Halloween is my favorite holiday (after Christmas, of course!), so the next few weeks will be all about spooky ideas, tips and treats to make our little ones’ Halloween the best one yet. This week, I have a guest post from Kelly Rockey who writes about Halloween costumes over at Star Costumes. It’s all about safety – probably the most important thing we parents have to think about when getting our kids ready for Halloween. Thanks, Kelly!
It’s that time of year when your little ones turn into goblins and witches and head out in search of Halloween treats! We all want Halloween to be a happy and safe holiday for our kids, but sometimes with the excitement of the season kids can be less than careful. Using these simple safety tips can help you make the most of the Halloween season and keep your children safe at the same time.
1. Pick a Safe Costume – Help your child pick out a costume that will help keep them safe by making sure it has a few key characteristics. Make sure it is fireproof and that vision is not obstructed with small eye holes. Make sure there are no long capes, strings, or hems on the costume that the child can trip on. Bright colors can help them be seen at night; if they are wearing a dark colored costume make sure they are carrying a light or you can affix glow in the dark tape strips onto the costume.
2. Practice Pumpkin Safety – When carving pumpkins all children love to help, here’s how to let them help safely. Do not let them use a sharp knife to cut into a pumpkin. For older children there are plastic saw-type knives on the market. For younger children just have them scoop out the gunk and then draw a face on it for you to cut for them. When placing the pumpkin out with a candle, make sure that it is out of the way enough that your child’s costume doesn’t brush by it and accidentally catch on fire. Or better yet there are “flameless” LED lights on the market now that are completely safe and look realistic. Another option is to use a glow stick for an eerie but safe glow.
3. Keep Their Props in Check – If your child’s costume requires them to carry an ax, pitchfork, butcher knife, or the like then you must make sure that the tips are smooth and flexible enough to not cause injury if fallen on. Also teach your child to never swing at or hit anybody with their prop.
4. Safe Candy is Yummy Candy – Always inspect your child’s candy before letting them eat it. Do not let them eat any candy that has open or broken wrappers. Always trick or treat in a familiar neighborhood so you know where your child’s treats are coming from. Feed your child a spooky Halloween dinner before going out trick or treating so they are less likely to eat their candy before you have a chance to check it.
5. Basic Safety for Halloween and Everyday – To make trick or treating as safe as possible make sure that your children know basic everyday safety such as looking both ways before crossing the street, never getting into a strangers car, and not talking to strangers. Also never let your children go out trick or treating without a responsible adult or teenager to chaperone them.
Photo via Halloween Blog Online
Ok, I know it’s only August, but in my book it isn’t too late to start planning our Christmas holidays. Actually, it makes a lot of sense because it can get really booked practically everywhere in the world that time of year, and booking early can mean saving $$$. We just bought a new house- well, a new “old” (80′s built) house, and after going through all our renovation plans, we were told by our contractor that there was pretty much no chance that we would be in there by Christmas. So we thought we’d get creative this year and take the kids somewhere different, somewhere interesting for Christmas. The only pre-requisite – SNOW!!
The first contender on our list is Sapporo, Japan. It’s a lovely city in Japan’s northernmost island, Hokkaido, and known to be a very child-friendly place (like the rest of Japan is), with family skiing and LOTS of fun activities. My husband and I love Japan, the Japanese culture and especially the food, so Japan was a good choice. Plus, it won’t be as crowded like a lot of Western places over the holidays because of the Shinto/Buddhist religious aspects.
One more good thing is that the hotels and resorts in Sapporo are pretty affordable and often have great deals. Christmas is apparently a good time to go, because aside from the snow, there is fab shopping (for Mom) and interesting things to check out, like the Sapporo White Illumination and the German Christmas Market – cool! Check out the photo above, which was taken during the Sapporo Snow Festival, which happens in February.
Happy Earth Day 2009! One of the best things you can do to Save the Earth is to educate your kids about the environment and sustainability – making it a fun process that they can carry through for the rest of their lives.
