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(Giveaway!): Get Ready for Halloween with a Halloween Countdown Chart!

September 18, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Thanks to One Step Ahead for providing the Halloween countdown review and giveaway products. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

One of the most successful holiday “craft” projects I ever conducted was the year I made a paper chain that served as a countdown for Christmas. My oldest eagerly looked forward to removing one chain each morning, and it eliminated the question of, “How much longer?????”

So when I saw the totally adorable Halloween countdown chart that One Step Ahead has out right now, I knew it would be just perfect for my family to use this year and for many years to come.

This chart is made of felt and comes ready to hang up and to decorate with 31 different spooky images. If you are creative, you can actually create a fun scene at the top of the chart. I struggle with creativity, but I’m certainly going to let my kids take a crack at placing the characters in an intentional way.

As the days of October pass, you take one character from the scene and cover up that date to mark its passing. There’s also a small pocket that can fit a small piece of candy, a piece gum, or a small note inside. You could do have a fun “fall” idea listed on some of the days to surprise your kids, even!

I totally love this product because it makes for a great Halloween decor item in and of itself, and because it helps you and your kids celebrate a little bit every single day of the month. The chart retails for $39.95 but is currently 20% off!

Win it!:

Lucky you! One Stuff Parensts Need reader is going to win this fantastic Halloween countdown chart!
Halloween Countdown Chart

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the right side of the blog.

Lunchbox Ideas: How to Pack with Reusable Items

August 4, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

Some products provided for review purposes, and some products I purchased on my own. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

Yesterday on Facebook I saw the first batch of students heading back into the classroom. Next week I’ll see another crop get started. The week after that my own girls will be back to school, and then within 2 weeks after they start, pretty much every kid in America will be back in the classroom.

Back-to-school time is upon us. You can run but you can’t hide! So we might as well get prepared.

My girls bring their lunches to school with them. Today I want to highlight the products we like to use when putting their meals together. I prefer to use reusable containers as much as possible, and I also seek out products that are phlatalete free and of course BPA free. lunchbox ideas 1

First up, let’s check out the lunch box. Last year I bought my oldest a lunch box from Honest Company (check out my Honest Company lunch box review here). We were pleased with how it held up, so I got one for my youngest this year, too.

I like how easy it is to wipe down (but don’t put it in the washing machine or the graphics on the front will peel off. I know from first-hand experience!). The inside of the lunch box will also come out for easy washing or wiping down, too. They have a few different patterns, and they just came out with new looks, too!

For food that needs to stay warm or cool, I love these Stainless Steel Food Jars from One Step Ahead. They will keep things like spaghetti o’s nice and hot for you or if your little one likes yogurt, this is the container to put it in and it will keep until lunch time. They hold a generous amount of food and they are dishwasher safe.

For smaller snack items (fruit and veggies, crackers, etc.) I really like these snack keepers, also from One Step Ahead. My absolute favorite thing about them is that the lid stays connected to the bottom so you never lose it! These are also dishwasher safe on the top rack, but I would suggest hand washing them if you want to preserve the graphics on top. When you kid starts to age out of the cutesy designs, definitely start using the dishwasher or just put a different sticker on top! 🙂

Finally, for drinks, we are asked to only send water or milk with our kids to school, so water it is! We’ve been using these reusable water bottles for kids, which come in a pack of 5, and are designed to get you through an entire school week with different bottles. They have held up GREAT, and this particular set is currently under $12 on Amazon, which is an awesome deal for 5 water bottles! :=)

So those are the primary items we will be using each day for packing lunches. Do you have any resuable items that you adore? I’d love to hear about them!

(Giveaway!) Great Outdoor Games to Check Out This Summer

July 16, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

Samples provided for review purposes. All opinions are my own, as always.

This summer I have noticed that my girls seem to have developed an interest in games with rules when they are outside. They will create obstacle courses or even dance routines that they have to be able to repeat perfectly before they can move on to the next challenge. We’ve drawn hopscotch on our driveway for them, which has been immensely popular. And we’ve also introduced two new games to the girls: lawn bowling and cornhole.

One Step Ahead offers both of these fun activities, and I’m excited to show them to you!

First up, let’s check out cornhole!

These are SO fun, friends! They are super lightweight and come apart easily (maybe a little too easily, as I’m currently missing one of the support legs due to my girls playing with them like pirate swords!). They have oversized holes to make scoring a bit easier for kids (or you can use Layah’s strategy and stand right on top of the platform to help your odds). It comes with 2 platforms so that 2 people can play at one time. I really love this game because it’s one that grown ups want to play, too. I think that makes it absolutely perfect for summer barbecues or birthday parties, or even just for play dates (this is a very eay game to toss in your trunk and take with you to a friend’s house).

We’re working on our underhand toss and our overhead toss with cornhole. And we’re working on taking a moment to think about your toss before you make it. Such a great game! 🙂

The other game that the girls are loving right now is lawn bowling. And I have yet to find an outdoor game that makes my girls squeal with delight as much as this one does!

Parents, you need to know this: the lawn bowling set does NOT come with magical elves who will blow up your giant bowling ball and pins for you. That’s totally on you. You’ve been warned…

The pain was TOTALLY worth the gain, though! I mean, who doesn’t like to hurl a giant ball at some giant pins? Major stress reliever, I’m telling you!

Something to keep in mind is that this game doesn’t play well with the wind. The pins are quite sensitive, so you’ll need to pick a wind-free day to play outside. I can tell you from personal experience that moving the game inside isn’t a great idea unless if you are going to be playing in a room with anything in it that can’t handle a giant flying bowling ball coming at it. 😉

We are really enjoying both of these outdoor games. I think adding either one (or both) to your outdoor toy collection would be a wise choice, as my kids have been playing with them both daily for two weeks with no signs of boredom!

Want more outdoor game ideas? I’ve got my eye on the One Step Ahead animal croquet set and the giant inflatable honeycomb ball! 🙂

Win it!
TWO lucky Stuff Parents Need readers will win a fabulous outdoor toy by One Step Ahead. One winner will receive the Cornhole game, and one winner will receive the Lawn Bowling game.

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the right blog sidebar.

One Step Ahead Outdoor Games (2 Winners!)

(Giveaway!) Bug Smarties: Insect-Repelling Children’s Clothing Line

June 23, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 79 Comments

Samples provided for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

Last weekend my family got to experience one of the most incredible aspects of the part of the country where we live: the great outdoors!

Isn’t nature just incredible? So lush and green and quiet.

Well…almost quiet. The only sound you hear besides the water is the bugs. The kind that are super eager to bite you. Yuck.

That’s the down side to where I live: the South has more than it’s fair share of biting insects like mosquitoes and ticks. This is one of the reasons why I was never really much into spending a lot of time outside growing up. I also didn’t have surroundings like the one above, though.

Additionally, we certainly didn’t have Bug Smarties, which is the insect-repellent clothing line from One Step Ahead. Have you heard of it? This is an entire line of play-friendly clothing for kids with build-in insect protection. The clothing is lightweight and perfect for outside play.

When you consider that Lyme disease cases average about 300,000/year (!!!!) you have simply GOT to take preventative care seriously before you head out into the forest. These clothes can be washed roughly 70 times (which is the anticipated life span of an article of clothing, anyway) before losing their insect repellent capabilities.

I most definitely don’t want my children to have the same aversion to spending time outside as I did, and having a plan for preventing bug bites is a big part of that. My girls were very comfortable and happy in their Bug Smarties outfits, and I certainly felt more relaxed knowing that they were having a great experience and getting to see sights like this: