Last year we made the decision to tell our oldest child the truth about Santa.

He had been asking a lot of questions about how Santa delivers gifts to everyone and noticing little things, like how the Santas at stores and parties looked slightly different from each other. He was 7 1/2 years-old, and we decided it was probably time.

I wrote him a letter to read on his own, and then we sat down together and had a little chat. He cried a little bit, and it took him a few days to process, but then he was on board and excited about becoming part of “Team Santa” for his little sister and brother.

Making the decision and knowing how to tell your child the truth about Santa is big. Not every child is ready at the same time, and not every child will take it the same way.

With that in mind, I want to share some tips to help other parents know how to tell your child the truth about Santa, including when to know when your child is ready, and how to actually tell them the truth.

How to Tell Your Child the Truth About Santa

When do you know they’re ready?

Every child is different when it comes to being ready to know the truth. Some kids get told by friends at school or older cousins while playing together. Some kids are more mature than others, and some are more skeptical and realistic.

We told our son last year when he was seven, and this year our daughter is seven, but she is absolutely not ready to know the truth. Every child is different.

If your child has been pestering you with questions about Santa, his operation, how reindeer can’t fly, or what Santa does for kids who don’t have chimneys, it might be time.

It’s also important to consider if your child will be able to keep the truth a secret. Will they blab to little brothers or sisters? Will they immediately tell everyone at church? They need to be mature enough to trust not to tell people who aren’t ready to hear the truth.

When you tell your child, make sure that nobody can interrupt and little siblings won’t overhear. Do it somewhere they are comfortable and somewhere you can give them your full attention. I know I’m sort of being dramatic, but it’s a big deal and you don’t want the memory of telling them you’ve been lying for years to scar them for life.

How do I tell them? What do I say? What comes next?

Now that you know when to spill the beans, it’s important to know how to tell your child the truth about Santa.

First, you need to decide if you’re going to say yes or no to the question “Is Santa real?”. I know that sounds like an obvious question, but there are two ways of looking at it.

You could tell your child that no, Santa is not real, and that parents buy presents and pretend that Santa brought them. Or you could do what we did, and says yes, Santa is real, but Santa isn’t a jolly, bearded man in a big red coat. We told our son that Santa is not one single person, but a team of people who work together to make Christmas magical. Specifically, we said “Santa is lots and lots of people who keep the spirit of Christmas alive. He lives in our hearts—not at the North Pole. Santa is the magic and love and spirit of giving to others.”

Next, you need to explain why you’ve lied to them for years of their life. Emphasize that it wasn’t to trick them or be mean, but believing in Santa teaches them about the magic of Christmas, giving to others, and believing in something they cannot see or touch. It’s just a fun way to celebrate, and a way to make the season more special.

Answer any questions your child has, and prepare for tears and to give them time to process the truth. Our son sat on the sofa in shock for a while, and then it wasn’t until the next day that he realized what it truly meant, and that’s when the tears flowed. It also helps to make sure you and your spouse are on the same side, so you can tell them together and comfort them during this truth bomb (because honestly, that’s what it’s going to feel like to your child).

The biggest thing that helped our son adjust when we told him that we and many other people play the part of Santa is to welcome him to the Santa “team” and let him help make Christmas magical for his younger siblings and friends. Our son loves helping hide our Elf on the Shelf, and when we go see Santa at the store, he plays along. He even writes a letter to Santa, and helps his little sister and brother with theirs. After the initial shock of finding out the truth about Santa, playing along for his siblings and joining “Team Santa” has helped him understand the why behind Santa.

Sample letter to help you tell your child the truth about Santa

Before I wrote our letter to our son, I read a few different ones other people had written. I took some ideas from other letters and then added a few of my own. I thought it might be helpful for you all to see what my letter said.

Here’s what I wrote in our son’s letter:

Dear J,

You’ve asked us a few times if Santa is real, or if it’s just Mom and Dad. We know you want to know the truth, and we had to give it careful thought to know just what to say.

The answer is yes, Santa is real, but he is not just one single person. 

Mom and Dad are the ones who fill your stockings and choose and wrap the presents under the tree—just as our parents did for us, their parents did for them, and you will do for your kids someday.

This could never make any of us Santa, though. Santa is lots and lots of people who keep the spirit of Christmas alive. He lives in our hearts—not at the North Pole. Santa is the magic and love and spirit of giving to others. What he does is teach children to believe in something they can’t see and touch. You need to be able to believe in things you can’t measure or hold in your hands.

So now you know the secret of how he gets down all of those chimneys on Christmas Eve. He has help from all of the people whose hearts he has filled with joy.

With full hearts, Mommy and Daddy take our turns helping Santa do a job that would otherwise be impossible. We are not Santa, but no one person is. Santa is love and magic and happiness. We are on his team, and now you are, too. It’s important to keep this magic alive. Now that you understand, it’s up to you to give the gift of believing in Santa to your little sister and brother, friends, and one day, your own kids.

We love you so much, and we’re excited to have you on the Santa team.

Love, Mom and Dad

I hand wrote the letter and saved it in his memory journal so he can look back at it one day when he’s grown up. Plus, writing it out made it feel more heartfelt than if I had typed it. But that’s just me. You are absolutely allowed to type it out and give it to your child (whatever is best for your family!).

It can be scary and anxiety-inducing to tell your child the truth about Santa. They may be mad at you for a while, but they’ll adjust and be just fine. And honestly, when your child helps keep the magic alive for friends and siblings, it can be even more special than them thinking Santa comes down their chimney on Christmas Eve.

Good luck, mamas!

The post How to Tell Your Child the Truth About Santa appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for this post. This post also contains affiliate links.

