Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Here's to a fantastic 2014!

How to Have a Perfect New Year's Eve with Kids

So you're lucky enough to be spending New Year's Eve with your kids - congratulations! Adult parties are sooooo over-rated, and really who needs to be out on Amateur Night?

If you're a parent, then you know you're better than late night drinking. If you have kids, chances are you've been known to drink early, and often. Who hasn't ordered a 7am mimosa with breakfast, because, quite frankly, it felt like at least 7pm.

But I digress... this isn't about what you could be doing instead on New Year's Eve, this is about what you are actually doing on New Year's Eve: spending a super-fun and memorable night with your beloved children.

As this is how I have spent each and every New Year's Eve for the last decade, here's my foolproof schedule for a perfect New Year's Eve with your kids:

6:00pm: Get ready for your night in! For girls, start with a mani-pedi, the more glittery the better, and finish with shimmery eye makeup and a fancy hairdo. Let them put on their fanciest and/or favorite-st outfit. For boys, nail polish and make-up is optional, but changing into some formal attire is not. My son has already announced he'll be wearing his Iron Man costume.

7:00pm: Dine in style! I'm a fan of the twelve course meal, with each one written out in a menu that's in the shape of a clock, but I also have a lot of time on my hands. If you haven't the desire to make an elaborate menu, let alone meal, any festive meal is a fabulous and perfect way to start the night. We usually have dinner now, and dessert later... 'cause midnight is still six hours away.

8:00pm: Get paper and pen, because it's time to write some heartfelt memories! There are lots of great printables to help with this, but really you don't need a pre-made template. Have the kids write a Top 10 list of favorite things they did in 2013, record all their activities, the best place they traveled, what they like to eat the most, and what their goals are for the year ahead. For a fun twist, have your kids interview you, and each other, investigative reporter style.

9:00pm: Dessert! One year I made a cupcake clock (pictured above, directions here), another time we had cookies decorated like clocks. There's no end to the fun dessert ideas, just take a glance at Pinterest if you need some inspiration. And of course, candy or grapes in multiples of twelve are always a big hit with the littles.

10:00pm: Party like it's New Year's Eve! Turn up the volume and have a dance party, play games, watch videos you recorded in the past year or have the kids perform. End the hour by winding down and reading favorite books and have the kids get into their pajamas.

11:00pm: Get ready for the big moment! Start the countdown now. The little people will more likely than not be acting like tiny terrors by now, so keep the busy. I make five little kits of surprises and toys to keep them happy during the last hour, and the kids open one every ten minutes from 11:00pm to 11:50pm.

11:50pm: Make a Toast! Give the kids as super-special drink for the midnight toast. Sparking apple juice in a champagne flute or warm apple cider in a mug, anything works. Go the extra Pinterest mile if you want with rainbow drinks or cotton candy sodas. When in doubt, add a crazy straw or for a super wow-factor throw in a light-up ice cube.

We give our kids tiny bottles of bubbles to blow as the clock chimes 12, and is a perfectly magical way to bring in a new year and wave goodbye to the old. Also, bubbles in toddler hands make much less noise than do noisemakers.

MIDNIGHT!!!!! You made it! Has anyone puked? Fallen down the stairs? Sent a regrettable drunken text? If not, give yourself a hand on a New Year's Eve gone good.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

 

 

Happy everything in 2013!

The Three Best Catalog Reviews of 2012!

Resolution for 2013 -
Less catalogs, more Us Weekly!

It's the time of year when it seems just about every site is offering up their picks for the Best of 2012. So, here's mine: the three best catalog reviews of 2012!

The Pottery Barn catalog fantasy is compared to reality in the Mommyologist's The Pottery Barn Catalog is a Bigger Buzz Kill Than Size Zero Celebrities.

The Pottery Barn Kids catalog gets real at A Very PBK Christmas from The Fordeville Diaries.

The Williams-Sonoma catalogue is delightfully dissected in The Hater's Guide to the Williams-Sonoma Catalog on DeadSpin.com.

So there you have it, my picks for the three best catalog reviews of 2012!

Oh, and one more. Not a catalog review, but if you haven't seen the product reviews for The Hutzler 571 (it's a banana slicer), they're really pretty awesome.

Not only can The Hutzler 571 slice bananas, it can even be a Christmas tree ornament!



Image from Amazon.com

What's more festive than that?

Just in case you're wondering, no I was definitely not compensated for anything mentioned in this post.

What's your Best of 2012?

Egg Nog + Chocolate Liqueur = Best Holiday Drink Ever

I'm not a big drinker, but this really is the Best Holiday Drink Ever.

