If you have ever tried to prepare yourself for a day out with your toddler you know the difficulty – lots of things to remember and then getting them in a bag in some sort of organised state. Which then usually only remains that ordered way for the 2 minutes following you packing it and then it falls into a state of chaos as soon as you need one thing out of it!
So what do you do?
This post will help you to get a system that should mean you can put your hands on exactly what you need when you need it and keep little ones satisfied which equals you not pulling your hair out!
The best method I found was separating things into 4 broad categories:
1. Changing items (nappies, wipes, nappy bags, nappy cream)
Absolute Essentials, useful to have separated so that you can just grab this and go off to change your little one when needed.
2. Food and Snack Items (bib, cutlery, snack box*)
Whether going out for lunch or just out for the day these are always useful to have in the bag.
Whilst on the subject of a snackbox, I cannot live without my bento box (from monbento – www.monbento.co.uk)
3. Spare Clothes
I never go anywhere without a set.
I find this useful, not just for accidents from spillages but also it gives the freedom for him to get involved a bit more without me having to worry about him getting dirty.
4. Toys
Some essentials to keep him occupied.
Should we be anywhere requiring a wait or amusing him whilst we wait for food if we are out for lunch.
If you do basic home sewing it is really easy to run up a few cloth bags that can be used to keep these items in their rightful place. If you would like instructions on these see the blog post here which shows you how to make these. I used some different fabrics which made sense to me for each of the contents in the bags.
If a sewing machine is a foreign object to you, how about using old clothing bags instead or you can pick up some inexpensive cotton drawstring bags and draw an image or write your labels on them.
Fun fabrics (especially for the toy bag) means toddlers can get involved by grabbing the right bag as they come to recognise which one is needed!
With these in tow you are ready to set off for the day without worrying that you will be spending half of your time rummaging around in your bag whilst still not able to put your hands on exactly the very item you are looking for.
Enjoy your day out!!!
