by Kate Etue | Tips + Tricks
I know a little something about dealing with separation anxiety when it comes to young kids and school. Back when my kids were in preschool, this was my routine: drop them off at the classroom, peel around the corner and press my back against the wall, then wait...
by Kate Etue | Party Ideas
I’ve already let my secret out: I’m not one for elaborate birthday parties. In fact, we keep birthday parties simple and on a budget around our house. That said, I love to celebrate the birthday kid and make them feel really special on their big day. We...
by Kristen Chase | Family Travel
As a first-time to Punta Cana vacation-goer, and with a gaggle of Nickelodeon fans, I was thrilled to be invited to visit the brand new Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts Punta Cana on its grand opening week. This new property from Karisma, whose Mexican resorts...
by Cool Mom Team | Spawned Podcast
This week on Spawned with Kristen + Liz we’re talking back to school! It’s awesome! And yet…it’s exhausting! Take a listen as we commiserate, laugh, offer helpful tips, and gawk at the most insane first day of school traditions that we found on...
by Kate Etue | Tips + Tricks
There have been a lot of hard things in the news this year, and I think we can all agree we need a little more happy in our lives. So when a friend told me that her kids found $5 and a note to buy some candy “on us” tucked into her movie rental (yes, some...
by Kate Etue | Father's Day Gifts
While we’ve been talking about Father’s Day gift ideas for a few weeks now, some of us (not naming names) still have some shopping to do. So we’ve collected plenty of our favorite ideas for you, from DIY gifts your kids can make at home to...
by Kate Etue | Family Travel
If you’re up for the adventure, camping with kids can be a really fun, inexpensive way to get away for the weekend. While it’s admittedly not the best night’s sleep you’ll ever get (though really, what parent gets a good night’s sleep anyway?),...
by Cool Mom Team | Father's Day Gifts
DIY Father’s Day gifts are always so special, especially from the youngest kids. (Once we hit voting age or so, those handprint mugs just don’t really cut it in the same way, huh.) So for our next installment of our 2016 Father’s Day Gift Guide,...
by Cool Mom Team | Spawned Podcast, Tips + Tricks
We all heard that raising tweens and teens are hard, but now, here we are ourselves with a few on our hands, and doing our best to navigate the challenges of parenting them. Whether you’re in the throes of it yourself, are approaching it rapidly, or just want to...
by Liz Gumbinner | Food + Recipes
We are always thrilled to find new cookbooks that make life easier for parents, especially because meal planning (and cooking and serving and cleaning and cajoling the kids to eat any of it in the first place) can be…well, not our favorite part of the day. But...