Cousins Club–A grandparent’s solution to toys and mess when the grandkids come to stay.

Joe’s side of the family is growing at rapid speed and when we all get together the house can feel a little chaotic. The adults want to visit and the kids want to play, and I’m sure you can imagine the mess that unfolds as 12 little ones play with mild supervision.

My in-laws wanted a solution that would contain the chaos while still allowing the grandkids freedom to play. We decided to turn a spare bedroom on the main floor into a “cousin’s club.”

The Name

I can’t take credit for the name. Madeleine, Joseph and my nieces came up with it at one of our beach trips years ago. We were staying at a beach house in Port Aransas that had TWO bunk beds. A dream come true for our little crew. They held secret meetings on the top bunk all weekend long and coined the term ‘cousin club’ for these sweet huddles. The name stuck and anytime the family got together, the club would resume.

What We Did

So back to the ‘official’ cousins club. We began by taking everything out of the room and gathering all the toys from the different play areas around the house. We sorted the toys into categories; dolls, vehicles, dinosaurs, instruments, play kitchen, and dress up. We had a variety of coordinating bins to store items so we chose large bins for our large categories and small bins for the small categories.

We added an additional shelf in the closet (thanks Joe) so that bins and toys would be accessible for little kids and would also encourage clean up after playtime.

We brought in an old shelving unit from the garage and turned it into a storage/entertainment center for a new tv. Perfect for cartoons and movie night sleepovers. The play kitchen fit perfectly in the open space by the window. The tall striped trunk keeps all the play food and kitchen accessories hidden.

We wanted to keep the bed but didn’t want the space to feel like just another bedroom so we added large colorful pillows and placed them along both sides to give the feel of a day bed/oversized couch. This adorable little futon is a favorite for playing ‘house’ and provides more seats for watching shows.

The built in desk was perfect for storing art supplies, paper, and stickers.

My favorite area is the old wardrobe we repurposed into dress up central by installing screw in hooks along the back wall and doors. These are more functional than hangers when it comes to little kids hanging things back up. We used two baskets, one on top for accessories like crowns and wands, and a larger one on the bottom for dress up shoes.

Once everything had a place, the room was complete. The cousins love how their club turned out and it is a favorite play space in the house when we get together.