If you've been reading Cool Mom Picks for long while now, you know how much we love to support small indie shops that make amazing gifts for kids or families -- like the beautiful handmade jewelry at Julian & Co or geeky wooden teething toys from 3Princesses Etsy shop. Well, this week we discovered a tiny clothing company that makes clever backpack vests my youngest kids are going to love, because they have storage pockets built right into the vest. So now, when they want to bring along their stuffed animal, favorite car, and snacks, I can stash it all in their vest.
And then I can take family sherpa off of my many hats list.
Related: The coolest backpacks for preschoolers and little kids
The back of these Jstitch vests have two pockets, so it's about the size of a miniature backpack. The smaller pocket gives quick access to a snack or juice pack. The larger pocket has plenty of room for small board books, a stuffed animal, or some diapers and wipes (that's right, time to tow your own around here, kid). Of course, keep in mind how much weight your little one can reasonably carry around on their back before you load them up; the vests specify that they aren't meant to carry heavy loads. And the back isn't padded, so you might want to avoid pointy objects like LEGOs (ouch!). But the fact that these pockets are built into a comfy fleece vest they're literally zipped into, instead of a backpack they'll be slinging on and off, is pretty brilliant, especially for those cool autumn afternoon adventures. You can find the backpack vests at the Jstitch website. Just keep in mind: since they're a small shop, their fabric selections may change frequently.
