Party Like It's 1999!

It's New Year's Eve. We have babysitters (in-laws). And we are going to party!!

...not, like we did in 1999. That year, we celebrated New Year's Eve on a cruise ship in Sydney Harbor among the fireworks and festivities that only the Aussies could pull off! I remember waking up in my hotel room the next day craving chocolate cake. (What do you crave when you have a hangover?) Oh, the joys of being kid-less and carefree!

No. This year, just a regular fancy party - a cocktail, some hors d'oeurves, and a glass of champagne, some friends, some merriment. Thinking about all the great things in store for me and my family in 2009. Amazing at how your perspective changes when you become a parent.

Here's to a happy and healthy 2009 for you and yours.

Merry Christmas!

For me, the theme of Christmas this year is simplicity and human connection.

We made a big deal with HB of selecting a wish from the wishing tree at our local YMCA. (Where you anonymously buy presents for those who wouldn't otherwise have Christmas.) We selected a tag for a little 5 year old girl. For Christmas, all that she asked for was an outfit - pants size 5 and shirt size 6. Not a toy, a doll, or a video game, but an outfit. To be clothed. This really struck me.

So I headed on over to Target and bought her an adorable pair of black velour pants and a sparkly pink turtleneck. I figured I was treading the line between an outfit that she could wear everyday, yet still have something cute if she was going to a holiday party or church. I also threw in a long-sleeve black and white tee so that she would have another shirt to wear with her pants. As I was walking to the checkout to pay for our outfit, I nearly started to cry. I was struck by this little girl and her humble request. And I realized that I was not done shopping.

This girl needed accessories! A pink sparkly belt with a heart-shaped bucke, and a black patent leather one with rhinestones. She also needed headbands - shiny satin headbands with bows in pink and black. And socks to match.

But, I was still not finished. No kid should have Christmas of just necessities. She needed dolls. The ones she really wanted, but didn't ask for. So, I bought her a cute set of dolls in costumes from around the world that pack into their own little fabric carrying bag.

When I brought this home to show HB, I expected her to want to keep the clothes and dolls for herself. She is two, afterall, and "mine" is a favorite word. But, I was pleasantly surprised at her reaction. We had been talking a lot about this "little girl who won't have Christmas" and how she would be sad if she didn't get any presents, but that we could make her happy by sharing some of our presents with her. When HB saw the clothes, and belts, and dolls, she said excitedly, "How cute! Now the little girl will have clothes like me!".

Tomorrow morning, when my kids are ripping open presents in their already abundant playroom, I will be thinking about this little girl and imagining the squeal of delight when she sees those belts!

What to do With Your Holiday Leftovers

I love the idea of transforming boring old leftovers into a whole new tasty meal. Especially if you are playing hostess, it really helps to be able to use up the mountains of leftovers without seeming like you are serving the same thing night after night.

Real Simple's November 2008 Issue had a bunch of great recipes using leftovers from Thansgiving dinner. If you are like my family, Christmas dinner is just a rehash of Thanksgiving with a ham substituted for the turkey. So, these recipes should still apply. I used the three below over Thanksgiving, and they were a big hit:

Stuffing Meat Loaf with Marmalade Glaze - I made extra of this and froze one of the loafs. It was even yummier the second time around!

Creamy Mashed Potato and Leek Soup

Barbecue Turkey Sandwiches - My family loved this recipe so much that I've since made it with chicken breast, and I suspect that it would be equally good with ham.

What creative recipes do you have for using up Holiday leftovers?

Trader Joe's Gingerbread House Kit

We got a really cute gingerbread house kit from Trader Joe's. Everything was included - even the sugar for the icing. The only thing we had to add was an egg and lemon juice for the icing. This is my kind of project!

HB had a lot of fun putting it together. It was easy enough for her to do it mostly by herself (after I helped her assemble the main house, she did all the decorating).

I think it turned out super cute. HB loves it!

What fun easy projects are you doing with your kids for the holidays?

Gift Ideas from Across the Blogesphere

I'm really impressed about all the awesome gift lists everyone has been posting around the blogesphere! It's fun to see what everyone recommends! I've found some great gifts to buy for people in my life, and it's great to know that I am supporting my fellow bloggers by buying from their lists. Here is a compendium of the gift lists I've seen (in no particular order).