One thing I love talking about is how to support new moms. Whether it’s your first baby or your fourth, every new mom needs help and love.

I’ve written a few gift guides tailored to new moms, including a new mom gift basket, a gift guide focusing on pampering a new mom, and a gift guide with practical gifts to bring a new mom.

There are so many feelings to process, changes to adapt to, and healing to be done. Having a baby is hard, and adjusting to life with a newborn can be even harder.

Today I wanted to share a new gift guide for new moms, with a focus on gifts to help her through that difficult postpartum period, physically and emotionally.

Gift Guide for New Moms

Promptly Postpartum Journal

Promptly Journals have tons of great prompt journals, including ones for parents to write about their children. But for new mamas, the Postpartum Journals are the perfect way to find healing and self-care through the first year of your baby’s life.

There are sections for pregnancy, birth reflection, partner support, at home, body thoughts, and monthly check-ins , as well as a list of resources to help new moms with their mental wellness. The Promptly Postpartum Journal includes therapy tips throughout its pages, written by maternal mental health professionals, and quotes and affirmations to help uplift and comfort you.

Whether it’s your first baby and you have no history of depression, or it’s your third and you’ve dealt with postpartum depression each time, this gift can help a new mom heal and take care of herself during that first year of her baby’s life.

Tubby Todd Mama Gift Set

Tubby Todd is a fantastic mama-founded and woman-run business. Their Mama Gift Set includes three must-have products for postpartum mamas and their tender, healing bodies. All three are formulated with natural ingredients and are gentle enough for sensitive skin.

The hand cream helps soften and replenish dry, mama hands (you do a lot of hand-washing as a new mom, and it can dry your hands out fast). The belly oil promotes elasticity and works to restore skin’s natural luminosity, which every mama wants after having a baby! The organic nipple balm helps soothe the tenderness of nursing, and because its organic and contains lanolin, it’s safe to use before or after nursing.

I love Tubby Todd because all their products use natural ingredients and were originally created with sensitive skin in mind. I’ve used Tubby Todd on my kids and not only do the products smell amazing and leave my kids smelling like a dream, but they are so gentle and even work well on our oldest son who has dealt with eczema in the past.

Chatbooks Gift Card

New moms take a lot of pictures, but they don’t have a lot of time (or energy!) to organize, edit, and print them very often. Chatbooks are a great option because they make printing your photos super easy.

With the app, you can print the cutest little photobooks just by uploading from your camera roll or social media. They have hard or softcover options, and two sizes to choose from (6×6″ or 8×8″). You can include captions, or just print pictures and dates on each page. The books are incredibly affordable, starting at just $15.

For a new mom who is frazzled and wants to have hard copies of all the memories she photographs, this is the easiest, hassle-free way to print out photos.

Food Gift Card

Whether you just had a baby or your baby is a few months old, making dinner at the end of an exhausting day is often the last thing you want to do. Save her from having to throw something together when she doesn’t want to by giving her a gift card to eat out! Either get her a gift card to somewhere that has delivery (pizza always works!), or get her a gift card to a company like GrubHub, DoorDash, or PostMates. That way she can get a hot meal in under an hour with zero effort!

FridaBaby Portable Sound Machine

This fancy little gadget is the solution to a lot of a new mama’s problems. Not only is it a sound machine with five different sounds (two of which are shushing and a heartbeat), but it has a nightlight for nighttime nursing sessions and it’s portable and rechargeable. Getting your new baby to sleep can be exhausting sometimes, but the FridaBaby Portable Sound Machine helps make it easier.

Haaka Ladybug Silicone Milk Collector

To a nursing mom, every drop of breastmilk is like liquid gold, so when your letdown happens and you only have one baby to catch it, you can waste a decent amount of milk! The Haaka Ladybug Silicone Milk Collectors just fit right inside your bra and collect any milk that leaks out when your baby isn’t nursing. I wish I had had these when I was nursing!!

Audible or Kindle Unlimited Subscription

For a new mom’s mental health, reading books or listening to audiobooks is a great way to get outside the monotony of motherhood with a baby. She can read while nursing or listen while doing all the chores that come along with having a baby (so much laundry!). Audible has over 200,000 audio books to choose from, and with Kindle Unlimited, you can choose as many ebooks as you want from over 1 million options. She’s bound to find something to interest here on either option!

New moms are one of my favorite people to buy gifts for (but that’s probably obvious based on all the new mom gift guides I’ve put together over the years!). These gifts are perfect to help new moms adapt to having a sweet new baby in their life. I hope the mama new mama in your life will be thrilled to get something from this gift guide for new moms!

The post Gift Guide for New Moms appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for this post. This post also contains affiliate links.

Over the eight years I’ve been blogging, I’ve put together quite a few gift guides. I have a gift guide for two-year-old girls, a Cricut gift guide, a non-toy gift guide for kids, and a gift guide for moms. I’ve written a few gift guides specifically for new moms, and I even have a new dad kit gift basket.

But there’s one age group I haven’t ever done a gift guide for, and ironically, it’s one I buy gifts for every Christmas–grandparents!

This year that ends. I’ve decided to put together a list of unique and meaningful gifts for grandparents, because if you’re a parent reading this post (which 90% of the people who read my blog are), then you’ve likely got some grandparents (aka, your parents or in-laws) that you will be buying gifts for this Christmas, and I want to help you out.

Gift Guide for Grandparents

Grandparent Balloon Art Gift DIY

Like I mentioned last week, this is what we got my parents last year. It’s just a super cute visual representation of all your parents’ grandchildren. And lucky for you, I put together a cut file and free tutorial so you can make your own! So this is a great cheap option for grandparent gifts!

