Are You Pining for a Great New Handbag?

Instead of a bag in a car, a car in a bag

Good Housekeeping and SheBuysCars have partnered on a giveaway of designer handbags.

When my oldest daughter graduated from college, my husband and I wanted to get her something special. I suggested her first ‘real’ pocketbook and he balked - what a terrible gift, he said.

Reader, she loved it. We gave her carte blanche to choose a bag and she even chose me as her shopping partner. It was a great day of mother / daughter bonding, and my husband got to share her joy when she came home with what she deemed the perfect designer bag.

The Toyota Camry looks great with a designer bag

Some parents mark milestone for their kids with a car, but Hallie didn’t even learn to drive till she was 19 (we live in New York City, and for much of her life didn’t even own a car) and when she graduated, she moved back to the city to work for a couple of years. A car would have been a ridiculous gift.

And I remember when I had my first job, a crummy, low-paying servitude publishing job, but my boyfriend (now husband) and I were couch surfing before it became a thing, so we had disposable income to blow on the more essential items, like travel and expensive handbags.

Good Housekeeping and SheBuysCars understand that pocketbooks and cars go, well, hand in hand. I mean, what woman doesn’t throw her car keys into her pocketbook, and then think about where to place said bag once she gets into the car?

The environmentally friendly Prius

The Toyota Camry is a great car for a style-conscious woman who doesn’t want to spend everything on her drive (maybe she wants to have a few bucks leftover for, say, a nice spring bag?). The car isn’t cheap; fully loaded, it’s in the mid-30s, but it offers a lot of luxury bang for the buck. It features soft leather seats, heated steering wheel, and a wireless charging pad so you don’t have to clutter up your car or handbag toting a power cord.

For the eco-conscious, the new Prius has many luxury touches too, along with upgraded technology and safety features - and you still get amazing mileage. So you don't have to feel guilty taking it to the mall, where you can shop for, you guessed it, a new handbag.

See these cars and more at the New York Auto Show, which runs from today through April 3. And be sure to enter SheBuysCars’ promotion with Good Housekeeping, giving away a handbag a day the entire time. Just take a picture of your handbag in your car (or a photo of with one you love at the car show and tweet or post on Instagram with the hashtag #GHDrives.

There is no purchase necessary, and you can only win one bag.

Oh, and as for my daughter? When she started grad school, we bought her the car.

Note: this is sponsored post. Opinions expressed are my own.

Handbag Giveaway With Good Housekeeping And Toyota

Not my old Toyota: the 2015 Toyota Highlander

Just as I’ll always be fond of boys who wear Stan Smith tennis shoes, (as my first boyfriend did) I’ll always have a warm place in my heart for Toyota, my first car.

OK, my only car.

I learned to drive in a 1979 Toyota (yes, I am THAT old) and my mother passed it along to me when I was in college. I then dumped it on my sister since my boyfriend at the time (different boyfriend, same Stan Smith tennis shoes - go figure) had a better Toyota and we were moving back to NYC, where we only needed one car.

We owned several cars over the years, but they were never actually MY car. Now, I get to drive cars from all different brands. But I’ll always love a Toyota.

And I’ll always love to check out the hot new cars at the NY Auto Show, which starts next week at the Javits Center. We always went here when the girls were little - they loved to sit in the back of pickup trucks (city girls!) and they still do, even as young women and teens. 

My daughters, hanging out in the back of a pickup truck

When they were younger, another draw was Camp Jeep, a simulated off-road drive. Fun!

But this year is extra special. Good Housekeeping is giving away 35 designer handbags between April 3 and 12th! To enter to win, show attendees must take a photo of themselves in the drivers seat of a vehicle in a booth with the Women in the Drivers Seat plaque and tweet or Instagram it with the hashtags #GHDrives and #LetsGoPlaces.

You can get more info about the contest here.

The Toyota booth is front and center, so it should be easy to stop by and snap a selfie - and maybe win a pocketbook.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. Opinions expressed are my own.