Stuff Parents Need - Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Best Buy Gift Idea Lists and Wish List Maker!

August 10, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

I have got gifts on the brain BIG TIME right now. My husband’s birthday was 3 weeks ago (and he STILL doesn’t know what he wants for his present!), my oldest daughter had a birthday over the weekend, and my birthday is just a few weeks away.

Also, August is the month when I do a present inventory for Christmas. I have 28 people on my Christmas gift list, with the majority of those people being adorable nieces and nephews, so it takes some rather intense organization to get all of their gifts together and not be absolutely losing my mind in December. I’ve conducted my inventory now so I know exactly where my gift “holes” are and the price point I’m looking to spend in each case.

And by the way, the men have nothing. They always have nothing. Why are they so tough?!?!

One of my go-to spots for birthday or Christmas gifts for the men on my list is Best Buy. I’m never starting from scratch when I head to the Best Buy website because they have gift ideas based on the interests of the person you are buying for and your budget. LOVE that feature! I don’t know about the men in your life, but the men in my life, 9 times out of 10, say, “I don’t know” when I ask them what gift ideas they could give me. Best Buy NEVER has that answer, thankfully!

If you check out the gift ideas page, you can search for him, her, kids and teens, and then you can look for gifts under $25, gifts from $25-$49.99, gifts from $50-$99, gifts from $100-$249.00, and for the gift-giving ballers out there, gifts over $250.

Make a Wish List

One of my favorite discoveries is that now you can create your own wish list on the Best Buy site. I’m going to have my husband create one immeiately because he is notorious for randomly thinking of cool tech gifts that he wants, TELLING NOBODY, and then forgetting his idea. Now he can just add that cool item to his wish list and I can refer to it any time!

The wish list can also really help families and friends pool resources. If you notice that your teenage nephew, for example, wants an iPad REALLY bad for his birthday, instead of everyone buying him $30 presents, put it all together to get him the one thing he really wants! Want to see the first thing he added? Click here! Classic…

Fun fact: September is the most popular birthday month out of the year. So the odds are good that you’ve got some birthday presents to buy in the not-so-distant future. Encourage your loved ones to set up a Best Buy wish list, and definitely check out the gift ideas before doing your shopping. I hope this makes birthday AND holiday shopping a bit easier for you this year!

Small Amounts of Sun Exposure Add Up: Rock Your Sun Hat

August 9, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Thanks to Coolibar for providing sample sun hats. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

Melanoma runs on my husband’s side of the family. This means that my husband AND my children are more susceptible to skin cancer than the average person, and this, in turn, means that we take sun protection quite seriously. We have a complete aresenal of sun screen and we try to avoid being outside too much during peak UV ray times (10-4).

But I read something recently that really got my attention. It was about how few people guard themselves against exposure to those rays when they will only be outside briefly. I’m most definitely guilty of not worrying about the exposure I’ll be getting during the few minutes I’m outside running errands, for example. But what I read stated that if you are only exposed to those rays for 5 minutes a day, that’s 35 minutes each week of unprotected exposure, which brings you to almost 1 1/2 hours of unprotected exposure each month! It’s highly unlikely that you’ll experience a sun burn as a result of this exposure, but those cancer-causing UVB rays don’t let you see the damage they are doing by way of burns, so you really are blissfully unaware of what’s happening.

I wish I could tell you that I have a new commitment to lathering up before making the 50 foot walk from my back door to my car, but that’s just not true. There’s actually an easier solution: protective clothing! Specifically, I want to talk about sun hats and why they are such a simple fix!

I am totally digging this hat from Coolibar (it’s called Marina) because it is cute, obviously, but also because it can fold up and go right in my purse so that I can easily have it on hand any time I’m about to step outside.

Tim also has a foldable hat (called the Featherweight Bucket Hat). He bikes to and from work, including a mid-day bike home for lunch, and we have realized that he is getting quite a bit of unprotected sun exposure. This hat will fit in his bag.

For the kids, they are rocking the surf’s up bucket hat. I’m actually going to keep these right in the car for the girls so that they can wear them any time we are out and about.

One of my favorite features of the girls’ hats is that they hold up great in water. And little kids seem to be especially keen at finding sources of water everywhere they go, so this is a great feature!

