Patricia's sister Amy is one organized mom! After gifting her with a Cici Tote for her birthday, Amy happily turned it into the most organized, best functioning, on-trend tote that you'd never guess is a diaper bag. I personally saw it a month ago (before the darned quarantine!) and mentioned to Patricia how amazed I was at what she was carrying. So we asked her if she'd let us have a glimpse into the true capacity of The Cici Tote.
Amy has two boys - one still in diapers, but on the verge of potty training, and a preschooler. Usually, they have a busy schedule, out and about. They enjoy eating out in kid-friendly sit down restaurants. And Amy helps out at the preschool co-op. In other words, she's got to be able to carry a lot of stuff, without carrying a lot of different bags.
Patricia made a coordinating Cici Too Cosmetic Bag that Amy uses for her personal items.
Amy added a three pack of waterproof cosmetic bags, two of which Amy uses. One for a "restaurant entertainment" bag -
and the other for a "quick grab" diaper bag. This allows a less bulky diaper change situation, or a quick handoff to Dad so he can have a turn at diaper duty. It also allows her to remove these two bags for those rare times she gets to go out without the kids and just have a nice tote bag.
She uses the interior zipper pocket and the two slip pockets to organize her sunglasses, keys, reusable silicon straws, a small coin purse with lip balm, etc.
Amy then stands everything up on its side so the wrist straps are ready to grab. (Note the Necessary Clutch Wallet NCW - a great organizer on its own). And there's plenty of room to zip up and not have a bulging bag!
This reminds me of Hermione's small beaded purse in the Harry Potter series! (This one does not hold a tent - yet!)
The crossbody strap keeps it from falling off her shoulder when she's hoisting that 30 pound two year old in and out of his car seat.
After seeing how her sister uses The Cici Tote, we updated the pattern in July, 2021 with more options such as exterior slip pockets, a key holder (or for a pacifier), a tablet-size slip pocket, and a divided slip pocket/zipper pocket combo.
And if you don't need a diaper bag, The Cici Tote and The Cici Cosmetic Bag make a great combo for an office bag, picnic or beach bag, crafting bag, or just a great large handbag.
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