Gift Guides - Cool Mom Picks

Hey, Snowflakes Really Are One-of-a-Kind

I’ve always been more of an artisan-made, crafty ornament type. I know, you’re not surprised, but shiny balls that come in the 30-pack from CVS are not really my style. I’d rather have fewer ornaments, each one special and beautiful. So when I came...

Evidently You Can Run as Fast as You Can and Catch the Gingerbread Man

by Liz Gumbinner | Holiday Picks

Plenty of families have their own interesting Christmas traditions. At my mom’s house, it was to bake gingerbread men to hang on the Christmas ficus, then bite their limbs off while they dangled from the tree. So wasn’t I delighted to find what...

Christmas Tea

by Cool Mom Staff | Holiday Picks

Every time I click over to Tiny Prints for a little virtual window shopping for Holiday Cards, I’ve found myself drawn to the same kinds of designs–they’ve got a slight Asian flair, and incorporate more unusual motifs than holly, like birds and...

Dear Santa, Please Don’t Bring Me Anything On the Recall List

by Cool Mom Staff | Holiday Picks

I admit I’m cynical about a lot of things, but Santa, for some reason, is not one of them. I am already having the best time telling my 2 year-old about how this guy sneaks into the house while she’s sleeping and eats the cookies that she’s just...

Meta Ornament

by Cool Mom Staff | Holiday Picks

I have this thing about choosing holiday cards – if there’s any chance that mine ends up shoved to the back of the mantle behind the 8 million other cards, I’d just as well not send one. The Ornament card from Sprinkles Invitations is a very...

You Say Draidel, I Say Dreidel…

by Cool Mom Staff | Holiday Picks

Calling all Hanukkah revelers: You have 3 weeks–that’s 21 days–left until the first night of the Festival of Lights. Man, we got a little ripped off with the limited shopping time this year, didn’t we.If you’ve been looking for some...

Christmas Cards For a Song

by Cool Mom Staff | Holiday Picks

We’re always on the lookout for something a little special and different in the way of holiday cards. I mean, anyone can hit the local Hallmark for a box set–if you don’t mind your generic card blending in with all the other generic cards on your...

A bag to bring those Kit Kats home to mommy

by Julie | Holiday Picks

I really ought to be too ashamed to admit this transgression, but for the past five years, my daughter has collected trick-or-treat candy in a plastic shopping bag. I mean, um…we’ve been environmentally conscious and reused existing materials. This year,...

It’s Just a Fantasy (Whoa Oh Oh Oh)

by Cool Mom Staff | Holiday Picks

Halloween is going to be here before you know it wouldn’t you know, I still don’t have costumes figured out yet. If you’re looking for a little PVC-free inspiration, one of our favorite shops, Quiet Hours Toys, has a dandy little dress-up...

Crawfish Roasting on an Open Fire

by Cool Mom Staff | Holiday Picks

I know there are plenty of Christmas CDs out there these days, but frankly I’m afraid to play half of them for my daughter, for fear that I’ll be stuck listening to them every single day for the rest of the year. But Putumayo’s New Orleans Christmas?...

Another Chanukah Miracle

by Cool Mom Staff | Holiday Picks

Chanukah-celebrating moms are busy enough picking out eight presents each for the kids, that the last thing they have time to do is weed through the paltry selection of decent cards out there. Most of them look as if they were slapped together in two seconds by...

The Lazy Mom’s Photo Card

by Cool Mom Staff | Holiday Picks

I am the great procrastinator. So much so in fact, that it’s a wonder I’m even writing about the December holidays a full calendar month beforehand. If you’re like me and can never manage to get it together in time to send out those preprinted photo...

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.