We have our kids very well trained to know that if they are headed outside to play on a bike or a scooter, they MUST be wearing a bike helmet. It’s time to start training them (and ourselves, too) that a sun hat is a must for time spent outside, whether it’s 5 minutes or 3 hours. Coolibar hats all have a UPF of at least 50 and their protective powers do not wash out or fade.

I’m putting a sun protective jacket on my Christmas wish list for each family member, as well, because it’s really starting to dawn on me that my mentality of, “Oh we’re only out for a short while” doesn’t make sense, because major damage is done over time, with cumulative exposure rather than only with too much exposure on rare occasion. Those 5 minutes add up terribly fast, and the result is increasing a risk that for my family, is already high. A sun hat, like those from Coolibar, can go a long way toward keeping those I love the most protected.

Have you ever thought about how those few minutes outside every day really add up? I’d love to hear if you take extra measures to keep your skin protected or if this is something you hadn’t really thought of until now.

Make Your Special Treat Really Count: Fiber One Cheesecake Bars

August 7, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

This post brought to you by Fiber One. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Stuff Parents Need.

July 30th was National Cheesecake Day, and I totally missed it.

Sad face.

You know, when incredible holidays like National Cheesecake Day pass us by, it is perfectly acceptable to change the rules and celebrate after the fact. Here’s a way to do it without even having to make yourself a cheesecake.

Look at these gorgeous cheesecake bars. They are from Fiber One, and they come in salted caramel and strawberry flavors. They look gorgeous and they taste positively sinful. I actually just stopped writing this blog post to grab one because it just seemed rude to my body to be writing about this product and not also enjoying it! THEY (nom nom nom). ARE (chew chew chew). AWESOME!

You can find them with other Fiber One products at your nearest grocery store, and the boxes look like this:

I’m looking out for you, friends. I know you don’t want to be the girl in the grocery aisle with that super crazy look on her face while searchng for the cheesecake bars. 😉

Here’s what I really love about these products: they taste indulgent and so they make a fantastic choice for a special treat or perhaps some dessert. But you can skip the guilt because these bars come in at just 150 calories and 6 grams of fat, and most importantly, you’ll find 20% of your daily needed fiber in one serving. So your special treat choice doesn’t need to be filled with empty calories, friends. Everything you eat needs to fuel your body. Fiber One Cheesecake Bars for the win!

Fiber One Cheesecake Month Sweepstakes

Fiber One doesn’t think the cheesecake party needs to end after just one day, either, so they are hosting a Fiber One Cheesecake Month celebration, including a Fiber One Cheesecake Appreciation Month Sweepstakes with great prizes! There are going to be 1-2 winners EVERY SINGLE DAY throughout the month of August, as well as a grand prize winner! You’ll also notice a Pin to Win sweepstakes on the Facebook page, so be sure to check that out as well.

Celebrate!

If you haven’t already tried Fiber One Cheesecake Bars, swing by the grocery store today and pick up a box (they retail for $3.89)! Enjoy!

Laptop Radiation: Why Aren’t We Talking About This???

August 6, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

Special thanks to HARApad for providing a complimentary product for feature. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Friends, I’ve been reading up on something that has pretty well freaked me out, largely because of how prevalent it is and how much it affects me, and anyone else who spends a lot of time with an electronic device such as a computer or cell phone (so…yeah…EVERYONE).

Did you know that these devices are emiting radiation? And did you know that radiation is NO BUENO for our bodies? It has been linked to cancer and all kinds of awful diseases. 🙁

Now, there are some people out there who are really running with this fear of radiation, and are totally ditching their electronics and pretty well going underground.

This post is NOT about taking these types of measures. I mean, I’m writing this post on my laptop and my cell phone is approximately inches away from my keyboard. So clearly I’m not advocating for unplugging. That’s just not the world we live in, friends.

But I’ve been seeking ways to better manage the amount of radiation I’m getting exposed to every day, and one product that I have found to be very effective is the HARApad. I really REALLY wish I had known about this product sooner, because now that I have it, I use it any and every time that I am using my laptop. I’d like to show it to you so that you can think about if this might be something you need.

