I am currently planning an Easter playdate for a variety of ages. I thought I’d share some of the activities we’ll be doing. I thought I’d start out easy with a coloring page or two while we wait for everyone to arrive. Jan Brett has the most adorable coloring pages. If you’ve never been to her site before, be sure to check it out.

Once everyone has arrived, we’ll do some type of craft. Family Fun (as usual) has some great craft ideas. I am leaning toward these eggs that use tissue paper as the dye. The younger kids can easily make a marbled effect, while the older kids can do some type of actual picture.

Next, we’ll go out in the yard for an Easter Egg hunt. We’ll be looking for sticker and toy filled eggs that we’ll be getting from Oriental Trading. We have a few food allergies, so the toy and sticker filled eggs will work for everyone.

After we finish egg hunting, we’ll head back inside for a snack and a fun game of Bunny Bingo. For the snack, I am leaning towards these cute bunny cupcakes…but I am a bit worried about those pesky food allergies. Perhaps I can have another mommy bring a back up snack…

For the bingo game, I’ll be using this board from the Kaboose site. I will use jelly beans as the markers and the kids can eat them when we’re all done playing.

It’s that time of year…Spring, bunnies, chicks, lambs.  Time to start thinking about how to fill those easter baskets and what to get for that special teacher.  Here are some great items to get you started.

Up first are a couple of items from one of my favorite online stores:  HearthSong…  Both of these retro items will be the highlight of any child’s Easter basket:  

Each of the old fashioned papier mache eggs are filled with 14 German chocolates…yum!  The hollow candy eggs are made using HearthSong’s Peek Inside Eggs Kit.  Each kit makes two eggs.

Plum Party has a couple of items for those of you who would like to make Easter cookies, but aren’t necessarily the baker-type.

How cute is that Easter Cookie kit in the little painter’s can?  It comes with cookie mix, frosting mix, special Easter sprinkles, and a paintbrush for applying the icing. The Easter Cookie Coloring Kit comes with 4 cookies and 2 edible ink markers.  Fun!

Finally, if you’re in a crafty mood, Family Fun is the place to be.  I took a look at their Easter crafts, and my favorite is shown below.

I have to admit, I’m totally guilty of going overboard when it comes to holiday themed clothing. When I was teaching, I had an excuse to buy those goofy holiday themed sweaters for myself…said I was dressing up to make the kids smile. Really, I just love the holidays! Now that I’m staying home, I dress the girls up for the holidays. Let’s face it…kids can wear that stuff and still look adorable. Not so much for me… Here are some of my faves:

The Gap has quite a few different looks. Here are a couple…

The Children’s Place has a few cute options too.

Target doesn’t disappoint with a variety of adorable choices.

Last up is Gymboree. The outfits at Gymboree are by far my favorites, but are also quite pricey. Each outfit is around 80 bucks. Maybe there will be some left on the sale racks after Valentine’s Day and I can score some cute looks for less for next year…just buy a size up from this year and we should be good to go.

A few more ideas for Valentine’s Day.

If you have a toddler, check out this Valentine’s set from Fisher Price’s Little People. It’s $15 and includes 3 figures, a table and chairs, flower stand fence with removable flowers, a mailbox (it really opens!) and some pretend valentines to put inside. The set also includes 6 Valentine cards.

Next up, a gift for the ladies. Check out the Key to My Heart key chain. You choose how many dangles you’d like, what words you’d like on each dangle (maybe your kids’ names?), a Swarovski crystal for each dangle, as well as a charm for each dangle. You can select little picture frames as your charms for an extra charge. There are tons of combinations available (math has never been my strong point!). It comes in a pretty heart-shaped box, ideal for gift giving. The two dangle key chain is $56.

Finally, what would Valentine’s Day be without candy? Head over to Hershey’s. They have a variety of personalized gift options available. My favorite was the Sealed with a Kiss Tower. It comes with Reese’s hearts, kisses, miniatures, and a personalized chocolate card. Yum! And if you’re tired of Conversation Hearts, check out Jelly Belly’s new Conversation Beans. Jelly Belly’s sour flavors come with romantic sayings printed on them…how sweet!

Hey all! Gotta keep this short…I have a new show to watch. Please, oh please, let it live up to my freakishly high expectations…

Anyway, I thought I’d share a few of my very favorite Valentine’s related books.

