More coolness from recent weeks…
Starting the new year off with a little desk beautification
Ooh, what a nifty little 2010 desk calendar we found on sale from the Sure As Blue Etsy shop. Each beautifully designed little page is actually a postcard that sits on an open jewel case. Or if you've got a bulletin board or magnetic board above your desk, grab...
Now THAT’S a Disney Princess
If you're looking to make the most of your final hours together with the kids before school starts up again, hit the local theater and see the excellent The Princess and the Frog, stat. Even this cynical, princess-wary mama fell in love with the hip story, the...
Houzz call
From Christmas through January, I seem to go into serious nesting mode. All I want to do is organize my home and fix those shelves and dream about paint colors and alphabetize the kids' books and...and...and... So I've had a grand old time flipping through the virtual...
Happy 2010!
We're sure taking the day off today and we hope you are too. (Get it? That's mom humor! Moms don't get the day off!)We are so so very grateful for your support this year, for your support of smaller businesses, and for your choice to devote even an iota of your...
Editors Best of 2009: The coolest baby clothes, kids’ clothes and shoes (boy we love those shoes)
By far our most popular categories are the clothing categories. Because whatever your style, wherever you live, we all have to get our kids dressed, right? Unless you're the lucky sewing machine owner who can make your children's own beautiful designs, these were some...
Editors Best of 2009: The coolest art, decor, and kids furniture
We discover so much incredible, inspiring talent from artists and craftspeople every day, that this just may be one of the hardest categories to cull down. Just imagine that we're choosing a few picks of the year and that we've got about a 355-way tie for second,...
Editors Best of 2009: The coolest websites, services and stuff just for moms
Cool Mom Picks certainly isn't all about shopping - it's also about those wonderful websites and services that help make our lives easier, simpler, or just more fun. (And wow things have changed; it wasn't too long ago that we were all nervous to enter our credit card...
Editors Best of 2009: The kids snacks, lunchboxes, cookbooks, and grownup food
The older our kids get, the more we're focused on the what, why, when and how of feeding them. It's been exciting discovering the growing number of products and resources to help steer our kids away from the McWhatever and onto food that qualifies as healthy and...
Editors Best of 2009: The coolest baby gifts, bibs and gear for babies and kids
It's the first things you look at when you have a baby: The bedding. The bibs. The gear. If only those humongo stores with the fancy registry guns had some of these picks in their repertoire, more moms would be a lot happier. (Eh, good thing you have the web.)...
Editors Best of 2009: The coolest books, music, and DVDs for kids
If there's one thing our kids' rooms have in common, it's very packed bookshelves. Here are some of our favorite books, music and DVDs to help educate, inspire, and just keep kids cool. Kristen: Thanks to The Double Daring Book for Girls, I know how to build a raft....
Editors Best of 2009: The coolest toys, dolls and baby toys
You don't need us to tell you about the latest Elmo toy or Hannah Montana guitar, so we work hard to point you towards toys and other playthings from small companies or independent artists that you might not know about yet. After a year of so many amazing entries,...
Editors Best of 2009: The coolest jewelry and handbags
Welcome to our annual year-end roundup of our favorite picks of the year! Trying to cull down our favorites is never easy, but this year, with more than a thousand posts to go through...well, let's just say we could have picked about twenty in each category. Each day...
Merry Christmas to all…
...and to all, a day free of pouting, crying, and shouting. Also calories. We hear they don't count on national holidays anyway. [photo: felt ornaments from rikrak]
Never too little to say thank you
Santa got some help at our house this year thanks to a bunch of super generous friends and family. So after my kids enjoy a few days in a toy-filled trance, they'll be responsible for sending out thank-you cards. With the awesome color yourself holiday thank you cards...
Looking for post-holiday sales? Cool Mom Picks has you covered
Our mailboxes are currently flooded with so many announcements about post-holiday sales that are coming up, we hardly know what to do with them. Oh wait...we know. We can share them with you!Starting Saturday through New Year's Day we'll be featuring our editors' top...
Solid basics for kids? Reader Q&A
I am trying to locate solid lap tees, onesies, and pants comparable to American Apparel in lots of great colors. Any suggestions? - JasmineI'm a huge fan of plain, bright solid baby clothes myself, Jasmine, and luckily, we've featured a few companies...
New Year’s cards for the frazzled but thoughtful among us
So once again it is December 23, and once again I have not yet ordered my holiday cards. Which means--once again--it's New Year's card time!If you're in my boat, I happen to really like this Peace Love Joy holiday photo card which feels peaceful and loving and joyful...
Unwrap a free holiday playlist of kid-friendly songs
If your holiday music collection needs a little boost of something you haven't heard ten thousand times already, check out the list of 7 free downloadable holiday tunes from Jitterbug.tv. They're all original songs from cool bands for kids. In other words: not...
Charitable giving makes great last minute gifts and yeah, tax deductions
It's been a tough year, mamas. We all know it. But we also know how absolutely incredible and giving and generous this here community of parents always is for those in need. While our holiday gift guide has a whole category of terrific charitable gift ideas, we...
Getting your diaper bag or handbag organized for the new year
This is the second in a series of sponsored posts about organization for MomAgenda, makers of fabulous looking, smartly designed organizers including the ultra swanky Personal Portfolio, which has been called the Cadillac of MomAgendas. Cadillac should be honored.One...
Six of the cutest (and free-est) printable gift tags
Now that I'm in the thick of holiday gift-wrapping, and starting to look for finishing touches, nothing warms my heart more than the words free and you don't have to go to the store for this. Which is why I love these awesome gift-worthy gift tags that you can print...