Let's face it people, good Hanukkah items are hard to come by. Fortunately Emily Sper, creator of those clever Hanukkah activity books is back and I'm especially pleased to find a fresh pick from her for 5772. Emily' new collection of Ha…
Method definitely had me in mind, when they developed soaps and cleaning products that not only look good out in the open, but they smell nice enough that you don't mind washing everyone else's dishes. (Ahem.) This year they've got a hol…
We may still have Thanksgiving leftovers in the refrigerator, but December 1st is just around the corner. To my kids, this can only mean one thing: Time to get out the advent calendar so that they can start the countdown to Christmas. An…
Last year we were overjoyed to learn that Small Business Saturday is now "a thing." Not that it hasn't been a thing around Cool Mom Picks for the last five years or so. And not just on Saturdays either. Even so, it's a great excuse to ge…
While you're oh so busy shopping for everyone on your list (and man, doesn't that list seem to get bigger every year?) I say, don't forget to pick up a little something something for yourself. Something that you can show off at every sto…
My kids really want to be helper elves when it comes to wrapping the gifts, but after a roll of tape and a yard of paper, I've learned to enlist their help in other ways. So instead of handing them the safety scissors and gift wrap, I'm …
Fewer things throw my kids into a tizzy of Christmastime anticipation as an advent calendar with its counting down of days. But the calendar grandma gets them with the waxy chocolate behind each door isn't much to look at and barely make…
If you haven't visited Cool Mom Tech this week, grab a minute while the turkey is happily roasting. You'll find a whole lot of posts that we think can help make your weekend even better, from the kitchen to the weekend holiday shopping, …
Just a quick note to wish you all a beautiful Thanksgiving, however you're spending it. We hope you're surrounded by all the people you love, reminded of all the many, many things we have to be thankful for. As for us, we can say with al…
We tell our readers time and again, do nooooot make an online purchase without first searching for discount codes. Especially at the big online retailers . There's nothing more frustrating than hitting that "purchase" button to find out …
It's the perfect spirit of the holidays come to life: Give a little, get a little, and well, a collectible holiday keepsake doesn't hurt either. I just discovered the Heart 2011 Designer Ornament Collection from HSN, a partnership with a…
I am always looking for fun ways to hang up pictures of the brood. Once I can convince my husband to help me arrange the pictures on the walls, they are pretty much up for good. We are big fans of Paper Culture around here, and they have…
I'm one of those mothers that's a professional organizer's nightmare. I can hardly bear to part with a single one of my girls' drawings, whether it's a 3-D art class project, or a scribble on a napkin. So I always love ways to turn kids'…
It's not even Black Friday yet, but of course the deals are already starting to roll in . And this particular pick is so special that we have to tell you about every time it comes available. After all, there's nothing we love more than a…
We have a thing for Zappos . A big, hard, mad love kind of a thing. So we were thrilled when, as our newest sponsor, they asked us to choose a few of our favorite holiday shoes for boys and girls. That's uh, kind of like our dream job. A…
When the toy store ads appear in our Sunday newspaper, I'm mostly uninspired by all the blinky, noisy, plasticky stuff touted as The Next Big Thing. Would these really be the toys that Santa's elves carefully assemble in the North Pole? …
I consider myself fortunate that I do not have to cook Thanksgiving dinner---as does most of my extended family, as they will tell you. But, that doesn't mean I can't help all you hosts out with some great (and inexpensive) Thanksgiving …
Is Anthropologie suddenly going the way of Jacadi, with upscale children's clothes made by small designers? It certainly seems that way. In October they brought in Kico Kids, and now Handmade Charlotte is following suit. This splendid Ha…
The countdown is on--you've now got one month until Haunukkah ! Do you know where your menorah is? While I love the idea of using a menorah at Hanukkah that's passed down through the generations, I think there's also something great abou…
With all the cool apps and e-books on my iPad, I sometimes worry that my kids will have a hard time appreciating real books. But then I find ones that remind me that children's books can be just as engaging , if not more, than the ones w…
My kids are grazers; they'd sooner eat a whole bunch of little things than one giant sandwich. Bento systems have always been a smart option for us, as you can imagine. Now there's a smart new one courtesy of Skip*Hop, the little mom-run…
As much as I love listening to the awesome music that comes my way as part of being CMP's primary kids' music reviewer, I find picking my favorites to be one of the harder tasks I have to do. It's like deciding if I like salted caramel b…
Ever since Zara started selling online this fall, I've been stalking their site for European styled clothing for my kids at great prices . But recently, I popped into one of their NYC stores just to make sure the clothes were as awesome …
While most of us will give thanks on Thursday for Thanksgiving, there will also be many families giving thanks today, for National Adoption Day which falls almost midway through November's National Adoption Month. In honor of this specia…
