Why Put a Crayon in Your Wallet When Traveling? (2023)

We know, you’re shaking your head right now thinking to yourself jeez, there isn’t a question out there that the internet won’t ask. Does that sound about right? Admittedly, on the surface, this seems like a very absurd and childish question to ask.

Oh, boy childish question was a very ironic way of wording that and we definitely intended that to be the case. Crayons often get associated with children and while there’s nothing stopping adults from using them, they’re generally seen as children’s drawing utensils.

So, that would mean that a child would have to be the only reason why you’d ever want to carry a crayon with you in your wallet. Yes and no. It’s one of the reasons, but it’s not the only reason. However, it’s probably the main reason.

Well, let’s just cut to the chase then. There are three main reasons as to why someone should have a crayon in their wallet when traveling:

1. To entertain a bored child on the road
2. To help a child who’s in danger
3. To prevent your credit cards from bending

Does all that sound too ridiculous (besides the first one which makes a lot of sense)? Apparently, it’s not, because this has become somewhat of a fascination on the internet. We just wanted to get in on that sauce, and ultimately inform you of whether or not it’s worth your time to actually travel with a crayon in your wallet.

1. To entertain a bored child on the road

No one is going to argue against the potential of saving a child from danger, but we feel the most realistic and practical application for this is to entertain a bored child. Regardless of where you go or where you’re visiting, a screaming, restless child can derail just about anything.

Whether you’re traveling in your car, traveling in a plane, sitting at a restaurant, sitting in a waiting room, or in any other situation that requires children to have some patience, providing them with a crayon and a piece of paper can distract their minds and give them something to do.

However, this also means you’ll want to carry a piece of paper, and you can just wrap one around the crayon itself. Now, if you’re a mom with a purse, you could also just carry a packet of crayons with you along with some paper. Technically, it doesn’t just have to be one crayon and actually inside of your wallet.

Speaking of entertaining a child, we've written an entire article covering how old you have to be to paddleboard. Wouldn't it be a fun activity with your children?

2. To help a child who’s in danger

When you answer the question of why put a crayon in your wallet when you travel with the response of potentially saving a child’s life, it makes you raise some eyebrows. What’s the child going to do if you give them a crayon? Magically turn into Bruce Lee or John Wick (but using a crayon instead of a pencil)?

As expected, it has nothing to do with that. This concept seems to have been originated from a viral story about Sarah Elrod-Ausbrook, though that’s not 100 percent fact. Regardless, the story is quite interesting and instead of explaining it, we think it’d be easier to just check it out by clicking on that link.

The reasoning and idea behind all of this are actually very simple. If, for whatever reason, you feel that a child is in danger, you can secretly hand them a crayon with a piece of paper wrapped around it. They could then write a note implying that they’re in danger.

Basically, it’s an inconspicuous way of doing so as adults give crayons to children all of the time. The child could then write a note saying, “help” or something like that. The odds that you’d ever be in a situation like this are probably not very high, but you just never know, right?

It’s not as if a crayon will have the same life-saving possibilities as a life vest for a non-swimmer, but the chance is always there that it could come in handy for that reason.

3. To prevent your credit cards from bending

One could say that this last reason is the most outlandish of all the reasons on this list. Admittedly, we don’t know if we’d ever employ this hack, so to speak, but it’s definitely worth pointing out. It’s the idea of carrying a crayon in your wallet to help prevent your business cards and credit cards from taking the shape of your wallet.

Even for this, though, it’s best to have a piece of paper wrapped around the crayon. Basically, you slip the crayon and piece of paper into the card slot of your wallet. Due to the rigid nature of a crayon’s design, it will help keep your cards straight and stiff.

A crayon is also roughly the same size as a credit card, so this makes it even more practical. However, again, as we mentioned, we don’t think we’d ever carry a crayon in a wallet for this purpose. Carrying a wallet with credit cards in it for years with no issues of card warping, I personally can say I’ve never had such an issue arise.

And, because of that, I’m sure the next time I go to use my credit cards they’re going to have issues. You know…just because.

But why use a crayon and not another alternative?

Why put a crayon in your wallet when you travel when you could just use a pen or a pencil (or even a colored pencil)? The main reason is due to the fact that a crayon is going to write ALL the time (unless there’s nothing left of it), and the alternatives may not.

After all, pencils and colored pencils can easily have their led snapped and deemed almost useless without sharpening. Additionally, a pen may dry up and not be able to be used. Plus, a child is going to probably have the most fun (and use) with a crayon.

What about the issue of crayons melting?

Ah, yes. The fact that crayons can melt at a certain temperature makes this issue an interesting one to bring up. After all, most men will carry their wallets in their back pockets and a crayon stored inside could generate some serious heat. Especially if the exterior temperature is really hot.

Do women carry wallets in their purses? I’m a guy so I don’t know! Regardless, heat could still be an issue, right? Well, thankfully, Crayola themselves have addressed the issue of their crayons melting due to the paraffin wax.

According to the company, crayons can begin to melt at around 105 degrees Fahrenheit, but the melting point is between 120 and 147 degrees Fahrenheit. For the most part, a crayon melting in your wallet isn’t going to be an issue to be concerned about.

Unless the ambient temperature you’re in is like ludicrously hot, don’t stress about this one too much. It’s not as if it’s ever going to be as hot as the coals in a wood fire!

Final thoughts

Okay, so we’ve thoroughly answered the question of why put a crayon in your wallet when you travel. We mentioned at the beginning, though, that we also wanted to inform you of whether or not it’s something you should go about doing.

If you have young children, it’s always a smart idea to carry a crayon wrapped in a piece of paper with you. However, you don’t necessarily need to place it inside of your wallet. Also, you could just carry an entire packet of crayons and some paper.

The concept of always having something incredibly simple to entertain your kids when you’re in a situation where they need to be patient out in public is always going to be a smart decision. Now, is a crayon in your wallet necessary to possibly save a child? That one’s a bit more far-fetched, but the concept exists and has even been implemented to some degree in the past.

As for the last “hack” of doing it to prevent your credit cards and business cards from warping, we believe it’d probably work but we also wouldn’t go out of our ways to tell our friends and family to perform the trick.

In other words, we’d easily say the main reason is to entertain children, the most important reason is that it could save a child in distress, and the most obscure reason is to save the cards in your wallet from warping.