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A good diaper bag is hard to find. It’s definitely one of those things that is difficult to know exactly what you need until your baby is born. And even then, it’s hard to find the right, functional diaper bag that will grow right along with your baby. I went through several in Liam’s first year or so. There were bags that weren’t big enough, those that were too bulky, and diaper bags that had several unused pockets taking up extra space. One bag didn’t have enough space for bottles, breastmilk AND cloth diapers, while another had a shoulder strap that wouldn’t stay adjusted. And Jamie gave every diaper bag the side-eye for its print or bright colors. I knew that I needed to find a bag that suited all our needs that was still gender-neutral enough for my husband to carry. Enter the Boken diaper bag from Boken Essentials.
The Boken Everyday Diaper Bag is just that. Perfect for nearly every day and every outing. We tote it around to play dates, take it on road trips, the grocery store, doctors visits, trips to the zoo, etc. It’s been the right bag for us at every stage and great for our our family about 99% of the time. Now that Liam is potty-trained, the space that once was occupied by diapers and bottles is now full of toys and snacks. And there’s plenty of room for baby things when our new little one arrives. The only time we don’t take the Boken with us is while we’re doing extensive traveling and I want to take some of my camera gear with us without having to juggle multiple bags.
The bag can be worn three different ways: cross-body messenger-style, on the shoulder or as a backpack. Personally, I wear the bag in all three combinations. I’ll often use the cross-body strap while we’re shopping so that I can easily access snacks and toys, handing them to Liam in the shopping card. The tote straps make it easy to sling over my shoulder when we’re going some place quickly, like from the car into a friend’s house for a play date. Backpack mode is great for when you need both hands free and the bag out of the way. Whenever I wore Liam in our Ergo, the backpack mode made it easy to cart around a toddler and all their stuff, but still have my hands free. The backpack mode is also Jamie’s favorite way to wear it.
One of my favorite things about the Boken? You can clean it! The material is water-resistant and easy to wipe down with a damp cloth for quick clean ups. I usually turn all the pockets inside out so I can dump out all the crumbs hiding in the corners. Then, I wipe it down to get anything I may have missed. You can toss it in the washing machine too if you want. Just simply close all the velcro pockets, remove the messenger strap and store away the backpack straps. Turn your bag inside out (again, crumbs), toss it in the washing machine on a gentle cycle and hang to dry.
The Boken diaper bag only weighs 13 ounces, so it’s super lightweight. This is probably the most significant different I’ve noticed compared to other bags. It also includes an extra large diaper changing pad. The inside is pretty minimalistic, with one large mesh pock and a zippered pocket. There are two outer pockets on the sides. One has a velro flap and is perfect for a sippy cup or baby bottle. The other pocket is mesh and it’s large enough to fit my Nalgene bottle. Two zippered pockets are on the front. I typically store hand santizer, our NeatCheeks face wipes and a few other small things in these pockets.
Some people really like lots and lots of pockets on the inside of their diaper bags. I thought I needed them too. What I found, though, was that tons of pockets didn’t really work for us at every stage. Since the Boken bag is pretty basic when it comes to design, you can outfit it to be as organized (or not) as you want! I try to use small zipper pouches to store snacks, toys and extra clothes. This makes things much easier to find. When it comes to pricing, the Boken diaper bag is super reasonably priced at $68. I’m embarrassed to say that I spent quite a bit more on other diaper bags that I ended up disliking.
You can purchase the Boken diaper bag on Amazon or through Boken Essential’s website. Make sure you’re following Boken on Instagram and Facebook for the latest releases and sales!
We received our Boken diaper bag for free, but the opinions in this review are completely my own.
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