Promptly Autobiography Journal

I’ve been a fan of Promptly journals for a long time, and I love their Autobiography Journals. Writing about yourself can be a challenge, but the autobiography journal contains guided prompts so you can get all the details down! It’s broken into different sections (birth, childhood, teenage years, young adult years, adult years, and golden years), and besides all the lovely writing space, there are places for pictures, too! I wish my own grandparents had filled out these journals before they all passed away. It would be so fun to go back and learn little details!

Promptly is having their Black Friday sale starting TODAY! It goes for a week, and you can get 15-40% off their products! So make sure you check that out while you’re on their site!

Digital Picture Frame

There are tons of options for digital picture frames on Amazon. The Aluratek Digital Photo Frame has tons of five star reviews and is only $40. If you want a fancier frame, the Nixplay Digital Photo Frame has WiFi so you can share photos with it via an app or e-mail. It also has a ton of five star reviews, but it’s pricier, at $175.

Photo Session with Grandkids

Another great gift for grandparents is a photo session with their grandkids! If you live close, this is an easy one, and if all the grandkids are spread out, this would be such a fun surprise! My parents always love getting pictures with their grandkids, and a professional session would be a gift they’d treasure for years!

Puzzle of Grandchildren

We did this last year for my mom, and it was such a cute gift! I love using Minted to make photo puzzles because they have tons of cute layouts so your puzzle can be more than just a flat picture of your children. If you have a new baby in the family, this confetti puzzle would be such a cute one to gift!

Grandparent Membership Pass

If you live close to your parents or in-laws and they love going places with your kiddos, this would be a great gift. A lot of zoos and museums offer grandparent membership passes where the grandparents are the membership holders and any grandkids under 21 can get in with them. If a year-long pass isn’t something you think would be utilized, you can also just get one-time tickets for them to go with their grandkids!

Tickets to an Event

Along the same lines, you could get grandparents tickets for them and their grandkids to go to a fun event! A sporting event, the theater, a concert, Disney on Ice (our personal favorite!), a special train ride, or anything else fun coming to your city (or theirs!). You could even plan a whole trip to visit them around the tickets!

Materials for their Hobbies

Grandparents have to have hobbies, right? So get them materials for their hobbies! My dad is big into coin collecting, so we’ve gotten him books and coin cleaning things before. Painting supplies, seeds for the garden, fishing lures (Mystery Tackle Box is a fun subscription box for fishers!), puzzles, books, yarn for knitting or crocheting, quilting materials, or anything else they may be interested in.

Blanket or Sweatshirt with Grandkids’ Picture

Another personalized gift that would be fun would be a blanket or sweatshirt with the grandkids’ picture on it! My friend recently told me that her husband’s family would gift their grandpa a sweatshirt with a picture of his grandkids on it every year, and I thought that was so sweet! You could do a blanket with a big picture on it, or even a pillow! It will be a constant reminder of the cute little people in their lives.

Custom Socks

The last wonderful gift on this list is the gift we’re getting my dad for Christmas this year–custom socks! Printify is a company that has a bunch of blank clothes and items that you can personalize. I had my kids draw pictures for their grandpa and then I uploaded them and put them onto a pair of socks! I chose the sublimation socks, and it was super easy to design and order them.

I love all of the ideas on this gift guide for grandparents, and I’d happily gift them all to my own parents (in fact I have gifted some of them!). Hopefully, as you make your Christmas lists this year, one or two of these gifts will stand out and you’ll be able to gift the grandparents the perfect Christmas gift!

The post Gift Guide for Grandparents appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for this post. This post also contains affiliate links.

One of the songs that was played at every high school dance I went to was “Get Low” by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz. As an adult, I’m horrified that the school staff allowed us to dance to that, but as a teenager, it was just a catchy song that everyone loved.

Last year, I decided to turn the lyrics of that rather-inappropriate song into a fun Christmas parody shirt. I took the lyrics of the chorus and changed them to

“To the window, to the wall, ’til Santa decks these halls!”

Unfortunately, I got a grease stain on it and had to throw it out, but I’ve never gotten over how clever it was.

Now that I’m getting into screen printing and with Christmas fast-approaching, I thought I’d make a new version of my “To the window, to the wall, ’til Santa decks these halls” shirt. After a minor redesign on Cricut Design Space, I grabbed a red sweatshirt and all my screen printing supplies and got to work!

I love the way my sweatshirt turned out, and because I love it so much, I wanted to share a tutorial on how I made it, complete with the free cut file for Cricut Design Space.

The first step when you screen print is to cut your design out of vinyl and apply it to your screen. It’s easy, but takes a few steps, so bear with me.

First, open up Design Space, press customize, and decide how big you want your design to be on your sweatshirt. If you like a more fitted look, you’ll probably want a smaller sweatshirt and therefore, a smaller design. I’m a fan of oversized sweatshirts, so that’s what I used. Obviously, my design was a little bigger, too.

I like to measure how big my materials are and then figure out how big I want my design.

You also need to keep in mind the size of your screen, because that will limit how big you go. This design is cut into two pieces because it’s bigger, but if you’re going to make it small enough to fit on your screen, you can easily weld the design together into one piece.

Once you have your sizing right, you get to cut! Press “Make It” at the top right, and then arrange your pieces on the mat. I know you can make this in one piece if you’re doing it smaller, but for the rest of this project, I am going to assume you’re making it in two pieces like I did. So make sure you have enough space around each cut to tape it onto the screen.

The easiest way I found to do this is to change the size of the material to 8.5×14″. That will give each piece it’s own cut.

Once you have the design ready on your computer, press “Continue” and select your materials. If you’re using an Explore Air 2 like I am, make sure that your machine dial is set to “vinyl.”

