helpful services Archives | Cool Mom Picks

We tried making Amazon returns at Kohl’s (yes, Kohl’s) and here’s how it works.

by Kate Etue | Helpful Services, Tips + Tricks

Returning items purchased from Amazon has never been all that hard, so when I heard you can now make Amazon returns at Kohl’s I was kind of thinking, Why? But then I realized, getting to the post office or repackaging a return if you don’t have supplies on...

How to get teens into therapy? This online platform puts it right on their phones.

by Kristen Chase | Helpful Services

As someone who was trained as a creative arts therapist, and has been in therapy myself for many years, I fully understand the value of counseling. Particularly during those extremely difficult teen years. I also know how challenging it can be to get a teen into...

Loop delivers your favorite products to your door, while helping the environment in a revolutionary way | Sponsored Message

by Cool Mom Staff | Helpful Services

This is a sponsored message from Loop and Cascade Busy families like the convenience of having favorite household products delivered to their doors, but there can be a lot of packaging involved to keep deliveries arriving safe and intact. That’s where Loop, in...

How to enjoy, not endure, your kids with Casey O’Roarty | Spawned Episode 155

by Cool Mom Staff | Podcast

Parenting isn’t something that’s happening to us. It’s something that’s happening for us. But we know first hand how difficult it can be to remember that. It’s easy to get stressed and overwhelmed, which is why we need someone like Casey...

15 great kinds of videos to watch with your kids besides toy unboxing

by Cool Mom Staff | Entertainment + Media, Tech CMP-Style

Video is the new TV for this generation of kids, if you hadn’t quite noticed. (Ha.) When we say to our kids, “let’s watch a show!’ their inclination is to turn their favorite video app or video platform on their little screens, and click play....

13 practical Valentine’s gifts for her that aren’t flowers, but they’re not a case of motor oil, either

by Kate Etue | Valentine's Day

When looking around for practical Valentine’s Day gifts for her — well, wasn’t super impressed. I don’t want a vacuum (here honey, clean up after me!) or a gift card for an oil change (seriously, we got pitched that once) and yet I don’t...

How to make more time for the things you love with Jake Knapp | Spawned Episode 138

by Cool Mom Staff | Podcast

If you’re like us, then you’ve said something like “I wish I had more time” at least once. Or like 1000 times. Well, that’s exactly what we learned how to do with author Jake Knapp in our recent Spawned with Kristen and Liz podcast...

7 unbelievably amazing hotel suites we want to stay in, like, tonight

by Cool Mom Staff | Family Travel

We’ve all got trips we’ve wanted to take ourselves, or gift to someone else, whether it’s that 50th anniversary celebration for our parents, the last-ditch babymoon, or the “who needs a 25th high school reunion?” girls weekend. Now thanks...

12 creative ways to display kids’ artwork, from DIYs to clutter-saving services

by Caroline Siegrist | Art + Decor, Storage + Organization, Tips + Tricks

One parenting conundrum that seems timeless: the search for creative ways to display kids’ artwork. From the preschool doodles and finger paint portraits to the kindergarten collages, to the papier maché sculptures that would look just perfect…where,...

An honest review of Tentrr, the Airbnb of camping.

by Kristen Chase | Family Travel

Last year, our friend Anna Fader of Mommy Poppins fame posted about her positive experience with Tentrr on Facebook. The service functions like Airbnb, except for campsites, and if that sounds like a brilliant idea, you’re right. Particularly for those of us who...

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, easier, more organized, 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).

But we did.

And we still love what we do every single day.

We're so glad you're here.