If you’re looking for books for the 3 and under set, try one of these board books. The first is written by Kevin Henkes, one of my all time faves. It features Lily as she hunts for the perfect hiding place for her Valentine chocolate. The other is by Sandra Boynton, another favorite author. Both of my daughters ask to have this one read to them over and over again.

If you’re hoping for books for ages 4-8, here are a couple of fun reads. In Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink, the main character writes not-so-nice Valentines for a couple of his classmates and then deals with the consequences. And you really can’t go wrong with any of the Junie B. Jones books. Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentime is a great read.

I’m off to watch TV and veg out.  Happy reading everyone!

I love Family Fun Magazine and have subscribed forever. Their website has tons and tons of ideas for Valentine’s Day. Here are some of my favorites.

This Candy Airplane is sooo cute. I am thinking about making them to hand out to my daughter’s class for Valentine’s Day. Check the site for directions. Materials needed include a rubber band, smarties, life savers, stick of cinnamon gum, and some heart stickers.

These also look really cute, fast, and easy. You just need a small bag of candy, toy shovel, twist tie, ribbon, and pain pen. Check out the directions at the Family Fun site.

Finally, I saw this method for making heart-shaped cupcakes without having to buy a special pan. You simply take a regular cupcake pan and add a marble or ball of aluminum foil outside the liner to make the heart’s notch.

When I was in elementary school (sooo long ago…), I always made my Valentine’s Day cards. It wasn’t that my school required it…I was just very into arts and crafts and really enjoyed hand making each of my Valentine’s for my friends. My mom and I would head out to the local craft supply store and come home with construction paper, doilies, stickers, and whatever else we could find. I would also page through magazines looking for words or pictures to add to my valentines. Now many companies have taken the legwork out of making your own valentines by combining a variety of materials into kits. Check these out:

Hearth Song’s Valentine Kit is 19.95. It comes with 30 sheets of construction paper, 36 doilies, tissue paper, stickers, glitter, glue, and a few other items. All of it comes in a storage box with patterns and tips.

Chinaberry has a kit for 15.95. It has enough materials to make 30 small valentines. It comes with a variety of papers, doilies, beads, ribbon, and vellum.

Oriental Trading also has a Super Mega Valentine Kit. It truly is huge and will probably be enough to make valentines for the next few years. It’s 24.95 and comes with 100 doilies, 500 foam heart shaped beads, various foam hearts, alphabet stickers, envelopes, and papier mache boxes.

Happy crafting everyone!

I just read a great article on the Family Fun site, titled 11 Great Ways to Start the Year. There were some really sweet ideas for how to celebrate the New Year with your family. Here were my favorites:

Journal the most memorable moments of the year. You can have each child take a turn writing their page in a journal, or hand out paper to be placed in a 3 ring binder or scrapbook. Kate’s Paperie has really gorgeous paper goods. These Japanese Handmade notebooks would make a lovely keepsake.

Another idea is to interview your children each year by asking them the same questions. Ideas include: I am lucky because, If I had three wishes, and I am a little afraid of… It will be interesting to watch how your children’s responses change over the years. The questions and answers could be written in a nice notebook like the one above, as well.

You could spend the day trying “new” things to help celebrate the New Year. Try new foods, go to a new store, read a new book, or try a new hairstyle.

For families with older children, try a game of charades. Generate a list of memorable moments from the past year and then take turns acting them out. This is sure to bring back some fond memories and generate a few laughs.

Here are some fun and festive ideas you can use to help ring in the new year with style. Plum Party has lots of great party goods for many events. Their New Year’s items don’t disappoint. This Happy New Year’s Kit is called tooters and tiaras and comes with 4 of each.

They also have a more complete set for 6. It’s $24.00 and comes with 3 cone hats, 3 tiaras, 6 noise makers, 6 tooters, 2 serpentines, and 2 carnival balls. Everything is done in classy silver and black and it all comes in a handy bag. If you’re looking for a more colorful set, they also have the same thing in brighter colors.

Obviously, the kids can’t stay up ’til midnight, so many families make their own countdown at 7:00 or 8:00. Here are a few more festive ways to allow your kids to celebrate the new year before heading off to bed. Plum party has these great crackers. The kids can pop them open as they clock strikes 7. Each one contains some type of small toy for kids ages 6 and up.

Finally, I found a couple of items on my old standby, Oriental Trading. How about these champagne bubbles or these kooky 2007 glasses? Each is less than $6 per dozen.

So, that’s it for now. I know we have readers from all over the country and a few of you from around the world. I’d love to hear about any special New Year’s plans you have for your family.