For this project I used Cricut Smart Vinyl in black. You can use any color you want, though. I just discovered the new Smart Materials a few weeks ago and I LOVE them because you don’t need to use a mat and you can cut up to 3′ at once.

Load your vinyl into your machine and press start. It’s that easy!

After your design is done, unload it, cut about an inch away from the bottom, and then load it up again and cut out the next piece. Then unload it and cut about an inch away from the bottom again.

Once you have both pieces cut, you need to weed them. You’re going to weed out the words and the mistletoe design (which is the opposite of what you would do if you were using the vinyl design you cut). The Cricut tools in the basic tool set are really helpful here (and for transferring!).

Now get a big piece of transfer tape and transfer the first half of your design to your screen. Mine is a Speedball 10×14″ screen. Make sure you center the design in the middle of the screen.

Then use painters tape to cover the rest of the screen. You don’t want any paint leaking through when you do your printing!

Center your design (keeping in mind that it might not be the center of your screen) on your sweatshirt, near the top. Make sure it’s straight and right in the middle.

Once you’ve got it just right, grab your screen printing paint, a plastic spoon, and your squeegee. Spoon a little bit of paint on the side of the screen, and use your squeegee to pull the paint across your design. You may need to go back and forth a few times, or even add more paint. Make sure it’s completely covered!

After you spread your paint all over the design, slowly and gently lift your screen off of your sweatshirt.

Let this first half of your design dry for at least 24 hours, and then repeat the above steps again with the second half of your design.

If you’re worried about getting the second half of the design in the right place, you can place two pieces of tape on either side of your sweatshirt to mark the bottom of your first half.

After another 24 hours, it’s time to heat set your paint. I love using my Cricut Easy Press because you can adjust the temperature every 10 degrees, and you can even set a timer. You want to make sure you heat set your entire design at 320 for 40 seconds.

And that’s basically it! You’re done! Pull that sweater on and hit the club!

Just kidding. I’m not sure if that’s even a thing people say anymore, but it certainly fits with the theme of this sweatshirt!

Now put your hands up and sing along! “To the windooooooow! To the wall! (To the wall!) ‘Til Santa decks these halls!” We’re not going to finish the rest of that!

"To the Window, to the Wall, 'Til Santa Decks these Halls" Christmas Parody Sweatshirt

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

"To the Window, to the Wall, 'Til Santa Decks these Halls" Christmas parody sweatshirt that you can DIY! All you need is a Cricut, vinyl, screen printing supplies, and a sweatshirt to make this hilarious holiday sweater.

Print

Materials

• Red Sweatshirt
• Smart Vinyl
• Transfer Tape
• White Screen Printing Paint

Tools

• Cricut Explore Air 2
• Basic Tool Set
• 10x14" Screen Printing Screen
• Painter's Tape
• Craft Squeegee
• Cricut Easy Press

Instructions

1. Open Cricut Design Space and pull up the cut file here.
2. Decide how big you want your design to be and size down the design.
3. Cut out your vinyl on your Cricut Machine. Make sure each half is centered on the cut screen and you're making two separate cuts before pressing "Go"
4. Weed out the words and the mistletoe (the opposite of what you would do if you were using the letters you cut).
5. Using transfer tape, transfer your first half of the design to your screen.
6. Remove the transfer tape and cover up any open spaces on your screen with painter's tape.
7. Center your design on your sweatshirt.
8. Spoon out paint on side of screen and use a squeegee to pull the paint across your design.
9. Carefully lift your screen off the sweatshirt.
10. After at least 24 hours, repeat steps 5-9 with the second half of your design.
11. After another 24+ hours, heat set your ink. Use an Easy Press set at 320 degrees for 40 seconds.

In our home we always decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, and I bet you can guess what I’ll be wearing when I get everything out!

“To the window! To the wall! ‘Til Santa decks these halls!”

Merry Christmas, mamas!

The post “To the Window, to the Wall, ‘Til Santa Decks these Halls” Christmas Parody Sweatshirt appeared first on Life With My Littles.

This post contains affiliate links.

Last year for Christmas, my sister and I pitched in together and got our parents the cutest handmade gift. It was a silhouette of grandparents holding a bunch of balloons, one for each of their grandchildren. My mom especially loved it, and as I’ve been thinking about gifts to give this Christmas, the balloon silhouette gift kept coming to the front of my mind.

I also didn’t want to spend a ton of money to have someone make one for me, and since I own two Cricut machines, I knew I could probably figure out how to make it on my own.

Cricut Design Space had three different grandparent options that were perfect, but none of the balloons looked right for this project. So I decided to draw them myself!

I drew a few balloons, uploaded them to my computer, and imported them into Design Space, and they turned out great!

As a side note, I love uploading my own designs on Cricut Design Space. You used to not be able to do that, and it’s a huge game-changer now that you can. Anything is possible!!!

Anyway, this DIY grandparent balloon art project is really simple, and you can easily make one in less than an hour with the help of your Cricut Explore Air 2.

Ready for the tutorial? Of course you are. That’s why you’re here!

To start, pull up the project on Cricut Design Space. Click the “customize” button, not “make it.” You have to personalize it before you can start cutting!

Like I said, there are three couples, so choose the set that looks most like the grandparents you are making your gift for, and delete the other two.

Now either delete some of the balloons, or copy and paste them so you have enough balloons for all the grandchildren.

Choose what colors you want the balloons to be, keeping in mind that you don’t want to use paper so dark that you won’t be able to write the names on them. You can do one color for boys and one for girls, one color for each family, or just a combination of colors that look good together. It’s up to you.

To add the names on your balloons, you first have to detach the name from the balloon. To do this, select the first balloon and press detach in the bottom right corner.

