Reality for Tweens & Teens (and the Part I Treasure Most)

This is where the real parenting happens.

They are watching:

who wins
who places
who gets called out
who gets overlooked

It’s a lot for growing confidence and very tender self-esteem.

What I repeat often in our house:

Your job is to dance your routine well.
Your job is not to manage anyone else’s results.

That mindset matters more than trophies ever will.

And then…there’s the part no one warns you about.

The real gift of competition weekends isn’t the stage.

It’s:

car-ride playlists
hotel-room laughter
decompressing after awards
and the late-night talks that somehow only happen away from home

Especially with teens, this season moves fast.

Very fast.

Somewhere between hairspray clouds and bobby pins on the floor, you realize you’re building memories you didn’t even know you’d miss yet.

City girl takeaway:
Dance mom life is glamorous for about three minutes — and logistics for about forty-eight hours.

But with the right systems, the right gear, and a little grace for everyone (including yourself), competition weekends can actually feel fun again.

Lashes, snacks, long road trips and all.

And While We’re Away… DOGTV for the Win

Lastly, when you leave, and if you have to leave your pups like we do, DOGTV has been our go-to for keeping them company while the sitter is in and out! When the house goes quiet after the chaos, we turn it on. Instead of boredom or anxiety, there’s calm. Comfort. Something familiar playing just for them.

It doesn’t replace us, but it does help them feel settled and confident when they’re alone or with the sitter. And for busy dog parents, that peace of mind is everything.

You can download DOGTV and try it free with no credit card required. And if you’re anything like me and want full access, use my code DANI at checkout to get 20% off an annual subscription.