Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Truvia® Snack and Sharing a Sweet Future

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This post brought to you by Truvia® Natural Sweetener . All opinions are 100% mine.

Lately I’ve been indulging in this mid-morning snack:

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This is my very necessary iced coffee, and its companion is some plain yogurt with a few banana slices.

I have quite the sweet tooth, so the banana slices alone aren’t enough to make this yogurt yummy to my tummy. But by adding a packet of Truvia®, the no calorie sweetener that I also added to my coffee, I’m in business!

The snack idea is super easy to make, but it isn’t the real reason I’m writing this post. I want to talk about Sharing a Sweet Future. This is a charitable initiative that Truvia® has launched, and it is poised to make a huge difference in the country of Bolivia, where 2/3 of the population lives below the poverty line, and where every single day, 40% of Bolivian parents struggle to meet the most basic needs for their children.

As a parent, that statistic sends me reeling. Nutritional deficiencies are rampant in Bolivia, and so are health problems associated with smoke inhalation from primitive stoves that are used to prepare meals.

Truvia® has partnered with World Food Program USA, and they have already made life sweeter for so many in Bolivia. To date, 37,405 children in Bolivia have received more balanced school meals, and 68 fuel efficient stoves have been distributed, which have allowed more than 3,500 students to eat in safer environments.

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Truvia® wants to do so much more, though, and they need your help! you can Learn even more about the Truvia® brand’s initiative here and then spread the word like wildfire! The Truvia® team created a video series that details the life of some of the Bolivian citizens they are seeking to help. Please consider helping Truvia® get the word out about their #SweetFuture campaign. Share the Truvia® brand’s video to support their Sharing a Sweet Future initiative. $1 feeds 4 kids. You can also Share the Truvia® brand’s video on Facebook to support their Sharing a Sweet Future initiative. $1 feeds 4 kids.

You can also Follow Truvia on Twitter to stay updated on all the latest with Sharing for a Sweet Future. Who knew that using a zero calorie sweetener could have an impact like this???

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How to Plan a Chuck E. Cheese Party on a Budget

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Planning birthday parties can be almost as stressful and hard on your budget as a wedding can be these days (doesn’t it feel like it?!), but if you make the simple choice of going to a great place like Chuck E. Cheese for your party you will find much of the planning taken care of for you and the budget issues disappear.  If you are worried about the expense of having parties at a restaurant check out these tips on How To Plan a Chuck E. Cheese Party On A Budget.  Not only can you give your child a special event that includes games, characters, fun foods and prizes you can sit back and not worry about them running around and being loud because that is expected at a location like Chuck E. Cheese.  Additionally, since you are not hosting at your home, you get the joys of leaving the mess behind for someone else to clean up.

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HOW TO PLAN A CHUCK E. CHEESE PARTY ON A BUDGET:

  • USE CHUCK E. CHEESE COUPONS.  One of the reasons we prefer Chuck E. Cheese over other fun play zone type venues is because of the frequent coupons we receive not only with weekly coupon inserts in our newspaper but also via email.  These offer great package deals that can save up to 50% off regular price for routine visits as well as party packages.  Check out my recent post regarding how to get Chuck E. Cheese coupons for more tips on savings.

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  • ASK FOR A PARTY PACKAGE.  Call your local location and ask what packages they currently offer.  Although the chain of restaurants has similar pricing and product available individual location managers have the choice of creating their own special packages.  You may be able to pay a flat rate for a select number of kids and adults that will include a private room, a bucket of tokens, cake and even have the Chuck E. character appear for a bit to say hi to the kids.  Do be mindful of what the packages include & what add on options are.  As listed below, providing some of add on options yourselves will save more in the long run.

  • BRING YOUR OWN CAKE.  Check with the location policy but often you can cut cost by bringing your own cake or cupcakes to the party.  Whether you make your own or purchase at a local store you can easily shave $20-$25 off the Chuck E. Cheese birthday party package cost by bringing your own dessert.

  • ASK FOR SPECIAL PRICING ON BULK TOKEN PURCHASE.  Most packages include a set amount of tokens but when you have several children in attendance, those don’t go very far.  Remember most of the games require 1-2 tokens to play and if each child only has 20 tokens they will quickly disappear.  There are often coupons for “Buy 100 tokens get 100 free” available as well as options within their party packages.  Be sure to ask in advance for bulk pricing, and remember for every hour they will have of “play time” you should expect to need 25-50 tokens per child.

