Vacation Outfits for Women on a Budget but Without Sacrificing Style!

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Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Walmart and LTK. All opinions are 100% my own. Find our disclosure policy here for more information. 

Vacation Outfits for Women on a Budget but Without Sacrificing Style!

We love to travel, especially to warm weather destinations as we near summer. Once I have paid for vacation though, I do not always want to spend too much more on clothing to pack for my trip. I do still want some fun new outfits I can easily pack though, and feel great in them on my trip. Plus, I travel light. A carry on sized suitcase is all I own, as I never check baggage. So that means I have very little room to get everytihng packed in there, so have to be intentional about everything I pack for a getaway. When traveling there are a few things I look for in outfits to bring with me. Here are things I look for in the perfect vacation outfits, as well as some items I found for a recent trip that fit the bill for all of those points too.

Here are some things I look for when choosing great travel & vacation outfits:

• Clothing that is not bulky, so it is easy to pack.
• Items that I can pack that do not wrinkle easily (making them great options to pack and wear without ironing).
• Pieces that are versatile and would work in more than one situation while traveling (ie, I can wear them out in the day for an excursion, but they can also transition into the evening for a nice dinner out).
• Outfits that are affordable, since the vacation itself has already cost me enough.
• Things that would transition back into my regular closet at home, so they really would be a great value in general.

Walmart is my first stop when I am looking to find new vacation outfits that hit all of the points listed above. You can find some of my favorite summer brands on Walmart that I like to look for too, to narrow things down. Walmart has some fun and trendy brands for summer items, and they are always a great price. I love that it is a one stop option too. I can find my outfits, shoes, and accessories all on Walmart at the same time. So not only does it save me money, but also time.

Here are a some outfits I recently purchased on Walmart for my latest trip, that fit the bill on all those points listed above. These are especially perfect for beach vacation outfits if you are looking for some things along those lines, but they really can work for many summer vacation outfits.

Summer Dresses

Summer dresses are one of my favorite items to pack for vacation outfits. They are easy to pack and throw on, as well as trendy and comfortable. It is one item (instead of the usualy two required to creat an outfit, keeping things simple. Dresses are items that can often easily transition from daytime to evening wear too, if you need them to do double duty.

I found this No Boundaries off the shoulder ruffle dress in black that I thought would be perfect for a Carribean cruise we had planned. It was great because it did not need any ironing, and it was cool enough to wear during some of our island stops. Plus, I could dress it up in the evening for a dinner on the cruise ship.

One thing I like to do is wear these lace bralettes when I find items with the thinner straps, only because I prefer a more substantial strap. You can see how that looks in the first picture above, or I show you how it looks with just the spagetti straps it comes with in the next picture where I am sitting down, so you can choose what works best for you.

This dress packed really well (the fabric is textured so I did not really have to worry about wrinkles. It has spagetti straps, and a lace off the shoulder look, with a ruffle down the front and slit up one side. I added a Panama hat for daytime wear, and some heals and jewelry to dress it up for the evenings. I love that it did double duty on my trip and was a perfect summer vacation outfit.

I also grabbed this Madden Smocked Dress with the back cut out for this trip too. It comes in this color, as well a denim blue color option.

This one was perfect to wear out in the sunshine, as well as for casual evenings out listening to music on the cruise ship.

The detail on the back was my favorite part of this dress. It is fun and flirty with the ruffled sleeves and back cut out, and easy to throw on and go for the day.

Beach Wear

Beach wear is a must for beach vacation outfits. Although they are some of the smallest items you might be packing, they can cost the most. I recently shared how much I love this Cupshe Swimsuit here, and it is under $35 which I thought was a great deal. I paired it with this Cupshe Swim Cover, that I loved to use both at the pools and on the beaches.

Here are some of my favorite picks!

Plus, find a number of other swimsuit styles as well, for the entire family, in the Swim Shop here, from bikinis to one pieces, and all at some great low prices to choose from!

My teen in her black bikini top, with these Levi cuttoffs that are under $20 here. Plus, she kept taking the Panama hat I packed for me – ha! Good thing I packed two sun hats for this trip.

Summer Accessories

I love to grab fun vacation accessories on Walmart. They are so affordable, and have a variety of options. It is also a go to spot for my teenagers to grab some items to accessorize their summer wardrobes at affordable prices too.

For this trip, I grabbed this Striped Straw Panama Hat in black (it comes in straw color too). It was only $8.97, and honestly I should have grabbed two of them as one of my teens kept stealing it to keep the sun out of her face! I also brought my favorite $5 floppy hat. I love hats on trips to provide protection from the sun, and to cover up a bad hair day – ha! Plus, I nest one hat inside the other when packing them, then I fill the inside of the hat with rolled tank tops and tees, so it does not take up a ton of room (it is about as easy to pack two as it is to pack one, when you do it like that).

The other hat you see me wearing above is this floppy hat I have shared before on the blog (it is only $5, really!). Another fun option is this black Fedora for only $6.50 right now. For these prices, I can afford to buy one of each (so I still have something to wear when one of my teens takes it from me).

For jewelry for this trip I loved all of the tourquouise options. I knew I was going to want to buy some pieces in areas I traveled too, and thought some of these items would pair well with things I might find on my trip – and they did. I am wearing the bracelets, and earrings, and loved how they looked for this getaway. Some of the pieces I grabbed or loved (all for under $7) are shown in this collection above.

Travel Outfits

Picking an outfit for the travel days is always an important part of packing. I love to find easy, comfortable pieces that I can layer. Living in the Pacific Northwest, I am often traveling to a climate that is warmer than where I am leaving from. So I will need to have some warmer items to get on the plane, but will often want to take that off once I arrive in the warmer climate. This is also a great way to make sure I have something warm to throw on for the evenings, without having to pack something bulky in my bag. For this trip I decided on:

• This Time and Tru High Low V Neck Tank in Ant/Nude color (it is so soft and light – very comfy! Plus it is only $7.98 (and lots of colors to pick from).
• These Sofia Jeans Women’s Petal Hem Palazzo Pants in black (they were very comfy so travel well, but I could also wear out in the evenings).
• And a Time and Tru Women’s Crewneck Sweatshirt with High-Low Hem in a natural color (they are a great price in these 2 pack options).

All three of these pieces made a great travel outfit, because they were a) comfy and b) they all did double duty (I could wear them with other things to make a new outfit on the trip).

These Time and Tru Ballet Flats for ust $10.98 are perfect for travel as well. They take up little room when packing, and are verstatile (can wear them with many different outfits).

I also like these No Boundaries Platform Flip Flops for just $13.98 (I am wearing those with the black dress above). They add a little bit of height if you need that for an outfit, but are casual enough to wear on the beach if you want to. They also are pretty light to pack, which is a big plus for me.

You can shop all of the items for this outfit in our LTK shop here (or click on the item in the image above to take you to where we found it on Walmart)!