Game Area Organization....The I Really Need To Measure Space More Accurately Edition

Without fail, I am the queen of 'this should fit' and then quickly learning that I am farrrr from the queen of that. One would think I would have learned my lesson at this stage in the game, but by all the returns I did during Prime Day, such is not the case. I would be more embarrassed if I was the one doing the returns and not my hubby.

I am not sure about your family, but mine loves games. Particularly the kids love games like memory, puzzles, Guess in 10 (we even have this on my phone in different variations). They love any game that requires them to think or solve a clue/puzzle. There is nothing they love more than being detectives. We have the IKEA billy bookcase and we turned them into built-ins (something I highly suggest if you were looking to do a built-in for a fraction of the cost, but the same look). We bought the ones that have a set of cupboards and doors for the items we need space for, but do not necessarily want them displayed for everyone to see such as; school supplies, table decor for holidays, and of course our game section. Although everything fit nicely, we were obviously at the tail end of putting anything else in there. I had used every inch of space as seen.

The first thing I did was take everything out and proceed to remove anything that the kids had aged out of or had never taken out. This included spelling games (honestly these were either too difficult or too easy and I did not think they provided any value to having them or saving them to 'see'. I also did this with the puzzles. My kids are amazing at them so anything less than 100 pieces was donated (unless it was something they truly loved).

I also suggest not doing this where the kids can see you as they will start pulling everything out, telling you it is their favorite, and removing the game from the pile until you are all done and all of a sudden do not know why you have games 'missing'. Here is me not talking from experience...

Second, get out a strong pair of scissors as you will be breaking down the boxes and cutting the part of the lid that has the name of the game on it. I took a page from themamanotes on Instagram and bought THESE storage game organizers during Prime Day. I loved the color, but never measured them and they were a little too long. The doors of the built-in closed, but not completely, and honestly, it drove me nuts enough to buy new ones that were not part of Prime Day (because I purchased them after Prime Day had ended...of course) which was mildly irritating, but necessary. I still want to showcase the pink ones as they looked incredible and if they can fit on your bookshelves, I am here for it.

As mentioned, I cut the tops of the boxes and put the cardboard top in the mesh pocket in the front and the game, instructions, and all of its pieces in the zippered portion.

I know I know...super cute, but do not get attached...

As you can see, because the pink cases did not fit, I had to put them landscape/horizontal and although it worked and looked cute, the kids would have to pull them out one by one to see what was in them (thus defeating the purpose) and I wasn't sure they would be able to stack them as well (again, defeating the purpose). Here is where I had a mental breakdown and proceeded to get on Amazon for ones that better suited what my brain had conjured. Once again, I was reminded by my co-pilot hubby (who was not sitting there with me cutting boxes and organizing) of the importance of a tape measure...would it be cheaper to get a divorce attorney or new organizing cases? Asking for a friend....

Also, the zipper on the pink ones was not as great as the ones I purchased, so in the long run #worthit. I ended up buying THESE and I purchased the package of small and the one that comes with two smalls and two larges. I did have to put the two larges horizontal since we had some larger board games like Twister and Chutes and Ladders that did not fit in the small.

Not me impatiently waiting for next day 8am delivery #firstworldproblems

Once they arrived, I did have to adjust some of the cardboard cutouts as the mesh pocket was significantly smaller than the pink.

You can see the difference between the small and the large organizing cases. In the end, the gray were a little more sturdy than the pink, they did not have a burning plastic smell and the zippers were super easy to open and close and were not catching on anything, so yes, not Prime Day prices, but better overall (especially for my sanity).

We did decide to keep the puzzles in their original boxes for now, since they still fit perfectly and there is still extra room for a couple more. I will be getting a slew of the small organizing cases when it does come time to make more space. I will also be adding this to my home organization list on Amazon so that I am notified when the price decreases or when there is a lightning deal (if you are not doing this, you are missing out). The worst-case scenario is that they go on sale, I get them and save them for when the time comes and then promptly forget where I put them (::cue face palm emoji::).

No one loves a good memory game like my kids. Under no circumstances play the Commodore because he will lull you into a false sense of comfort and then annihilate you in one fell swoop. He is a memory card shark through and through. Because we had four of them and my kids genuinely love each, I purchased THESE multi-colored pencil boxes that came in a pack of four and they were positively perfect. Honestly, these are a great price for $12 and could be used for so much besides school supplies (travel, card games, magnatiles for restaurant entertainment, etc.).

Drum roll please....the final product....

Extremely pleased with it and I may or may not have just opened it to breathe a sigh of gratification...

If you don't already and you have a kid's area, make sure that you have them test it out and that everything is easy to access. It will save you a lot of heartache and stress waiting until after you have created what you deem a perfect space only for them to never use the area because it is too difficult to access anything or put anything back. I had both EV and the Commodore look for games, pull them out, pu. t them back, and just make sure it was something they wanted to go into and have fun with. It is a game area, shouldn't it be fun?! They both loved it and had so much fun being able to see everything rather than balancing boxes around and trying to remember where it came from so that it fit back properly and the doors closed. Is it obvious who else was stressed by this?! Not anyyyyymooooore!