* OrganizedMommy: Great Gifts for Babies and Toddlers

* Alpha Mom: Best Personalized Holiday Gifts

* The MotherLoad: Budget-Friendly Gifts for Teens & Tweens, Budget-Friendly Gifts for Young Children, My Christmas Wish List, Great Budget-Friendly Gifts for Men

* FigSugar: Ho Ho Ho! Healthy Stocking Stuffers

* MightyGoods: 16 Perfect Gifts for Geeks

* MightyJunior: Handmade Holiday Gift Guide, Luxury Gift Guide 2008

* RookieMoms: Build a Taste Book You Will Love

* SafeMama: Safer Toy Guide 2008

* TheMomSpeak: Handmade Jewelry on a Budget

* Unclutterer: 2007 Unclutterer Gift Giving Guide wrap up

If you don't see your list here, please feel free to add a link in the comments!

Great Gifts for Babies and Toddlers

In case you still have some shopping to do, here is a list of my favorite toys for babies and toddlers. All of these toys are currently in our playroom. That is the highest praise I can give a toy. Given my aversion to clutter, there is no toy in our playroom that I don't think is excellent.

* Cranium Super Fort is probably my favorite toy of all time! Construct your own fort out of magnetic connectors and foam links. Colorful fabric sheets attach to make walls and ceilings. The possibilities are endless! Included instructions show plans for a fort, castle, race car, space ship. It really fosters imaginations much more than a pre-fab fort. While it appears that the basic super fort is out of stock, the jungle, aquarium, and sports station forts are available and made from the same connector system. You would probably want to buy two of those sets to have enough parts to make larger forts. Here is a link to all of Amazon's Cranium Fort Products. Officially, ages 4-10, but HB has been playing with this since she was 2 (we would build it, she would play in it). Now, at 2 1/2 she can make new structures by herself. It breaks down and packs compactly into a tote-bag for storage. Great for those without a dedicated playroom.



* Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube plays several Mozart songs. Each side of the cube represents a different instrument that can be added or subtracted from the current song. Allows kids to explore the contribution of different instruments to an orchestra. Babies love it because they can push a button and get a response. Older kids will enjoy experimenting with the different instrument sounds. Rubberized corners make this toy surprisingly rugged.



*Neurosmith Music Blocks plays different segments of a whole song. Get the blocks in the right color order to play the whole song. Blocks have shapes on each side that correspond to an instrument. So, getting the blocks in the right color order *and* with the same shape pointing up will play the song the whole way through with the same instrument. I love toys like this with layers and layers of learning. Teaches colors, shapes, and music! Get some extra song cartridges so that you don't go insane listening to the same song over and over again. Great for babies up through toddlers.


* WEDGiTS are awesome stacking blocks. Because they don't have horizontal and vertical sides (their cross-section is a diamond), they take more 3-D reasoning skills to stack. You can also make some more interesting structures as a result. For babies, get the squishier WEE Wedgits. Great substitute for the traditional ring stacker toy that everyone else has.



* Stack & Roll Cups are another stacking toy that has multiple uses. Teaches concepts such as bigger-than, colors, and numbers. Besides traditional stacking, you can snap pairs of cups together to make balls. Hide things inside the balls to entertain babies. This is a great travel toy. All the bowls nest inside each other, so they pack in a remarkably small space.


* Wooden ABC Blocks - every kid should have a set of basic ABC blocks!


* LifeStyle Dining Room Pots & Pans - your basic kitchen play set - a great value!

* Melissa and Doug Pretend Food Sets are great for dramatic play in the kitchen! My favorite is the pretend sushi set. Goes great with the First Book of Sushi ... "Miso in my sippy cup; tofu in my bowl. Crab and avocado fill my California roll..." Just adorable!

* Priddy Cloth Books are great for babies. They have lots of textures to feel (and eat!). My favorite is Fluffy Chick and Friends.


* Klutz Pocket Paper Dolls (Fairy) - beautiful multiculti paper dolls in their own little carrying case. A great stocking stuffer! We keep this in our diaper bag at all times. It's a great travel toy.


