I’ve got a friend who is about to give birth to a baby girl so I was online searching around for baby gifts when I discovered this.

Is it a bouquet of flowers? Nope, something even cuter - a bucket of baby clothes. The Baby Bunch 0-6 Month Bucket Gift Set is filled with 100% soft cotton baby clothes wrapped with colorful wooden and paper flowers. It makes a great gift to welcome a new baby girl or for baby showers. Plus while the baby clothes are certainly useful, the bucket can also be reused as a decoration or for storage.

You can find this Baby Bunch gift set at Amazon.com.

 

Whether you’re planning on traveling by plane or car this holiday, your baby will look absolutely adorable with these teddy bear travel accessories from PB Travel. There’s Baby Bear Booties, a Baby Blanket, and a Fold & Go Diaper Changer.

Baby Travel Accessories are essential items that are often overlooked. While you’ll probably bring a diaper bag along to hold baby bottles, pacifiers, and other baby items, travel is much easier when many of those items are travel sized. Take blankets, for instance. A bulky blanket only gets in the way. A baby travel blanket made from fleece is still soft and warm but takes up less room.

PB Travel are experts in travel accessories. They make products that are fun and colorful and meet the needs of today’s travelers. By the way, the PB in PB Travel stands for personal belongings.

pb travel Baby Bear Booties	pb travel Baby Blanket	pb travel Fold & Go Diaper Changer

The retro rectangular lunchbox offers smush-protection to sandwiches but still leaves you high and dry in terms of cooling power. And you don’t even want to think about the color-battle when it comes to the basic versus Hannah Montana discussion. I mean sure Little Lindsey loves her now, but come September you’ll probably be hearing, “But Moo-oomm NOBODY likes Hannah, I NEEEED the Wizards of Waverly!!!!”

Why not circumvent the problem and go with something a little less dated, something colorful, playful and different? How about a lunch box that’s both sweet and sassy? Thanks to the folks at Built NY your kiddo can choose from four different Munchler Lunch Bag designs that range from a peppy pup to a fierce tiger.

And the fact that it zips to turn into a placemat? Just icing on the cake.

The brown bag lunch has been around forever, but the growing trend to reduce, reuse, and recycle to save our planet should have us thinking about abandoning this lunchtime staple. Sending your kids to school with a reusable lunch bag, and even taking one to work yourself can help reduce you and your family’s carbon footprints. And while you’re at it, pack sandwiches, and other items in reusable containers to further reduce your waste. 

Remember, every little bit helps!!                   

 

Traveling with young children this summer? Help them be more comfortable with travel blankets and travel pillows designed for them. The products featured below are from ETA. Not only are they sized perfectly for smaller bodies, but they also come in cute shapes including cat and dog. And at $19.99 each, they are certainly affordable.

It was perhaps one of the most daunting things I have done in my entire life. I took my little girl on a three-hour car trip, just the two of us. I spent weeks before the trip agonizing about how I was going to handle this. My little girl is very active and really loves to be the center of attention. How in the world was I going to pull this off? What would happen if we got lost? Would she scream uncontrollably as I sped down the highway desperate to get to our destination and some peace? How would she handle the fact that I could not turn around to look at her as I drove?

I am happy to report that we survived the trip. We were going to see the Wiggles and I think that helped. She was excited to go. I think if I had been taking her to visit a random relative she might have given me a hard time. Normally I wouldn’t have dreamed of driving that far with her alone, but my husband could not be persuaded to come with us. I’ll be honest; I wasn’t about to miss the Wiggles. So off we went, but not before I did some serious thinking and planning. If you are planning to take your little one in the car for a long stretch here are some tips to help you out.

Prepare

Tell your child where you will be going and how long it will take to get there. Children this age really can’t comprehend units of time yet but let them know they will be in the car for a lot longer than normal. You may want to put a positive spin on the trip by telling them it will be special time to spend together.

As you plan your trip and your timeline, remember that toddlers and preschoolers are unpredictable. Allow many stops for potty breaks and any other emergencies that may crop up en-route to your destination. In the course of three hours I had to stop three times and two of those were planned.

What You Will Need

Your best bet is to dress your child in play clothing until you reach your destination. Chances are good they are going to spill something down the front of themselves during the trip. I’m so glad I remembered to pack extra outfits so my little girl didn’t have to wear her orange juice soaked outfit in to the Wiggles concert. Pack extra everything including shoes. You may want to pack a few plastic grocery bags for any wet clothing you may find yourself removing from your child. Don’t forget diapers and supplies if your child is in diapers.

Remember that the sun can be a direct annoyance to your child. If you don’t already have one, buy a window sunscreen to keep the sun out of their eyes. You may even want to buy one for each of the rear seat windows.

Food and Drink

Most likely your child asks for food every five minutes, I know mine does. I found that having a selection of no-fuss snacks available was my best option. Purchase things such as granola bars, fruit snacks and cheese sticks. You can easily open and hand these back to them without having to take your eyes off the road for more than half a second. If your child is old enough to use a juice box these are a great option. If they are younger you will want to fill up a number of sippy cups so they are ready to just hand over. An absolute must-have for any trip with a child is a supply of wet wipes. These are great for quick clean ups and sticky fingers.