Now double-click the name and change “NAME” in the text box to the name of the first grandchild.

Recenter (or resize, if needed) the name in the middle of the balloon.

Select both the name and the balloon and attach them together by pressing “attach” in the bottom right corner.

Repeat that step for all the balloons you need.

Once you have your balloons ready to go, it’s time to cut! Press “make it” at the top right, and get all your supplies ready. You’ll need to make sure you have the right size of cardstock set on the left before you begin.

You can use either a light grip or standard grip cutting mat, or you can use Cricut’s awesome new Smart Paper Sticker Cardstock and then you’ll get to skip the glue altogether.

Make sure you have your pen in the machine before pressing go, otherwise you’ll skip writing the names!

After each piece is cut, you’ll need to take it off, very delicately. The best way to do this without ripping the balloon strings is by using a scraper from the basic tool set. Be very gentle, don’t rush it, and if you do rip the string, you can still try to glue it on so it looks alright.

After your machine cuts all the balloons and the grandparent silhouette and you’ve taken them off your mat, you can assemble the picture.

Start by deciding where you want to put your grandparents. I put mine in the bottom left corner. You don’t want to glue down the grandparents until all the balloons are glued down, but you do want to make sure you know where all the balloon strings are going to meet in the grandparent’s hand.

Take a pencil and make a tiny dot under the hand where they are going to be holding the balloons. This will be key when you glue down the balloons.

Decide how you want to arrange your balloons on the paper, and then start gluing them by beginning with the balloons that will be at the top first. Some of the lower balloons may need to cover the strings, so you want to do those last.

The easiest way to glue your balloons down is to use a disappearing glue stick. Put some glue on the balloon part, then very gently run the string over the top of the glue stick.

After all the balloons are glued down, glue down the grandparents. Pop it in a frame and you’re done! You just made your very own handmade grandparent balloon art gift!

Grandparent Balloon Gift DIY

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Grandparent balloon art gift you can DIY and give this Christmas! All you need is some cardstock and a Cricut machine to make the perfect, personalized grandparent gift.

Print

Materials

• Colored Cardstock
• Black Cardstock
• 8x10 White Cardstock

Tools

• Cricut Explore Air 2
• Basic Tool Set
• Black Pen Set
• Glue Stick

• Standard Grip Mat (choose one)
• Light Grip Mat (choose one)

Instructions

1. Open Cricut Design Space file.
2. Choose the grandparent set that looks most like the grandparents you are making your gift for, and delete the other two. 
3. Make sure you have enough balloons by either deleting some of the balloons, or copy and paste to make more.
4. Change balloon colors to match cardstock.
5. Select the first balloon and press detach in the bottom right corner.
6. Double-click "NAME" and change it in the text box to the name of the first grandchild.
7. Recenter (or resize, if needed) the name in the middle of the balloon.
8. Select both the name and the balloon and attach them together by pressing "attach" in the bottom right corner.
9. Repeat steps 5-8 for all the balloons you need.
10. Press "make it" at the top right.
11. Load pen, load paper, and press "go" on the machine.
12. After each piece is cut, you'll need to take them off, very delicately. Use a scraper and be very gentle.
13. Assemble your picture by first deciding where you want to put the grandparents. Take a pencil and make a tiny dot under the hand where they are going to be holding the balloons.
14. Decide how you want to arrange your balloons on the paper, and then start gluing them by beginning with the balloons that will be at the top first. Some of the lower balloons may need to cover the strings, so you want to do those last.
15. After all the balloons are glued down, glue down the grandparents.
16. Pop your picture into a frame and you're done!

There are also two other variations of the grandparent balloon art that I want to mention.

If the grandchildren you’re making balloons for can write their own names, letting them personalize their own balloons might add a special touch to the gift.

Also, if the thinness of the balloon strings keeps throwing you off, you could also cut the balloon strings off with scissors and just draw the strings with a black pen.

I hope your own grandparent balloon art gifts turn out great, and I’d love to see them! Tag me on Instagram if you share them! Merry Christmas, mamas!

The post Grandparent Balloon Art Gift DIY appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for this post. This post also contains affiliate links.

Last year we watched the classic Christmas movie Home Alone with our kids, and they thought it was one of the funniest movies they’d ever seen. They watched it over and over, even after Christmas was over. And I have to say, I can’t really blame them!

One of my favorite parts of the movie is when Kevin and Buzz are arguing about the last slice of cheese pizza and the milk spills on the plane tickets and passports and everyone freaks out trying to save them. Then things calm down and Kevin’s uncle looks at him and goes, “Look what you did, you little jerk!”

Oh my goodness, can you even imagine! Everyone is quiet and glaring at little Kevin and blaming him for everything that went wrong. I laugh so hard every single time.

I have recently been experimenting with screen printing, and I thought it would be a fun idea to make a DIY Home Alone screen print shirt with that hilarious quote from Uncle Frank!

Screen printing isn’t too complicated, and as long as you have the right tools, you can create one-of-a-kind items that will last a long time! I haven’t ever shared a screen printing post on here, so I wanted to make sure I give you guys a full tutorial so you can follow alone and make your own Home Alone shirt, too!

I opened up Cricut Design Space and got to work. I even asked my Instagram followers their advice when I designed it, and had so much great feedback! I used the Cricut font “ITC Machine Medium,” and added the little house from Home Alone to the end of the quote. You can access the cut file on Design Space here.

Figure out how big you want your design to be on your shirt. I usually grab a ruler and hold it on my material to see how big I want it to be. Then size down your design. I did 12″ for my design. Just make sure your design will fit on your screen, too!

Cut it out on vinyl! I used my Cricut Explore Air 2 and Permanent Black Vinyl. You can use whatever color on hand, but you need to cut your vinyl all at once, so make sure you have a big enough piece of vinyl. Once you get to the “prepare” screen, center your design on the mat so you have a good amount of edge on each side. This will come in handy when you are screen printing.

Then press continue on Design Space, make sure your machine is set to “vinyl”, load your mat, and start cutting!

Weed your vinyl. Unlike a regular vinyl project, you’re going to be leaving the outlines of what you want to screen print. I always have my Cricut Starter Tools on hand, because the weeder and spatula come in handy when peeling things off the mat.

Grab a big piece of Transfer Tape so you can transfer your design to your screen. Use your scraper for the tool set to smooth out all bubbles, and make sure every little edge is stuck to that tape!

Pull up that Transfer Tape with your design attached and stick it to your screen. My screen is a Speedball 10×14″ Screen. Again, the scraper will help you eliminate any bubbles.

Pull off your transfer tape and then cover up any open spaces along the edges with painter’s tape. You don’t want any paint on you shirt where you don’t want it!

It’s time to paint! I’ve screen printed several times, but I’m certainly not a pro, so if you haven’t ever tried it before, it’s best to read up on how to do it because I can only give you the basics. Pigskins and Pigtails has some great screen printing for beginners posts.

The basics of what you need are your vinyl stencil on your screen, a paint squeegee, and paint. I also like to have something like a paper plate on hand to set my squeegee down when I’m done. And I use a plastic spoon to spoon the paint out onto my stencil before I squeegee it.

Okay, so once you have everything on hand, center your screen and design onto your tee. Now imagine how good your DIY Home Alone screen print shirt is going to look! You’re almost there!

Also, I didn’t get any pictures of this but make sure you have some type of paper or cardboard between the layers of your shirt, especially if you’re doing your design on a white shirt, too. The paint will bleed on a white tee a little bit, and if you don’t have something in between the front and back layers, you’ll print the reverse shadow on the back of your shirt.

Now spoon a little bit of red screen paint along the edge of your design.

Very careful and not too quickly, pull the paint across your design with your squeegee. It’s a big design, so the paint may not get the whole thing at once, and you may have to add a little more paint on the other side. Go back and forth with the squeegee until there aren’t any more white spots left and the paint isn’t pooling anywhere.

Slowly and again, very carefully, lift the screen off your tee. I start at the bottom and peel it away little-by-little. It will look AWESOME but you need to be patient and let it dry at least 24 hours before the next step. So set it somewhere away from little hands.

After your shirt has dried for a full 24 hours, you need to heat set the ink before you wear it, otherwise when you wash it, some of the ink will fade.

You can use an iron if you want, but the easiest way to heat set your design is to use a Cricut Easy Press. Set the temperature to 320 degrees and the time to 40 seconds. When it heats up, heat set your design by holding the Easy Press on your design. Repeat the process anywhere you miss (if your design is bigger than your Easy Press).

I also like to use the Easy Press Mat behind my materials when I heat set so I don’t damage the table or floor (or wherever I am) underneath. An ironing board works, too.

Now you’re ready to wear your shirt! Pull it on, grab some popcorn, and turn on Home Alone! Or, if you’re feeling brave, watch the new movie Home, Sweet Home Alone on Disney+. It comes out November 12th and I’m not sure how I feel about it! Although, if I’m being honest, I’ll probably still watch it.

Yield: 1 tee

DIY Home Alone Screen Print Tee

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

DIY "Home Alone" screen print shirt based on Uncle Frank's line "Look what you did, you little jerk!" One of the best lines from the original movie on a tee! Includes the free cut file on Cricut Design Space, and a full tutorial!

Print

Materials

• White tee
• Transfer tape
• Vinyl
• Red screen paint

Tools

• Cricut Explore Air 2
• Weeding tool
• Scraper tool
• Screen
• Painter's tape
• Squeegee
• Easy Press
• Easy Press mat

Instructions

1. Open Cricut Design Space and pull up the cut file here.
2. Decide how big you want your design to be and size down the design.
3. Cut out your vinyl on your Cricut Machine. Make sure it is centered on the cut screen before pressing "Go"
4. Weed out the words and the house (the opposite of what you would do if you were using the letters you cut).
5. Using transfer tape, transfer your design to your screen.
6. Remove the transfer tape and cover up any open spaces on your screen with painter's tape.
7. Center your screen on your shirt.
8. Spoon out paint on side of screen and use a squeegee to pull the paint across your design.
9. Carefully lift your screen off the tee.
10. After at least 24 hours, heat set your ink. Use an Easy Press set at 320 degrees for 40 seconds.

Notes

Before you paint your tee, put something in between the layers so the paint doesn't bleed through. Don't remove it until after your ink has completely dried.

The post DIY Home Alone Screen Print Shirt – “Look What You Did, You Little Jerk” appeared first on Life With My Littles.

UPDATED FOR 2021 WITH 2021 CALENDAR LINKS!

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Remember the little chocolate advent calendars from childhood where you’d open a tiny little paper door each day in December and behind it would be a small little chocolate, usually in the shape of something Christmasy?

I know they still exist (we’ve done them with our kids before!), but advent calendars have really stepped up their game in the last few years! From socks to toys to books, there’s really an advent calendar for every interest and age these days!

Back in August I pre-ordered the Disney: Storybook Collection Advent Calendar, and last week, it showed up! Mamas, we haven’t even started it and I love it so much! It’s huge, great quality, and has 24 mini Disney storybooks inside from our favorite Disney movies. We already peeked at number one and it’s 101 Dalmatians!

Today, I thought it’d be fun to share some other awesome unique advent calendars that I found online, both for kids of all ages and interests! No disrespect to the classic chocolate advent calendars (we might grab a few of those this week, too), but these ones look like so much fun!

19 Unique Advent Calendars

Disney: Storybook Collection Advent Calendar

Crayola Christmas Countdown Activity Calendar

Play-Doh Advent Calendar

LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar

Paw Patrol Advent Calendar

Barbie Advent Calendar

The Office 12 Days of Socks

Lindt Bear Advent Calendar

Hot Wheels Advent Calendar

Disney Pixar Cars Advent Calendar

24 Days Christmas Advent Calendar with Fashion Jewelry

Bonne Maman Mini Fruit Jams and Spreads Advent Calendar

Harry Potter Holiday Magic Advent Calendar

Chocolate Kisses Candy Filled Advent Calendar

Funko Harry Potter Advent Calendar

Thomas & Friends MINIS Advent Calendar

Funko Pokemon Advent Calendar

Sweetapolita Sprinkle Advent Calendar

Funko The Office Advent Calendar

LEGO Marvel The Avengers Advent Calendar

I also want to note that there are a bunch of awesome sock advent calendars at Target right now, and you can find more online, too. So if none of these spoke to you or if you just want to do socks for everyone in the family, that’s a fun advent calendar idea, too!

Hopefully at least one of these unique advent calendars will work for your family. I honestly wish I could buy several of them (maybe one year!), but I’m 100% happy with our Disney Storybook Collection calendar. I can hardly wait to start reading the stories each night with my kids!

The post 19 Unique Advent Calendars appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for this post.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up was picking out a special ornament each year. My sister and I both had our own little Christmas trees in our room, and each year, we got to choose one ornament to add to our collections.

Even after we moved out of the house, my parents would still send us a special ornament of something they knew we loved. Getting these ornaments out every year is one of my favorite parts of decorating for Christmas. And as you can imagine, I now have quite the collection!

When our first son was born, I knew I wanted to continue the tradition with our kids. Of course babies can’t pick out their own ornaments, but we still got a special one to commemorate his first Christmas! He’s now six and has his own little growing collection of ornaments.

Our daughter and youngest son have gotten their own ornaments each year, too. I love seeing how each collection represents each child. They have such different interests, but they also sometimes are into the same things, which has reflected in the ornaments they’ve chosen a few times!

Maybe one day when they all have their own rooms we’ll let them have their own trees like I did growing up, but for now, I love having all our family ornaments on the same tree.

If you want to start this tradition with your family, basically, all you do is let your child pick out a special ornament each year. We like to have it be one of our advent calendar/Christmas bucket list activities.

Where you let your kids pick your ornaments is up to you. We’ve gotten them at Walmart and Target before, and just today I was in Hobby Lobby and they have an amazing collection of ornaments, too. But my favorite place to get ornaments is from Hallmark. Their Keepsake Ornaments have been a part of my family’s tradition for over 25 years!

Some of my favorites are my Lion King ornament from 1994, my Pocahontas ornament from 1995, and my 101 Dalmatians ornament from 1996. But honestly, they’re all special!

This year, my kids have already picked out their ornaments. They had so much fun looking at all the options and then choosing their favorites. My oldest son chose a Bladerunner Police Spinner, my daughter chose Unikitty, and my youngest son chose a Mickey ornament (of course!).

Hallmark has an amazing collection of Keepsake ornaments, including ornaments from Disney, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Nintendo, Barbie, DC, Marvel, and so many more! I highly recommend checking out their selection before looking anywhere else!

Our family tradition of getting ornaments each year is one of my longest-standing family traditions, and I hope to keep it going for years to come. If you’re looking for a fun, easy holiday tradition that will be special even when your kids are adults, try collecting yearly ornaments!

The post Yearly Ornaments: A Family Tradition appeared first on Life With My Littles.

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One of our favorite things to do leading up to Christmas is read all kinds of Christmas books. There are so many amazing Christmas books out there that you could probably read a different one every day in December for your whole life and never read them all!

One thing I’ve noticed having a toddler is that not all Christmas books are created equal. My son is almost three this year and there’s no way he’s going to sit through a long book like The Polar Express, even if it’s a classic.

Today I’m sharing a list of 26 Christmas books for toddlers, and guess what? They’re all board books! Aka, they’re all meant for little ones! So many of them have fun characters that kids already know, or they’re written by authors of other best-selling children’s books. A lot of these are lift-the-flap books and a few of them are touch-and-feel books. All perfect for toddlers! Check them out below!

Little Blue Truck’s Christmas

I Love You Through and Through at Christmas, Too!

Christmas in the Manger

Santa’s Workshop

Llama Llama Jingle Bells

Merry Christmas

The Night Before Christmas

First 100 Christmas

Not Very Merry Pout-Pout Fish

Merry Christmas, Little Pookie

Biscuit Gives a Gift

Fa La La

Merry Christmas, Daniel Tiger!

Elmo’s Countdown to Christmas

My First Christmas

Mickey’s Snowy Christmas

Duck and Goose It’s Time for Christmas

Bear Stays Up for Christmas

Merry Christmas, Mouse!

Where is Baby’s Christmas Present?

Dream Snow

You are My Merry Little Christmas

Disney Baby My First Christmas

A Very Mater Christmas

A Frozen Christmas

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure

Aren’t they all so cute! Check your local library or add a few to your child’s Christmas gift list! Merry Christmas, mamas!

The post 26 Christmas Books for Toddlers appeared first on Life With My Littles.

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All month long I’ve shared posts about Christmas featuring gifts, matching pajamas, stockings, and Christmas cards. I’ve talked about several different ways to make Christmas special for your family, but I’ve missed one key thing: Christ. Christmas is all about celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the reason for the season and He should be the focus of all that we do. Yes, Santa and Christmas trees and gifts are fun, but if we aren’t careful, the true meaning of Christmas can easily get lost on our kids.

Today I want to share ways to help you teach kids the true meaning of Christmas. These ideas range from simple and quick to needing a little planning, but they all help put the focus of Christmas back on Jesus Christ.

1. Make a birthday cake for Jesus. One of my kids’ favorite ways to celebrate Christmas is making Jesus a birthday cake! I let them help and it usually doesn’t turn out super pretty, but it’s a small way to help them remember that Christmas is the day we celebrate Jesus’ bithday!

2. Participate in a giving tree. I recently heard this called a “Jesus gift,” and I thought that was a great way to put it. Before buying gifts for family members or friends, pick a gift off of a giving tree (we’ve seen them at church, my son’s school, the gym, and the mall) and get your kids involved in picking out a gift for someone in need. Talk to them about why you’re doing it, how you’re helping someone, and let them have a say in what you buy for the person you pick.

3. Participate in a service project. Even something as simple as putting together care packages, tying blankets, or coloring pictures for residents in nursing homes. Service doesn’t have to be complicated, and it can be very memorable for kids when they are able to see the faces of the people they’re helping. Make sure you remember to tell them about why you are doing service and the kind of service Jesus did while He was on earth, too.

4. Watch Bible videos about the nativity. A few years ago, our church put out a series of incredible, touching videos based on the life of Jesus Christ. We like to watch the ones focused on the nativity at this time of year. There are nine here that span from when the angel told Mary about Christ to the wise men coming to bring gifts to Jesus. Seeing real people act out the stories is a lot more meaningful than watching cartoons about it.

5. Display kid-friendly nativity sets. When our oldest was a baby, my father-in-law got him this Fisher-Price Little People nativity and five years later, it’s still a big hit. My kids love setting up all the different pieces, and it’s fun to see the reverence they give baby Jesus, even though it’s just a toy. We also have a little block set with nativity characters mod-podged on, as well as a nativity that someone cut out, laminated, and glued magnets onto the back (it’s on our fridge and the kids love that one, too). There are so many great kid-friendly ways to display the nativity, and it’s fun having a few that I don’t mind them playing with!

6. Listen to Christmas hymns. Yes, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is a great song, but listening to Christmas hymns is a lot better way to teach kids the true meaning of Christmas! Find a radio station on Amazon music that plays Christmas hymns, or even one on your local radio. My favorite song is “Angels We Have Heard on High” (because I always thought it said “in ex-Chelsea’s deo), but ones like “Silent Night” or “Away in a Manger” are a little easier to teach kids!

7. Read a Christmas book. Over the years we’ve collected a lot of Christmas books, and my favorites are the ones that teach my kids the true meaning of Christmas. My friend Susannah put together a great list of books, and I also love the book “Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas.”

8. Act out or read the nativity story. If you have enough kids and/or several stuffed animals or babies or Barbies, acting out the nativity story is a great way to get your kids to pay attention. If you don’t, just read it from the Bible! Sit down and read the whole thing (Luke 1 and 2) or even just a few verses (Luke 2:1-20). You can even give your kids different parts of a nativity to set up when they hear it mentioned in the story. That way they’ll pay attention better!

9. Give gifts to neighbors and friends. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but a nice plate of cookies, some homemade caramels (that’s what we do!), or even just a handwritten card saying “Merry Christmas” are all great ways to reach out to neighbors you might not normally talk to. Tell your kids that Jesus wanted us to be kind to everyone, and by giving a small gift to neighbors and friends, you’re showing your love for them!

10. Fill up an empty manger with straw each time you do some kind of service. I recently heard about this, and thought it was such a great Christ-centered Christmas tradition. You start with an empty manger (like this), and then each time you or someone in your family performs a service or does something kind (like making a family member’s bed, listening to Mom or Dad the first time, or picking up toys) they get to put a piece of straw into the manger. The idea is that you fill the manger with straw and make baby Jesus as comfortable as possible before Christmas comes. Even little kids can feel the excitement and love that comes from doing service when they get to put a piece of straw in!

11. Anything from the #LightTheWorld campaign. For the last few years, my church’s Christmas campaign has been called “Light The World.” Jesus Christ, also called the Light of the World, spent much of His ministry caring for individuals, one by one. The idea behind the campaign is that we follow His example and find ways to share our time, love, and resources with those in need. This year December is broken up into four weeks (Light The World, Light Your Community, Light Your Family, and Light Your Faith) and there’s even a free printable calendar with ideas of things you can do to help Light The World. Last year, there was a different theme each day so you could Light The World 25 ways in 25 days (that free printable calendar is here). Even if you’re not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it’s a great resource to help teach your kids the true meaning of Christmas!

12. Light an Advent candle and read a scripture each night. In college I took a class about ways different religions practice their beliefs in their homes, and one thing we learned about were Advent candles. They’re a special way to count down the days until Christmas, and it can be made even more special if you have a scripture to read each time you burn your candle. There are lots of different suggestions of scriptures to read each night (just search “Advent scripture readings”), but what really matters is that you are setting aside time each day to focus on Christ and his miraculous birth. Plus, lighting a candle always gets a kid’s attention!

The true meaning of Christmas can easily be forgotten with all we have going on and how commercial Christmas has become. But there are lots of simple, special ways that we can teach our kids the true meaning of Christmas. Try one (or two) of these ways, and the true meaning of Christmas won’t be missed by your kids!

Merry Christmas, mamas!

The post Teaching Kids the True Meaning of Christmas appeared first on Life With My Littles.