Buy a small handbag for evening activities

When it’s time to head to a party, it’s also time to switch your bag out. Hauling your daytime satchel or hobo bag into the party when you’re in your evening finest is generally not recommended.

Instead, it’s ideal to have a bag that you can wear for evening events. Whether you’re wearing a pantsuit or a cocktail dress, having the right bag is essential. That’s not to say that you need a variety of evening bags. No. If you plan right, you can have just one great evening handbag and that will be the bag you pull out when it’s time to go out for the night. (Of course, if you find that you really like evening bags, you can always add another to your collection.)

So, what do we mean by evening purse? The best evening bags are fairly small and designed to hold just a few essentials, such as a lipstick, your keys, a credit card and license. They will often be much too small for you to use a full-size wallet in them. The most popular styles are clutch bags.

The clutch purse is back, so be sure to check out the myriad of options available in this style for evening. Once you have decided you want to add a clutch handbag to your collection, you only have three decisions: which color will you choose, what fabrication will you choose (we recommend leather or an animal skin) and what style will work for you (some zip at the top, while others fold over and some even snap at the top).

Consider a clutch like the Juicy Lea style. This has a fold-over style that is similar to a wallet and even features card slots so you can have a place for your credit card, cell phone and license to live while you’re using the purse. But it’s small and can easily be carried in the hand or under the arm. Nobody will mistake it for a wallet.

You might also carry a wristlet bag into a party or for an evening out. These small bags are designed with a very small handle and are designed to simply go over your wrist. They carry much less generally than even a clutch. Plan on carrying a few dollars, a license or ID, and a lipstick in them. Little else will fit into these bags. But these little bags are not only fun and trendy, they can also be had for a smaller investment than the larger clutch bags.