I love carabiners, and so does Maggie:
I have another use for those caribiners…I keep one in my bag for two things:
1) When my kid sheds an article of clothing, I can clip it to my bag or a belt loop so I don’t lose it (and don’t have to carry it).
2) When serial shopping – like at a mall, I can hang all or many of the accumulated shopping bags off of my shoulder bag. Keeps the hands free for more shopping or toddler-herding.
Another great idea pulled from Caitlin’s incredible Babies on a Plane hack: use a carabiner to attach a water bottle to your bag. Here’s one made especially for the job.
Tags: Carabiners, Parenting
I’d been thinking to send in my carabiner parenthacks as well; I consider them one of the basic staples of diaperbags, purses, etc.
– I hang her little backpack on the back of mine, with a big ‘biner.
– When she was a crawler (or barely walker), I would use a small one to attach a balloon-on-a-string to her. That way, it was easy to find her in the crowd, when she had escaped again.
– Even now, I attach one to her balloon, because it’s just heavy enough to prevent it from floating away, but light enough to let it bounce, and easy for little hands to hold on to.
– very easily holds all kinds of toys (or toys with added string) to carseat, stroller, etc. so you don’t keep losing them.
– Clips her daycare bag to the back of the bikeseat (through the handhold), so there’s a place to stuff her lunchbox and such.
-… and many others that I’m blanking on now. Besides, they are not just for her – I love them too!
— Mieke.
Diddo on using the carabiner for ballons. Every time we go to Trader Joes I tie a loop in the ballon string and clip it immediately to a carabiner.
Teething. Nice, smooth, cold metal. Seriously.
A cheap version of the water bottle carrier can be done with a rubber band from a bunch of broccoli and a ‘biner. Just put the rubber band around the “top” end of the carabiner AND the bottle neck once or twice, then around the bottle neck as many additional times as needed to use up the rubber band. Slide the ‘biner up so that the rubber band is at the “bottom” now, leaving the hook part away from the bottle and available to attach to your belt loop or other attachment point.
This things are awesome.
Use it to strap a toy to the grocery cart. The toy wont fall tot he floor when your(or Mine) kid loses interest.
My son loves his backpack (start singing Dora Fans) But the favorite of the month is a little big. The caribiners can be clipped in front to keep the BP from falling off.
Does the Camera around your neck bonk your kid on the head when you pick them up, use the caribiners to help it stay close to your body.
I like to use a carabiner to keep all my keychains together. I have a “home” keychain which holds the house key, mail key, and alarm system key fob; a “car 1” keychain that holds the car key to one of the family cars; a “car 2” keychain that holds the other car’s key; and a key chain that has all our discount cards (Kroger, Ace Hardware, etc.). By storing the keys this way, I can quickly remove a car key if I need to leave it with a repair shop, and I can quickly get and use the mail key while leaving the rest of the keys in the car with the car key that is in the ignition. (Don’t do the latter unless you live in a safe neighborhood!)