Last summer, we traded our office mornings for something considerably better: our mom group park days. The women we met through our pediatrician on a random Wednesday became our village, our advice circle, and the parents of our kids’ first friends. Most of our days were spent enjoying extended al fresco brunches at Hole in the Wall or picnicking in Madison Square Park.
We’d spread our blankets into one big communal space, migrate toward the shade as the sun moved, bring each other snacks, and trade parenting tips. When a music class set up nearby, we’d drift over with our tiny, oblivious newborns and absorb the entertainment. When it rained, we moved the whole operation under the awning at 11 Madison Park and stayed anyway. The days that used to disappear into conference rooms and emails were suddenly long and sunny and outside — new friends, new babies, nowhere we needed to be.
This summer, we’re more seasoned and expanding into playground territory. Evie is almost one. She squeals when she sees other kids running, is obsessed with the swings, and has recently decided that standing — held up by our hands while she marches furiously in place — is her preferred mode of existing. Madison Square Park is still home base. We love its proximity, its green lawns, and of course its Shake Shack. But we’re ready to move around and see more of what NYC greenspaces have to offer. Which means the park bag matters more than ever. Here’s what’s actually in it.
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1. The Kollab Picnic Mat
Kollab picnic Mats | image from Kollab
Most picnic blankets are not good at their job. You know the ones — thin, compact, folds into a little pouch, fits in your bag, and seats exactly 1.5 adults before someone’s sitting on the grass. During COVID, Rachel and I spent a lot of time outside playing Rummikub, which is when our hunt for the perfect picnic mat got serious. It took a while and a few failed experiments before we found Kollab.
Kollab is a women-led, Australian-based company best known for its picnic mats, lunch boxes, and bags. They specialize in functional, stylish accessories made with recycled materials and designed in collaboration with different artists. We took a small risk ordering online and paying international shipping without ever seeing one in person. It paid off.
The Kollab Large Picnic Mat opens to about 79 x 79 inches. It’s big enough for our whole mom group to share, with room for moving babies, and snacks in the middle. The foam lining means you’re actually comfortable, not just technically off the ground. The water-resistant material means a damp NYC lawn after a recent rain isn’t your problem and any spilled beverages wipe up easily. And the fold is genuinely foolproof — roll or fold it however you want, snap the oversized elastic buckle, done. No velcro tabs to align, no origami, no frustration.
Kollab large picnic mat – birds of paradise Pattern
We have the Birds of Paradise pattern, which is currently unavailable — Kollab rotates patterns constantly, so if you see something you love, get it now!
The mat is beautiful, big, and substantial. It’s not the picnic blanket that will disappear into your pocket but it is light enough that we genuinely don’t mind shoving it into a backpack and carrying it through the city. We’ve gifted this mat to the people we love most, and every time we take it out at the park someone asks where we got it.
2. The Izimini Portable Booster Chair
Izimini Portable Booster Chair – Terrazzo Pattern
Keeping on trend with well-designed, beautifully patterned Australian products is the Izimini Portable Booster Chair. I remember seeing the Terrazzo pattern and falling in love — go figure. We bought one for Evie when it went on sale around the holidays, thinking it would be useful for future beach excursions. When it arrived, we loved it so much we immediately ordered one for our niece Orli, who is five weeks younger than Evie. Both of our families use them constantly, and we haven’t even gotten to beach season yet.
Izimini markets the chair as both a standalone floor seat and a dining chair booster. We’ve only ever used it on the ground — opened up and secured on a blanket at the park or our building’s roof deck on a sunny afternoon. We bring it whenever we’re planning a real meal with Evie outside. It has a buckle and a tray, which makes feeding and cleanup considerably easier than managing a squirmy 10-month-old on a blanket. It folds into a matching carry bag that fits under the stroller. Sturdy, safe, and available in a range of prints that make it as fun to look at as it is practical to use. Did we mention they also make matching hats and umbrellas?
Since writing this Izimini has also updated their chair design, calling it the V2, which includes a new auto-locking system that keeps the chair safely in the open position and a removable, machine-washable seat cover for easy clean-up.
3. The Pehr Bucket Hat
Pehr Bucket Hat in Stripes away Rainbow
Sun protection is non-negotiable for babies and a good hat is the easiest way to get it. The Pehr Bucket Hat is our go-to — it looks great and actually does its job without making Evie miserable in the process.
