Hat season is upon us.

by Cool Mom Team | Kid Style

One night this week, a cold breeze wafted through the window, really for the first time, and I was struck with the horror that it’s October now. And soon I would have to get the kids off to school with more than the backpacks on their backs. I’m already...

7 lifesaving tips for flying with toddlers – Reader Q&A

by Christina Refford | Tips + Tricks

I have a trip coming up in December, flying for the first time with toddlers. . . what will I need and what can I use? My kids are not the type to sit! I’m almost afraid to have them on a airplane! Any thing you can share would be great! -Amanda, mom to a 2...

For the kid who eats like a bird

by Cool Mom Team | School Gear

I realize that school is now in full swing, but if you have yet to find the perfect lunch box, or if your house is the mysterious Bermuda Triangle of lunch bags like mine, you can’t have too many reusable lunch bags. Particularly if they’re...

Little Packrats – Now for your big, er, packrats

by Cool Mom Team | School Gear

We’ve long adored the cute, unique little kid backpacks from Little Packrats (now PVC-free, by the way!), but now that some of our little kids are turning into big kids, we’re glad that they’ve added some new bags just for them. The new bigger bags...

Kids name labels go designer

by Stephanie Slate | Random Coolness

If you’re like me, then you probably try to have a nice stack of name labels on hand for all those things your kids have to take to camp, school, daycare and everywhere else their busy little social calendars may take them. But when kids start to outgrow those...

Light up the night

by Mir | Random Coolness

It’s hard to imagine right now — as the kids run around outside in pure daylight until well past 8:00 — that the days are getting shorter, again. And before we know it, we’ll be back to those early mornings of heading out to school when...

Custom Sigg bottles at Cafe Press. Copyright: You.

by Barbara | Helpful Services

Remember when CafePress first launched? They offered what seemed to me like a whole lot of not much, onto which you could have imprinted your website logo or your dog’s photo. Because you know, everyone needs a dog photo lucite key chain. But there’s so...

Springtime in a bottle

by Delilah S. Dawson | Beauty + Cosmetics

I can tell you the story of my life through scent, from that first, huge bottle of Beautiful in high school to CK Truth at my first job to my recent addiction to BPAL. Right now, as my second child rounds the corner of two and I start to feel like a real person again,...

Ballet for beginners – and their wistful moms

by Cool Mom Team | Books for Kids

As a budding young ballerina, I was simply in love with A Very Young Dancer by Jill Krementz. I used to just lose myself in those marvelous photos until the pages were as dog-eared as the copies in the used bookstores that now carry it. So when I saw the new Ballet...

Silly Bandz, now coming to a chest near you

by Liz Gumbinner | Kid Style

I was hoping–praying–that the Silly Bandz craze would stay far far away from my daughter’s preschool. When it hit, it hit hard, like a giant neon apocalyptic storm of wiggly plastic and shrieking children. I can completely see why some schools are...