Luckily, most “big” schools now teach kids about the environment, about recycling and even organic farming, so helping kids in grade school or older is easier than ever before. My daughter’s 1st grade class, for instance, visited an organic farm for their field trip last year and they saw how lettuce was looked after and harvested naturally. She knows not to leave the tap running when she brushes her teeth or washes her hands (I hear her scold her little brother that he’s “wasting!” water), turns off lights when nobody is using them, and talks to me excitedly about what it means to recycle.
For preschoolers, it’s a little more challenging. I have been trying to teach my 4-year-old some of the basic principles I taught my daughter, but I just get a sort of “bored” look most of the time. So my project, beginning this Earth Day, is to get my son more involved with some hands-on work. I found some great ideas online, like on iVillage, for instance, they have a useful article about how you can “Go Green at Any Age”. For preschoolers, they suggest things like this:
Teach your preschooler how to help pick out ripe seasonal fruit and vegetables for their snacks and meals. Show them that when they have finished their fruit and vegetables, there are parts that can be composted. Involve your children in composting your food scraps, coffee grounds, etc. Get them used to seeing that food waste is not garbage but rather something that can be turned into soil to grow more food.
Another site I like is Funschool, which has a lot of fun games and activities I know will appeal to my computer-loving little boy.
And lastly, for baby Wills, I’ll be dressing him in organic or sustainable clothing today (and as much as my bank account can afford!) but more often than not, I’ll be doing this: let him use his big sister and brother’s old clothes, shoes and toys. That’s recycling for you!
Photo via BecoThings
We just got back from a perfect beach holiday over the Easter break. Well, it was nearly perfect as holidays-with-kids go if I don’t count:
1. Squabbling between my 4 and 7 year old over so many things I can’t remember anymore.
2. My accident prone 4 year-old’s scraped and bleeding big toes – where he scraped it, we have no idea.
3. 1-year-old Wills getting cut on the lip a grand total of 3 times. He learned to love ice and I found a “cool” way to distract him for a while on the high chair (pardon the pun) – a cube of ice!
4. Our “Marley-esque” Basset hound Wendy going on a destructive spree and chewing 3 bedspreads and a chair, not no mention several toys and my husband’s favourite sandals.
But that aside, my husband and I both agreed that it was one of the most relaxing and lovely holidays we’ve ever had. The kids were outside most of the day, swimming and playing – happily NOT on the DS, Wii, Gameboy or logged on to Nick jr.. Dad had real quality time with them as did I, and we had several family games (amazingly no cheating occurred) of Star Wars Monopoly, Guess Who and The Game of Life, Moms fave which, to my disappointment was too long for my kids (for now). They loved Guess Who, another one of my sister and my favourites. We discovered it on holiday in Paris when we were kids, and I think it was called “Qui est-ce?”. Gosh, how we loved that game, and I think the French did too. Here’s a hilarious video I found of the “Guess Who International Tournament”.
Photo via rycat
Little Wills is now 14 months (where does time go?) and toddles about the house like the full-fledged toddler he is. With his cherubic golden curls, sunny personality (he screams with delight when he gets excited) and amusing “toughness” (if you take the object of his fascination away he gets angry!), he’s a joy to have around and wherever he goes people can’t help but smile.
It’s his 2nd Easter now, the last one he was a newborn and hardly noticed, but this year his eyes (and hands) are darting around the house, mostly at the Easter decorations that we just put up yesterday. As we are a family big on holidays (it makes life more enjoyable), we have 4 Fun Easter Activities lined up for some quality time with the children.
1. Bake an Easter Bunny Cake – This recipe from Betty Crocker is the cutest and will get the kids excited and hopping around like bunnies for sure. It uses a cake mix and ready-made-frosting so it suits Moms who don’t have the time. If I’m feeling energetic by Saturday, I’ll do it from scratch – time consuming, but a much healthier option!
