When it comes to summer and the beach, there's one thing that constantly annoys me: sand sticking to sunscreen-ed skin like flour to a milk-and-egg-soaked chicken. But lucky for me, I know a few ingenious ways to get sand off of you or your kids.

Here are a few simple tricks that work.

1. Pack talcum powder in your beach bag (if you loathe the smell of baby powder, Burt's Bees Dusting Powder smells -- and works -- great) and sprinkle everywhere sand hides, using a towel to wipe off the sand and powder. You'll find talcum powder absorbs any moisture while causing the sand to sweep right off the skin. This method works incredibly well with diapers and babies, too.

1. You can use dry sand to scrub off wet sand. Simply take yourself or your kids to an area of the beach where the sand is dry, and run your feet back and forth in the dry sand. You can make a game of it. Then take a handful of dry sand and rub it all over the wet spots. Voila!
2. Bring along big gallon jug of water and a small bathtub. At the end of your beach day, fill the tub with water and create a footbath for everyone. In the sandy feet go, out come clean feet.
3. Once home, strip the sandy clothes outside of the house and lay them -- and beach towels and blankets -- out to dry. Never throw sandy, wet clothes in the washing machine. Dry clothes and towels are much easier to deal with when it comes to sand. Just give everything a few shakes and the dry sand comes right off.
4. To keep sand out of the house, make a pouch out of flannel and fill it with corn starch, tie the top and then use the pouch to wipe off sand from floors and surfaces. Corn starch, like talcum powder, quickly whisks away sand.

1. To get sand off your face, pat talcum powder on your forehead and brush it downward to cheeks, nose and chin. Sand will slide right off.
2. To get sand out of hair, sprinkle cornstarch or baby powder on your crown and roots and massage it in, then turn head upside down and shake.
3. One mom I know swears by her lice comb to get sand out of her children's hair. She says it works better than regular brushes.

Baby powder is genius. I use it when I'm out of my favorite dry shampoo to soak up oils on the days I don't wash my hair. I also use it to texturize my hair when I want more body and it works brilliantly after a haircut or trim to whisk away the cut hair that sticks to skin.