DIY Archives | Cool Mom Picks

Cool sneaker makeovers that leave the white shoes behind after Labor Day

If you stand by the old “no white after Labor Day” fashion imperative, we want to point you to this fantastic post with 9 cool DIY sneaker makeover ideas to help you — or your kids — turn those plain white shoes into something that looks great...

50 screen-free activities for kids to do over summer break, indoors and out

by Kate Etue | DIY, Kids

So many parents are looking for fresh ideas for screen-free activities for kids now that we finally turned a corner. I know I’m not the only parent with kids whose screen time increased significantly over the quarantine. It was their primary way to connect with...

7 cool tie-dye pattern tutorials to help you DIY your own trendy tee

by Kate Etue | DIY, Fashion, Kid Fashion

My 15-year-old son recently came home after a camp planning meeting with his friends and announced that they have decided to tie-dye their camp shirts this year. I kind of love this idea, so I wanted to look up some tie-dye pattern tutorials on You Tube to help them...

80+ creative Easter egg decorating ideas: Your ultimate egg decorating resource!

by Liz Gumbinner | DIY

For more than a decade now, so many of our writers have searched the web to compile the most creative Easter egg decorating ideas, from simple to wow, from traditional to modern, from designs for toddlers to designs for teens — and everything in between. And so,...

Our giant list of more than 200+ homemade holiday gift ideas: DIY gifts for boyfriends, girlfriends, men, women, kids, neighbors, teachers…

by Liz Gumbinner | DIY, Holiday Picks

I can see in my social networks this year that so many more of us are looking for homemade gift ideas for the holidays. It’s not just that homemade gifts allow us to save some money (well, depending on the gift of course!), but they allow us to give an...

8 easy gratitude activities for kids this Thanksgiving

by Kate Etue | DIY, Doing Good

With Thanksgiving looking so different this year, we’re really trying to focus on gratitude and gratitude activities, so that we’re spending more time feeling, well, thankful, instead of resentful. With my own Thanksgiving family plans cancelled —...

11 of our favorite new Advent calendars for kids to help countdown to Christmas

by Christina Refford | DIY, Holiday Picks

Every year (since 2008!) we’ve scoured the internet to find the coolest Advent calendars to help you — and your excited kids — count down to Christmas. In spite of all the hardships this year has thrown our way, or maybe because of them, I am...

75+ last-minute Halloween costume ideas for kids and parents. Because what’s not last-minute this year?

by Kate Etue | DIY

It’s not too late to make this Halloween awesome, even if you’re doing everything last-minute. And that includes last-minute costumes. Liz recently some incredible ideas for alternate ways to celebrate Halloween besides trick or treating this year, and we...

Voting activities for elementary students: 9 fun, meaningful, and non-partisan ideas to get young kids involved.

by Christina Refford | DIY, Doing Good

It’s encouraging to see how many parents have asked us for voting activities for elementary students or any kids too young to vote this year. With the election just a few weeks away, our kids have surely heard us talking about different candidates, issues, and...

We found 5 great trick-or-treat signs for candy, for a safe and socially distant 2020 Halloween

by Kate Etue | DIY, Tips + Tricks

We’ve had quite a few readers ask for some trick-or-treat-signs for candy this Halloween, at a time that we may want to hand out candy but uh, maybe in a no-contact way. And hey, we found some great ones, most of them affordable printables. The good news:...

Clever ideas for Halloween costumes using face masks. I mean, as long as we’re all wearing them. (Right? Right?)

by Caroline Siegrist | DIY, Kids

I imagine that searching for Halloween costumes using face masks is going to be a thing this year — and I don’t mean your typical Halloween masks that cover your whole face. You know how no kid wants their long-planned costume ruined by a heavy winter...

No hate: A kids’ craft kit supporting a message we can all agree on.

by Liz Gumbinner | DIY, Doing Good

Well. This certainly has been an interesting start to Anti-Bullying Month. After four years of strife, anger, division, hatred, bullying…I can safely say that parents are tired. I know I’m tired of apologizing to my kids that they have to grow up seeing...

Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz!

Kristen Chase + Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks

We started Cool Mom Picks in 2006 to help make life cooler, more meaningful, and more fun for parents of all kinds.

Trivia: It was called Cool Mom Sh*t for the first two days. (Yeah, we rethought that.)

We had no idea our site would grow to become a major lifestyle network, that we'd end up sharing our finds with the TODAY Show and Martha Stewart, that we'd be able to make a real difference for so many small businesses and women-run companies, or that we'd end up with an incredible community of the coolest readers on the planet. (If we do say so ourselves).

We still love what we do every single day. And we're so glad you're here.