We've been unabashed fans of the talented and adorable A Cappella group, Straight No Chaser , ever since their unbelievable rendition of 12 Days of Christmas made the YouTube rounds a few years back. (You know, the one with Toto's Africa…
My kids are outgrowing more than their clothes: We now have dozens of DVDs that are considered too "babyish" for my precocious offspring. Instead of just leaving them in an ever-growing pile in my basement, I'm sending my stack to Kidfli…
You can't throw a rock without hitting a Twilight t-shirt, but now you can finally use 100% cotton to demonstrate your devotion to the greats of the literary world. Salinger. Hemingway. Rand. Bradbury. We're talking total street cred wit…
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 lov…
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 …
The biggest health chatter in my town may be about swine flu, but we can't forget that AIDS is still a force to be reckoned with, especially among women and children who make up more than half of the people living with HIV worldwide. Tod…
I love Thanksgiving. Just love it. Despite the fact that the whole history behind it might be somewhat mythological. (Were the Native Americans really that underdressed in November? Hm.) Still, I adore what it's become, at least in our f…
Thanks to a bit of a shoe obsession, I really don't need any excuse to buy new shoes for my kids. But when I heard that the The Mini Social , a cool members-only shopping site and past CMP fave will be offering amazing deals on some of o…
I'd all but retired my baby slings with my youngest just turning one, but then I remembered how fantastic and handy slings are for toddlers (hello, hip carry!) thanks to Small Wish . It's hard to go wrong considering the lovely fabric ch…
Jade's Toy Box no longer exists I'm starting to think that group gifts are the way to go. Chip in with a bunch of other folks, and get someone one seriously awesome something-or-other that they'll really appreciate. And I think that's wh…
It's turning into good cause day at Cool Mom Picks, which is just okey dokey by us. In this case, it's Bugaboo , whose Frog stroller saved this Brooklyn mama from three years of curbs, cobblestones, and car-eating potholes, and the noble…
I personally think that most teachers deserve a sports car and a month in Hawaii as an end-of-year gift, but know that many would just like to hear a heartfelt thank you as the kids scramble out the door for the last time. You might also…
In my current postpartum state, I'm as close as you might get to a charity case. But multiply the joy of shrinking yourself back into those skinny jeans times 100, and you'll get what your donation can do for the amazing Wings of Hope ch…
You should know right off that I am not the biggest Barbie fan, for all of the obvious reasons. But there did come a day when my daughter's begging got the best of me, and I went out to survey the choices. I came home with a doll we henc…
Having kids didn't make you forget about the worthy causes you've championed -- in fact, there's something about becoming a parent that often activates the save-the-world gene. But with time at a premium now , how do you reconcile passio…
I had no idea how much I've been taking the fact that there are not one, but two IKEAs within driving distance of me for granted. Poor, poor Heather, the creative talent behind Skinny laMinx , who was so despondent over the fact that non…
I am obsessed with Vespa scooters. I mean, seriously, what could be better than hopping onto a scooter and zipping off into the sunset in some gorgeous foreign land? But what do you do if (like me) you can't afford your scooter fix? Well…
As a mother, here's a program I'm so happy to be able to tell you about: for the next few hours only , you can help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in a significant way by barely lifting a finger. In fact, you will quite lite…
I was in Starbucks this week--okay, a few times this week. ( What? It's Peppermint Mocha, season. ) And I was thinking about how much the people in my life like getting Starbucks gift cards over the holidays. Glancing at the display, I w…