innobaby Packin' SMART (Butterfly Series)

Anyone that has experienced the joy (not!!) of having a bag of Goldfish crackers empty and crush itself in the bottom of their purse or diaper bag needs a better way to transport crumbly snacks from point A to point B. The innobaby Packin' SMART is a clear BPA-free plastic contraption that is sold as a formula dispenser, but it can hold up to five servings (1/3 cup each) of any snack that is small enough to fit into an oval container about the size of your palm.

Each container has an integrated funnel shaped lid (funnel presumably for easy filling formula powder into the containers, inverted funnel for the lid) and it snaps to the one above and below, making a stack as tall or short as you need. The set also comes with a coloured base and top with built in handle which neatly packs the whole thing into a super portable, spill-resistant snack transporter. The individual section lids have a hole in them but this is blocked off by the lid or container above it. This little hole also is great for shaking a couple of snacks out into little hands, or for easily dispensing formula powder into a waiting bottle.

I love being able to put a couple of snacks in for my son, and some for me, and not have to dig for them in my bag or have to carry multiple containers. The only thing I would not recommend is putting any sort of chocolate chips into it, at least not in the summer when they can easily melt in the heat and make a real mess of the container they are in. The innobaby Packin' SMART can go in the dishwasher (top rack), and is built strongly so it will resist any accidental dropping by you, hubby, or child.

If you would like to learn more, go visit their website at http://www.innobaby.com. They are about $20 each, which isn't cheap, but if you think about it, it's cheaper than buying a zillion sandwich bags for snacks, and then ending up with crushed snacks and crumbs in your purse - not to mention the waste that ends up in our landfills from so many disposable packages.

Review: Snuggy Baby Wetbag (Large)

When we cloth diapered my son, we only did it when it was convenient.  Whenever we left the house, we put him in disposable diapers.  Overnight?  Disposables.  Naptime?  You guessed it - disposables.  When we decided to cloth diaper our daughter, I wanted to be able to use them all the time.  I plan to put up a separate set of posts around the cloth diapers we use, so I won't get into those details now.  One of the things that makes cloth diapering outside of the home possible is a good wetbag.  It will allow you to carry home soiled diapers without having them leak or smell or otherwise contaminate your diaper bag or the things in it.  It's washable and reusable, so much better than a plastic bag.

I purchased two Snuggy Baby wetbags from one of the popular baby product deal sites (I can't remember which one, so I'm not going to name any of them here) quite some time ago.  We first used them for my son's swim lessons - the large size bag (14" wide x 17" tall) is the perfect size to hold his swim trunks, a towel, and my flip flops (bare feet on pool deck = ew, gross!).  Now that my daughter is here, I keep one in my diaper bag at all times to hold soiled diapers.

They come in three sizes - the Medium wetbag (12"x11"), the Large wetbag (14"x17"), and the XL hanging diaper pail (22"x28").  On Amazon the "Large" wetbag is named "XL Wet Bag" which is a touch confusing, but not Snuggy Baby's fault, I'm sure!  Just be aware of that if you intend to buy one.

The Snuggy Baby wetbags are made of 2 layers of fabric, cotton print (gorgeous!) on the outside, and white PUL on the inside (waterproof!).  They are sewn in such a way to make them completely waterproof.  The tops are zippered to ensure no messes can escape.  The Large size bags even have a nice 6" handle of sorts that can be snapped around something (doorknob, stroller handle, your wrist) which can be very handy (like when you're using it as a makeshift diaper pail while visiting Grandma).

The wetbags can be put in the wash with your diapers if needed, however I've found that since they are waterproof, a simple rinse of the inside layer, and then turning the bag inside out to dry, is sufficient to keep it clean & odor free.  I did wash the wetbag once and made the mistake of leaving the zipper open and turning it inside out... the pulling and agitating in my washer caused the outside cotton layer to separate from the zipper about 2"...  Thankfully this a) did not affect the bag's useability and b) was super easy to fix with my somewhat OK mending skills.  I would recommend if you are going to wash the bags in your top loading washer, that you do them on a delicate cycle, and not with the soak-wash-rinse-rinse process that the rest of your diapers go through.  I always line dry my wetbags, though the website says you can occasionally put them in the dryer without harming them.

