The Other Day At Target

Z: Daddy, can he put my toy in my own bag?
Me: No, we don't need an extra bag. That would be wasteful.
Z: But I want my own bag. I want to carry my toy.
Me: Well, you could carry all this stuff. Want to see if you can carry it?
Z: No, I only want to carry my toy. In my own bag.
Me: No, that would be wasteful. Remember how I told you about gas that makes cars go? Well, plastic bags...
Z (to cashier): Can I have my own bag?
Cashier who has been listening to the entire exchange and clearly does not have children: Sure! Puts toy in bag by itself, hands to Z, smiles at me like he did me a favor.

We walk ten feet and wait for Jenni to come out of the bathroom. Z spins, gets dizzy, manages to stay upright. Jenni approaches.

Z: Look Mama, I got my own bag!
Me: I tried to stop him. He gave her one anyway.
Jenni (to me): Why didn't you use her Envirosack? That's what it's for.
Me: Oh, you brought it? Jenni produces Envirosack. Cool. Moves toy from "own bag" to Envirosack. Look, Z---, you can carry your own toy in your own bag!
Z: Yay!
Me: But here's the deal. Now you need to take that other bag back to that nice man so he can use it again.
Z: Nah.
Me: No, seriously. You can't carry this until you take him back this bag. Withholds Envirosack. OK?

Z takes plastic bag, runs back to cashier.

Z (to cashier): Here you go!

Cashier slowly looks up at me as though I some kind of monster.

Me (laughing): Ha ha. Smile at him like I'm doing him a favor.

We use reusable bags at the grocery store but often forget to bring them on other shopping excursions. Envirosax are polyester bags with cute graphics to help you out with situations such as those above. They sell for about $9 apiece in the kids' series and are sold singly or in five-packs in adult styles. The bags fold up into compact little lozenges, with a built-in strap like the ones on umbrellas.

The kids' version is not quite as reduced in size compared with the adult bags as we'd expect, but might be just right for an older child and is certainly manageable for Z. The graphics are great, with six designs to choose from.

As far as the price goes, we think the kid's version makes the most sense of all - Z loves having a bag of her own and we largely avoid arguments like those above now that she has a dedicated "shopping bag." Also works for getting her participation in grocery shopping, which encourages her to eat what she "bought."

As for Jenni and I, we'll settle for whatever cloth or reusable bags we can get our hands on, and tend to collect them sentimentally as well as with an eye towards unique features - we still have and use two heavy-duty plastic bags from Dirk, a cheap chain grocery store we used to shop at when we lived in Amsterdam. You would have to pry those bags from Jenni's cold, dead fingers.

Jenni adds: I really like that you can shove them into your purse and I've actually been considering buying one or two to have handy in my purse for those times when I don't want to carry bags all around or don't have a shopping cart that I can throw bags into. That way, I don't have to use plastic bags there but I also don't look suspicious by carrying around a large, empty bag. Our "gathered" reusable bags just really don't work for that type of thing.

You can buy Envirosax on the company's website or, when they aren't out of stock, on Amazon.com.