Pages

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Storksak Olivia Diaper Bag Dupe?

I have this small obsession about diaper bags; I just can't help but stroll through the diaper bag aisle at Babies R Us and check out the bags there. Must be a mommy thing. A bag that caught my eye was the Carter's Out 'N About diaper bag because it looks so similar to the Olivia bag by Storksak--just look at how similar these look:


I don't own either of these bags, so I can't really compare the two bags in person (aside from reading the specs) but I thought I would share in case any moms are interested in the Olivia but want a cheaper alternative.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

5 Reasons Why the PPB Boxy Diaper Bag Was Not the Bag For Me (and Baby)


I bought the Petunia Pickle Bottom Boxy Backpack diaper bag when I was pregnant with my first son. I really didn't know what I was thinking then--I just wanted cute looking diaper bag but never took the time to really research this bag. Needless to say, I do not own it anymore as have sold it. I really wanted to like the bag but it was not the bag for us. So here are 5 things I really didn't like about the bag:

1. The foldout changing pad. This seems to be the popular reason why most moms choose this bag. I admit, I thought it was a great idea too but for the whole year that I used this bag, I never changed a diaper on it. If I lay the bag on a public restroom changing table and fold out the changing pad to change a diaper, then I would eventually have to fold back up the changing pad back into the bag and that's gross. I don't want the changing pad to touch anywhere near the rest  of the inside of my bag. There are pockets in the changing pad compartment but with the changing pad folded up, I couldn't fit a lot of diapers and diaper changing essentials in there, so it gets bulky. I just ended up detaching the changing pad so I could have more room in the bag.

2. The boxy-ness. My bag was the Tea on Thames in a glazed material. It's really sturdy, I'll give it that. But it's hard to store it under my stroller because it's so...so...boxy. It doesn't mold well to fit into tight spaces and as mentioned above, it's just overall bulky and heavy.

3. Although the diaper bag is pretty roomy, it wasn't wide enough for me. This is the kind of bag where you would have to pack things vertically. I would have to stack things on top of stuff. I like my diaper bags to be wide enough that I can unzip it and be able to see everything at a glance. With this bag, I would have to take things on top out just to get to what I needed at the bottom of the bag.

4. The velcro was loud. I think the newer versions have a magnetic closure now, so this reason doesn't pertain to those but mines had an annoying velcro closure and I can't tell you how many times it woke up my sleeping baby when we were in the car and I needed to get something out of the bag.

5. Inconvenient design. Overall, this bag was inconvenient than useful, in my opinion. Once you get pass the velcro over flap, there was still a top zipper to unzip before you're able to get whatever you need to get inside of the bag. When you have a crying baby and you need to get to a bottle or pacifier, trust me, the velcro and added zipper gets annoying.