Kids Travel Pack

I have got something SUPER fun to share with you today!

Let me introduce the KIDS TRAVEL PACK!!!

Why do I ‘sound’ (use your imagination) so excited? Because this WORKS! Yep. Child-tested, child-approved! Well, at least in the age 4-11 range (my test group was limited to my four daughters). This little pack holds a whole LOT of fun in a small package, and I’m going to share how to make your own SUPER quick. Are you with me?! Let’s get started!

The Players:

You will need:

1 – 9″X 9″ piece of fabric*

1 – 9″ X 9″ piece of coordinating (or wacky mismatched) fabric*

1 – 9″ X 9″ piece of quilt batting*

1 – 8″ piece of ribbon

1 – 5″ piece of wide elastic (optional)

1 -  3″ piece of skinny elastic or a hair elastic

1 button

Coordinating thread & Pins

8-10 snack-sized ziplock baggies

*If you don’t want to sew your own cover, just buy a cute pot holder and use that instead. You can skip ahead to where we start sewing the baggies (Step 7)  and follow along from there

1. Iron your fabric pieces so they look as fabulous as you are! Take out the fabric you’ll be using on the inside of your pack and turn it RIGHT side up. Now, pin your wide elastic with one end in the middle of the fabric, the other end sticking out the side slightly, and about 2/3 of the way up the fabric. Didn’t get my muddled description? Just look at the picture This is to make a little holder for a pad of paper. If you don’t want this, just skip this step (and the next one).

2. Stitch along the side of the elastic that is sitting in the center of your fabric, like so:

3. Place your two pieces of fabric RIGHT sides together, then place the quilt bat on TOP. Pin all three together.

4. Stitch along the edges, leaving an opening a couple of inches long ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE AS YOUR WIDE ELASTIC SIDE so you can turn it right-side out again. Leave the opening in the center of that side, as well. This is where we will be adding the little loop for the latch. Trim the edges and clip off the corners (being careful NOT to cut through the stitches).

5.  Flip it right side out and now you’ll see  your little elastic loop all stitched in and ready to hold a notepad! All we have to do is fix that ugly hole we left.

6.Before we stitch up the hole, though, we are going to insert our hair elastic or loop the skinny elastic and stick it in the hole, leaving a small loop sticking out. Pin it in place, being sure to neatly tuck in the edges of the fabric, then top stitch around all four sides of the pack.

7.  You basically just made your own pot holder with an elastic loop and a notepad holder. Voila! Oh, right..there is more. Let’s continue! Gather your little snack baggies and start layering them – one on the left, then one on the right – with the sides that open toward the edges of the pad.

8. When you have all of the baggies in place, add the ribbon over top. You can tape or pin them in place. They are slippery little suckers! The tape is easily removed afterward. Bias tape works great for this, as well, if you don’t have wide enough ribbon. My ribbon, here, wasn’t quite wide enough, actually. But, it still worked

9. Straight stitch along all four edges of the ribbon, being careful to keep the baggies from slipping out. This is going to secure the baggies into your pack!

9. Remove the pins or tape and fold the pack in half. You are ready to hand stitch a cute button on the front of the pack. Stitch it on opposite the small elastic loop so it can latch it closed, like below!

Now, fill the little travel pack with bits of fun that will keep the kiddos busy when they have to sit for a while! Some ideas are:

Small pens or pencils

Crayons

Stickers

Fruit snacks

Notepad

Mini toys

Playing cards

Small puzzle

Chapstick

Eraser

iPod and ear buds

A worm

(just checking whether you were still paying attention)

You get the idea! This can be adapted for any child’s age – and hey, I even have one that I keep in the car with things like matches, needle and thread, extra buttons, gum, small candle, ear plugs…whatever. LOVE IT! You can add a pocket on the outside for their sunglasses, add some ruffles, some flowers – make it yours! In the end, it accomplishes it’s purpose very well. Keep those kids busy and keep it contained!

What are you going to put in yours?

For even more fun ideas for these fun pot-holder-style packets, check out one of our FAVORITE blogs, Eighteen25! They’ll show you how you can stay PREPARED with one of these little babies in your purse!

Emergency Clutch

Bobbi

I live in a little place called Saskatchewan, Canada, and pride myself in the fact that I can spell it! I married my very best friend 14 years ago and am a mother to four adorable girls who keep me on my toes constantly. If I wasn’t busy enough, I'm a portrait photographer and avid scrapbooker!

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