5 Uses for Those Oversized Comic-Con Bags

Today is the first day of Comic-Con! Bring on the madness, San Diego. I'm ready!
Okay, I'm not really ready, but I'll get through. I always do. Besides the banners all over the Gaslamp District and the hordes of people, another sure sign that it's Comic-Con time is seeing all the gigantic bags all over the place. I feel like the oversized bags attendees receive upon badge pick-up get bigger and bigger every year. You could easily fit a medium-sized dog or small child inside the sturdy totes.

For the past few years (at least), Warner Bros. has put their franchises all over the items. This year's selection includes Supernatural, Gotham, The Vampire Diaries, Batman, and many other designs. Like a ton. I'm drooling over the Supernatural bag, but at this point, I've amassed and thrown out my fair share of the snazzy sacks. I've been thinking more about uses for them though, and I've come up with five ways you can use the oversized bags after the convention is over and you've swagged your last swag.

Laundry bag

The bags are too big to be effective grocery bags, but the amount of stuff they hold is ideal for laundry day. You can squish one into a rectangle and stuff it in your bag for travel and/or leave one by your dirty clothes hamper.

Tanya Rivas

Dresses, suit jackets, skirts - oh my!

Handy with a needle and scissors? You can take part in the time-honored tradition of transforming the huge Comic-Con bags into outfits. People have turned them into dresses, skirts, corsets, vests, and tuxedo jackets. If you're not incredibly skilled at sewing, start simple with a pencil or A-line skirt.

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Smaller bags

Cut the bags down to a smaller, more usable size. You can feature a title of a show or a character's face and cut around it to make a tote bag, messenger bag, or even a clutch. You can make multiples and give them as gifts to your convention buddies. You can use an old bag or thrift store find to cut apart and use as a template.

Wall art

Tired of your bags being stuffed in a closet year after year? Cut off either the front or back - whichever image you like better - and frame them. You can leave the size as is or cut it down to something more manageable. If you have several you'd like to feature, slice them up and make a collage.

Epic bag quilt

If the bags can be sewn into outfits, they can be transformed into an epic, nerdy quilt. You'd only need to save a handful of the bags to make it happen, and trust me, it's not hard to get extras. Ask friends if they have any old bags saved or will be keeping their bags after the convention. Worst case, you can buy older bags at a relatively cheap price on eBay. Stitch the squares (they're almost like Tyvek) on top of a soft fabric, and you'll have a cool blanket-scrapbook visit of your trips to Comic-Con.

Do you have any other suggestions for recycling the huge bags?