I cringed on that day back in October when holiday cards replaced an aisle of Halloween costumes. It's not that I dislike the holiday season or have a soft spot for grown men dressed as plates of spaghetti. It's just that the cards were …
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 …
Is there a single mom who isn't stressed out by holiday cards? Like I don't already have enough to do, let alone trying to find one picture where everyone in the family looks halfway decent and then praying that the photo cards we order …
My daughter has signed on to the idea of Christmas early. Not "early" like prodigy-early; I mean early like she discovered a teensy faux Christmas tree in our garage this summer and has been diligently decorating it for the past three mo…
Every year, I make my Mother-in-Law a calendar with photos of the kids and she ooos and ahhhs over it as any good grandmother would. But, after doing this for the past ten years, I am feeling a little ho-hum about the whole thing and won…
I don't know about you, but I'm only a few months into school lunch-making and I'm running out with ideas to keep it interesting. Mostly for me. I try to create little surprises in my daughter's lunchbox every day, from slicing her sandw…
I'm generally a good gifter. However, I've been a little stumped about what to buy a good friend's little girl for her first birthday. They live in a tight NYC apartment, so their toy situation is extremely edited. Her stylish wardrobe, …
Hey you, Famous Mom. Yes you, the one who held the kiddo's first birthday party at the Beverly Hills Hotel, hired Martha Stewart to make your cakes, and asked the Jonas Brothers to stop by to sing Happy Birthday. What are you going to do…
Anyone with kids know how important it is to label every single item they have. How else are you going to identify all the stuff that winds up in the lost and found bin? Over the years I've tried many different labeling methods and have …
Anyone can pick up a package of boring old jack-o-lantern paper plates at the grocery store. But guess what you can't get there? Customizable Halloween plates featuring your kiddos, all Halloween-ized with a spooky bride of Frankenstein …
If you ask me, babies' butts might be the cutest things in the whole wide world: Squeezable, kissable and downright delish. (Am I revealing too much here?) So when I saw this new collection of custom baby bloomers and boxers with initial…
Tutus are everywhere these days (I even saw some at Costco) and little girls are wearing them everywhere and anywhere. And why not? They're little girls. Nobody's going to look at them funny. Or so we hope. Here's a fun spin on the alrea…
I'm always looking for cool alternatives to our current growth chart - pencil markings on our kitchen doorway. Classy, huh? I suppose anything would be a step up. But the amazingly cute personalized ones we just found are a huge, welcome…
The list of things my 3-year-old daughter doesn't love is a lot shorter than the list of things she does. But if there's one thing she digs more than anything else right now, it's dolls. Specifically, dolls to whom she can assign the per…
It's unlikely that you need to let anyone know that the stagecoach is likely to be late or that there's trouble at the train depot, but why should that stop you from adding a vintage twist to that special message? If you go to Telegram S…
The concept of cool boys clothes shifts as kids get older. At first cool is defined by his mom, but mark my words, at some point -- for me it was around 7 -- your son will start to have very definite ideas on what constitutes cool and wh…
Sure, we've all had elasticized slippers for our babies, but when was the last time your baby went out in hand-made, hand-beaded leather stay-on moccasins made by First Nations women in Canada? Not recently, I'm willing to bet. These lit…
I don't know about you, but my friends have been popping out babies pretty regularly for the last few years and it's getting tricky to always think of an original new baby gift . (They expect a lot from a Cool Mom Picks reviewer, let me …
Picking out a baby gift for my brand new niece, Isabella, was incredibly easy when I discovered makaboo --or difficult depending how you look at it. [don't miss a great offer, and giveaway after the jump!] Easy, because the shop has a gr…
You guys are so great at finding great gift ideas , and so I come to you with this: I have my fourth niece/nephew to buy a gift for . . . Hoping you have some good ones up your sleeves! -Christina W. Congratulations again! I hope these i…
I've learned over the years it's nearly impossible to register for everything that you will need for your new baby. In fact, I've got a huge list of items that I wish I had thought of asking for or even just ordering for myself. And up h…
I guess I must have just assumed that Hallmark already offered customizable baby announcements because they're pretty much the greeting card pioneers. But apparently, that was not the case, since I just got word that their brand new line…
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…
The adorable personalized baby onesies from Mitetees are some of our favorite baby shower gifts around here, and they've impressed us again, this time with their brand new line of onesies just for the cool aunts of the world. [don't miss…