Pehr is known for high-quality materials and genuinely cute prints, although yes, they’re pricier than Carter’s, H&M, or other competitive brands. But a hat that fits well, stays on, and survives a full summer of park days is worth the difference. The GOTS certified organic cotton is soft and breathable — important when it’s July in New York and everyone is running hot. The brim is the right length: protective enough to shade baby’s face without being so floppy it falls over her eyes. We have one from Carter’s that is comically oversized in that respect, and while it’s funny, it’s not exactly functional.
Pehr Baby Bucket Hats | Images from Pehr
A few things we specifically like: the chin strap on baby sizes is an adjustable drawstring strap, not a tie — much easier to manage with an opinionated baby. And the brim length is just right for the park or stroller. The longer flap styles that cover the neck are great for the beach or pool, where the sun is coming from every angle, but in a stroller or at the park, they just make baby sweaty. This one hits the right balance.
4. Sun Bum Baby Mineral SPF 50
Sun bum baby bum mineral sunscreen
My wife is a sunscreen fanatic. It is always packed in the park bag. Baby skin is sensitive and protecting it is important. It requires a combination of thoughtful clothing, stroller canopies, shade-seeking, and yes — actual sunscreen after 6 months of age. For babies, mineral over chemical is the general recommendation, and while mineral formulas can leave a white residue, that’s often the tradeoff for full protection on delicate skin.
We’ve tried a few so far — the Sun Bum Baby Mineral Cream, the Sun Bum Baby Mineral Stick, and the Pipette Mineral Sunscreen Stick — and we’ll likely do a deeper dive on this in a future post because it deserves more than a paragraph. What we can say right now: cream is generally easiest for the body, a stick is easiest for the face, where you need faster and more frequent application. The Sun Bum Baby Mineral Cream is what’s currently in our park bag. It goes on without too much of a fight, which at this stage of babyhood is its own category of achievement.
5. The Itzy Ritzy Breeze Stroller Fan
Itzy Ritzy Baby Stroller Fan
If you’ve never experienced a New York City summer, let us explain: it’s hot, it’s humid, and on the wrong day the air doesn’t move at all. A portable fan is not a luxury item in this city; it’s infrastructure. We used ours every day last summer — on the stroller ride to the park, during picnic lunches, and most importantly for Evie’s extended bassinet naps in the heat. A good breeze made the difference between a baby who slept and a baby who didn’t.
We have the Itzy Ritzy Breeze fan — in the bear design, which is objectively cute. We actually had one running in the hospital room when Evie was born and it helped Rachel significantly during recovery. So it’s been with us from the very beginning.
Here’s the honest feedback though: we own two of them so one is always charged, because the battery life is not the best. After one season, the rubber coating on the bendable legs has also started to deteriorate. We’re going to use them again this summer anyway — the breeze is strong, the bendable legs let you get the angle exactly right, and until we find something better, two fans on a rotating charge schedule is just our reality.
Whatever brand you choose, a portable rechargeable fan belongs in your NYC park bag. Babies need it for stroller naps, toddlers need it when they stop running long enough to eat a snack, and honestly, you’ll probably point it at yourself on the walk home.
6. Fubbles Bubble Blaster
Fubbles Bubble Blaster
Everyone loves bubbles. Every baby, every toddler, every kid within a twenty-foot radius who wasn’t even part of your group. A bubble gun is one of those park bag items that does more social work than anything else you could pack — it entertains your kid, attracts other kids, and gives you a solid five minutes of everyone being happy at the same time.
We’ve tried a few different brands and the Fubbles Bubble Blaster is the best one we’ve found. I stumbled across it at a Duane Reade while buying kombucha — before Evie was even born — and immediately bought one for my niece Sofia. Then went back and bought two more: one for our future child, one for a lucky friend. That’s how good it is.
It makes a soft motor sound, lights up, and produces an enormous amount of bubbles per canister. Young babies get the visual feedback they need and toddlers and older kids can work it themselves without having to blow, which eliminates the mess and frusteration. No toys with small parts to keep track of and no explaining how it works. Press the button, instant joy. We haven’t seen it in many stores beyond Duane Reade, but it’s easy to find online.
7. The OXO Tot Roll-Up Bib
OXO TOT ROLL-Up Bib
We first saw the OXO Tot Roll-up Bib when a friend visited with her young son — we were pregnant at the time and hadn’t thought much beyond soft bibs for bottles and drool. Once Evie started solids around six months, the memory of that bib came back immediately and we bought the two-pack off Amazon.
They’re as good for everyday use at home as they are for the park, which is exactly what you want from something that takes up space in your bag. The soft, waterproof fabric sits higher up on baby’s neck to protect clothes better than other bibs, and the silicone lip catches falling food before it hits the outfit or picnic mat.
