Once upon a time in another decade called the ’90s a little girl got a gift called a Caboodle. This could only mean one thing: Her mom was going to let her wear make-up. Her face lit up at the possibilities, and she went to work on filling that Caboodle to the brim with lip gloss, eye shadow, and mascara. She also threw in some hair ties and hair products to boot. That girl was me. If you need a visual, watch Jennifer Garner in one of my favorite movies, 13 Going On 30.
Oh, if this Caboodle could talk. It got me through boyfriend breakups, high school band competitions, four proms, college dorm room living, and even my wedding day.
According to their website, Caboodles were created after seeing Vanna White, hostess of the popular game show, Wheel of Fortune, carrying her beauty supplies around in a tackle box. This just could not be. Thus a cute, hip, and fashionable storage container was born.
Fast forward to 2017, and I am proud (and perhaps astonished but never embarrassed!) that my Caboodle has held up and continues to be used to store things today, although not my Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker and bright blue eye shadow (what was I thinking?). Nope.
Now that I have children and am a stay-at-home mom who is never at home, I have found five other uses for my Caboodle.
Medicine
To be honest, this is what I use my Caboodle for 95% of the time. It is a lifesaver when traveling. I am able to stuff it full of OTCs, prescriptions, and bandages. When I went away to college, my mom stuffed it up as a First Aid Kit, complete with gauze and medical tape.
Snacks/Travel Kit
I’ve tried sturdy buckets and cute little cloth baskets, labeled with each of my children’s names, but when it comes down to it, they all had the same problem: Stuff would eventually fall out. The items were not enclosed. A Caboodle is perfect for packing art supplies, snacks, and books for road trips.
Miniature Toys
Our two foster littles are obsessed with Shopkins. To be honest, my own daughter was never into them, so I had no idea how much they would take over our home. Everywhere I look there’s a Shopkin. A Caboodle provides a quick fix for those miniature rubber whatevers or even other little toys or figures.
Arts and Crafts
Does your home ever start to look like a crayon factory? Like Crayola just set up shop right in the middle of your dining room? A Caboodle is the perfect place to store crayons, markers, and other art supplies like glue, paint, and stamps.
Games
We have a puzzle and game closet in our basement that has gotten a little out of control. Our family loves board games and piecing together puzzles, so we have quite a few. A Caboodle can serve as a great storage container for random timers, dice, or game pieces as well as card games, which tend to get thrown all over the place or lost.
This is awesome! The best post ever! I still have 2 old Caboodles at my mom’s house filled with all my old nail polish from $25 years ago….wow, that seems like yesterday that my cousin and I were having sleepovers and painting eachother’s nails! Thanks so much for this post, now I have lots of great ideas for its use:)
Marisa,
Thank you so much for your sweet comment. Yes, my Caboodle and I go way back! It was fun putting together different ways to utilize it, thinking beyond makeup. Fun post to write : )
Hey there, Whippers!!! I loved this post! Another great option is keeping a lookout for sales at Michaels craft store in their crafting storage department. They have awesome storage containers that have gotten as low as 60% off, and they are perfect to sort little legos, shopkins, and stuff like beaded jewelry, etc. I am all about order and organizing stuff neatly! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Julie Jules,
Ah, you were so sweet to comment on my post. Love my Caboodle so much, and YES to organization. I’m not great at it, but every once in awhile I find something that makes life a bit easier. Thanks for reading, friend!
Perfect timing. I am a Realtor in Chandler AZ who has several clients with children that I want to buy closing gifts for and how amazing would a Caboodle be. So fun!! I can’t wait for them to open these and I haven’t even purchased them yet. Thanks for sharing this!!
Valerie,
Sorry for the very delayed response to your comment. So glad you enjoyed my post. It was a fun one to put together. YES, Caboodles would be a great gift!!!
I still have my Caboodle! It holds all my jr. high and high school jewelry like it did then. 😬
Heather,
So many uses for the Caboodle! It truly is the gift that keeps on giving! Jewelry is a great idea!!! Thanks for posting a comment.
Love this! Such good ideas – permission to repost photo? (With credit and backlinks of course) 🙂
Yes, as long as we are credited and linked 🙂