We love nothing more than finding toys for kids that are handmade, or at least, don't require an on and off switch and 300 batteries. Instead, our favorite toys of 2012 are all powered by the imaginations and little hands of kids. Liz LE…
Decorating the baby's room may be the most fun thing about being pregnant. (Unless you eat a lot of chocolate chip pancakes, which would make it a tie.) We had so much fun rounding up our picks for the coolest nursery and kids' room deco…
By my calculations, we still have another two weeks or so to get our New Year's cards out. Now not only does sending New Year's cards buy us a little more time (and often some nifty sale prices ), it avoids that question of what your div…
While our annual guide to the best baby shower gifts is always a smart place to search for the coolest baby gifts and gear, so many fabulous new gear essentials have come out in 2012 that we're excited to share some of our very favorites…
Okay, so we moms of girls try to play it down, but we admit it can be pretty darn fun shopping for them. On the other hand, it can get a little harder as they get older and the designers want our kids to grow up faster than we'd like. So…
Every time we hear a parent say, "We can't find cool clothes for boys," we say, "Visit Cool Mom Picks!" We like a challenge. However, it is getting easier each year, and it's fun finding the clothes that make our little fellows a little …
There is something about buying cute baby clothes that we think parents never get over, even when our own babies couldn't squeeze a single toe into those little onesies. This year brought a slew of gorgeous and fun clothes for babies, an…
Finding modern kids' furniture has gotten so much easier in recent years (hooray!) that the only downside is having to choose what you want. And what you have room for. And what's worth the investment. Hopefully these picks of 2012 will …
Merry Christmas from Kristen, Liz, and the entire team at Cool Mom Picks. We're home enjoying our families today and we hope that whatever you celebrate, you get the chance to do the same. We also hope you got to sleep a little past 5 AM…
If your kids are anything like mine, they're dogging your heels and sneaking under the Christmas tree to peek at presents any chance that they can get. So I'm desperate to find anything to keep them occupied for the next 24 hours until S…
My kids are finally at the age where I can outsource most of the tree decorating duties to them and still be pretty darn pleased with the results. It's true: I haven't tweaked a single strand of lights or rearranged the glass balls. But …
I love candy. But being a bit of a candy connoisseur, I'm very particular about my sugar. Personally, I like a combination of sweet and sour, with just the right amount of gummy. But it's hard to know what will delight someone's particul…
Whether you need last-minute gifts or a way to make the tech under the tree extra special, here are some of our favorite picks from the past week. 1. Giving the gift of a fancy tech gadget? Take this extra step to make a tech gift truly …
If you're like me, you tend to get your brand-new 2013 calendar sometime...say, in March, when it's on sale. Or you can be smart (like I'm trying to be this year) and get ready for January by starting now, with one of these gorgeous 2013…
I get it--you're busy. We all are. Sometimes the people we love most in the world are the hardest to shop for so we put it off; or sometimes they just get relegated to the "last minute gift list" after all the earlier deadlines with teac…
Now that I have kids, breakfast has become my favorite meal of Christmas day. I want it to feel special--a quiet, cozy time to wind down after a whirlwind of gift opening and before a whirlwind of family--but making a special Christmas b…
It's never too late for more awesome free printable gift tags. In fact, I'm pretty certain I will be in good company this weekend when I start--and finish--all my wrapping for Christmas. There's still time to stock up on tape, double che…
Well, we here are beyond happy to know that the world is still around today, Mayan calendar apocalypse warnings notwithstanding. It would be so wrong for it all to end before we get a chance to dig into Season 3 of Downton Abbey. So we w…
I just got wind of the most beautiful idea - a group putting together a mountain of handmade snowflakes from children everywhere, to help decorate the new halls of the brand new school where the Sandy Hook elementary students will be ret…
We love end-of-year charitable donations (or any time of year) to deserving organizations, and we've always been fans of Heifer International. Especially now that they've made it even easier to help a family take care of itself through y…
We admit it, we're not the biggest fans of gift cards as holiday gifts . It can seem somewhat last minute and impersonal. Then again, there are some great gift cards out there, and if it's for the right store or service, a gift card may …
Several years ago, we introduced you to a new line of wonderful aromatherapy-based skin care products from hellomellow. All this time later, I still really like their body butter--and the room spray, which I've used more than once in my …
Although Easy-Bake ovens are now coming out with "boy-friendly" versions (what, girls don't like blue?), there have always been lots of options for boys to cook--really cook--with the help of great products and cookbooks for kids. Handst…
This is no mere ornament. It's a LEGO ornament. A LEGO Star Wars ornament that you can DIY. And it's going to look great hanging on your tree, along with a LEGO Millenium Falcon and TIE Fighter. Besides, isn't pew pew pew more fun than h…
