A lot of us are probably more used to popping bottles of milk and apple juice than champagne these days. But the holidays call for sparkle--and I'm talking fancy shoes, party dresses, and champagne, not Elmer's glue and glitter (as much …
I love crafty people. I wish I were one of them, but, alas, I'm not even that great at wrapping gifts. They end up looking like my three-year-old took the reins. But, this year, my friends and family will think I've developed some seriou…
To me the holidays is nothing without our annual viewing of Rudolph. Herbie! The Abominable Snowman! The Isle of Misfit Toys who aren't quite misfits! It's all pure magic. So who's with me in jumping for joy that this year, A four-DVD se…
Although everyone from Rod Stewart to The Black Eyed Peas seems to put out Christmas albums, it's pretty rare for anyone besides Adam Sandler to do something new and interesting with Hanukkah music. New and interesting is something Dan Z…
As a native New Yorker, I admit I'm totally biased when I say that this is one of the most magical places for a family to be over the holidays. Because I get so many emails each year from readers and out-of-town friends asking me about m…
Perhaps you've poked around our holiday gift guide this year and come across the category called Gifts Under $15 That Don't Seem Cheap at All . If so, you very likely spotted the gourmet lollipops. You know the ones. The ones that call t…
One of my all time favorite holiday shows is the Nutcracker Ballet, but I didn't imagined I would get tickets to see it with my toddler for quite a long time--like, ten years, at least. Performances are expensive in New York! Which is on…
Can you suggest some more holiday photo card sites? I'm a little bored with the same ole, same ole every year. Or, what about a site for creating your own cards with flair? -Ginger I am fairly certain that Holiday Rule #1 states that you…
When my kids were young, I found a trio of very cute stockings in a small local store that I thought were totally unique and special for our family. And then my mother saw them and said, O ooo, I saw those at the card store! So much for …
We must say, Thanksgiving is easily one of our favorite holidays. (Especially if we're not the ones making the turkey, ha.) We hope that today you're surrounded with lots of family, lots of joy, and lots of really fantastic pecan pie. Th…
I love the hustle of the holiday season: cooking, shopping and giving are three of my favorite things. What I really don't like is finding the right wrapping paper for my latest treasures - and it can get ugly when I have multiple smalle…
It's like Miss America for crafters, and you're a judge. But there's no Miss Congeniality. This one's all about looks, and you only get one vote. Actually, it's the competition for Martha Stewart's annual Holiday Craft Fair at her compan…
I'm dreaming of a picture perfect holiday season , like a vintage postcard, with over-sized snowflakes and smiling kids singing songs at my door. I'm also dreaming of taking the perfect holiday photo of my two girls and they'll both smil…
As December nears, my house is ready to to become a big, kid-friendly fun house of colored blinky lights and tinsel. With three kids, I know what to expect and have given in to All Things Christmas. Except I've just seen the most beautif…
Every year, I make two kinds of holiday cookies from recipes that have been passed down from my mom. But yummy as the traditional family recipes are, I'm ready to branch out from the same old pecan balls and sugar cookies, and try and st…
I'm not sure which is cooler, the actual lyziwraps reusable gift bags that I just discovered, or the story behind them. They were originally designed by an 8th Grader, for an innovation competition, who was trying to find a way to decrea…
Wishing you a very spooky (but safe) Halloween, mamas from Kristen, Liz, Christina, Delilah, Julie and the rest of the Cool Mom Picks team - may you survive the sugar crashes and score a solid week's worth of Reese's Pieces peanut butter…
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and it's certainly one of my kids' too. But with all the costume-wrangling and candy-buying and party-coordinating, I suddenly realize I have yet to hang so much as a fake spiderweb on my front d…
Here are some things we've liked reading around the web this week. We hope you will too. No-carve pumpkin decorating ideas from Amy Atlas. Sign us up! On momformation, Kristen shares an awesome coloring book that doubles as a babysitter.…
Every month, each of the CMP contributors pick our favorite pick of the month and write a quick blurb on it for our monthly newsletter . Out of dozens of amazing posts in September, four of us nearly had a cage match over who got to sque…
When an enormous fire roared across San Bruno, California, on September 9, it destroyed homes and uprooted hundreds of people. Scary--unbelievably scary. But it couldn't have been more terrifying for anyone than the children and families…
When I was a kid, we carried our Halloween treats in pillow cases because we were greedy little goblins who didn't mind having candy-corn stuck in our hair later on. But again, my kids get to have all the fun with none of the hideous pol…
Happy Labor Day, mamas! On this day, we really wanted to give a big hooray to the hardest laboring folks of all: Moms. (No pun intended.) Of course Labor Day really is about, well, labor. Or unions, to be more specific. And while there's…
It's official: Today, President Obama officially proclaimed August 26 Women's Equality Day , 90 years after we were given the right to vote. While we've currently got three women on the Supreme Court, 17 in the Senate, and a whole bunch …