Tim and I put together a quick video to show you how we tested for radiation coming out of the laptop, and the difference that the HARApad makes. It’s a short video, and worth the watch, I promise!

So the HARApad looks, at first glance, like a lovely piece of wood. I want to assure you that when you buy a HARApad, though, you aren’t just buying a piece of wood!

Inside this pad of wood (or black plastic if you opt for that design) is military grade electromagnetic radiation (EMR) shielding. HARApads now also come with an EMF detector so that you can see how well the device is performing. You can also use the detector of your cell phones and tablets to see how dangerous that output might be (HARApad has protection devices available for those electronics, as well).

I have had a conversation with the founder of HARApad and he’s really passionate about getting the word out about this particular problem we are facing, largely unbeknownst to us. Yet he is very practical in his approach, seeking easy solutions to help manage the output of radiation around us while still living in the techno-driven world we live in, rather than running away from it.

Want to learn more about EMF?

HARApad has a great general overview of the problem we are facing if you are like me and had no idea this was a real issue.

Ready to Get a HARApad?

HARApads are available directly on the HARApad site, as well as on Amazon, and you can find options for your phone, your tablet, and your laptop. Customization options are available based on the size your screen and your particular needs. They have incredible customer service and can walk you through any questions you might have or any troubleshooting that needs to take place after you receive your HARApad. They are dedicated to making sure that you are completely satisfied with your purchase.

I’m going to be showing these to folks on my Christmas gift list to see if they might be interested, because I think it’s an absolutely fantastic gift to give someone. Likely something they didn’t even know to ask for, but that they will really appreciate.

I’d love to hear, friends: were you aware of the radiation output of our electronics? Does it concern you at all? Have you taken any steps to reduce your exposure?

Vanity Fair: the Perfect Partner for Women Who Do

August 5, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 6 Comments

I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Influence Central for Vanity Fair. Product samples and compensation have been provided. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I spent part of last week in New York City getting to know more about Vanity Fair. As a company that has been providing everyday elegance to women through their beautiful lines of undergarments since 1919, you are likely familiar with this brand.

But during this visit, I was able to really dig in and learn more about the WHY behind Vanity Fair. One of things that immediately struck me about this company is the high value they place on acknowledging and celebrating the achievements of women. Every blogger at this meeting was surprised to find framed quotes decorating our meeting space, and every quote was such an affirmation to read. It was a treasure to see our words of encouragement highlighted in such a way, and it spoke volumes to me about what this brand views as important.

We also spent quite a bit of time learning about the different bras and underwear in the Vanity Fair line. The degree of intentionality that went into each and every design was SO impressive, friends. Vanity Fair has spoken to (and more importantly, listened to) countless women in order to better understand what a woman needs to feel more confident and comfortable throughout her day. I saw some incredible innovations last week (strap adjusters in the front and a cutting edge material that breathes and even keeps you cool, just to name a few!).

Vanity Fair seems to have precious little interest in developing “ok” products. They want each and every item that they make to be the item that you reach for as soon as it’s clean (you know what I’m talking about, ladies…the bra you wear out the fastest because it’s the one you want to wear all the time!). After hearing about all the thoughtful design elements of each of their lines, I was eager to get to try them on for myself!

We headed to the world-famous Macy’s on Herald Square to receive an expert bra fitting. Did you know that 80% of women are currently wearing the wrong size bra? If you have never been fitted for a bra you will definitely want to pay attention to when your nearest Macy’s, Kohl’s or JCPenny will be offering a bra fitting service so that you can find out what size you should currently be wearing. And even if you have been fitted in the past, you likely realize that our sizes tend to change, ESPECIALLY after having children! It’s good to get yourself re-fitted every few years or more frequently when going through pregnancy and post-partum life. 🙂

During my bra fitting, I learned a few really important things I wanted to share with you.

1. Give yourself a bra fit test If you aren’t at a place where you can be fitted by a professional. Put two fingers in between your strap and your shoulder (fingers should be laying flat and not stacked on top of each other). If you can’t, your bra is likely too tight. Give this same test to your band. Additionally, the center front of the bra should be flush to the chest. And you should be able to wear the bra on the middle hook. This self-test isn’t as accurate as a professional fitting, but it’s a good alternative option when you need one!

