Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Travel Boxes

I don't know about you, but now that we've got a little one again,  whenever I leave the house my purse looks like this! Even if it's just a quick trip to the post office. Ugh... I load it up every time I leave the house only to have half of the contents remain in the car and stroller anyway.


So, here's my genius idea! C is starting to outgrow and get bored with some of his smaller 'baby' toys.  I was am really having a hard timing packing them away parting with them. I guess this mama is not quite ready to move onto the next phase yet. So, I have been wracking my brain to figure out a way to put them to good use. I think I've figured it out. After seeing a couple of posts from a few good blogging buddies I was inspired!

I decided to take some empty baby wipes cases, which the babycakes loves to play with anyway, and repurpose them. I filled them with a variety of the small toys in question and gave them a new home in the car. This is working fabulously!! He still finds them interesting when they are the only things to play with lol! We just have so much at home I guess they get overlooked when tossed in with his other toys. This gives them new life. Everything has a place, and I no longer have to stuff my purse before leaving the house.  The travel boxes permanently reside in the car so no more lugging toys back and forth! As C gets older I'll have to change out the contents of the boxes a bit but for now it's perfect.  The old toys are put to good use, C is entertained in the car and I didn't have to part with that piece of his babyhood yet. Everyone is happy, including my overstuffed purse... (at least for now).



Some of what I put in the boxes includes various teething rings, small books, small stuffed animals, rattles,  small balls, and finger puppets. I still have a bin full of more of these types of things in the house so if he starts to get bored with any of the boxes I can easily rotate the contents.

I would be remiss not to share with you the links I gained inspiration from....

  1. My good friend Amanda over at Dirt & Boogers recently did a great post on Getting Your Car Organized. It is a MUST READ! You won't believe the amount of tips she's packed into one post.
  2. Famiglia & Seoul recently made Travel Sensory Bins  (which I love)! They would be fantastic if your child is a little older than my C.
  3. And we must not forget the  'big kids' (of which we have three).  All For the Boys has some great ideas for Travel Bags for the older ones. I've already got a couple of her suggested items in my amazon shopping cart ;)


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40 comments:

  1. I was just thinking about this on the way to play group this morning! A great post...
    Liz

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  2. This is genius! Love it. My little guy just turned 7 months, so your posts are always so perfectly timed :) we are going to be trying the bubble discovery bowl this week, and maybe the sensory bag for babies...though he is still in the "everything in the mouth" phase right now.

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    1. Thanks Jenn! That's so funny you are trailing a month behind us. Too cute, works out perfectly for you though. It's hard when they are in the mouthing stage. The bubble bowl is great though!

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    2. We have a lot of the same toys too! But I suppose everyone has a raspberry nubby, baby Einstein balls, etc. I cannot wait to do the letter links with the jumbo shells, maybe in a month or so we will try that. Right now we are doing sensory bottles and he seems to really love them. I'm always super excited when you have a new post :)

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    3. Aw Jenn you are too sweet. You have made my day with that last comment :) Thank you so much!!

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  3. This is a great idea. I have a billion of those wipes tubs that I can't throw out but don't know what to do with. I think I need one for snacks too because those take up an awful lot of room in my purse too!

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    1. Snacks! Why didn't I think of that? You are genius Lorie! Thanks for stopping by :)

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  4. What a wonderful idea! I am going to put together something like this for my girls (2.5 & 5.5). I like the idea of having it stay in the car instead of lugging our "car backpack" each time. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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    1. Thanks Melissa! Glad you stopped by :) thanks for saying hi :)

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  5. Love this idea! So great! Isn't it funny what they find interesting when there's nothing else to distract them? Thanks for linking up!

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  6. I love this idea! My kids really enjoy playing with our baby toys :)

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  7. Yes, a great idea! What a great wipe case repurpose. Pinned :)

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    1. Thank you! I was happy to find a use for them finally.

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  8. What a great way to make old toys fun again!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Rebekah. Yes, I'm glad I didn't have to part with them yet.

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  9. Fabulous idea! I realized as we were driving to the other side of town today that I hadn't brought any toys for my VERY busy 17 month old. She just chatted away to herself but I realized I needed toys for her. This is a great idea!! Thank you! And thanks for the links at the end of the post.

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    1. Thanks for saying so Mandi :) I love having these in the car now! It's one less thing I have to think about when I'm just running out to the grocery store or something.

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  10. This is a great idea! I actually think these would be great for my 3 year old too when going to a restaurant! Definitely great for my baby! :) Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Oh, good idea with the restaurant thing. I will have to remember that one! Thanks for stopping by :)

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  11. Great re-purposing of wipes boxes! And a good way to stretch those toys a little while longer!

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    1. Thanks Tricia :) Yes, I was happy to not have to part with them yet and he's loving them in the car. We just needed a change up that's all.

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  12. Great ideas. I wonder how I could do this {somewhat} with my older kids. Older kids generally mean bigger items. We usually have one bag that is for the car when we go on trips {long trips}. Perhaps things that have sat on a shelf or in a closet for awhile would be good for this since we don't do long trips but once or twice a year.
    Good post :) Have a great weekend.
    Hopping over from TGIF Linky.

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    1. Thank you! Yea, big kids are harder. My older kids only want to play their DS in the car anyway. If you check the links at the bottom of the post. All For the Boys has a great post about what she takes in the car for her older kids to keep them busy!

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  13. Great idea. Thanks for sharing the links, especially the one for older kids.

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    1. Thank you Keitha and thanks for stopping by. Yes, I love the ideas from All For the Boys for the older ones.

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  14. Love the idea of putting things like that in a box because I usually just throw items like that in my purse, which can get messy and makes things hard to find.

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    1. You know it! That's exactly why I did this. It's working out so well. Every time we get in the car I set one of the boxes in his lap and he's entertained for the entire ride. It's awesome! Wishing I had done it sooner :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  15. I love re-purposing and organizing things! Great job! Stopping by from the TGIF Linky Party. :)

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    1. Thanks Erika! I was excited to find a use for all those wipes cases. Thanks for stopping by!

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  16. So wish I had thought of that when my boys were younger...they're on to wanting to drag bigger things (and noisier things) to the car every time we go somewhere now...sure wish I had nipped that in the bud when it started by doing something like this!

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    1. Thanks Tricia! And thanks for stopping by and saying hi :)

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  17. This is a fantastic idea! I will be making some travel boxes because my pocketbook is always overflowing with toys, and parts of toys. Thanks for sharing this clever organizational tip at the Weekly Kid's Co-op

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    1. Thanks Didi! Yes, as you can tell, my purse was too lol. It had to stop!

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  18. This is a great idea! We have something that we do similar to this with gallon ziplock bags. Thank you for sharing this on Saturday Show and Tell. I hope you'll be back this week.
    -Mackenzie
    http://www.cheeriosandlattes.com

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    1. Thanks Mackenzie. I used to use ziplock bags for the bigger kids when we went on long road trips. With the babe I was starting to have an abundance of wipe cases so this worked beautifully. He can balance them on his lap in the car too.

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  19. What a great idea!! Wish I had done it when she was younger. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!! I hope you are having an amazing week!

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