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.

Ever since I saw charcuterie boards on Pinterest and Instagram, I’ve been intrigued. Not so much by the simplicity of a plate of meat, cheese, and fruit, but by the versatility. You can literally do anything with a charcuterie board!

With our decision to homeschool this year, I wanted to do something special that would still make Valentine’s Day fun for them. We aren’t handing out valentines or having a party or anything, but they’re still looking forward to the holiday.

I decided to surprise them with a kid-friendly Valentine’s Day charcuterie board for lunch! There are lots of kid-friendly foods that fit into the Valentine’s Day color scheme of pink, white, and red, and I knew they’d love sharing a tray of their favorite foods.

I went shopping by myself so the foods all stayed a surprise (and it was a treat for me!), and then the next day, I put this together for lunch! And yes, to be fair, we’re early and Valentine’s Day is still two weeks away, but that’s the life of a blogger.

I wanted to share my kid-friendly Valentine’s Day charcuterie board with you all, and give you a master list of foods you can add to your kids’ special lunch!

Kid-Friendly Valentine’s Day Charcuterie Board Food Ideas

Fruits and Veggies

Strawberries

Red grapes

Raspberries

Sliced red apples

Craisins

Raisins

Cherries

Plums

Cherry tomatoes

Sliced red bell peppers

Radishes

“Main Courses”

Chips and salsa

Mini waffles (I used cinnamon toast Eggos)

Heart-shaped PB&Js

Heart-shaped cheese ravioli and marinara (from Costco!)

Baby Bell cheese

Rolled deli meat (turkey, ham, chicken)

Pepperoni

Cheese slices cut into hearts

Crackers

Pink princess goldfish

Nuts

Pretzels

Bagel bites

Meatballs

Heart-shaped mini quesadillas

Surprisingly, my kids didn’t argue at all over who got what. I think the variety of foods was so exciting for them that they just had fun with it and were okay sharing with each other. They ate almost everything on the board, and didn’t complain that they were hungry for hours!

You could also do a small dessert board after, later in the day, or even just add a few special desserts onto your main charcuterie board. I had planned on putting it all on one, but I had so many good lunch things that I didn’t have room!

Desserts

Heart-shaped chocolates (like Dove)

Chocolate covered pretzels

Valentine’s Day M&Ms

Brownies

Cookies

Mini cupcakes

Rice Krispy Treats

Chocolate dipped-anything

This kid-friendly Valentine’s Day charcuterie board was a lot of fun, and I may have to make another one for our actual Valentine’s Day lunch! I do still have some leftover heart ravioli!!

The post Kid-Friendly Valentine’s Day Charcuterie Board appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Setting goals and trying to accomplish them is admirable. It’s an important part of how we grow.

But there’s something about New Year’s resolutions that bothers me.

On January 1st, the gym is always packed. People buy and cook healthier meals. They make plans to organize their home, learn a new skill, get more sleep, or spend less money. These are all great things, and they are done with the best of intentions.

But by February 1st, the gym is back to its normal level of business. People are back to eating fast food and processed meals. They may have organized one closet, bought a book to learn a new skill and put it on a shelf, gone to bed early a few nights in a row, or have gone back to their normal spending habits. And in addition to being back in their regular routine, there’s an added sense of guilt or failure.

No judgement to anyone who has found themselves in this situation. It’s good to make resolutions, but it’s also okay to not follow through with them all.

It’s okay to change them, postpone them, or even drop them.

And that’s my point.

The thing about resolutions is that sometimes, the resolutions we make, just aren’t feasible after a few weeks. Sometimes life happens and what was once achievable no longer is. Priorities change and you may not have time to accomplish or even interest in keeping your resolutions.

Our lives are so dynamic that we can’t possibly expect to make five resolutions in January and still be sticking to them all in December. So much can change that it’s not fair to put that kind of pressure on ourselves. Yes, we should make goals, but we need to give ourselves grace when we have to change those goals.

Too often we make a resolution and then feel guilty when we don’t stick to it. We drink too much caffeine or eat a cupcake or sleep in instead of going to the gym and we beat ourselves up over it, when in reality, it’s okay. We’re not perfect!

Instead, we should be flexible and set resolutions, or even better, goals, with the awareness that we may have to change them. That doesn’t mean we don’t try to keep them. We should just do our best and if something comes up, adjust.

This January, as you think about how you want to improve in the coming year, remember that nothing is set in stone. It’s great to want to learn a new skill, but if you end up not having the time, it’s okay. Wanting to be healthy is important, but if you can’t cut fast food out 100% or go to the gym in the morning, that’s fine.

