When our granddaughter was born, I used an old tiny suitcase from when my son was little and filled it with goodies for my grandson for a hospital busy bag. It was a huge hit and we pulled it out every time he got a little restless.
I learned a few things from the first time we packed the suitcase. This time, I wanted to do something similar but a few things needed to be tweaked.
My grandson is not a big eater. So the first time, I made the mistake of filling the bag up with food and treats. He didn’t eat very much from it and he was bored very easily.
This time, I know that his bag should be filled with a couple of his favorite treats but also more interactive play such as cars, coloring books and puzzles.
Our granddaughter, on the other hand, is just like her Amma and loves to eat!! Her bag will be filled with some toys but mostly treats and goodies. I’m sure that she’ll be sneaking some of her brother’s treats as well. 😁
Here’s what we packed in our big sibling hospital bag. But know that you can pack whatever you like in yours. The possibilities are endless!!
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What’s in the Big Sibling Hospital Bag?
- The actual bag: A cute little suitcase would work and could double as a going to grandma’s house bag as well. But for this occasion, I grabbed a couple of reusable shopping bags so I could decorate them with my Silhouette Cameo.
- Favorite Toys: Pack a few cars for my grandson and some dolls for our granddaughter’s bag. A tip is to bring toys from home so they play with some of their own things while visiting.
- Books: Age appropriate books are always a good thing to keep a child occupied especially if it is getting late and it’s nap time. Pack at least 3 or 4 per child.
- Sticker Books: Along with reading books, we packed a few sticker books as well. The four year old loved to interact with the book and the stickers. The one year old loved sticking them all over her arms and dress.
- Coloring Books: Our grandkids love to color so we just had to pack a few coloring books in their big sibling hospital bags as well. They love to color and paint so coloring books were perfect to include in their big sibling hospital busy bags.
- Snacks: We kept snacks pretty simple. I picked up a couple of bags of goldfish that were on sale from Dollar General and some animal crackers. Like I said, our grandson is not a really big eater so he’ll have one here and there. Add some juice boxes and bottled water to the bags for drinks. For some reason, our hospital only has soda machines so I wanted to bring something that the kids could drink.
- Gift for the Newborn: We didn’t include this in our bag, but I thought it was a great idea to include a small gift from the kids to their little brother. We might have to make a special trip somewhere later so they could pick something out or go to the gift shop in the hospital.
- Big Brother/Big Sister Shirts: I used my Silhouette Cameo to make a Big Brother/Big Sister shirt for the kids. They are too young to understand the words on the shirts but I thought it would be fun to surprise mom and dad with having them wear them as they meet their new sibling for the first time.
Of course, all of these things can be tweaked/added to depending on your child.
The mission is to give the kids some entertainment with their grandparents or other caregiver while anxiously waiting for their precious sibling to be born.
Let me know what else you would include in your big sibling hospital busy bag in the comments below!
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