2. A quality bra company should be consistent in their sizing. So once you are properly fitted, that will be your best fit in each of the styles for that company. With that said, you will likely prefer certain styles over others, because the cup shapes and the band styles are going to have some variation. Try on multiple styles, rather than just one style, in order to find your best look.

3. Put your clothes back on! In order to get the best idea of how the bra is going to look on you day-to-day, you should put your clothes back on in the dressing room to see how the bra looks under your clothes. Keep that in mind before you head to the store to try on new bras so that you are wearing the type of clothes that the bra you are shopping for would be worn under.

4. The lift test. Finally, you should move around a bit in the dressing room, and lift your arms out to the side, and straight ahead of you. You want the full and complete picture of how this bra performs, especially since you’ll be doing much more than standing with your arms straight down while wearing it.

My bra fitting experience was really enlightening for me, and I’m so thrilled with the bra I chose (I have a whole post coming to you about it, but spoiler alert, I’m in love with the Body Caress, both wired and wire-free!).

I loved getting a feel for what Vanity Fair holds important, and perhaps the best way that this was demonstrated to us was in discussing their partnership with Dress for Success and the Buy One, Get One, Give One campaign. I am SO excited to tell you more in the coming months about the commitment Vanity Fair has made to this very worthy organization that helps lift women up by outfitting them for job interviews. The goal is to be able to donate 50,000 new bras, and in so doing, to potentially provide every single Dress for Success client with a new bra as part of her interview attire. We briefly heard from some of the women who run this national nonprofit, and in just a matter of moments, an entire room full of women found themselves on the verge of tears as we heard a message of hardship and message of hope. Good things are happening at Dress for Success, friends!

Vanity Fair tickled me with their uplifiting messages, impressed me with their design concepts, and most importantly of all, thrilled me with their desire to run a campaign that would uplift women who are out there trying so very hard to provide for themselves and their families. They are the women who do, and Vanity Fair is passionately dedicated to those women, be they Dress for Success clients, business executives, or even you or me!

The Request to Label EVERYTHING for Back-to-School

August 5, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Complimentary products received for review purposes. As always, all thoughts are my own.

I’m very fortunate to have made it all the way to first grade with my oldest before having a lengthy back-to-school shopping list for her.

One thing I quickly noticed is that her teacher requested that every single item she would be bringing into the classroom would be labeled with her name on it. I thought that sounded perfectly reasonable until I realized that this meant that every crayon, marker, pencil, eraser, etc. had to be individually labeled; labeling the box wasn’t sufficient!

Yesterday I stuck labels on 41 items, and I consider myself very lucky because that number could have easily been larger.

Perhaps what surprised me most of all, though, was that when I finished putting all the labels on, I still had a very ample supply of labels left over which will be great for anything new I have to send in later this year, and even for next year.

I used the school labels value kit from Bright Star Kids. Right now it’s $34.95 (on sale!) and it comes with 190 labels. You have the ability to customize the color, the design and even the font for your labels. I opted to only use my daughter’s last name on the label so that her little sister could use them, as well. Unfortunately, that means that I can’t show you our particular labels, but here’s an example of labels from the value kit:

My only complaint about Bright Star Kids is that my order took 2 weeks to arrive. It looked as though it was shipped internationally (perhaps from Canada? I can’t remember exactly) and I found that very confusing, since there is no mention on the website of the company being international. Since school is starting up soon for many people, I just wanted to give you a heads up that it might take a while for your order to come in.

Otherwise, I found the quality of the labels to be quite good, and I expect this value kit to be able to get both of my girls through 2 years of school before it’s time to get more labels. I’m very pleased with the value!

Anyone else out there having to label individual crayons and the like? Is this the new normal?

(Giveaway!) Special Occasion Outfits Online: The Beauty of Strasburg Children

August 4, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 4 Comments

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

My very first baby is about to turn 6. What a milestone for her to get to reach! It’s only been the blink of an eye, really, and yet she has been 100 different versions of herself as she has grown and changed over the past 72 months.