But the reason it earns a permanent spot in the park bag is the roll-up design — the whole bib folds into the silicone lip and snaps closed with a small button. It’s compact enough to forget it’s in there until you need it, and after a messy park lunch you can roll it up dirty, snap it shut, and most of the mess stays contained until you get home to wash it. No wet bag required, no explanation needed. It just works.
8. The Kollab Lunch Bag
Kollab Lunch Bag In Olive Check
The Kollab Lunch Bag started its life as Rachel’s work lunchbox. She used it daily until Evie was born, at which point it immediately switched jobs and became the milk chiller — and it hasn’t looked back since.
Same brand DNA as the Kollab mat: quality construction, recyclable materials, and patterns that will tempt you into buying more than one. We use it with ice packs and it has consistently kept Evie’s milk, salmon, and yogurt cold through park afternoons, long stroller rides, and a delayed flight to Florida. It’s soft, packable, and fits a surprising amount of bottles and food for something that doesn’t feel bulky in the bag.
Kollab Mini Cooler in Olive Check
We’ve been eyeing the Kollab Mini Cooler as our next step up for longer days and beach season — same aesthetic, more space and insulation. We’ll report back once we’ve put it through its paces. In the meantime, if you already love the mat, the lunchbox is the natural next purchase. Same effect, different job.
9. The Travel Toy Rotation
Bubbles will get you far, but having backup toys in the park bag is never a bad idea. The key is not packing the same toys Evie plays with every day at home — familiarity doesn’t buy you much when you need a distraction. What works is novelty: something with colors, texture, sound, and movement that she doesn’t see coming. So, we rotate a small selection of what we call the weird toys.
Every baby has their thing. Evie is a “shaky-shaky” girl — rattles, egg shakers, anything that makes a sound when you move it. So our travel toy rotation leans heavily in that direction: a few small rattles, the Nuby Twist Ball Teether which has colors and shapes and something to chew in addition to the shake, and a small egg shaker that I have found approximately fifty ways to deploy in a moment of need. Shake it fast, shake it slow, pass it back and forth, act surprised every single time.
Figure out what your kid is drawn to right now: rattles, teethers, toys with knobs and colors, whatever holds their attention. Pack a small rotation of those specifically for the bag and swap them out every once in a while. It’s a low effort move that pays off exactly when you need it most — the last stretch of the walk home, the wait for the check, the moment the bubbles run out. Pack the weird toys.
- Knitted Rainbow Rattle
- IKEA SANDBI Rattle
- Sassy Developmental Bumpy Ball
- Sassy Ring O Links 9 Piece Set
- Infinno Baby Silicone Teething Toy
- HABA Fun with Sounds Wooden Eggs
- Itzy Ritzy Mini Maracas
10. The Emergency Snack Situation
There’s baby food and then there’s the snackos — and every park bag needs both. Once Evie hit the age where she could feed herself, snacks stopped being just about hunger and became part activity, part entertainment, part parental survival strategy. Something to keep her hands busy, her mouth happy, and everyone on the blanket in good spirits a little longer.
The criteria for a good park bag snack is simple: shelf-stable, self-serve, and mess-tolerant. We keep a Melii glass jar filled and ready to go at all times. Right now, the rotation includes Serenity Kids Grain-Free Puffs, Happy Baby Yogis, Trader Joe’s Peanut Bambas, and the occasional teething biscuit.
Last weekend in Philadelphia, we spent the afternoon at the playground with my sister and three-year-old niece Sofia, got hungry, and ducked into the closest place we could find — a spot with a menu that was not exactly baby-friendly. Evie wasn’t due for a proper meal, but she wasn’t going to sit quietly through lunch on nothing either. The puffs bought us exactly enough time to eat. Park outings rarely go exactly to schedule. Meals get delayed, naps run long, and a fussy baby between feeds can derail an otherwise great afternoon fast. Keep something in the bag. Always.
- Melii Glass Baby Food Storage Containers
- Serenity Kids Grain-Free Puffs
- Happy Baby Yogis
- Trader Joe’s Peanut Bambas
- Happy Baby Teething Crackers
That’s the park bag. Everything above lives in it specifically because it earns its weight — the best, big picnic mat we’ve found, the chair that makes mealtime actually work outside, the snacks that buy you twenty minutes when the afternoon goes sideways.
The rest of what we carry comes from the diaper bag and travels everywhere with us anyway: an extra outfit, a changing pad, diapers, wipes, hand sanitizer, burp cloths, and binkies. The basics don’t need a list. But the things that make a park afternoon genuinely enjoyable rather than just survivable — those do. We hope this helps you build yours.
See you at Madison Square Park.
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