It’s birthday time, and your special girl deserves an equally special party! We’ve gathered 10 whimsical and fun birthday party themes to ring in her big day—and to celebrate a milestone that’s just as much about you, too. Whether you’re looking for something rustic and cozy or bright and sparkly, read on for tons of party inspiration to make the day memorable.
What are your favorite first birthday party themes? Let us know in the comments!
— Katie Brown
If you’re like most families, chances are your morning routine is far from ideal. Even with just one school-age minion to get ready in the morning, my process tends to be a frazzled, unorganized mess. I’m pretty good at the whole “failing to plan is planning to fail” thing.
The good news is that a little forethought can go a long way. There is hope for us yet! Check out these simple ways to make your mornings flow as smooth as hot coffee.
1. Get up earlier. (I’m talking to you, not the kids.)
Before you slap me silly for suggesting such an ungodly thing, hear me out. I’m not a morning person either, but getting up just 15 minutes before the rest of your crazy clan can make a world of difference. Sniff some lemon, have your coffee, do a few minutes of yoga, read a devotional – whatever you need to do to feel alert. For me, things tend to flow better when I’m fully awake than in half-asleep-crazy-eyed -grumpy-mama mode. You set the tone for the morning!
2. Do nightly prep.
Get as much as you can ready the night before. Have kids pack their backpacks, find their shoes, and place all by the door. They can lay their clothes out as well. Take it to the next level by storing clothes for the entire week in labeled drawers, with bags ready to go on top.
3. Stay on task with multiple alarms.
Alarms are good for more than just a wake-up call. Instead of hastily yelling out what your kids need to do next (when you’re not even sure yourself), set up alarms to go off throughout the morning. You can even record your voice – or better yet, your kids’ voices – and set as the alarm tones. (“Time to brush your teeth!” “Now get dressed!” etc.) They love to hear themselves (and are probably more likely to listen to their own voice than yours)! Also use your phone to set reminders for special days, events, and appointments. (Don’t be the one parent that forgets about pajama day!)
4. Provide visuals.
Another way to help kids get ready (hopefully independently) is to provide them with visual cues. They do better when they can actually see what they need to do. This DIY photo to-do box will help them get the job done. Morning routine cards are pretty genius, too.
5. Delay getting dressed.
Don’t have your little mess makers get dressed until AFTER breakfast and brushing teeth. Because they WILL spill milk all over their favorite shirt and you probably do NOT have time for the hell that is re-dressing! Plus, any day is fair game for a toothpaste disaster (most likely on picture day).
6. Master the make-ahead lunch.
Skip the messy sandwich-making in the morning – make sandwiches in bulk, store in the freezer, grab one and add to the lunchbox in the morning. It will thaw and be ready to eat by lunchtime. See this freezer sandwich how-to with tips on what freezes well and what doesn’t. You can also make convenient single-serving sides that stay fresh all week. Simply prep and store in Ziploc snack bags. This works well with carrots, celery sticks, cheese cubes, grapes, orange segments, berries, apples, etc. (For apples, dip slices in lemon juice first to prevent browning.) You can do the same with non-cold foods like popcorn, crackers, pretzels, and chips. If your kids are bored with the usual sandwiches and sides, check out these awesome make-ahead lunches.
7. Make breakfast a breeze.
Yep, another thing you can prep ahead! You’ve got plenty of fast choices with these brilliant breakfast ideas. But if you’re slacking in the planning department, make sure to keep backup breakfast items on hand like cold cereal, granola bars, fruit, etc.
8. Do a final check at the door.
Even if you’ve done everything right to ensure smooth sailing, it’s still easy for something to get left behind. So wait until they have all things on and in hand and then go through a checklist like this one posted at the door. No more forgotten homework or lonely lunches left on the floor!
So go conquer the mornings, my super-parent comrades. Get ready…get set…get organized!
What helps your family get going in the morning? Share your tips below!
Photo credit: GraphicStock. This post originally appeared on Parent.co
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LJ is on a mission to create fit mommas! She is a certified trainer, wife, mom of 3, and creator of Baby Boot Camp fitness system. A few of her favorite things include working out, getting stuck in yoga poses, and hiding to eat all the chocolate.
