Most of what you need is food, and that comes out of the planner as a shopping list. This is the rest of it: the things people wish somebody had told them to buy.
For the prep night
The evening the prep starts is the part people are least ready for. These are the things that make it less unpleasant.
Extra toilet paper and wipes
The prep is hard on you. Wet wipes are kinder than dry paper by the end of the evening.
Flushable wipes The obvious one. Buy more than you think.
Unscented baby wipes No fragrance, which by hour three you will care about.
A peri bottle From the maternity aisle, and the quiet favorite of everyone who has tried one.
Barrier cream or petroleum jelly
Applied before you start, not after. It is the difference between uncomfortable and raw.
Vaseline The OG. Been doing this since 1872 and has not needed to change.
Aquaphor Designed for babies. You are, for one evening, in a broadly similar situation.
A zinc oxide cream The heavy artillery. Thicker, stays put, worth it if the prep is a long one.
A big water bottle
Clear liquid day is a volume problem more than a taste problem. A marked bottle turns it into a number you can hit rather than a day of vague sipping.
One with time markers Faintly patronizing, genuinely effective when you have to get liquid down all day.
An insulated one Cold is the single best thing you can do to anything you have to drink this week.
One with a straw lid A straw means less of it touches your tongue. This turns out to matter a lot.
A small desk fan
The prep makes a lot of people clammy and hot, in a small room, for several hours. This is the one nobody thinks to mention.
Handheld Costs almost nothing and you will use it again in August.
Around your neck Hands free, which matters when both of yours are busy.
A desk fan Set it on the cistern and forget about it.
Reusable straws
A straw past the tongue means less of the prep tastes like anything. Chilling it does the rest.
Silicone Soft, bendy, forgiving on the teeth.
Stainless Gets cold along with the drink, which helps.
Plain paper ones Disposable, and you are not going to want to wash anything that night.
An eye mask
For the nap afterward, and for trying to sleep in a lit bathroom on the worst night.
A plain silk one The cheap luxury. Treat yourself, the week is bad enough.
A weighted one Gentle pressure, surprisingly good for a wired brain at 2am.
A cooling gel one Goes in the freezer. Pairs well with the fan.
Wear, or bring to change into
You will be bloated afterward and moving slowly, so nothing that fastens or has to be tied.
Loose, comfortable clothes
The air used during the procedure leaves most people bloated for a few hours, so anything tight around the middle is uncomfortable.
Sweatpants No waistband to regret. The whole brief.
A robe For prep night, when getting dressed again is not worth it.
Wide leg lounge pants Looks like real clothes, behaves like pajamas.
Warm socks
Procedure rooms are kept cold, and a gown does not help.
Fuzzy ones Maximum comfort, zero dignity, correct choice.
Wool ones If you want something you will keep wearing afterward.
Grippy hospital socks The ones they give you, except yours and better.
Shoes you can slip on
Sedation makes laces more difficult than they should be on the way out.
For the waiting
Visits run to a couple of hours between checking in, the procedure, and recovery.
A long charging cable
Waiting room outlets are never next to the chairs, and a short cable means sitting on the floor by the wall.
Cheap wired earbuds Nothing to charge, nothing to lose, a few dollars.
AirPods Pro Noise canceling, which is the whole point in a waiting room.
Bone conduction Sits outside the ear, so you still hear your name called.
Quietly worth having
Small things, none of them obvious until you are already there without them.
Chapstick
A day of clear liquids is drying, and lips notice first.
Vaseline lip therapy Same tub as the other job, smaller.
Aquaphor lip repair Heavier, and the one people get evangelical about.
Burt's Bees The one already in a drawer somewhere in your house.
A spare pair of underwear
This is rarely mentioned and occasionally needed.
A tote bag
You leave with discharge paperwork, your clothes, and whatever you brought, usually in a plastic bag someone hands you. A tote is one less thing to juggle while sedated.
What is not on this list
Your prep kit, because it is prescribed and the brand is your doctor's
decision, not a shopping choice. And the electrolyte drink, because this
site says it does real work during the prep, and anything it makes a claim
like that about should not also be earning it money.
The food is a separate matter. Pick your meals in the planner and it
builds the shopping list for you, in the quantities you actually need.
Where these came from
Everything here is on the list because somebody needs it during a
colonoscopy prep, not because it earns anything. Nothing on this page has
been tested by us, and where three options are given they are the obvious
three rather than a verdict: Vaseline really has been doing this since
1872, and that is a fact rather than a recommendation.
Where the specific product genuinely matters, which is mostly the
electronics, it says so and points at people who do test things.