Today is the day that Vera Bradley released their newest addition to their Harry Potter line. It’s called Forbidden Forest and it’s gorgeous!
I found a store close to my home that carries the new line and visited it as soon as they opened at 10 am. I had no idea which styles the store would have but knew that I wanted to get there as soon as I could in case they sold out of their inventory quickly. The Forbidden Forest design is so new that they didn’t have any put out yet so I asked if they had them and my heart sank a bit when I was told that they didn’t have too much yet.
My sadness turned to joy when I discovered that they had the two bags that I most wanted, the Triple Zip Hipster and the RFID All in One Crossbody, although I didn’t know I wanted that second one until I saw it and examined it.
I have a confession to make. I HATED the Harry Potter designs from Vera Bradley when they first came out. I’m pretty sure that I’m in the minority on that, but I did. I ended up buying a Vera Bradley bag for this website so that I could learn first-hand about their purses and chose a Disney one (which I plan on reviewing at some point). I used it for the first time last week and completely fell in love with it. So much so that I bought a Mandrake Ditsy crossbody on eBay two days ago, and now these two. Yes, that means that I went from zero to four in a very short period of time, which I wrote about here.
This post isn’t an in-depth review of either bag, I’ll do that later, but it’s an introduction to them.
Triple Zip Hipster
This is the purse that I most wanted this morning as I entered the store. It checks all the buttons for me:
- Pretty Harry Potter design
- Crossbody purse
- Pockets (lots of pockets!)
- Not too big, not too small
- External pocket fits my iPhone
- Has a wand pocket
Yes, you read that correctly. The Triple Zip Hipster bag in the Forbidden Forest design has a wand pocket so that I can carry one of my wands when I use this bag. It’s my first purse to have a wand pocket, and I realized years ago the first time that I took a wand to Universal Studios that having a safe place to put it was a must. That day I ended up keeping it inside my mini backpack but worried that it might break because it was mixed up with everything else inside my backpack.
There is a small slip pocket on the back, next to the wand pocket, that is meant for cell phones. I have an iPhone 12 Max Pro and it fits perfectly into this pocket.
This is easily my favorite design in Vera Bradley’s various Harry Potter lines. Just like the real Forbidden Forest, there are many creatures to find hidden within. The design has a lot more creatures on it than you’ll see on my Triple Zip Hipster bag, but it does have the following:
- Fang
- Scabbers
- Norbert
- Buckbeak
- A thestral (part of one)
- Hedwig
The one character that I’m SO glad isn’t on my purse is Aragog. *Shudder* If the Hogwarts castle had been right on the front of my bag then he would have been.
RFID All in One Crossbody
The other item that I was hoping for was a matching wallet. The store didn’t have the wallet but they did have the RFID All in One Crossbody, which I think is even better. As the name implies, it is both a wallet and a small purse. It has straps so you can use it as a crossbody, it has a wrist strap so you can use it as a wristlet, or you can remove those and put it inside your purse as a wallet.
It has everything that the wallet does, and more. There are two pockets on the outside, and two zippered compartments on the inside. There is plenty of space for anything I’d want to put in my wallet.
I was on the fence about this bag because it was almost the same price as the hipster bag, but I decided to get it after I checked to see if it fit inside. Obviously, it does.
What I like best about this is that I can use it as a wallet when I’m wearing the Hipster, or I can use this as a wallet / purse if I don’t need to carry very much when I go out. I’m very happy to say that I regret nothing!
These bags are pretty in the pictures but I assure you that they look even better in person. I expect these to fly off the shelves and that the fans of Harry Potter are going to clear out their Gringotts bank vaults to get them.
Do you have any of the bags or items from this new line? If so, what did you get and why? Please tell me in the comments below.