We sent Jeremiah's sister, Bethany Wallace, a sample Car Seat Poncho and asked for her thoughts from the colder climes of Seattle, Washington. Below is her guest review from the ZRecs Archives. It was originally published on January 14, 2008.

Hats and mittens are a joke in our household. Our 17-month-old, C, treats taking them off and throwing them out of the stroller (despite freezing temperatures) a fantastic game - that is, until C gets cold, at which point he starts screaming and we have to cut our walk short. So I was excited to try the Car Seat Poncho, a wearable, machine-washable poncho for children. Car Seat Ponchos are currently produced in 6-24 month and 3-4 T sizes.

The idea behind the Car Seat Poncho is a marriage of convenience and safety. Safety experts and car seat manufacturers caution against placing children in car seats wearing bulky clothing like coats or bulky sweaters, as the material has significant give and the difference in tightness of the car seat straps could allow your child to slip out of their car seat in an accident.

(If you need a visual on why you should never buckle your child into a car seat while wearing a jacket, try this experiment: Bundle up your child and put them in their car seat. Buckle and tighten securely. Take your child out, but do not readjust the belt tightness. Remove their coats and put them back into the car seat and buckle them up. See the slack? That slack is keeping your car seat from properly protecting your child. This goes for adults too!)


The poncho works like this: When you are ready to leave the house, pull the poncho on to keep your child warm from the house to the car, when you get in the car you can buckle your child into the car seat without ever removing the poncho. Simply lift the back of the poncho up over the car seat and buckle the car seat straps under the front of the poncho - your child stays warm and safe.


The poncho covers C's head, hands, and body from the knees up while riding in a stroller or the car, and is almost impossible for him to remove due to its cleverly designed flaps, which fit over the stroller straps or car seat back. Made of extremely soft fleece that is much warmer than many of C's coats, it has a zipper up the front you can adjust for fluctuating temperatures, and for car seat use you can easily put it on your child after securing the car seat straps. I did have some trouble with the zipper, much to C's frustration.

For C, the poncho does not take the place of a coat, since active play on the playground caused our 17-month-old to trip over its ends. This means at least some parents will need to pack both a jacket and poncho or leave the poncho in the car. I probably won't use it much for the stroller because it's inconvenient to pack a coat as well.

Stylistically, C looks a little babyish in the sky-blue poncho with its Kewpie-doll hood. C is still somewhere between a baby and a toddler in my mind, so it doesn't bother me now, but I would likely reach for a coat and blanket next winter. (A variety of styles are available on a rolling basis.)

In general, I found the Car Seat Poncho to be extremely useful in specific situations (namely long walks in the stroller, which we do a lot of); to use it in the car, leave it there and treat it as a blanket you leave there.

The Car Seat Poncho is available from the company's website. - Jennifer

If you have a kid, you are running the risk of having a messy car. Of course there are many more important things out there than having a clean car, but with this easy solution you can keep your mess under control effortlessly and move on to more interesting challenges.

I bought one of these car trash containers from The Mod Mobile for my minivan a couple of weeks ago, and I'm no longer spending any time picking tiny scraps off the floor.

One of my boys chews on his fingernails when he's tired or stressed out, so when I pick him up after school, I slip him a piece of gum. It is a great solution as he then has something else to chew on, but I was always finding wrappers on the floor. Now he likes to use the fancy car garbage can and wrappers don't fly out the door when I open the car. Win-win!

They are only $19, come in a multitude of fabrics (I have the bold blue flowers), and can be used behind a seat or next to the gear shift. She also makes tissue holders and eco shopping bags, so all your car needs will be met in a tidy and stylish fashion. - Erika

One of the very first times I left the house with my then newborn son I left the diaper bag sitting by the front door. When I arrived at my friend’s house and discovered my error, he said, “Just be glad you didn’t take the diaper bag and leave the baby sitting by the front door.”

Good point.

Since then, I've kept what I call a "dirty diaper emergency kit" in the trunks of both of our cars. It is a gallon-sized ziplock bag with just a few crucial items in it.

This kit allows you to finish up your errands once you’ve realized that you forgot the diaper bag by the front door. It isn’t big, and it is free to make, and one day it will save your sanity.

• two disposable diapers


• small baggie of wipes


• a few paper napkins or paper towels


• two plastic grocery bags (for wet clothes or used cloth diapers)


• spare onesie (in the next size up from what your kid normally wears)

There are two reasons the onesie in the emergency bag should be one size up. The first is that you are not likely to remember to swap out the onesie as your kid grows, so this way it is less likely your emergency backup will be too small. The other is that you are effectively never going to have this onesie available in your house, so you might as well make it one that you wouldn’t want anyway (because it is currently too big).

Lastly, there are two diapers in there so that, when your partner nabs one out because he or she forgot to restock the diaper bag, there is still one left for you. - Leigh G.