* Shutterfly adventure books are wonderful gifts! Upload a picture and get a custom story staring your little one on every page. HB got the Alphabet Adventures book last year and it was her favorite gift! She loves to look through and see herself flying in a hot air baloon, driving a racecar, or sitting on an elephant. A bit pricey, but totally worth it!

* One Laptop per Child XO Laptop (Give a Laptop, Get a Laptop) - these are awesome laptops for kids because they are specifically designed for kids. When you buy one laptop, another laptop is donated to a child in a developing country. A very dear friend of mine was on the development team, so I know first hand that these laptops are really fun for kids to use!


What are your favorite baby and toddler toys? Please share in the comments!

Simplify Your Holiday Giving

It seems like Christmas is right around the corner, and I find myself totally unprepared. I've had a few business trips in quick succession, and they've really eaten into my personal time. I have another trip to make before Christmas leaving me even less time, so Christmas is going to have to be really simple this year.

Here are some suggestions for simplifying your Holiday giving:

1) limit the number of people you buy for. In my family, we focus on the kids. So, my primary shopping is for my kids and my nieces and nephews.

2) standardize on gifts. I have an aunt who chooses two gifts every season. One for the boys and one for the girls. Everyone on her list gets the same gift. This may seem really impersonal, but in reality, it is quite the contrary. I always really look forward to her gifts. They are always well-chosen and really cool. She puts more thought into the gifts because she only has a few decisions to make, and I suspect she bargains for a discount because she is ordering so many of the same thing. Last year, I took a cue from my aunt and got all the adults on my list cashmere scarves. I chose a color and a pattern to suit the specific person's tastes. Everyone loved them! A few years ago, I found a wonderful and unique toy that spanned many age groups. So, every kid on my list got that toy. It was a hit!

3) choose a theme. If you don't want to give the same gift to everyone, then choose a theme. Maybe everyone gets board games this year, or books, or sweaters, or gift baskets. This gives you the flexibility to personalize the gift to the specific recipient, yet still have some structure to simplify the buying process.

4) start a tradition. Another of my aunts gives everyone ornaments every year. They are always specifically chosen to have meaning for the recipient. She writes our name and the year on the bottom of the ornament. As kids, we always looked forward to what ornament we would get. We would open our present from this aunt on Christmas Eve and would each choose a special spot on the tree for our new ornament. Now, as an adult, I have a wonderful collection of ornaments that represent each year of my life. It's a very special gift, yet very easy to implement. The cache of this gift is in the tradition of it. It's something to look forward to every year.

5) gift baskets. Whether you make the gift baskets yourself, or buy them, gift baskets are always an easy gift. I like to start with a store-bought basket as a base and add a few additional items that are chosen or made specifically for the recipient. Then, I re-wrap it with fancier wrapping and a nicer bow. I find this a bit easier and less expensive than assembling a basket from scratch, yet it still has that personal touch. Another nice way to up-scale a basket is to replace the basket filler material with scented potpourri.

For those people to whom I just need to send a nice gift basket, I always use Wine Country Gift Baskets. They sell a wide variety of affordable baskets that are really nice. (This is an honest plug. I don't get any kickback from them. I've been using them for years, and they've always been great.)

What are your tricks for simplifying your holidays?

Instead of Halloween Candy, Give them a Choice

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! I love making costumes, and seeing the kids all dressed up. However, one of the things I like least about Halloween is all the candy. While a little candy never hurt anyone, the sheer amount of Halloween candy consumed by children has become excessive.

Last year, I contemplated giving out something other than candy. But, I didn't want to be one of *those* families that gave out raisins or toothbrushes (like the dentist down the street is infamous for) or something else the kids will just throw in the trash.

Halloween is supposed to be fun, and the item the kids get should be something desirable - a "treat" - even if not in the sugary-sweet way.

So, I decided to give our trick-or-treaters a choice: candy or a glow stick bracelet.

I was happily surprised that over half of the kids chose the glow sticks - and were really excited about getting them! Yet the kids who really wanted candy went away happy too.

So, if you're like me and you hate to give out candy, try thinking of another item that kids would choose over candy. And give them a choice!

P.S. I got the glow stick bracelets in the Target $ bins. They were $2.50 for 12. Pretty cheap!