A whole new level of gift organization
I pride myself on my “gift closet”–I always have a few goodies stashed for those unexpected invitations, and it saves me tons of time and money to stock up at my leisure (and when things are on sale). But if I had a nickel for every time I had to...
Camp stationery the kids might actually use (we say now)
I went to summer camp for five years, and I loved every minute of it. I also almost never wrote home, despite my mother’s exhortations, because it just seemed too much trouble to write a whole letter when there were things to do.But maybe if I’d had this...
These are a few of my favorite things (in wood)
This little wooden giraffe toy set spotted at the adorable shop My Sweet Muffin is a perfect marriage of toddler toys. First, you have the giraffe on wheels, which is adorable. Next, you have a set of domino-shaped pieces suitable for stacking or other imaginative...
Move over hippies, tie dye just got cool again
Hey, I know tie-dye. Tie-dye involves buckets, little boxes of dye, and an unholy mess, right?Not anymore, actually. Welcome to 2009, and the Jacquard Products Tie Dye Kit. The dye gets mixed in squirt bottles, the soda ash for pre-soaking your shirts makes the colors...
The recession bouquet that doesn’t suck
Sure, maybe you got some pretty flowers for Mother’s Day. But where are they now? Dead and gone, I’ll wager, because flowers don’t last forever.Usually.Hoopla has recently introduced the Forever Bouquet, what you give when you care enough to send the...
Budget doesn’t have to mean brown bag
Sure, you can pay all kinds of money for a fancy reusable lunch bag, but why would you when there’s Neela Bags. This purveyor of a variety of earth-friendly polypropylene reusables now offers their lunch tote as a $5 standalone product (edited to add: currently...
Framed on Father’s Day
My kids like to leave me little bits of art on my desk, which is very sweet the first fifty times they do it. But with this awesome Doodlebook Frame I can put my favorite picture of them front and center, and then encourage them to make me a new frame every so often....
Bug-free, DEET-free, worry-free
Generally I have an entertaining personal discussion with myself every summer. On the one hand, I don’t feel good about putting DEET on my kids. On the other hand, most DEET-free insect repellents don’t seem to work all that well, and I’d rather my...
School Years Book: Make up for the empty baby books
I am not a baby book person. I mean, I wanted to be a baby book person, but my children’s baby books ultimately overwhelmed me and now sit in a drawer, not even half filled out. I can’t remember to record every little thing! The pressure!Of course, now my...