It’s good to want to improve yourself, but it’s also okay to change your goals. And if that means rethinking or even dropping your resolutions in February, don’t feel bad. You can always start again!

The post The Thing About Resolutions appeared first on Life With My Littles.

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Once upon a time, New Year’s Eve meant staying up until midnight, celebrating with a big party, and kissing someone you love as the clock struck twelve.

Now, New Year’s Even means convincing your kids that 8 o’clock is actually midnight, celebrating the New Year with some yelling and cheering, putting them to bed, and then falling asleep on the sofa at 10:30pm watching Netflix while trying to make it to midnight.

Parenting changes things.

And yes, it’s true that New Year’s Eve with kids is different, but that certainly doesn’t mean New Year’s Eve can’t still be special and exciting!

No matter how little your kids are, there are fun things you can do to make New Year’s Eve a night to remember. I searched the internet for fun ideas, and narrowed it down to twelve easy New Year’s Eve activities to do with kids. I haven’t included any crafts or games or things that are too complicated for young kids, because there are other blog posts for that. This one is focused specifically on activities for younger kids!

All twelve of these ideas are ones I actually would like to do with my kids, and ones that I think they’d enjoy, so hopefully, you’ll want to do them, too!

12 New Year’s Eve Activities to do with Kids

1. Enjoy sparkling cider or another kind of sparkling juice.

My kids don’t ever get soda, so when they get something bubbly, they’re jazzed about it! If you trust your child to have an open cup, these plastic champagne flutes are a cute idea! Or you can just use a sippy cup!

2. Milk in a champagne glass with cookies.

How cute is this idea? If you don’t want your kids having a drink that might stain your carpet, serve milk and cookies in this fun way, instead! (source)

3. Watch a Netflix countdown.

One fun thing you can do with your kids is watch a New Year’s Eve countdown on Netflix! They create fun little countdown videos featuring characters from their favorite shows. Here’s the landing page for the 2019 videos (as of writing this, they aren’t up yet, but I’m sure they will be in the next few weeks). This is especially helpful if you’re trying to convince your kids that midnight is actually a few hours earlier.

4. Set up a balloon drop.

How fun would this be? I found this easy 5-step tutorial from Miss Mae’s Days that uses dollar store materials, so you’ll only spend a few bucks! My kids would LOVE to do this, and it could easily become a family tradition!

5. Watch a picture slideshow of your year.

What kid doesn’t like looking at pictures of themselves and people they know? I know there’s a slideshow feature on most phones that allows you to sit back and watch pictures saved to your phone. I’m sure there are also probably online resources that allow you to make slideshows, too. And bonus, you could even save the videos and have yearly videos to look back on in the future!

6. Set one goal or family resolution for the new year.

I know that babies or toddlers may not be super into this one, but as a family, it would be fun to come up with one goal or resolution that you want to do in the new year, even if it’s just take a trip or be kinder to one another.

7. Talk about your favorite memories from the year.

My kids love talking about things we’ve done together, so what better time to reminisce on the last year than on New Year’s Eve! It’s fun to look back and hear what everyone remembers!

8. Have a sleepover together.

My kids ask to have a sleepover with us every few weeks. Usually they involve lots of pillows and blankets and everyone falling asleep on the floor watching a movie. It’s not a big thing, but it’s fun because it’s different!

9. Set up a New Year’s Eve photobooth.

Get a tripod and your camera, or just use the self-timer feature on your phone, and gather around to take some fun pictures! These photobooth props from The Life of Jennifer Dawn are cute and would be easy to make!

10. Take down your Christmas ornaments and decorate a New Year’s Tree.

Use paper stars, balloons, ribbons, streamers, and any other fun party decorations you can round up. These 2020 swirls would be fun to add to the tree, as would this black, silver, and gold paper circle garland.

11. Pompom poppers.

I know fireworks would be doable in some places, but in most places, fireworks aren’t available (or doable) for New Year’s Eve. These kid-friendly pompom poppers from The Crafting Chicks are a fun alternative! And they’re a lot easier to clean up when you use pompoms rather than confetti like some poppers!

12. Draw pictures for a 2020 calendar.

I love doing personalized calendars, and what cuter way to get the kids involved than to have them draw the pictures for the calendar! You can have them draw whatever they’d like, or even have them draw according to the month. I’m planning on doing this and then scanning the pictures and making our calendar through a site like Minted (they have really nice, stylish calendars).

Celebrating the new year can still be a lot of fun when you have little kids! And while you may not make it all the way to midnight (#momlife), at least you can say you celebrated with your favorite people!

The post 12 Easy New Year’s Eve Activities to do with Kids 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!

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