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Two weeks ago I got an ubiquitous letter from my daughter’s school warning of a mini-epidemic of gastroenteritis going around. It listed the symptoms and how to keep it away (washing hands, etc) – okay, thanks. As if you can say that to a 6-year-old and expect them to remember to wash their hands in between the playground and lunch break! Unlike us Mums who have a keen awareness of germs and potential carriers (if I see someone coughing at the bank I immediately run for cover and whip out the antibacterial gel), kids just don’t notice these things and find it extremely difficult to stop touching things and (horrors) put their hands in their mouth.
Well, I did what I could. I gave them spiel about the germs and the hand washing, pumped them with vitamin C and hoped for the best. As fate would have it, on the night of baby Will’s 1st birthday party, Nat came to our bedroom at midnight and promptly vomited. It wasn’t too much birthday cake, cookies or lasagna as I hoped, because she couldn’t hold down anything for the next 24 hours. She then came down with a fever, had diarrhea, and for the next few days just lay on the sofa, totally miserable. Classic symptoms of gastro.
What’s worse is that we had planned a trip to Disneyland for their birthdays and it was just a few days away. And just as we were considering canceling the whole vacation, she got better. But then her brother got it, then the baby got it. And this was after I had lysol-ed my house like a madwoman! Luckily, the boys had a much, much milder version, and were pretty much their normal selves apart from a bit of runny tummies for a few days.
Now back from our great holiday (boy, did we narrowly miss disaster because of these school germs), my daughter came home from school today with ANOTHER letter, this time saying that there is a cold virus going around the school. HELP!!
Apparently, some schools and parents have taken the matter into their own hands, with things like the Germy Wormy and the Sniffle Sleeve. Good on them. Worth mentioning at the next PTA meeting I think.
Photo via Gotta Be Mobile
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before on this blog, the mayhem of my holiday season does not end in January. In our family, after the flurry of gifts, shopping, and get-togethers, we have about a week of peace before the planning and anticipation starts for the three most awaited and celebrated days of the year – my children’s birthdays. We used to get about two weeks break after December, but since little William’s debut last January, the crunch is now even earlier!
So by around January 6th, the Epiphany, after I packed away the Christmas decorations, I started going on panic mode, which I of course didn’t notice but was calmly pointed out by my husband. I had good reason too – THREE birthday parties in a span of 10 days??!! For the past 6 years I had gotten away with doing joint parties for #1 and #2 – obviously the choice of #1 each time, where I snuck in a cake of # 2′s choice (like at the Hannah Montana party last year, #2 had a Mickey and the Beanstalk cake amid the rockstar purple and pink).
So this year, when he told me, very reasonably, that he wanted a Backyardigans party, how could I refuse? Then # 1 pointed out that as she was in a new school and had new friends, she also wanted her own party…..then, my Grandmother also said that little Will’s 1st was in need for a party, however small, for obvious reasons. So yes, it all made sense, and the panic button was pressed, hard. Logistics are the first nightmare as our garden is too small to have a bouncy castle or any kind of wild-running play; then the large expenses involved, and the sheer legwork of putting these things together – games, cakes, lootbags, decorations, entertainment and so on.
In the end I put my hands up in desperation and suggested the following: a tiny party for Wills 1st at home and we head to Disneyland for 4 days of sheer bliss (according to my kids) on the 7th and 8th, #2 and 1#’s birthdays respectively.
Thankfully, hubby agreed! Until next year…..
Photo via Starting Photo Business Ideas
First of all, I have to tell my dearest husband: Honey, I LOVED your post! Only you could have come up with reasons that make such brilliant sense…..and I agree with all of it, except that the idea of our children glued to the television screen (wii remote in action or not) for HOURS on end just doesn’t sit well with me, whatever the multiple benefits are. But because you were the Superdaddy while I was away – keeping our three angels happy, entertained and relatively healthy (I heard about the monster-size cones at Dairy Queen) while I lazed on the beach and drank cocktails, I won’t argue with you on this one – for now at least 
But back to my absence – going off with your girlfriends for a few days is one of the best things a Mom can do, and I highly recommend it. I am speaking of my best friends from high school, who I only see about once a year (if we’re lucky) as we live on opposite sides of the globe. To be honest, I wasn’t raring to go – they practically forced me on the trip, while I worried and hesitated, nervous that my little family couldn’t survive without me, or me them. Especially as I am still nursing Wills, the youngest. The answer to that one? f.o.r.m.u.l.a (I brought my breast pump too, of course) and some gentle (and unselfish!) encouragement from the hubby.
