Storage Ideas: For Kids That are Neat, but Not Tidy!

It is often said that the baby is small but its “stuff” is enormous. Little clothes pile up, diapers seemingly multiply, books abound, and toys happen. There never seems to be enough space to keep it all, which is the rationale behind these exceptional storage and organization products. Everyone functions more smoothly when items are easy to locate and there’s no need for a finding frenzy. The Giggle Guide^® recommends these brands that help organize closets, tidy toys and shelve books: The Happy Closet, 3 Sprouts, Oeuf and Tidy Books.

The Happy Closet Sorts Baby’s Wardrobe

The stork is barely beginning to warm up his wings when clothes arrive via baby showers, presents from family and friends and hand-me-downs. Suddenly there are tiny garments galore. Once the baby comes, many parents find they have so many clothes that the baby outgrows them before they get a chance to be worn.

Organization is key to knowing what clothes a little prince or princess has, which is the rationale from the folks at The Happy Closet for the ingenious Baby Closet Dividers. When you sell baby garments, use this opportunity to show the dividers to your customers. Explain that they come in sets of five dividers and eighteen pre-printed, removable labels, as well as two blank ones for personal write-ins.

Baby Closet Dividers can be used to separate clothes by season, size from newborn through 4T, or by category such as short sleeves, long sleeves, jackets, pants and so on. The dividers work with both standard closet rods and wire shelving systems and come in nursery-friendly colors including pink, blue or green, each with white polka dots, the same colors with chocolate, or a “mixed” set of pink and green with white dots or blue and green with the same cheery dots.

Two mompreneurs came up with the idea when they wanted to organize their own kids’ closets and knew any system they produced would have to be simple and easy to change.

Divide and conquer at www.thehappycloset.com

Count on 3 Sprouts to Control Clutter

Without an organizational plan, a young child’s stuff will pile up fast. Toys and clothes soon will be scattered on the floor, piled on the bed, and sticking out of crammed drawers. For a practical solution that fits into any nursery scheme, 3 Sprouts offers good-looking organizational tools.

Their Storage Caddy, made of sturdy cotton canvas, measures a handy 15” by 15” so it’s roomy enough to tote or store diapers, bath necessities or small toys. The inside has a polyethylene coating and the outside sports a felt appliqué in choices of blue walrus, pink pig, purple owl, gray mouse and other, colorful animals. The handle slips easily over the arm so it’s a cinch to pick up the caddy and go.

For larger storage, display the handy dandy 3 Sprouts Storage Bin that measures 17.5” tall and 17” in diameter and can be tidily folded and put away when not in use. Like the caddy, it’s made of 100% cotton canvas. Its storage bins are adorned with felt appliqués such as an orange fox, purple hippo, yellow monkey and gray raccoon, among others.

Another good storage idea, the Wall Organizer, is a generous 40” long and 14” wide. Each organizer features three good-sized pockets for stashing toys, books, diapers, underwear or other items and lends a note of cheer with felt decorations including brown moose, black, white and yellow-accented penguin, green crocodile and purple cow.

Everything is in its place at www.3sprouts.com

What Comes First, the Clutter or the Oeuf?

Oeuf (pronounced “Uff”) is French for “egg,” and takes the beauty, simplicity and elegance of an egg as its jumping-off point. A French/American husband and wife team hatched Oeuf to create storage products with streamlined designs.

The Oeuf Toy Store (pun intended) features a three-tiered storage system with bins that can be made to lie flat, or tilted to reveal what is inside. The bin dividers can be easily removed so objects of different sizes from teeny puzzle pieces to large constructions can fit in — kids can get into the act as they can see contents and help at clean-up time by matching like with like. Toy Storage is available in one of two eco-conscious finishes: birch or walnut. Both non-toxic finishes are naturally beautiful to enhance a child’s room.

The Oeuf Mini Library is 42” tall and 59” wide, so children can see the top. In addition to books, it is useful for storing games and toys as kids can easily get at what they want. Items that are best out of direct view can go into the two cabinets.

Both the Toy Store and the Mini Library are made of Baltic birch and top quality Eco MDF which meets both European and Californian (the toughest in the U.S) manufacturing standards. Practical and stylish — that’s Ouef.

Simply useful storage: www.oeufnyc.com

Tidy Books: Because Kids Judge Books by Their Covers

Children’s books come in all shapes and sizes, making traditional bookcases unwieldy and impractical. Faced with this inevitable dilemma, a British mother, who is also a violin maker, developed Tidy Books, a clever bookcase that shows each book by its cover. Kids do pick the book they want by the cover, she reasoned, so why not make a system that lets them see and select independently.

The Tidy Bookcase snugly holds a lot of books, artwork facing out. The bookcase is slim so it uses a minimal amount of floor space and is decorated with the alphabet along the base of the shelves/book holders for an additional learning experience. The finish is available in natural, white, pink or blue and the bookcase can be attached to the wall with two included screws, so there’s no chance of it toppling over.

The Tidy Bookshelf has won many awards, including Practical Preschool 2008, Right Start Gold Best Toy 2009, Right Start Best Investment 2009 and has been endorsed by the Pre-School Learning Alliance (PLA).

The Tidy Book Box uses the same system of book storage and can be picked up and moved, thanks to the easy-grasp handle on the top. The Book Box in white or natural has a play clock on the front to get kids started on learning to tell time.

The Tidy Baby Buddy is a shelf that securely holds all the little items baby tenders need on hand when looking after a little one and makes a useful piece in a baby’s room or bath.

Show shoppers the joy of keeping books organized: www.tidybookskidsbookcases.com