The Search for a Stylish Changing Bag

I’ve talked about this before, I know, but, as soon as you announce that you’re pregnant, people start lining up to tell you about how you Can’t Have Nice Things any more, because OBVIOUSLY, duh!

So far, I’ve been told that I…

01. Can’t have nice shoes, because, in the unlikely event that my feet don’t grow during pregnancy, “nice” shoes just aren’t practical enough for all of the “chasing around after a toddler” I’ll be doing.

02. Can’t have nice clothes, because the baby will just spit up on them.

03. Can’t have white walls in my house, because all babies smear poop on walls, apparently. (And, I guess if your walls are a dark colour, that’s OK, because you can just leave it there? Is that what you folks are trying to tell me here? Because I am NOT OK with this, if so…)

And, most recently, I’ve been told that I can’t have nice handbags, just a big ol’ changing bag, and, as we all know, there’s no such thing as a stylish changing bag, is there?

“We’ll see about THAT!” I thought.

Now, a changing bag was one of the last remaining items on my “things I need to buy” list, but, as luck would have it, not long after the dire warning about how I’d have to chuck out all of my designer handbags was issued, an email dropped into my inbox from a brand called Beau. And, whaddya know, they just so happened to be selling the very thing I’d been told didn’t exist – a stylish changing bag: or bags, rather, because they have more than one of them, and, let me tell you, I had a hard time choosing a favourite.

The beauty of Beau – from my point of view, at least – is that most of their bags just look like regular handbags: nice ones, too. I went for the Sophia changing bag, which comes in a gorgeous tan leather with gold hardware, and a removable organiser insert, which allows you to just use the bag as a “normal” handbag, if you’re out without the baby:

Appearance aside, the thing that appealed to me most about this bag is how clever it is in terms of organisation. As well as having various zipped pockets on the bag itself, the wipe-clean organiser has another internal pouch of its own, plus tons of different compartments, so you can keep everything organised, and not have to rummage around for whatever you’re looking for:

As well as all of this, there’s also a leather bottle holder:

Plus a changing mat which looks like a cute leather clutch bag, but which has EVEN MORE storage tucked away under the mat itself:

Genius.

So, I obviously haven’t been able to use this as an actual changing bag yet (I’ve totally used it as a handbag, though, not gonna lie…), but I’m planning to pack the baby’s stuff in it to take to the hospital – where it will go nicely with my own hospital bag # 2, now I come to think of it. Oh, and just to add, for anyone thinking of buying one: this bag normally comes with a shoulder strap, too, so you can carry it over your shoulder as well as by the handles. Mine is a sample, which was sent to me for review purposes, and the shoulder strap is missing – I happen to have another tan leather shoulder strap “in stock” though (I always knew my handbag collection would come in handy one day!), so its no biggie for me, but if you order one yourself, it would come with the detachable strap, too!