  • BRING YOUR OWN FAVORS.  Although there will be prices awarded in exchange for tickets earned on the games not every child will win the same amount.  Make sure to have a bag of prizes for each attendee so nobody leaves empty handed.  I recommend checking out stores like Dollar Tree or $0.99 stores (even Amazon has you covered) for bulk inexpensive favor bags and ribbon then ordering the prices to be included from someone like Oriental Trading for cheap, fun and inexpensive favors that will be suitable for whatever age group you are planning for. Don’t forget to make use of Ebates when you are shopping online, as that is a very easy way to get cashback on the purchases you were making anyway (it’s completely free, and new members get $10 after using the system when you go through my referral link!).

The most important part of planning a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party on a budget is to make sure you ask a lot of questions of the staff ahead of time to see what your options are.  There are often hidden packages, deals and special discounts you can get you just have to ask in advance.  Include using the coupons you can readily get any time of the year and bringing a limited amount of your own supplies and you will be able to throw an unforgettable party on a limited budget.

You might also enjoy my blog post about planning a superhero-themed birthday party for girls, so be sure to check that out! Good luck with your party planning!

superhero party for girls


18 Healthy Appetizers To Get Your Meal Started Right

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Does the term “healthy appetizers” seem like a bit of a misnomer to you? When I think of appetizers, things that are loaded with cheese or deep friend come to mind (or maybe both, in the case of cheesesticks!). But there are so many tempting starters out there that won’t bust your calorie intake. I’ve compiled a list of go-to healthy appetizers that I’m loving, and that I hope you love, too!

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  1. Veggie Snack Chips with Black Bean and Mango Salsa by Stuff Parents Need
  2. Flag Fruit Kebobs by Giving Up on Perfect
  3. Avocado Cream Spread by Glued to My Crafts
  4. Sweet Pepper and Hummus Pinwheels by How to Have it All
  5. Crostini with Fresh Ricotta and Roasted Grapes by Wonky Wonderful
  6. Artichoke Bruschetta by Mom Endeavors
  7. Sweet Peppers With Yogurt by Practically Functional
  8. Bacon Avocado Puff Pastry by Stuff Parents Need
  9. Red Pepper Garlic Hummus by Slap Dash Mom
  10. Southwest Turkey Spirals by The Pinning Mama
  11. Eggplant Meatballs by Around My Family Table
  12. Southwest Crab Rangoon by The Freshman Cook
  13. Pesto, Tomato and Feta Straws by Love Bakes Good Cakes
  14. Dilly Chicken and Veggie Cups by Hot Eats & Cool Reads
  15. Prosciutto Rolls by A Family Feast
  16. Avocado Bruschetta by What’s Cooking Love?
  17. Grilled Peach Feta Bruschetta by Call Me PMC
  18. Beet Tzatziki by Watching What I Eat

Want to see the entire 31 Days of Unforgettable Recipes series? Just click the banner below to see the full list!

31 days of unforgettable recipes

 

 

Amazon Baby Registry: The Most Important Reason Why I Would Choose It

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Amazon has had a baby registry for several years now. And I even had registries with them when I was pregnant with my first. But it was one of several registries that I used, and even in 2009, it was the least popular registry amongst the folks who were buying us gifts. I think that was because they were just used to checking out other popular stores (like Babies R Us or Target) to look for registries.

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If I were to get pregnant again (totally NOT in the plans, folks!), I wouldn’t have multiple registries. I would only have a registry at Amazon. And I’d pick it for one key reason: you can add ANY product from ANY store to your Amazon registry. For real.

Pretty freakin’ amazing, don’t you think?

There’s simply no need to have a registry at one store because the high chair you like best is there, and then open a second registry because the car seat you want is exclusively offered there. And then a third registry because you couldn’t find the fill-in-the-blank product you really wanted at the other two stores. It’s all in one central location now, baby!

As if that weren’t reason enough to have your baby registry with Amazon, you also get a 10% completion discount to help you out with anything you didn’t get but REALLY wanted. And if you are an Amazon Mom member, that discount bumps up to 15%. Heck yes!

Finally, are you worried that returning stuff will be expensive and a hassle? Worry no more! You get 90 days to make returns, and those returns are totally free. You just print a shipping label and send that exersaucer back from whence it came!!

If you are currently expecting or know someone who is, please let them know about the Amazon Baby Registry. It’s a great way to make life a little less hectic right from the very beginning of the parenting journey.

