Road Trip Supplies

As if this time of the year isn’t busy enough, what with the upcoming holidays and the frantic gift shopping/making. Both of my children also have birthdays. My son’s is right around Thanksgiving and my daughter’s is the first week of December.

This year as a joint gift for both of them we’re headed to the Mall of America to celebrate at the indoor amusement park. It’s a little bit of a jaunt for us – about 3 hours. Plus we’re also making plans to visit my husband’s family for Christmas which is an even longer road trip – about 6 hours.

So it seemed to make perfect sense to make them gifts that might help entertain them on the road (sure we’ve got portable DVD players in the car but even Scooby Doo loses his appeal after a while).

For my daughter, who is turning 4, I used this tutorial as inspiration and made her a little pony playmat to take in the car.

I used a fabric base and incorporated some fish, flower and apple shaped buttons and extra stitching for texture and I think it turned out really cute. It’s the perfect size for these My Little Pony toys that we got as Happy Meal toys a while back. I love them because they’re based on the original My Little Ponies I had as a child – not what I refer to as the new “Bratz” version (freaky oversized heads and eyes paired with small bodies do not belong on ponies ok people – not on My Little Ponies – you want to do that crap to Littlest Pet Shop you go right ahead but don’t mess with the ponies!)

I mean which do your prefer? This: (my skin is crawling!)

Or this little cutie?

I rest my case. Moving on. . .

My son is turning 7 and he’s obsessed with Lego’s – as all men and boys are. He’s not that much of a builder though and he often will just play with the mini figures for hours on end without even thinking of clicking two bricks together.

So I thought something he could tote around some of his figures in would be a good idea. I found this little wooden box at my local craft store and gave it a custom paint job. I finished it off with a couple coats of polyurethane also for durability.

A small square lego base sheet came with one of his many sets that he never puts together so I figured it would get much more use glued inside the box as a base for his figures.

I'm thinking he can play quite a bit with all these little guys and their accessories on the road, and he'll have this handy little box to store them in.

I can’t decide if this is my best or my worst idea ever. Sure it looks great, and I had a lot of fun putting together this mini lego diorama in tribute to two movie characters played by Harrison Ford and then later turned into Lego figures (yes, Lego Indiana Jones is getting ready to make out with that little lego lady – she can’t resist his rugged appeal!)

But I may come to regret this gift when I’m wedged between the seats of the car searching for a Lego stormtrooper helmet. Only time will tell.