Christina Refford | Cool Mom Picks

50+ creative ideas for Easter Basket gifts you can grab right at the drugstore

by Christina Refford | Toys + Playthings

With Easter around the corner, I’m thinking about how I’m going to fill three Easter baskets and dozens of plastic eggs safely and finding Easter gifts from the drugstore is a smart way to do it. First off, we love ordering Easter gifts from Etsy that...

5 deschooling tips for new homeschooling parents, and how it will keep you from feeling like a total failure.

by Christina Refford | Tips + Tricks

I know a lot of parents have jumped right into homeschooling their kids (or, schooling-from-home might be more accurate) so that they won’t get too far behind in their studies. But with news that Virginia has canceled school for the rest of the academic year due...

Easy ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with the kids, without leaving the house

by Christina Refford | Party Ideas

With so much uncertainty around us right now, I understand that many of us may be feeling pretty determined to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with the kids as normally as possible. . .especially since we now have SO MUCH TIME TOGETHER with them. And, luckily, there...

Penguin Minis are the coolest, tiniest way to read your favorite YA books.

by Christina Refford | Books for Kids

As a life-long bookworm, I am always looking for ways to get my three teens to put down their phones and read more books. Sound familiar? Then check out the coolest, new-to-me concept in book publishing: Penguin Minis. These novels for teens and tweens are turning the...

Your kid’s craziest story ideas could win the Roald Dahl’s Imaginormous Challenge. Here’s how.

by Christina Refford | Books for Kids

As a mom of three, I have loved few things as much as hearing the crazy stories my kids have dreamt up, or reading the creative things they choose to write on paper. And so I am super psyched to hear about a contest that rewards kids for their most imaginative story...

A brilliantly easy way to donate your kids’ plastic toys to children who will really love them.

by Christina Refford | Doing Good, Toys + Playthings

If the picture up top makes you think, Ack! That’s every room of my house, then you’re going to be so happy to learn about Second Chance Toys, an organization that will help you get those no-longer-wanted toys into the hands of kids who really do want them...

Homemade mason jar spa gift ideas all with safe, edible ingredients. So easy, and SO appreciated!

by Christina Refford | Beauty + Cosmetics, DIY, Health, Fitness + Wellbeing, Holiday Picks

I think these DIY mason jar spa gift ideas are just so incredibly perfect for the end of year. Or in this case, the end of the decade. (Whoa!) I mean, is there anyone among us who could not use a little pampering right now? If you can’t afford to gift everyone...

12 of the coolest Advent calendars this year, to make the countdown even more fun

by Christina Refford | Holiday Picks

I am usually a big advocate for letting Thanksgiving have its own precious time before shifting my focus on to Christmas. But, with Thanksgiving falling so late in November this year, those of us who celebrate Christmas will want to have a cool Advent calendar ready...

Tidying Up with Marie Kondo review: Does the new Neflix series spark joy?

by Christina Refford | Entertainment + Media, Storage + Organization

if you have ever “tidied” your home, said thank you to a book before putting it into the donate pile, or wondered whether that shirt you’re wearing still “sparks joy,” chances are you’ve been introduced to the Konmari method. And...

I read 39 books in 2018 in Goodreads’ Annual Reading Challenge. Here are my 10 favorites.

by Christina Refford | Books for Adults

Now that my kids are teens (sniff) and need less handholding to get through every second of the day, I’m trying to read more books instead of spending all my “down time” reading Facebook updates or watching Netflix. So at the start of 2018, I joined...