Special occasions, like birthdays or holidays, sometimes warrant a special dress. This year we are going to do some special photographs with Darah in this exquisite, yet simple, dress from Strasburg Children.

I love everything about the Lace Morning Gown. It isn’t fussy or uncomfortable in any way. It’s 100% cotton, in fact, so it’s quite soft and easy to wear. And yet, the crocheted lace details makes the dress an heirloom piece. It is the perfect look for capturing that innocence and joy of childhood…the fun of being 6. It will be passed on to Layah and then to the girls’ younger cousin, and then it will be carefully packed away for grandbabies that won’t be on the scene for another few decades. The dress is just that special, and just that timeless.

Strasburg Children is an exceptional destination in Nashville, (as well as online for the rest of us!) that offers those special occasion dresses you look for when planning photo sessions, school pictures, birthday shots, christenings or other special occasions. They have pieces with incredible detail that you will be sure to appreciate, because this level of quality and care is becoming very difficult to find.

The price points for clothing at Strasburg Children is on the high end, but right now there’s a sale, and shockingly, this dress Darah is modeling is under $50! For real!!! You’ll find lots of other great deals happening right now so be sure to take a look around and see if you can find something extra special for your little girl.

Because I can promise you this: when you look back on your pictures, you’ll wish you’d taken more (that’s really saying something coming from a blogger!). And you’ll wish you’d captured more of those blissful moments of childhood.

Win it!: One very lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win the dress of your choice from the Summer Collection! EEE!!!

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

Strasburg Children

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!

Honest Company Organic Cotton Blanket Review: An Honest Assessment

August 2, 2015 · by Tiffany Merritt · 2 Comments

I’ve been eyeing the Organic Cotton Blanket on the Honest Company website for quite some time, and finally decided to take the plunge and order it this summer so I could try it out and tell you all my thoughts.

Here’s the short version: it’s a beautiful, but awfully tiny little blanket that won’t “grow” all that much with your kid.

Now let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?

First, let’s take an up-close look at this blanket that retails for $64, but that Honest company members can snag for $48.75.

It is an absolutely beautiful blanket. I will certainly give credit where it is due, friends. It has a gorgeous, creamy gray color that is truly gender neutral and even color scheme neutral so that it will look great in most any nursery. It is as soft as soft can be, and according to the Honest Company, it is handmade, which does help explain the price tag.

That’s really something you just have to keep in mind when buying from The Honest Company. You are certainly getting high quality products that are made with the environment in mind. They are also made with the employees and craftsmen in mind, too. The Honest Company pays a living wage, and that means that prices are going to look different from what you will find in the aisle of Walmart, plain and simple.

So what’s my beef with this blanket? Well, it’s just so darn small. But let’s be fair to Honest Company for a minute: they advertise this as a blanket for babies and nothing more. The truth is simply that I was hoping that it would be big enough for me to use as a throw. And it isn’t. I wanted it to deliver more than it promised, simple as that.

I think this would be an outstanding gift for a mother-to-be, but I will qualify that statement with this simple truth (at least it’s true here in the South): people LOVE to give handmade baby blankets (and even store-bought ones) as shower gifts. So it is not uncommon for a new mom to find herself with over a dozen blankets, and half of them have been lovingly knitted or crocheted by someone she knows. This could make this beautiful blanket fail to be the standout gift it could be if you knew that the parents weren’t getting any other blankets.

Since I don’t have a baby anymore, and since I happen to know that my little niece has an overabundance of blankets, my plan for this blanket is for it to become a throw at the bottom of my youngest’s bed, which is a twin. I think we can get a few years of decorative use out of it, and it certainly can serve as a throw for little kids. But once they are a bit bigger we’ll need to pass this on to others.

If you are new to Honest Company, be sure to check out my information on how to get started with freebies from the Honest Company, and how to make sure that every bundle you put together has the best products at maximum savings. This is one of the memberships that I enjoy having the most, as it is completely hassle-free. You can push your order back as many times as you want online and if you want to cancel altogether, it just takes a simple phone call and they don’t give you a hard time at all about discontinuing your membership. 🙂

For more tips on how to get maximum savings with Honest Company bundles, check out my full list of Honest Company reviews (so you can know what to skip, what to buy, and exactly how to buy it).