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Whether it’s on the days leading up to Christmas or on Christmas day itself, after the presents have been open and everyone is stuffed full, happy and needing a good laze on the sofa, one tradition my family loves to do is to watch a Christmas film.
Here are our favourites:
1. It’s a Wonderful Life – No need for introductions here, who doesn’t know the Jimmy Stewart classic that makes me and my husband cry, no fail, every Christmas. Our kids have so far been a little young for this, but this year we’ll be trying it out on Nat (who’s 7 in February).
2. Miracle on 34th Street – This was one of my favourites growing up, and while I think the new version (with the fellow from the Practice) isn’t bad at all, the classic film with Natalie Wood is still the best.
3. The Grinch – My kids like the Jim Carey film and actually watch it all year round, but I prefer the old cartoon – obviously because it’s what I grew up with, and also because the cartoon Grinch is much more charmingly evil than Jim Carey with all that weird makeup.
4. Scrooge – We love musicals, and so this rendition of “A Christmas Carol” is something the kids enjoy too. Lovely old-fashioned songs, the classic Dickens tale, a film we can’t miss watching every year.
5. The Santa Clause (1, 2,3) – Tim Allen makes us all laugh in this household, and the festive effects in all 3 films are pretty wonderful. The modern twist is also fun to watch – and makes my kids wish it would happen to their Dad!
6. A Christmas Story – I love coming-of-age films, and this one is a firm favorite – just the thought of the “leg” lamp in the “fragile” package makes me laugh out loud! Letting the kids see the “olden”, simpler days of the 50′s is also good.
7. A Charlie Brown Christmas – Ok, so my husband who’s not so big on cartoons won’t join us for this one (also because he’s English, so Charlie Brown isn’t really something he grew up with), but I love watching this with the kids for its quiet, jazzy music, old-style humour (you blockhead!) and nostalgic feel. Perfect!
From my family to yours, Merry Christmas!!
I don’t know if it’s because of the Christmas excitement – with all the shopping, wrapping, baking and school activities, but my children have become increasingly naughty, and that even includes little Wills, who has been waking up every 1 a.m and refusing to sleep for a full hour.
So in my battle weary Christmas frustration, I was thrilled when my best friend cleverly sent me an email about Krampus, Saint Nick’s devilish companion in Europe, who gets very very naughty children by beating them with sticks, filling their stockings with coal and throwing them in his sack (to be brought where, heavens knows). That night the screaming, wrestling, whining and fighting stopped, so you can guess who was introduced to the family Christmas tradition….
A bit severe? Well, the tradition of Krampus hails from Bavaria, where my Father-in-Law was born and raised, so I can argue that it is part in my children’s family heritage. Now, with the mention of one simple “K” word, my home is no longer a screaming pit of holiday nerves, but a harmonious Chipmunk-Christmas-playing-in-the background abode, that would make Martha Stewart proud. If only Krampus was around all year round…..
The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen). In the Alpine regions the Krampus is represented by an incubus in company of Saint Nicholas. Traditionally, young men dress up as the Krampus in the first two weeks of December, particularly in the evening of December 5, and roam the streets frightening children (and adults) with rusty chains and bells. In some rural areas the tradition also includes slight birching by the Krampus, especially of young females.
The present day Krampus costume consists of wooden masks or Larve, sheep’s skin and horns. Considerable effort goes into the manufacture of the hand-crafted masks, as many younger adults in rural communities engage competitively in the Krampus events.
In Oberstdorf, in the southwestern alpine part of Bavaria, the tradition of the “Wilde Mann” (wild man) is kept alive. He is described exactly like Krampus (except the horns), dressed in fur and frightening children (and adults) with rusty chains and bells.
Photo via xmaswithkrampus