Affiliate links included. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

photo credit: mark sebastian via photopin cc

Cooking with Kids: 31 Days of Unforgettable Recipes

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Most kids are highly aware of and interested in food – just watch preschoolers play at cooking, shopping and eating. Meal preparation provides terrific opportunities for fun family bonding, for kids to learn about cooking and nutrition, and to allow family members to feel and be useful.

At age-appropriate levels, have kids help pick recipes and plan meals, brainstorm and write shopping lists, go shopping, measure or cut food, and set and clear the table. Older children can make a dish for a family potluck or create their own special meal.

The following projects are especially fun, rewarding and easy, both to make and to eat. And if some of the processes involved feel like playing, so much the better! Enlist your young sous chef to help crack eggs, crush fruit, place sprinkles on cookies, and enjoy that tactile mainstay, rolling and kneading dough.

Sandwich Sushi

Polka Dot Pea Soup

Shrimp Enchiladas Verde

Great Guacamole

50 Easy Pizzas

Lasagna

Soft Pretzels

Jell-O Rainbows and Fairy Burgers

Morning Biscuits

Triple Berry Jam

Apple Butter

Blueberry Buckle

Apple Pie

Yogurt Pie

Colorful Cookies

Best Holiday Cookies

Photos: Martha Stewart, Mark Flickett, Susan Sachs Lipman

Want to see the entire 31 Days of Unforgettable Recipes series? Just click the banner below to see the full list!

31 days of unforgettable recipes

 

 

How to Find a Babysitter: Two Strategies I have Successfully Used

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When we moved to Chattanooga 3 years ago, I had no idea how to find a babysitter. We didn’t know a soul in the city other than the folks who hired Tim for his job. Finding a quality babysitter felt like a pretty insurmountable task, I have to admit.

But we did find a babysitter, and once she graduated from college, we found another one. I’m going to tell you the two ways I found these girls, and hopefully the information will help you out!

how to find a babysitter

Career Services Classifieds

For our latest hire, I checked out the career services office for our local university. I noticed that they offered job postings for their students to browse, and allowed businesses and individuals to post opportunities free of charge. So I put together an ad with what I was looking for (expected hours, pay, ages of my kids, etc.) and I requested interested applicants to send me their resume and their available hours for the semester. Within a week I had 17 applications. What an awesome response! Because I got such a great response, I got to be very choosy, and now my kids have a VERY sweet new babysitter who just started her first year at college, which makes me hopeful that she’ll be with us for 3 or 4 years!

Sitter City

If you don’t have a local university or if they don’t offer a job placement board, you might want to try the method we used to find our first sitter. We got a membership to Sitter City (*affiliate link) and it served us really well. We were able to post a job opportunity there for potential sitters to view and apply for, and we were also able to reach out to sitters in the database who might be good matches to bring their attention to our posting. The website is very secure, and sitters in the database have to go through background checks. It was a very efficient system and it was so nice to have instant access to an entire list of people in the area who were looking for babysitting opportunities. It basically made an impossible task become not hard at all!

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Right now Sitter City is offering 30% off its 3 month membership (I think a 3 month membership is a great choice, as it will give you plenty of time to find your perfect sitter). The 3 month plan is $49, but with the 30% off coupon, it is just $34.30. That’s about what I pay for a 3 hour babysitting session at my house…TOTALLY worth it to find the very best person for the job!

So those are the two ways I have successfully found babysitters. How did you find your babysitters?
photo credit: Ioannis Karydis via photopin cc

16 Lunch Ideas to Inspire You

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As a work-at-home parent, I get to save money each day by eating my lunch at home. My girls are also usually home at lunch, too. And we live just a 5 minute bike ride from my husband’s work, so most days he is also home. We are so lucky to get to have that time together!

But that also means that I need to actually prepare lunch every day, and I run out of lunch ideas FAST. To help me get out of a rut, I put together a list of 16 great lunch ideas. A few of them I already use and love myself, and the rest of them are on my list to try out in the upcoming weeks.

If you work from home, or if you like to bring your lunch into the office and need to think outside of the frozen meal or the simple sandwich, here’s a great list of recipes to try!