Just two ingredients:

Egg Nog

Image from MarthaStewart.com

Chocolate Liqueur (I'm a big fan of Godiva)



Image from TheBar.com

Mix, stir and drink!

Happy Holidays!

For lots more egg nog creations, check out the board Egg Nog-rific on Pinterest.

Five Fun Ways to Celebrate New Year's Eve with Kids

Another New Year's Eve is almost here, and I'm hoping to celebrate with my kids in a way that works out better than last year's epic fail - spoiler alert: if you give sugary mocktails and noisemakers to eight toddlers, no amount of champagne will make your night turn out OK.

This year instead of relying on my own craft fail-esque ideas, I've consulted the experts on Pinterest.

Here are five ideas for fun ways to celebrate New Year's Eve with kids:

• Have an awesome New Year's Toast. There are so many truly inspired ideas, a few of my favorites are to serve rainbow drinks, cotton candy Shirley Temples, or milk and cookies in a champagne flute.

Pinterest via Anna Sandler via Sara Coys

• Take fabulous photos. Kids can wear their favorite formal wear, or you can provide fun dress-up options like hats, boas, sunglasses or these fantastic mustache props for photo ops.

Via Pinterest

• Make the countdown count. Count down the hours with numbered balloons which when popped reveal a note with a fun activity, or make countdown bags filled with fun stuff. You could also create a gigantic balloon drop to mark the arrival of 2013.

• Write a few memories. There are lots of free printables to choose from, including ones for younger kids to record their memories or older ones to write their 2013 goals. You could also decorate a jar to be filled with memories made throughout the coming year. Read them all on next New Year's Eve 2013. 

• Let them stay up until midnight. Yeah, real midnight. Not some fake midnight at noon or some "8pm is the new midnight" bullshit. Just let the kids stay up till midnight. Honestly, how many New Year's Eves will there be when the kids will be content to watch TV and hang out with their parents? Enjoy these few years when a late bedtime is enough for it to be the Best. New. Year's. Ever.

For lots more ideas, visit New Year's Fun for Kids on Pinterest. And if you have ideas for amusing the children on New Year's Eve, please share them below!

Happy New Year!

Holiday Book Giveaway! Win "Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat" **Giveaway Closed**

The Giveaway is now closed! Congrats to the winner King J's Queen!

I will admit that my mom lifestyle with-a-side-of-blogging leaves very little time for reading real, actual books.

Which is too bad, because I really like to read real, actual books instead of pecking away night after night at my virtual trough.

So I was delighted to receive a review copy of Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch In the Throat, the hilarious new book from Jen of the similarly titled blog, People I Want to Punch in the Throat.

Jen covers all of the hot areas of holiday drama and comedy, with chapters that dissect the annual holiday cookie exchange (her thoughts on the whole thing are succinctly summed up in the chapter title, You Can Keep Your Cookies, I'm Just Here for the Booze), photos with Santa, humble brag Christmas letters, and her most well-known rant, how she really feels about Over Achieving Elf on the Shelf Mommies.

Want your own copy? You can buy the book here AND.... one lucky winner will receive an autographed copy!

To enter, just leave a comment below with your favorite (or least favorite) holiday tradition.

For extra entries (leave a comment letting me know you like/follow or already like/follow):
- Like People I Want to Punch in the Throat on Facebook
- Like Random Handprints on Facebook
- Follow Jen @Throat_Punch on Twitter
- Follow me @Anna_Sandler on Twitter

Enter now! Giveaway closes at 9:00pm EST on Tuesday, December 18, 2012.

Small print:
Contest open to U.S. residents age 18 and over. Contest ends at 9:00pm EST, Tuesday, December 18, 2012. Winners will be randomly selected via Random.org and announced here as well as emailed with the good news. Entrants must provide contact information in their comment. If winner does not respond within twenty-four hours, a new winner will be selected. I was not compensated for this post or for promoting this giveaway. I did receive a review copy of the book.

Good luck and happy holidays!

Our Most Excellent New Year's Eve

We had a super-fun New Year's Eve day today. First, we braved going for dim sum in suburban New Jersey. There is was, China Gourmet, a non-descript and ramshackle building with two crumbling lions standing guard out front. The parking lot was empty, and we almost didn't go in.

Thank goodness we didn't turn back. Because the Golden Panda has totally Chinatown-quality dim sum. The parking lot was even packed by the time we left. So for all of you who thought good dim sum in the suburbs was the thing of myth, I can tell you... it's not.

Then we took the kids for "ice cream" - which was really frozen yogurt at Red Mango. They were super-happy.

