I learned two things painting faces at an Easter party: little boys really like to be painted as zombies, and wow, tweens and teens have seriously oily skin. So oily that you have to blot it before you can paint it. Yowza. I'm so glad to…
When designing a kid's bedroom, it's always important to find functional yet fun pieces to fill their space. Kids are attracted to color and texture; my son's own favorite chair was the most colorful yet ugly thing that you've have ever …
When you are invited to a fancy affair with a baby boy, it can be tricky to navigate the waters . Girls are so easy (Yes, I'm a mom of boys so this is all just speculation tinged with jealousy), no matter the age. You've got dresses, tun…
You should see my car--or actually, you shouldn't. It's filled to the brim with my daughter's preschool artwork, which gets hastily shoved onto the passenger seat during the always-harried pickup time. It's a mountain of artwork, really,…
This may be our favorite time of year chez Cool Mom Picks--the time we track down the coolest Mother's Day gifts for all those deserving moms in your life. In other words, time for our seventh annual (wow) Mother's Day Gift Guide ! It's …
We imagine that it's every jewelry-loving woman's dream to have a special piece custom designed just for her by an amazing designer. So when we were approached by designer Emily Maynard of Elva Fields for just that, we jumped at the chan…
One of my literary heroes has always been Anna Quindlen . She's not only an amazing columnist, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, hard working mom, and now incredible author, she's an all-around very cool, very inspiring woman. Next Tues…
With temperatures reaching 80 degrees in New York City in April, it's officially time to make the switch from hot coffee to iced. I've got to be honest, though, in the legendary words of Coffee Talk" host Linda Richman, bidding farewell …
I still remember what it was like picking out the perfect mobile for my children's nurseries. I wanted something modern and chic but that still felt whimsical and child-like. I also wanted something unique and original that every other n…
One of our favorite kinds of Mother's Day gifts to recommend are those that give back, because we hardly know a mother among us who isn't committed to making the entire world a better place for our babies. Now there's a new one, offering…
Run, don't walk, to get your hands on this sharp set of bookends. From Boneshaker to World War Z, you've finally got a place to keep your favorite books about how to survive the coming zombiepocalypse. Not into zombies? That's okay, too.…
We've been fans of Minted going way back to when we first discovered their gorgeous stationery and support of the indie designers who create them. We can't tell you the number of notes we get from readers (okay, a lot) thanking us for in…
Though I love the convenience of sending e-cards to those near and dear, there is still something special about getting an honest-to-goodness "real" card in the mailbox, especially on holidays like Mother's Day. Unfortunately, I'm never,…
As a mom, I remember my babies living in the classic white onesie, which is an easy piece to pair with pops of color. So I always appreciate finding beanies for babies that have lots of personality and vibrancy. These brand new handmade …
This spring, we're all about getting re-energized, and so are these top picks that you might have missed from the last week. 1. Finally, a quick, easy way to get your photos organized. Your hard drive will thank you. 2. Give your regular…
I'd prefer one dozen versions of the " where do babies come from " talk with my kids before I'd sign up for even one "and this is how money works" discussions. I can cheerfully rattle off twenty-seven slang terms for body parts, but ask …
Ever since my penpal days (I had 31 of them! At the same time!), I've loved personalized stamps. I was a preteen, so they were of the unicorn-and-rainbow variety--oh, and penguins. I had way too many penguin stamps. My tastes--and time--…
Trish Herr takes homeschooling to an entirely new level. Instead of white boards, we are talking white peaks. Her children carry backpacks with more than just pens and pencils--think emergency supplies, whistles, and trail mix. In this v…
I had never given much thought about the old canister vacuum I used for years and years: It was a fair little vacuum with a dust-belching bag that I never remembered to replace, and a "retracting cord" feature had stopped retracting year…
For the past few years, I've traveled to Brooklyn, grabbed my editor Liz, and headed to the most fun conference filled with some of the best and smartest people making and promoting kids' music. We do it for love of the genre. And to fin…
We get a lot of requests for books for kids about to welcome a new sibling into the family. Some of the better known titles are pretty sappy, which isn't such a bad thing, but I never really liked the stories about how perfect it is to h…
For some reason, every pregnant friend in my life is having a boy these days. So I'm even more attuned to the limited choice there is in terms of motifs on their clothing. While we've worked pretty hard to track down cool boys' clothes t…
Two important things for new mamas to know: not everything useful has to look utilitarian, and there will be many, many uses for burp cloths. I can justify buying gorgeous ones--despite their intended use--considering how much time they'…
We may be beauty and fashion fanatics to some degree, but chasing after kids and working full-time means that we have less time than we like to spend on taking care of ourselves. Why do you think we're such fans of online shopping? The o…
