A couple of weeks ago, we invited you to nominate yourselves or your favorite handmade artisans for the Handmade Olympics, a fun, entirely unathletic competition featuring amazing handmade creations. Cool Mom Picks was invited to be the …
"Snack" is no longer a bad word in my house. Once upon a time in my mind, one box of baked veggie sticks used to cause a downward spiral straight to childhood obesity and school drop-outs. Welcome to my neurotic brain. Of course my ratio…
We drop the word "cute" a lot, mainly because it's so versatile. Teeny tiny onesies? Cute. Gorgeous handmade jewelry? Cute. Sweet stationary? Cute. The guy who washed my hair this morning at the salon? Cute. But it's also refreshing when…
I have one word for this time of year and it's not nice. Stores are featuring spring clothes and outdoor toys, but outside my front door there are still the last vestiges of frozen snow, and I'm sure it's not the last of it for the seaso…
These days, I'm lucky if I remember to get gifts in time at all these days, let alone have the wrapping paper on hand to wrap them up. But with an unbelievable number of birthday parties and special events crammed in my calendar, I'm det…
My dad died when I was 22 -- long before I met my husband, or had my son -- and my mom is very much alive. So you wouldn't necessarily think that the book Parentless Parents , by my friend Allison Gilbert , would resonate with someone li…
I love throwing birthday parties for my kids. Love it. But I'm a bit of an over-achiever when it comes to loot bags, generally insisting that there should be something handmade -or at least really, really cool- inside. And that means I s…
Lately, my daughter is looking pretty sheepdoggy -- how is it that bangs grow five times as fast on an almost-4-year-old? -- and, occasionally, she will concede to wearing a hairband or ponytail so that she can actually see things before…
We were first introduced to the Children's Heart Foundation when we donated the proceeds from last year's color-your-own Valentine's Day card contest to their worthy efforts. So this year, we figured it was timely to remember their fanta…
When the weather in New York City involves any sort of precipitation, it's hard to open an umbrella without hitting a pair of Hunter boots on the sidewalks, my own chocolate brown pair included. In fact the waterproof wellies are so ubiq…
Of the many talents I wished I possessed, crocheting is at the top of the list, right along with singing in key and being able to sketch something other than stick figures. Since I don't expect to inherit any of those talents any time so…
We have eagerly been awaiting the Let's Panic About Babies book every since we first became pregnant with our own babies. And that's saying something. Because back then, we didn't even know anything about authors Alice Bradley and Eden M…
If you're a mom, you could pretty much rename Valentine's Day, Lots and Lots of Random Paper That My Kids Won't Let Me Recycle Day. Wouldn't it be great if you could start with a PDF and just print the paper you actually wanted ? And wou…
For all the eye-goggling special effects and "3D everything" in kids' movies nowadays, the 60-year-old Alice in Wonderland will still leave your kids' mouths agape as it still does mine, no funny glasses needed. If you want to take your …
Here's the bad news: In the next few days, Congress will vote on a bill that could completely eliminate all federal funding for public broadcasting. That's not an exaggeration. Here's the good news: There's still time to save Elmo. The g…
Despite light-up toys, dolls that talk, and, um, iPads, at the end of the day, nothing holds a candle -- or backlit touchpad screen -- to a good kids' book . It's a lesson my 3.5 year-old daughter has already learned, and I'm sure your k…
I have a soft spot for good quality wooden toys . I like them so much I find myself decorating my daughter's room with them, and these handmade, wood puzzles from Just Hatched are no exception. They're much too pretty to keep in a drawer…
I have Joe Cocker in my head right now. He's singing You Are So Beautiful to Me , and I'm getting all choked up when his voice cracks at that one point at the end. He also happens to be singing the song to the unbelievably amazing treats…
Let's face it, at some point in time, everybody ends up staring at the last flower petal, thinking, He loves me not? FINE . I've been there. In fact, I spent an entire Valentine's Day in college wearing all black as my anti-Valentine sta…
On any given day, I might have to drop off a neighbor's kid at his piano teacher's house although he doesn't know her last name or the name of the street on which she lives, clip a finch's toenails, and negotiate with an international cr…
Does this rainbow umbrella design look familiar? It probably does--it's just one of the designs you'll find over at Threadless , which recently teamed up with Cool Mom Picks favorite Baggu to produce a whole series of recycled cotton can…
My husband is definitely one to give the spicier Valentine's Day gifts, and you won't see me complaining. Unless he happens to buy the wrong size negligee, in which case I just try to act flattered that he thought I was an extra-small. T…
This may not be a popular stance, but I curse the day that a bunch of dodos couldn't figure out how to properly medicate their children, leading to a ban of all those fabulous multi-symptom cold medicines and over-the-counter cough syrup…
My kids are no strangers to candy, though I have to admit that the amount of sweet stuff they collect at Valentine's Day is over the top. I may not be able to stem the tide of lollies, pixie stix and chocolate hearts that come their way,…