I find the regular price on these wetbags to be quite high (considering you can get some cheap ones for under $10), however, they have a lot of beautiful prints to choose from, the snap-on handle is very convenient, and the size ranges they offer are good to cover just about every need you might have for a wetbag.  Now if you are lucky and can find them on a deal site, good for you!  Buy two!

Review: Envirosax Designer Reusable Bags

I first developed a crush on Envirosax Designer Reusable Bags several years ago, in a store named Faces on a walk down Main Street while visiting Northampton, MA, USA.  I purchased one single bag, one of the now discontinued Planet Green series.  I found myself using it all the time - it was sturdy, folded up to a very compact size, and was strong enough to hold a fair amount of groceries.  One day, I noticed the side seam coming apart (gasp!) so the bag entered the "mending pile".  If any of you have a mending pile and a busy life, you will understand when I say that it sat there for a long time.  And I missed it!  Now, I could have probably gone and stitched the seam up again and continued to use it, but instead, I bought more of the Envirosax bags.  In fact, I went all out and purchased the entire Origami 5 bag pouch.  It was a bit like opening the floodgates - once I bought that set, I couldn't stop.  Thankfully one of my favorite deal sites, http://www.babyhalfoff.com, had a deal one day of 3 packs of Envirosax for a nicely reduced price.  So, I stocked up.  I bought bags for myself, bags for my friends, bags to give as gifts to my family members (they love them now too!)

Why do I love these bags so much?  Let me count the ways...

1. BEAUTY : There is no denying it, there are so many different colours and patterns that just about anyone will be able to find a bag (or bags) they love.  Every time I pull them out of my purse (or these days, my diaper bag) I get compliments from strangers commenting on how attractive the bags are and asking "where did you get those?"
2. STRENGTH: Other than that very first (now discontinued) bag where the stitching on a side seam started to come undone, I have not had any quality problems with the bags.  On the product website it says they can hold up to 44lbs per bag (!!!).  Now I don't think I've ever weighed them but when I fill it up at the grocery store with a bag of milk, a couple of tubs of yogurt, and enough Lean Cuisine meals to last me a week, I am usually more concerned with being able to lift the bag than I am about the bag being strong enough to hold the contents.
3. PORTABILITY: The Envirosax bags are simple to fold up, and hold together with a single snap closure.  Once folded, they are smaller than an iPhone and can easily fit into even the fullest purse/diaper bag.  I carry one or two with me everywhere I go (you never know when you're going to be needing it), and on grocery day I pack all of my bags into a little cosmetic case so that I have them all handy to hold whatever I buy.
4. VERSATILITY: On different occasions, I have used my Envirosax to hold groceries, beach toys, wet swimsuits & towels, potluck contributions, and library books.  They have doubled as wrapping paper, and have even been used as a mini blanket to sit on some damp grass (yes, they kept my bum dry and made sure my white golf skirt didn't get dirty!).
5. AWESOMENESS: In this day and age of environmental awareness, we all know about the impact that plastic bags have on our environment.  While I believe they have their place (carrying raw meat home from the grocery store, for one), I love that I have drastically reduced my family's usage of plastic bags by having Envirosax handy all the time.  They can be washed and dried so that if they get grubby, that's OK!  In fact it's good to regularly wash bags in which you carry food, in case of any leaky packages or wet/muddy produce.   It's recommended to handwash and line-dry the bags, though I always wash mine on my machine's delicate cycle and then line dry, and they seem to be holding up just fine.

In case it isn't obvious from this post, I think you should go out and get some of these bags for yourself if you don't already have any.  They are priced about $9 per bag, or $40 for a set of 5, which seems like a bit of cash, but they are definitely worth it for all the different uses they have and how long they last.  Check out the current selection at http://www.envirosax.ca (Canada) or http://www.envirosax.com (USA)