How do you improve the traditional gingerbread house? Make it haunted, for one, then swap the gingerbread for OREOs! If you’re sold on this idea, you can buy a kit now at Michaels just in time for Halloween festivities.
This festive OREO Spooky Graveyard Chocolate Cookie Kit comes with prebaked chocolate cookies and premade icing, so creating your scene is a snap. Of course, it also includes plenty of OREOs in regular and mini form, plus orange and purple candy jewels and bats for decorating.
You can write your own haunted messages on the included tombstones and add plenty of flair to the attached haunted house. There’s even a skeleton and jack o lantern included on the packaging to cut out for added décor! The kit is currently on sale for only $10 at Michaels, so add it to your cart today.
You know it’s called The Big D and that it’s home to the Cowboys, but there are plenty of fun facts about Dallas and the surrounding metroplex we bet will surprise you! From being home to the world’s tallest cowboy to actually inventing the frozen margarita, here are 15 fun facts about Dallas you might not know.
2. 7-11 opened its first location in Dallas and is still headquartered here today.
3. The biggest Christmas tree in the country can be found inside the Galleria Mall.
4. The largest model train exhibit in the country is on permanent display in the lobby of Dallas’ Children’s Medical Center
5. Barney, the purple dinosaur every parent loved to hate was filmed in Dallas. The show is also where Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato got their first start.
6. Dallas was home to the infamous Bonnie and Clyde.
7. The term “Super Bowl” was coined by Dallas resident and AFL founder Lamar Hunt.
8. The Dallas Public Library displays one of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence.
9. Famous musicians from DFW include Steve Miller, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Erykah Badu, Nora Jones, ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill, The Chicks, Stephen Stills, Usher and Meat Loaf.
10. The Texas State Fair's Big Tex is the tallest cowboy in the world.
It’s the worst when the last flower on your bouquet finally bites the dust and you have to toss them all in the trash. Well, thanks to Love Pop, you can enjoy this bouquet all year long!
Disney’s Hocus Pocus Spellbinding Bouquet ($26) starts out as a card fit for the Sanderson sisters, then unfolds into a purple and orange “floral” centerpiece. Above the purple vase and amidst the black vines lie the Sandersons holding the Manual of Witchcraft and Alchemy next to a bottle of magical green life potion.
Once unfolded, The Hocus Pocus Spellbinding Bouquet measures 10.25 inches tall by 7.5 inches wide, making it the perfect size for your dining room table or your desk. Because it starts out as a card, shipping is also a breeze!
You can find this boo-tiful bouquet at lovepop.com.
Your little kid-o-saurus is ready for some hands-on action this afternoon but you aren’t equipped with a crafter’s closet. No worries, we weren’t either, but this dinosaur egg project is so easy, you won’t need much more than a few eggs. Read on for the complete how-to.
This crafting tip is sponsored by Squeakee the Balloon Dino! Part dino, part balloon animal and part breakdancer, this giant toy is a must-have for any dino lover. It has over 70 sounds and reactions, including chompin’, stompin’ and even dancin’!
You’ll Need:
Three glass cups
Hard-boiled eggs
Food coloring (red, green and blue works best)
Water
Instructions:
Step one: Hard boil your eggs. We know there’s a lot of methods and theories on how to make the best hard-boiled egg. Use whatever works for you, but we found that this way renders great results.
Step two: Once your eggs are cool crack them all over. It’s ok if there are pieces missing.
Step three: Add water to your cups just enough to cover your eggs.
Step four: Add food coloring to each cup–we measured out about 5 drops. If you’re feeling extra imaginative feel free to make your own colors like mixing red and blue to make purple.
Step five: Drop one cracked egg into each of your cups.
Step six: Let your eggs sit for a few hours in the refrigerator. If you’re feeling extra patient allow them to sit in the dye overnight. The longer the eggs sit in the cups the bolder the colors on your dino eggs.
Step seven: Carefully drain the water in the sink and pull out your egg. Peel the outer shells off the hard-boiled egg. Mom and Dad might need to help with this step.
Step eight: Ta-da! You have a set of dino eggs. We set ours up with some pet dinosaurs. Psssst…if the colors don’t weird you out, the dinosaur eggs also make great egg salad sandwich ingredients!
Don’t forget to bring their best dino-friend home! Whether your little one is into Tyrannosaurus or Brontosaurus, they’ll love Squeakee the Balloon Dino!
A special thanks to the blog, Our Best Bites for inspiring us to make these eggs!
Neon dolphins leaping to the sky, rainbow-hued unicorns frolicking and the cutest little leopards you ever did see. If the previous sentence reminded you of Lisa Frank and you suddenly started missing the design icon of the ’90s, you’re in luck. Now you can show your Lisa Frank love with the newest collection from ORLY, featuring a dazzling range of wraps and polish!
Your nails are in for a real treat. To get started, snag one of the two polish trios that come in collectible packaging. Choose your combo of Dancing Dolphins (magenta, yellow and orange) or Markie (cyan, purple and lime) for the ultimate 90’s vibe.
Of course, those hands need some extra pizazz. Fortunately you can also buy two new topcoats, Hits the Spot or Star Glaze. The former packs colorful confetti and the latter promises a glittery shine, perfect for layering on top of your neon nails.
Last but certainly not least, check out these nail wraps! