I often visualize myself as a delightful Mary Poppins with rosy cheeks and, thankfully, no warts—just a tad more plump. I usually carry an oversized couture satchel, akin to a carpet bag, filled with various objects to keep my children’s minds and hands busy when we are out and about. Only motherhood can redefine the contents of a woman’s handbag from necessities like department store lipstick and tiny tubes of fragrant hand cream to dollar-store trinkets that amaze and entertain little ones for hours.
Now that I’m exiting the toddler and grade school years with my younger children and will soon be heading into the middle, high school and young married years of my oldest children, I can't help but ponder the 22 years of sanity saving entertainment my handbag has bestowed upon my motherhood. Let me dive in and share my bag of tricks—you may find something that will save a little sanity as you travel through parenting!
Creativity and engagement cannot be overemphasized enough with our children, especially since those traits seem to be seeping out of society. Just look around at restaurants, community events and even doctor offices, and you will see robotic children engrossed in their handheld devices, utterly unaware of what’s happening around them. Awareness is an attribute that starts with parents’ creating an environment and providing tools that foster a sense of independence and creativity. Rather than relying on battery-powered gadgets to babysit our children, imagine the delight of instead of engaging them in the moment and helping them connect to the community and world around them. I ran across this quote by Albert Einstein, and I love his description of imagination: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” Let us encourage our children to encircle the world with their creativity!
My husband and I would often pack up our firstborn in her Sherpa coat and Land’s End gloves, tuck her in ever so snugly in her car seat and head out to date night—the three of us. We didn’t have many childcare options, so we just took her with us everywhere. I found myself relying on organization and preparation, so we could enjoy our outings together as a family and not feel stressed or confined to home. Organically, over the years, I refined my skills as the rosy-cheeked but plump Mary Poppins, always ready to meet the challenge of entertaining my young ones with pipe cleaners, tiny snack-sized bags of play-dough and plastic googly eyes, all tucked away in recycled breast milk storage bags that I repurposed when I was through nursing.
So what can you pull out of your couture bag to provide endless moments of creativity and entertainment for your little ones, as well as sanity and preparedness for yourself?
- Snack-size Ziploc bags are perfect for small amounts of play-dough. You can find plastic cookie cutters or small play-dough tools at thrift stores or in the dollar section at Target to include for motor skill practice. We made many tiny play-dough snowmen and pizzas while we waited for dinner at restaurants!
- Pipe cleaners, googly eyes and Wikki Stix are great manipulatives for fine motor skill play and are great additions to kids’ play-dough creations—plus they’re easy to store in Ziplocs or reusable Stasher bags.
- Snacks are imperative! Food can be a lifesaver at a doctor office or a family reunion. Stasher bags are fantastic for no-fail snack icons like Goldfish, Sun-Maid raisins or Annie’s Building Block fruit snacks. Throw in a Larabar for yourself for an afternoon pick-me-up and some sugar-free peppermint gum because, well, peppermint is great for when you might not feel up to par.
- Speaking of that, peppermint, lavender and lemon essential oils have been a must for me as a mom. Dabbed on my temples or wrists, peppermint always calmed me down when I was stressed or needed an afternoon pick-me-up. It kept headaches at bay, and a drop or two was refreshing in my water bottle!
- Reuse prescription bottles and pack them full of crayons for coloring and tic-tac-toe games. No one likes a broken crayon, and those plastic bottles are also great to keep them from spilling all over your bag. I also like to pick up miniature notepads in the dollar section to have on hand.
- I still have the little 4x6 photo album I made years ago for my toddlers. I picked one up at a hobby store and inserted pictures I had printed of Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy, Daddy and other family members and pets for my little ones to look at when we were in waiting rooms or at dinner. They loved it! Now, you can have these little books made at Shutterfly, Snapfish, Walgreens or Vistaprint.
- Believe it or not, dog poop bags are great for storing poopy diapers and tiny clothing items marred by blowouts and dining messes! They conceal the smell well and come on little portable rolls you can clip on your bag.
- Stash a larger wet bag or two to have on hand for bigger blowouts and wet clothes to keep your actual handbag dry. I loved having a wet bag for emergencies!
- Breast milk storage bags are also great for emergency items like bandages, eye drops, nail files, rubber bands and safety pins. Their sturdy seal and elongated shape also make them great for storing snacks and baby spoons!
- Make sure you have an emergency Ziploc with gauze pads, a thermometer, rubbing alcohol pads, tweezers, bandages, bobby pins, baby wipes, pads and an extra pair of undies for Mom and a Clorox wipe or two.
- I’ve had a toddler toothbrush tucked away in my bag for those little ones who are teething or just want to chew on something. I have even carried a wide-mouth water bottle and kept it full of ice with a teething toy or toothbrush tucked inside to soothe sore gums!
- Travel toothbrush holders are great for storing plastic straws for on the go because we all know those climate-friendly paper straws don’t hold up to little ones who aren’t yet drinking from a cup.
- A travel wipe box makes great storage to hold Legos, small puzzles, colored pencils and little sheets of paper to keep little ones entertained.
- Cotton muslin blankets had just started to become popular when I had my second baby 20 years ago. I still have one in my bag to this day. They are thin, breathable and multipurpose—use one as a nursing cover, stroller cover, changing pad cover, swaddler for Baby or draped over your own shoulders poolside. They roll tightly and barely take up space in your bag. Not to mention, we played lots of peekaboo and made tabletop tents with muslin blankets.
It doesn’t take a lot to keep tiny hands and minds busy. Just a little preparation from Mom and Dad can be a sanity saver for all in the long run. Everyone can have a little magic in their bags alongside their tube of fragrant hand cream and tube of lipstick!
Elizabeth Hammond is a rosy-cheeked, red lipstick-wearing mama of six who has a vast collection of couture carpet bags filled with magical tricks and her latest knitting project.