We’re about to embark on a romantic vacation – without our little Maevey…so I decided to put together a fun way to keep her entertained and feeling loved while we’re away. Introducing these “Love You Lots” bags!
Each day we’re away Maeve will have a new bag to open with a cute little gift or activity from mommy. Here are the bags I’ve created so far, I hope these ideas are helpful to you!
These can be used for any number of situations, not necessarily just when you’re leaving on a vacation or work trip. I’d also use these if you’re expecting another child and are going to be at the hospital for a few days – or when you bring a new baby home and want the big sibling to feel extra special, too. Maybe your child is going through a big change like starting school or potty training – there are so many ways to use these love you lots baggies!
What you’ll need:
I found this cute set of rainbow bags online at Amazon, but you can use any gift bags you have at home or even use those paper lunch bags!
If you’re crafty and have the time (and energy) don’t be afraid to get creative with the bags – draw or add artwork or glitter to them, whatever works for you. Or just leave them plain and let the contents speak for themselves. I don’t want to advocate for adding extra work for yourself, so keeping it simple is sometimes the best way to go!
Hole Punch, Ribbon, Large Gift Tags
These aren’t necessities to make the baggies, but I thought using a ribbon to tie the bags and adding a little note for each one made them feel extra special.
I wrote a note to Maeve on each bag that usually gave a clue as to what was inside!
Gifts!
I filled these bags mostly with items I found at the Dollar Tree or the Target dollar spot.
I can’t link to those specific items as they’re not available to purchase online, but I did find a few fun things on Amazon that I included in the bags, too. I’ll share a few below!
Try to find small items that will fit easily into a little gift bag – they don’t need to be expensive or large to give your kiddo something fun to look forward to!
Amazon Finds
These “no-spill” bubbles are the perfect gift to throw in a “love you lots” bag for a fun outdoor activity.
I wanted to make one of the bags an “outer space” theme so I included this cute cosmic flashlight projector and some glow in the dark space stickers (see below) for one of Maeve’s bags.
On this bag’s tag I wrote “Maeve, you are out of this world!”
Glow in the dark space stickers
FYI – these are rather large sticker sheets so I did have to fold one up to fit it into the bag. I also only used one of the three sheets it came with and will save the rest to use at another time.
Maeve LOVES tea parties – so when I saw this adorable bath time tea party set I had to get it.
This gift tag could say “A little something to make bath time fun!”
*I also found some glow in the dark bracelets at the dollar tree and threw those in another bath time fun baggy for her.
I saw these and thought they’d be a great option for one of the bags. The pack comes with 12 masks for about $7. I picked three masks to put in a bag for this occasion and will save the rest for another time.
We decided to gift Maeve a Tonie Box as a big gift before we leave town, but a great idea for one of these little love you lots baggies would be a new Tonie audio character like this Cookie Monster option!
Dollar Tree Finds
Here’s a picture of the items I found at the dollar tree to include in these Love You Lots Baggies!
- Hat and Purse – perfect for a “Time to play dress-up” bag!
- Minnie Mouse shapes and colors flash cards
- Miniature Tea Set
- Microphone for a “singalong” bag!
- Glow in the dark bracelets – great for a bath time bag!
- Mardi Gras beads and headband for a Mardi Gras themed bag (Mardi Gras will happen while we’re away so I thought that would be fun to include – if you’re away over any holidays try to have a holiday themed bag in the mix!)
- Coloring Book
- Mini books – these are such great options for the bags, throw one bag in a book with a “story time” tag for an easy (and cheap for only $1) option!
Target Finds
Here are a few items I found at Target (mostly from the Target dollar spot)
- Princess Grab n Go Play Pack – these are the best! They include stickers, crayons and a little coloring book and they fit perfectly into a little gift bag. This would be perfect for a “Princess Monday” bag!
- Imagine Ink Coloring Pad – another perfect fit for a bag and Maeve loves Elmo so I know this will be a huge hit. This bag tag read “It’s Elmo’s World!”
- A waterproof bath time book
- Sidewalk chalk for a “go play outside!” bag
- Crayons and some heart-shaped paper (purchased a while ago online) to make cards and artwork.
- A big sister book
A few notes…
- I tried to put bath-time specific items in blue bags, outdoor items in green bags, etc. just to make it a little easier to identify what was what.
- You can also put a post-it on the back of any bags with instructions to your child’s caretaker if that bag is supposed to be opened on a specific day –
- Open this on Monday for Princess Monday (if you’ve been following me on Instagram you know what this means 😛 )
- Open this on Mardi Gras (or whatever holiday a bag corresponds to)
- Open this when the weather is nice for outside time, etc.
- Don’t be afraid to get creative with themes – I did an outer space bag, dress-up bag, princess bag, etc… but a few other ideas are making a circus-themed bag, country western bag, farm animal or bug-themed bags. The sky is the limit just use your imagination!
xoxo Miss Mariss
Have a fun idea for these Love You Lots bags? Leave a comment below!
MissMariss 