Spawned Parenting Podcast: Latest Episodes
The latest from Spawned, our award-winning parenting podcast
The 2017 Oscars, A.K.A. things that change after you have kids | Spawned Episode 65
We got all excited to do a 2017 Oscars episode on our Spawned podcast until we realized....we hadn't seen any of the movies. Unless you count a couple of the animated features. Ah, parenting. So on this episode of Spawned, we don't talk about the Oscars at all!...
F*ck yeah, Meryl Streep! | Spawned Podcast Episode 64
While yes, 8 zillion other outrageous things have happened since Sunday night's Meryl Streep speech that brought down the Golden Globes (and a certain volatile twitter account), we still think it bears discussing. So today on the latest Spawned podcast episode, we're...
Tips for tackling the most common New Year’s resolutions | Spawned Episode 63
If you're like us and you love to make New Year's resolutions but can never seem to actually keep them, well, this is the Spawned podcast for you. On this episode, we're taking a closer look at the most common New Year's resolutions, and sharing our own advice, plus...
More coolness from recent weeks…
A huge Black Friday deal on mega-popular kids toys | Sponsored Message
This is a sponsored message from MEGA If you love saving money around the holidays, now's the perfect time to stock up on gifts your kids will love with some big Black Friday deals on Mega Bloks and Mega Construx products, exclusively at Toys "R" Us. Whether you're...
We’re giving away $1000 worth of scooters for your whole family! Woot!
You all know we like giving you stuff, right? Right! So to make a few families' holidays a little more fun, we're excited to give away $1000 worth of Micro Kickboard scooters for the whole family. How cool is that? This contest is now over. However, be sure to...
5 expert, guilt-free strategies to make me-time a reality for more moms.
Given the work I do daily with so many amazingly strong, tuned-in, competent juggling moms, a little bit of smoke comes out of my ears every time I read lines like, it’s so important to set aside "me time" every single day to be an even better mom and wife! So many of...
Can’t we all just get Along? Brutally honest answers to Thanksgiving questions | Spawned ep 93
This week on Spawned with Kristen and Liz is one of our very favorite annual episodes: Answering all of our listeners' and readers' burning Thanksgiving questions! Wondering how to get the men to actually do dishes this year? Trying to feed 12 people with 14 different...
7 Thanksgiving activity printables to keep kids busy before turkey
What would we do without Thanksgiving activity printables this week! After all, cooking for Thanksgiving can intimidate even the most seasoned cook, let alone when you're surrounded by young kids who are a little too eager to "help." (Or in my case, an infant who...
Check out our top picks for toys and games all 25% off at Target today. YES!
Target rolled exclusive weekend deals every weekend in November and December and as a dedicated Tarzhay shopper, I am all about this! Especially since today's deal is a whole 25% off toys at Target. What better way to say, "attention holiday shoppers: Please stay home...
Move over, elves. Mermaid Christmas stockings are coming for our shelves and mantles!
I don't think it's a surprise that our kids are obsessed right now with mermaid blankets, mermaid Vans, and mermaid pillows -- and that we adults are fully giving into the obsession. In a world gone somewhat mad, a little fairy magic can certain brighten a day. So...
7 of the coolest modern, handmade Christmas stockings on Etsy
I have had the best time scouring Etsy to find some of the coolest, handmade modern Christmas Stockings that all support talented indie makers. Some even have personalization, should your kids fight every Christmas morning about which belongs to whom. (Ahem.) In my...
10 extra awesome Thanksgiving hostess gifts under $30 to make you extra welcome
While most of us want to know what we can cook, bake, or otherwise whip up when we head out for Thanksgiving dinner, sometimes there's a host or hostess who gives you the old, "just bring yourself!" But since we know you should never show up at a party empty handed,...
Christmas sweaters have nothing on the new collection of holiday TOMS
There's a fine line between wearing something kitschy-cool for the holidays and looking like you barely survived a sale bin eruption at the craft store. I'm going to put these new glow-in-the-dark Christmas light TOMS shoes firmly into the first column. They are so...
11 things from our childhoods that should definitely stay there!
This post is sponsored by Nintendo, who is awesome for letting us do this. The 80s and 90s were...quite a time. And so we cordially invite you to laugh with (at?) us as we depict some of the stuff we don't miss a bit. From the hell of cassette tapes to scrunchies to...
Our President Was Called Barack: Inspiring kids to be their best selves
I'm not going to pull punches here; like a lot of parents, I'm concerned about so many American kids growing up in an age where the normalization of a lot of really awful stuff -- hatred, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, mass shootings -- is part of their everyday...
7 warm kids’ winter coats we love, because winter is coming. And yes, you have to wear a coat.
Kids' to-do lists for winter are so different from ours: Play in snow, stomp in mud, refuse to come inside without bribe of hot chocolate. So kids' winter coat requirements are different, too. They need warmth, serious durability (especially for those of us who rely...
14 cool kids’ stocking stuffers all supporting indie shops
When we shop around for our kids' stocking stuffers, our longtime readers know that our hearts always grow three sizes when we share handmade items or those that support indie shops and businesses. With that in mind, have we got a website for you. Our sponsor Bonanza...
11 of the absolute coolest Advent calendars for families who won’t settle for an ordinary Christmas
Every year, Cool Mom Picks searches high and low for all kinds of the coolest Advent calendars for our homes so that our families — and yours! — can make that countdown to Christmas more fun. And this year, we're back. Right in time! If you like to have a little extra...
The Chrismukkah ornament for all your interfaith gifting needs.
Families who celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah totally get the best of both worlds. 8 days of gifts plus one blow-out morning of overstuffed stockings and packages? Dreidels and reindeer? Eggnog and latkes? Okay, maybe not those two at the same time, but still. And now...
Color-your-own printable paper dolls that bring twice the creativity.
I've been lugging a big bag full of toys and snacks to keep my three year old entertained lately, but I'm planning on lightening my load, thanks to the cool, modern printable paper dolls by Merrilee Liddiard that I just found. Aren't they gorgeous? I fell in love with...
7 genius, edgy-cool diaper cakes that are making us change our minds about diaper cakes.
I'm skeptical of anything that masquerades as cake and doesn't taste like cake. Slash isn't edible at all. So naturally diaper cakes -- those sculptural designs made out of diapers and used as centerpieces at baby showers to make people oh and ahh and "die of...
Getting blunt with my daughters, because #metoo.
“You have to learn to tell the server what you want,” I insisted. She winced. “Go on…” No dice. For some reason, my outspoken, truth-telling, totally-not-shy ten year old is having issues asking for a waffle at the neighborhood diner. This is the diner where we know...
Feeling overwhelmed? Try this one-thing-a-day method to stay organized. You got this!
As a working mom of four kids, with a husband who often works from home too, our home has a tendency to be...out-of-control crazy. I love organization -- the pages of Marie Kondo's book are my happy place -- but over the last year it seems that I've been forced to...
FAO Schwarz is back for the holidays, and everything is not even a billion dollars!
I didn't grow up in NYC so I don't have FAO Schwarz shopping memories like some of my city friends. But I did know about them from Big, and I loved pouring through their catalogs around the holidays every year, carefully circling the hundreds of high-end toys on my...