When you’re the parent of a toddler, there is never a dull moment! You’ve never laughed so hard, or felt this exhausted and rewarded. Here are 10 signs that you have a true toddler on your hands and are more than ready for a glass of wine (or two) at the end of the day.
1. It’s 7 AM and you’ve reheated your coffee about 5 times. In the end, you resign yourself to a cold cup of coffee or burn your tongue trying to gulp it down because you resolve to drink that cup of coffee before the morning is over, if it’s the last thing you do!
2. Your walls, fridge, and floors are constantly covered with fingerprints thanks to a mystery sticky substance. These fingerprints, also reside on windows, furniture, and any other item that you love and/or want to keep nice. If it’s not a sticky substance, it’s sand from the playground falling out of every pair of shoes that you own and your bra.
3. Tantrums happen FAST! One second you are laughing and playing and the next second, your toddler is lying on the ground like a limp strand of spaghetti screaming. These tantrums also happen at the most “convenient times” like a busy parking garage or the dressing room at Nordstrom. When you see another mommy with a toddler throwing a tantrum, you guiltily smile and sigh with relief and think, “thank God that’s not me”.
4. You wake up at 5:30 AM to get to the gym at 6:00 AM for a crazy 1-hour workout session in the dark. You’ve never been a morning person, and so going to the gym at 6 AM is a pretty tremendous feat. After the gym, you rush home to shower, either shave your legs or wash your hair (you can’t do both), brush your teeth, apply makeup and get dressed all before your toddler wakes up at 7:30 AM.
5. You’ve resigned to reading “The Pout Pout Fish” at least 15 times a day (if not more). You can recite it, and even find yourself dreaming about taking adventures with the Pout Pout Fish and Ms. Shimmer. You order “Pout Pout Fish In the Dark” because for some odd reason you personally can’t wait to read anther book in the series.
6. Going out to dinner on a Saturday night when you don’t have a sitter involves going out at 5:30 PM to a loud restaurant filled with other parents and kids. You inhale your food, ask for the check right away and give the other parents knowing glances. Before you know it, macaroni and cheese is being flung across the restaurant and crayons are scattered on the ground. You scoop up your toddler and run out the door making sure to leave a generous tip before your toddler explodes.
7. Your taste is music changes because the radio stations played in your house and the car consists of Raffi and Elizabeth Mitchell. Throughout the day, you hear yourself humming Apples and Bananas, The Wheels on the Bus, and Baby Beluga. You even start looking for Raffi tickets because in your new state of mind, you think it could be fun to see him live with your toddler.
8. You never go to the bathroom alone. There is always a little person by your side handing you toilet paper, saying “mommy, mommy” or throwing things into the bathtub. Or your husband, who wants to talk to you and tell you about his day while you’re trying to get five minutes of sanity!
9. Naps are a marathon! In the two hours your toddler is sleeping, you run around getting the house back in order, cook gourmet meals, fold laundry (never-ending), get in a quick workout and complete house organization project. Naptime ends and you wonder, “What did I do with my time before this child?” On the days that your toddler decides to hold a “nap strike”, you are absolutely miserable and will need an extra coffee run to keep up with your toddler and an extra glass of wine after an early bedtime.
Schedule10. The immense happiness that you get from this little creature is immeasurable! When she smiles, wraps her little arms around your neck for a hug or learns something new your heart melts. You are glad that the days are never dull and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
Shanna is a part-time elementary teacher, stay at home mommy to a toddler and a blogger. She blogs about a range of topics that help make juggling parenthood with a toddler a little easier. She loves to learn from her daughter and most of all laugh.
Schedule
With lazy summer mornings replaced by hectic “get everyone out the door” with two minutes to spare wake-up calls, we’re guessing you’ll need more than a cup of coffee to get your brood ready for the morning hustle. We spoke to savvy moms across the country to get their tips on how they conquer their mornings and get back into a groove once school starts. Read on for their tips and hacks, and then share what’s worked for your family in the comment section below.
