I Tried 4 Different IKEA Baskets for Toy Storage, and Found a Clear Winner

IKEA’s toy storage is legendary. From the classic pull-out TROFAST system to the hidden storage of the DUNDRA activity table to a BILLY bookcase hack for small toys, IKEA is a Cubby favorite for easy, accessible ways to organize toys and tame kid clutter.

But what about IKEA baskets? Baskets can be a great way to store toys, but they can also be large and unwieldy — especially for little kids. So I went on the hunt for the best IKEA storage baskets for toys … and I found a definite winner!

I never realized before I had kids quite how much stuff they come with. I mean, I knew my daughter would need a certain amount of stuff. But I somehow wasn’t prepared for the sheer volume of it: the multipacks of diapers, the tins of formula, the reams of tiny outfits, and the toys.

Oh, the toys.

With the wisdom and confidence that only a person without kids can have, I naively thought that my daughter wouldn’t need all that primary-colored plastic stuff. I’m as partial to a neutral toy as the next millennial parent, but it turns out even my relatively easygoing baby can’t be entertained with just a wooden spoon and a silk handkerchief in taupe. She’s also lucky enough to be surrounded by four living grandparents and a host of aunts and uncles (both blood and honorary) who can never resist showering her with gifts.

Altogether, and despite my best efforts, our toy collection grows at an alarming rate — and I needed a way to contain them so that my daughter had easy access to play without completely taking over our home. So, I did the obvious thing: Put them in a basket.

At first, we had a tall, heavy basket with a lid — but as soon as my daughter started to pull herself up I was scared she’d pull it over on top of herself. That one has since been relegated to a laundry basket.

My next attempt at containing all the toys was a smaller, straight-sided basket, decorated with stripes and pom-poms. Perfect for a kid’s room! Except my kid does about 90% of her playing downstairs, and not in her room. 

Honestly, I could live with the stripes and pompoms in the family room — it is a room for the family after all, not just a room for adults — but this basket didn’t have handles, which made carting it up and down stairs whilst carrying a baby a logistical issue at best, and downright dangerous at worst. 

And so it went on. I was like Goldilocks, searching for the basket that would be just right. That was how I found myself perusing the storage section on a Tuesday night trip to IKEA.

I had tried a few IKEA baskets before for my daughter’s toys: the TJABBIG (too heavy; now stores “overflow” toys), the RISATORP (too small; now used to take spare bottles and soothers up and downstairs overnight), even a pair of SOCKERBITS under her bed (too difficult to access; now used to store diapers).

None quite fit the bill, until I came across the IKEA FLÅDIS. 

Here’s why the IKEA FLÅDIS was the clear toy storage winner.

• It’s light and soft: The FLÅDIS basket is light and soft enough that it doesn’t pose any danger to my daughter as she starts to move around, pull herself up on the furniture, and try to get to her own toys
• It has strong handles: That basket has strong handles so I can just grab it and move it from room to room. I’ve even put it straight into the car to visit my in-laws or go away for the weekend, like a mobile toy box.
• It’s quite roomy: FLÅDIS baskets are big enough to hold plenty of toys so that my daughter easily doesn’t get bored. We regularly rotate toys between the main FLÅDIS toy basket, the bigger “overflow” toy basket, and the pompom-ed upstairs toy basket, but the FLÅDIS isn’t so huge that smaller toys get “lost” at the bottom.
• There’s a wide opening: It has a wide opening, so it’s really easy for my daughter to get her toys out and scoop them all back in again when it’s time to tidy up, but the bulb shape means that every single toy doesn’t escape when the basket falls on its side. That bulb shape also keeps the toys relatively hidden and contained when they’re all packed away.
• It has a neutral color and material: The FLÅDIS is made of seagrass so it actually looks nice on the sideboard in the family room and it can feel like a calm adult space once my daughter is in bed. 

I’m so glad I don’t have to search for the perfect toy storage basket anymore! If you’re not near an IKEA, BlueMake’s seagrass belly baskets look similar to the FLÅDIS and come in three sizes and two colors for plenty of toy storage.