My New Favorite Diaper Bag Toy

As my daughter gets older her interests tend to gravitate towards toys with lights and loud noises. This isn't usually appropriate at restaurants and other public places where she needs to wait for extended periods of time.

My challenge: to find a toy small enough to fit into a diaper bag that is quiet and will hold her interest.

My solution: Goobi.

Katy lavishes her focused attention on these toys for at least 10 precious minutes at a time. Assembling, disassembling and rearranging magnetic sticks and steel balls into countless shapes and forms even holds my interest. Young children need supervision to avoid swallowing the small pieces.

Cartoon Character Dishes

I recently threw away one of my daughter's Mickey Mouse plastic plates because the coating protecting the Mickey Mouse image started bubbling up and broke open. I went to the baby and toddler aisle to find a replacement and went wide-eyed, again, at the prices, $3.50 for one plastic plate emblazoned with cartoon characters that I couldn't freeze, microwave or put in the dishwasher. I couldn't do it. After some searching I decided to buy 6 shallow Rubbermaid food containers for $4 and change. They're dishwasher safe, microwavable, freezable and have lids so that I can store leftovers. So, they're not cute. Mickey Mouse never helped my daughter eat more vegetables anyway.

This experience reinforced my #1 saving tip when buying for babies and toddlers: don't buy from the baby and toddler aisle unless you have to. You will pay a premium for something you can probably find cheaper in another section of the store. There's not much choice when it comes to diapers and formula. You can save big money by buying medicine, hygiene products and toddler dishes elsewhere.

Groupon

There's a great website to get discounts on activities and places in St. Louis.

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu5044790

Today's Side Deal:
$20 for Five Single-Admission Tickets to The Magic House ($43.75 Value)

CVS Back to School Deals

CVS starts their back to school deals this coming week. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday only get a 10 pack of pens and a pair of small scissors for free (after extra buck).