Family

Are you looking for gift ideas that also make a difference? All of the brands below allow you to also have a positive impact with your purchasing power. I like to look at these gift choices as gifts that give back. I personally feel so good when I can not only get a great gift for someone on my list while also knowing that a portion of my dollars spent on the purchase will go to help a good cause. If you’re looking for socially conscious gift ideas, check out some of my favorites below.

If you’re looking for a really easy gift idea, you can make this Christmas candy jar in minutes. I made this specifically as a cuter way to give someone a gift card. Instead of just giving them a gift card, I put it inside of the Christmas mason jar so it’s a bit of a gift with a surprise inside. Plus, who doesn’t love some candy?

On Veterans Day, my kids and I attended the first night of Disney Merriest Nites. This is a special after-hours event featuring 6 separate holiday parties. Tickets for this year are sold out, but if you were lucky enough to snag a ticket, here is what you can expect!

What is your favorite Thanksgiving pie? I like sweet potato, pumpkin, and apple too. But honestly, I do love pecan pie. I love how sweet it is and I love the texture combinations. I’ve made homemade pecan pie a few times, but never tried bite-sized ones or muffin-tin-sized ones. I decided to try both this past week. The mini-sized ones in the muffin-tin were the winners in my family. The normal muffin-tin-sized ones were my favorite for serving guests because they are so much prettier than the tiny ones. Either way, these mini pecan pies are so good and literally bite-sized.

My kids love doing crafts, especially to celebrate upcoming holidays. The other day after school, I asked the kids if they wanted to try this simple handprint turkey craft and they answered with a resounding yes. There is something about kids and handprints that are so endearing. It’s also fun to see their handprints grow over time. (We did this turkey handprint drawing way back in 2013 – Gigi wasn’t even around yet. Look at little Rocco’s hand!)

Have you experienced a time where you needed to advocate for your child? I think a lot of us have been raised to respect authority and not really questions decisions that affect our kids. However, I recently had an experience at my daughter’s gymnastics that got me thinking about how parents can advocate for their child. If you’ve ever wondered about how to advocate for your child, keep reading about my recent experience.

Do you have a favorite holiday side? My family loves it all, but sweet potatoes are always served at our holiday gatherings. This year, we wanted to try something new, so I made these roasted sweet potato stacks. They are a prettier way to serve sweet potatoes, and I personally think even tastier. These turned out even better than I expected because they are pretty and delicious.

Are you looking for an easy way to achieve an amazing Halloween makeup look with very little effort? Then you need to try face paint stencils. I recently received some in a press kit, so I had to try them out! The cheetah cat face stencils and the fairy makeup stencils, and both were so simple to use and turned out so cute! My daughter was upset with me that I didn’t include her in the face painting fun, so I’m going to test out some of the other stencils on her next weekend.

Organizational skills have always come easily to me, or so I thought. I never really thought about it, honestly. I’ve always been super organized, for as long as I can remember. But this past week, I had an epiphany. My son brought home a student planner provided by his school. Apparently, 3rd graders get planners so they can learn about writing daily to-do lists and keep their classwork organized. His teacher provided a bit of information about using planners and why it’s one of the great activities to teach organizational skills to your kids.