1. Give Them Choices
Lisa Jackson empowers her kids to make their own choices in the morning. Get dressed or eat breakfast first? Brush teeth or put sunscreen on? By giving her kiddos choices, Lisa tells us that they’re more likely to quickly choose their marching orders and get everything done in time!
2. Stay Organized & Prep the Night Before
A lot of the savvy moms we spoke to said that their #1 rule for conquering stressful mornings is to stay organized by packing or laying out everything their kids need the night before. We know it’s often easier said than done, but we love this idea. Read below for each mom’s take on this morning tip.
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3. Give Them Their Own Shelf
Trial and error in her morning routine brought Dana Leigh to the realization that by giving her kiddos their own mud room shelf they’re able to keep the morning stress to a minimum. She tells us that each kid has his or her own shelf where all school supplies are kept, including backpacks, shoes, books and coats!
4. Play Tunes
Make your morning a dance party. With just the right tunes, your kids will be distracted by the lyrics and be moving and grooving in no time says Ken Kinzie and April Riehm. What songs would you add to your morning playlist?
5. Learn By Doing
If you have two littles at home take some advice from Erin Kreitz Shirey: have them learn by doing. Her older one lines up her own shoes, lunch and bag at the door before she brushes her teeth. And now, her littlest one does, too!
6. Designate School Shoes
Samantha McBride is all about designating one good pair of shoes just for school. That way her kids know what exactly they need to slip on their feet in the morning. Her extra bonus tip: Put ’em near their backpacks so it’s the last thing your kids do in the morning.
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7. Be Efficient
When you have maybe a dozen things to get done in a 15-minute window, you need to multi-task and be efficient, says Kendra Stanton. While her kids chow down on their morning breakfast, she brushes their hair.
8. Ask Your Kids to Dress Themselves
If Junior doesn’t like what you picked out for her to wear, let her choose her own outfits. That’s what Sara Olsher does with her daughter. In fact, her daughter is even responsible for cleaning up the big pile of rejected outfits that inevitably end up on the floor.
Thanks to their clever parents, these kids are for some awesome mornings. Plus, they’re doing it all in style, outfitted in KEEN Kids’ Encanto shoes. Love the shoes and want to get in on the fun? Click here to see KEEN’s newest collection of school-ready shoes and as an added bonus, get 15% off your order when you use code RedTricycle2016 at checkout. Offer valid July 29-Sept 20, 2016.
What other morning tips should we add to our story? Tell us how you conquer mornings in the comment section below.
Reason # 1, 863,067 that we love living in LA: anything goes, and that goes double for fashion. Edgy, beachy casual, hipster haute, runway ready—kids rock it all at from the school to the playground and all points in between. Click through our album to check out our favorite styles from Old Navy’s Spring Collection that take everyone from tots to tweens everywhere they need to go with the perfect mix of comfort, ease and style.
Stylish Yet So Simple
Daphne is rocking the oh-so-comfy Drapey Pant in peach with the cool sailor-ready blue Linen-Blend Stripe Top, and is ready to take on the world (#LikeAGirl) in an outfit that she can climb and tumble in as well as looking runway ready.
Travel Town, Here He Comes
Wear what you love! If he loves choo-choos, he’ll be happy to get dressed in this Train Graphic tee that Jack is sporting. With Pin Striped Painter’s shorts just long enough to protect little knees and kicks made for climbing, he’s ready to take over Travel Town—or any town!
Footloose and Fancy Floral
Vogue tells us this spring is all about the floral print, so Elena is right on trend, yet set to stroll the Strand by the sand in her casual but comfortable and chic Floral Sleeveless Top. With the cross-pattern blouse, keeping it simple with matching navy Poplin Shorts is the perfect call.
We Wish They All Could Be California Boys
Fashion, smashion. He couldn’t care less. Luckily, in LA jeans are welcome anywhere, so Jamie can wear his fashionable yet functional Boys Skinny Jeans to Little League in the morning, to a birthday party in the afternoon and even throw on a blazer for a family celebration dinner at Spago. And the soft Heathered Gray t-shirt is a classic neutral that lets him feel rough and tumble but look casually chic.
Which outfit is your fave?
-Meghan Rose