How To Keep Them Occupied

If at all possible try to travel at a time when your child may nap or at night. This will make your trip a lot easier. If this is not possible, make sure you have plenty for them to do in the car. Take along some of your child’s favorite music. You can also play games or ask them to tell you a story about the things they see as you travel down the highway. Choose toys that are small but pose no choking hazard. You may want to buy large baggies and store a few toys in each. That way when they get bored with the toys in their hands, you can hand them a new set. Be careful about giving baggies to younger children though. You may even want to buy a few new toys just for the trip.

Organization

Now that you have everything you need, you need to get organized. You should place everything you may need to hand to your child next to you in the passenger seat of the car. Take a cooler with you and place it on the floor in front of the passenger seat. Use this for your child’s drinks and any food that you may need to keep cool. Keep your directions, maps and cell phone (if you have one) on the passenger seat along with the toys and other food items. Take the CD’s out of their cases and store them above your visor or lay them on the seat. This way everything is within easy reach and you won’t have to search around as you are driving.

In Case of Emergency

We never want to think something bad will happen but you should be prepared. Have a list of emergency numbers in your child’s bag, in your purse or wallet and in the glove compartment. If you don’t already have one, purchase a stocked first aid kit for your car. Make sure you have water, food, flashlight, battery powered radio, batteries and few warm blankets stashed away in your trunk. Be sure your spare is in good condition and that you know how to change a flat tire. You should also purchase paper maps of the state or states you will be traveling through to reach your destination. You may also wish to slip a folding stroller in your trunk in case you have car trouble and need to walk for any distance.

Final Thoughts

If you are traveling more than a few hours you may wish to pull over every two hours and let your child stretch their legs and run around a bit. This may help you avoid a meltdown in the car by an easily-bored child. Try to remain calm despite any traffic hassles or tie ups you may come upon. Your child will be more relaxed if you seem calm. Remember to remain flexible, allow time for just about anything that may pop up and, most importantly, have fun!

Article by Amy Mullen from AssociatedContent.com

Ok, so this post isn’t about diaper bags, but we couldn’t resist seeing what you think about this new product.

Has your baby girl been mistaken for a boy just because she doesn’t have hair? Well, there’s a company out there on a mission to stop that. It’s called Baby Bangs and you may have heard of it already because it has received some attention recently.

Baby Bangs offers a patent pending hairband with hair attached to give your baby girl lovely locks when she doesn’t have her own. The headband is worn in the same way traditional headbands are worn. The company states that they are safe to wear and have no metal clips or attachment pieces.

What do you think about this concept? Would you give your baby girl hair to help her look more like a girl until she gets her own head of hair? Is this a cute hair accessory or just another fad like baby high heel shoes?

Image courtesy of thefrisky.com.

We’ve talked before about playmats when we featured Munkeybaby’s products. However, here is a blanket that’s perfect for dads to carry. The outdoor blanket from Diaper Dude is sleek, handy, and masculine - especially in the camouflage color.

The blanket features Velcro® closure straps and an adjustable shoulder strap. It is machine washable and water resistant and can be carried in a convenient messenger style.

Have you seen the baby travel and stroller accessories available from Jeep Baby Accessories? If not, you should check them out. Innovative truly handy, these products make car travel and stroller travel easier, less messy, and more organized.

The Jeep Baby Basic Stroller Bundle comes with 3 handy products. The first is the standard stroller weather shield which protects your child from rain, snow, wind, and cold weather. The second is a mesh bag which attaches to the back of the stroller without weighing it down. Store your necessities in here and they are easily accessible. The final product included is their Linkables which are bright colored links that can attach to just about anything and are great for teething.

The Jeep Baby Accessories Travel Bundle comes with a back seat organizer for neat and tidy storage, a car seat undermat to protect your upholstery from spills, and a 2 pack cling sunshade to protect your child from sun glare. The backseat organizer includes two bottle pockets and four extra large storage pockets for other necessities.

Other Jeep Baby Accessories products include a car seat travel bag and a tandem stroller bundle.

So you’re headed to a baby shower? Or perhaps you just need a gift for a soon-to-be-mom or dad. Here are some great gift ideas for new or upcoming parents that are sure to delight.

Diaper bags make great gifts for any parent of a baby, especially when you get a stylish bag that looks more like a handbag than a baby bag. There are tons of different designs out there from diaper duffels to diaper totes. Particularly popular are diaper bag sets that include matching changing pads and/or matching cosmetic bags. Don’t forget dad! There are tons of men’s diaper bags out there.

 

For a unique gift, check out the Munkey Mat which is a tote and padded playmat in one. These come in beautiful patterns and colors and are perfect for the on-the-go parent.

 

Already bought some bottles? Why not also give a baby bottle tote. The Built NY tote holds two baby bottles and is insulated with a machine-washable material. It easily snaps to stollers, car seats, and diaper bags for easy transport.

 

Know a soon-to-be parent that’s also an avid hiker? Then a baby carrier backpack is a perfect gift. These packs allow parents to take their babies along with them to experience nature in a safe and protected way.