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  1. Pasta Recipes that Mix and Match: Easy, Kid-Friendly by Stuff Parents Need
  2. Lemon Garlic Tuna Burgers by Can You Stay for Dinner?
  3. Italian Walnut Salad by Amy J Bennett
  4. Toddler Thai: Noodles in Peanut Sauce with Chicken by Vanderbilt Wife
  5. Mediterranean Tuna Salad by Glued to My Crafts
  6. Mini BBQ Chicken Pizza by Second Chance to Dream
  7. Turkey and Avocado Panini by Marly’s This & That
  8. Apple Gorgonzala Salad with Home-made Italian Vinaigrette by Marly’s This & That
  9. Pico de Gallo Chicken Sandwich by All She Cooks
  10. Chicken Gyros by Cooking on the Front Burner
  11. Gluten Free Coconut Chicken by JaMonkey
  12. Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas by Love Bakes Good Cakes
  13. Chicken Cordon Bleu Sliders by A Family Feast
  14. Green Goddess Pasta Salad by Call Me PMC
  15. Bacon Chicken Ranch Taquitos by What’s Cooking Love?
  16. Loaded BBQ TVP Sloppy Joe by Watching What I Eat

Want to see the entire 31 Days of Unforgettable Recipes series? Just click the banner below to see the full list!

31 days of unforgettable recipes


Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies: You Guys….Wow…

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On our recent trip up to the Smoky Mountains, and specifically, the Pigeon-Forge/Gatlinburg area, we were treated to a visit to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies.

Now, it is important to keep in mind that I live in Chattanooga, home of the Tennessee Aquarium, which is one of the best in the nation. So I guess you could say I’m a bit of an aquarium snob. It takes a lot to impress me.

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But my friends, not only was I impressed, but I was also totally blown away. Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies is highly entertaining, absolutely breath-taking, and well worth the trip to get to see it. And I plan to show you lots of it right now! Check it out!

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What a beautiful waterfall, and a fun “tank” for those fish! Love the creative approach to showcasing an aquatic environment.

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This is stingray bay, which is beautiful in its own right. But it is also interactive! You can touch the rays, which is really fun!

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The underwater tunnel is perhaps the crown jewel of this aquarium. It has a slow-moving runway you can stand on, or you walk through it on your own. It is a nice long “ride” and it is REALLY cool how close you are to the sharks!

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And then we have the penguin exhibit. You get to crawl through a transparent tunnel to see the birds from all different angles (swimming next to you, on the rocks above you, or in certain spots, right beside you!). This was one of the most delightful parts of the aquarium for us, and it was a major kid magnet! The penguins were very curious about all those miniature humans that were crawling through those tunnels. It was pretty much as cute as one would imagine kids + penguins hanging out would be!

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Also, you can buy penguin-made art! At this point in the visit, I pretty much exploded with glee. Cutest. Idea. Ever!!!

And what family visit would be complete without a little photo bombing? Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the true star of Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies: the puffer fish.
And to think…we almost missed him! Good thing he was looking out for us to make sure we got a good look!
We absolutely loved our visit to the Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies and I think it is most definitely worth seeing! Even if you only see that cute puffer fish! 😉

16 Breakfast Ideas Worth Rolling Out of Bed For

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I’m a morning person, through and through, so I usually don’t have trouble coming up with breakfast ideas. By the time my family is up and ready to eat, I’ve usually been awake for 2-3 hours! Often during that time, I will try out a new breakfast recipe; it’s really awesome to wake up to the smell of something yummy, isn’t it?

If you love the idea of an awesome breakfast but get stuck on the execution part of it, let me help! Try one of these delicious ideas to get your day started right!

breakfast ideas and breakfast recipes

  1. German Pancakes by Thirty-One 10
  2. Pumpkin Pancakes by Glued to my Crafts
  3. Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal by Frugal or Free
  4. Breakfast Pizza by Melissa’s Cuisine
  5. Bacon, Egg & Cheese Quesadillas by Love Bakes Good Cakes
  6. French Toast Casserole by Coupon Closet
  7. Bacon & Asparagus Breakfast Pizza by Hot Eats & Cool Reads
  8. Mini Breakfast Pot Pies by The Grant Life
  9. Gooey Yumminess (Sticky Buns Breakfast Ring) by Covered in Mod Podge
  10. Bacon, Sausage, Cheese, and Potato Breakfast Casserole by Practically Functional
  11. Bruleed Orange French Toast by Mom Endeavors
  12. Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Crepes by The Freshman Cook
  13. Red Velvet Waffles by Slap Dash Mom
  14. Funfetti Monkey Bread by What’s Cooking, Love?
  15. Breakfast Quesadilla by The Springmount 6
  16. Blueberry Buckle by A Family Feast

What’s your favorite breakfast recipe? Is it one you know by heart, or do you like to switch things up and try out new ideas?

Want to see the entire 31 Days of Unforgettable Recipes series? Just click the banner below to see the full list!

31 days of unforgettable recipes