Once it was night out (which my son calls medium-dark) we went on a tour of the holiday lights around town ending up at a surprise destination, which we managed to pull-up to at the exact right time - just as the fireworks started. We let the kids stand-up and watch them out the sunroof and they were flipping out at how cool it was. The huz and I were quite pleased too - it's not often we get to keep a surprise from our three kids.

Now we're back home, hanging out and watching TV. I promised the two big girls they could stay up till midnight. The rational part of me knows this will not seem like the best idea tomorrow when they're tired and cranky.

But the even more rational part of me knows there aren't too many more New Year's Eves the kids are gonna want to spend with their mom, even with the promise of watching fireworks out the sunroof.

And now if you'll excuse me, my daughters tell me it's time now to dress-up to watch the ball drop.

Happy New Year!

Note: Post totally uncompensated in case it sounded otherwise with the Golden Panda and Red Mango mentions.

My Twitter-Inspired New Year's Resolutions for 2011



Image from The Graphics Fairy

I think we all know anything worth saying can be said in 140 characters or less, so in keeping with this, I'm relying on tweets by strangers to bring me to a healthier, more prosperous, and happier new me in the New Year.

Here, I present, my twitter-inspired New Year's Resolutions.

1. Just because it made it to a grocery store shelf doesn’t mean we should feed it to our children. (Retweeted by @TimeOutMom, Tweeted by @NourishMD)

I hear this tweet in my head now when I go to the grocery store and I'm about to buy some packaged garbage - even when it's garbage trying to masquerade as health food. So 2011, this is the year I start eating better myself, and feeding my kids better. I've wanted to do this for a long time, and this is the year my family really does get serious about eating better. Top of my list, to stop eating processed food made in a factory. I'm going to be that mom who makes homemade granola bars, applesauce, even dried fruit bars.

2. Two years ago on The Happiness Project: Make your bed. Surprisingly powerful.
(Tweeted by @gretchenrubin)

I proclaim 2011 Make Your Bed year in our household. So far in my life, I have never been a bed-maker.  Surprisingly (or not surprisingly) my husband and I are in total agreement that making the bed is a total waste of time - it's just going to get messed-up again! We never make our kids make their beds, either. But for this year, I'll give it a try. And I'll ask my kids to give it a try, too. We'll make our beds every day, not just when company's coming over. Let's see if it has a profound impact on our lives.... or not.

3. The average American loses 1 hour per day searching for misplaced objects.
(Tweeted by @JulieMorgenstrn)

Oh my. If this average American spends an hour a day looking for stuff, how much time must I be spending, when I am a total slob? And have three kids- with lots of stuff they are always asking me to find. So this year, I'm cleaning-up the house. I'm throwing the backlog of stuff out. And moving forward, I'm going to be one of those people who adheres strictly to the one-thing-in, one-thing-out rule. For real. Oh yeah, and kids, you're following the rule, too. If you want a new Barbie, stuffed animal, puzzle or other consumery item you already have twenty of, one of 'em is gonna go....

And my final resolution.,..
4. Tweet less. This last resolution wasn't inspired by a specific tweet, but by the beast that is Twitter itself. I just started using Twitter two months ago, and already I have succumbed to its evil powers. Before Twitter, I never worried how much time I spent online. Now, I do.  I sneak Tweet-peeks here and there, whereas prior to Twitter-oholism, I kept a strict no phone/computer/TV rule when I was with my kids. But I'm reinstating the rule. Twitter, you'll have to find a way to live without me most of the time. But don't worry, I'll be back as always after the kids are asleep. And New Year's Eve, we'll always have that.

Happy New Year everyone! What are your resolutions?

Brittney & Jeanette go to the movies: A look back to New Year's Eve 2009

Here is it New Year's Eve, and I'm home blogging about chipmunks. But honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way because I have such a tale of Mother's pride to share with all of you.

Earlier this week we took the girls to see the new Chipmunks movie, and I am serious when I say I couldn't be prouder of my kids then when they told me they wanted to dress-up like the Chipettes (the girl chipmunks) for our screening of Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 - The Squeakquel.

Magpie and Kay spent the entirety of the morning prior to our early afternoon showtime prepping and primping like a bunch of gay guys off to see Madonna play Evita in the mid-1990s.

Here are the girls at the theater:

Kay with her chipmunk ears

And the fabulous Chipettes themselves.

I think Magpie channelled Jeanette (in the purple) incredibly well, whereas Kay who is not always one to be the front man of the band, really seemed to step-up and make an absolutely believable Brittney (for those of you who haven't seen the film yet, she's the chipmunk in the pink).

Again, let me mention, prouder I could not be.