Review - ZipBins

Before I had children, my house was so very neat and clean. With just 5-10 minutes of straightening up every night, the house was in guest-ready condition. Now, with a 3-year old trashing the place, it takes 10-20 minutes per ROOM to get the house looking like it wasn't just ravaged by a tornado. Oh, and that 10-20 minutes is if I work alone. If I ask Nadia (or my husband for that matter) to help, you can bank on the whole clean-up process taking closer to 1/2 an hour per room. Fortunately, there's just our living/playroom and Nadia's room to clean up nightly, but it still takes forever. What I need is storage and and organizational system that allows Nadia and her dad to easily be able to put things where they belong and to do it quickly. When I first saw ZipBins by Neat-Oh I just had to see if they might be the answer to my prayers.

What is a ZipBin? They are marketed as "The Toy Chest That's Also a Toy!" Each themed rectangular bin has 4 different zippers, each one zipping up a different side of the bin. When you unzip the bin, it becomes a large playmat. When you're finished, you just put all the toys in the middle of the bin and zip it up! It's such a unique concept.

ZipBin was kind enough to send us two different bins to try out. I didn't tell them anything about my daughter, but somehow, they managed to send us two bins that are absolutely PERFECT for what she's interested in right now. Our favorite ZipBin is the Dinosaur Play Set. If you've noticed my book list scrolling down the right side of our blog, you'll see the book, Dino Dinners. Nadia has become completely obsessed with dinosaurs these days and was beside herself when we opened up the ZipBin package to discover the dinosaur ZipBin inside. The bin came with 4 dinosaurs included which in our case was great because other than one Triceratops we didn't have any other dinosaurs in the house at the time. We first unzipped the mat and laid it out for her to play with the dinosaurs on. She enjoyed this, but was even more excited about zipping the bin back up which she was easily able to do. The outside of the bin is decorated to match the "theme" obviously in this case, dinosaurs. What I love the most about the bin is that now, when it's time to pick up, there's no question about where the dinosaurs go. They go straight into their designated bin. The bin also has a lid which can be secured with velcro, and two looped handles for carrying. Typically, she plays with the dinosaurs out in our living room, but every night, she carries them back into her brother's room with no problem.

The original ZipBins come in four sizes: mini, small, medium and large. Don't be confused, each theme doesn't come in each size. Some themes are available in the large size, some in the medium, some in the small, and others in the "mini" version. Our "medium-sized" dinosaur bin has the following dimensions: Bin: 14 x 11 x 9 inches; Mat: 32 x 29 inches. The bin will hold TONS of small dinosaurs and is more than big enough to hold the three giant-sized dinosaurs that Nadia's dad bought her as a reward for her excellent behavior at the outlet mall the other day. If you want to know how big "giant" is, the T-Rex is big enough to have scared the bejesus out of my husband the other night when he ran into it sitting in the middle of the bathroom floor. I don't have a a ruler right now, but I'm looking at good old T-Rex with his creepy yellow eyes and I'd say he's roughly 12 inches tall. The medium-sized bins are more than big enough to hold the toys you need them to hold!

We also have a mini ZipBin unicorn playset. How ZipBin knew that unicorns and My Little Ponies were Nadia's other current obsession, I'll never know, but they couldn't have sent us a better pair of bins. Anyway, the mini-bin is significantly smaller with the following dimensions: Bin: 8 x 6 x 5 inches; Mat: 18 x 16 inches. The bin comes with a plastic pony and a plastic unicorn. While Nadia doesn't mind their cheap quality, I would definitely not recommend buying the unicorn bin if you're hoping to get some quality ponies out of the deal. However, the bin is the perfect size for travel. You can get about three regular sized My Little Ponies in the bin and still get the lid on. The website says that the lid has fasteners to secure it onto the bin, but ours does not. The mini bin does have two handles like the larger bins making it just as easy to carry. The mini-bins would be great for taking to Grandma's house, or for a situation where you knew you'd be facing a long wait. Remember, the bins zip open into a great little playmat as well as being incredibly functional storage!

If you're wondering what some of the other ZipBin themes are, check out the ZipBin product info page. The themes range from fairies and mansions to race cars and trains . There is a ZipBin out there for every child's interests. Also available are ZipBin softies. The softies are not rectangular shaped, but are instead shaped according to the theme. While these are cute, I'm buying a ZipBin to fill our need for storage first and foremost. The regtangular bins have the ability to be stacked which makes them more desirable than the softies for our use. If you have lots of Christmas decorations, there's a Christmas-themed ZipBin and finally, two different camo versions. Like I said, there's a ZipBin for every obsession!

On to the full review - based on 4 stars:

Functionality **** - As storage for a toddler or preschooler who is learning about picking up toys, these bins are PERFECT! Unlike me, Nadia would be happy to just throw all of her toys into one box and call it good. I prefer toys to be organized. The ZipBins make designating a space for a specific kind of toy easy, and makes me look a little less anal! The fact that the bins double as playmats is great as well. The process of zipping the bins up is easy enough for a 2-year old to handle which is important when you have an independent little toddler who doesn't like to accept help. The vinyl-like surface easily washes clean, and you can un-zip the bins and lie them flat for easy storage.

Price *** - The mini-bins are $9.99, the small and medium bins (without toys) are $19.99 and the large and medium bins (with toys) are $24.99. (If you have the option, skip the toys!)Obviously, you can buy plastic storage that is cheaper, but I like how Nadia can easily identify the contents. I will pay a premium to make clean-up in our house go more smoothly!

Overall Rating ***1/2 - We like the bins enough that I just purchased the "retired" Unicorn playset to hold all of our My Little Ponies. It's the medium size which should be big enough to hold all of the ponies we have and more! I'd like to see a zoo ZipBin in the future to hold all of Nadia's animals, and a ZipBin with a playmat designed for block building. Amazon carries a Painting Creative Kit ZipBin which I'm thinking about getting Nadia for her birthday. We do a lot of painting outside and this would provide a much better surface than the sidewalk and make transporting our supplies in and out much easier, too. Amazon carries a handful of other ZipBins by Neat-Oh, but you can also buy online from the ZipBin website or use the ZipBin store locator to receive an email about retail stores that carry ZipBins near you! ZipBins are an incredibly innovative solution to the "toy" problem that all parents seem to face. They are a way to neatly organize the toys while also enabling your child to be able to take more control over the clean-up process. What more can you ask for in a not-so-boring organizational product?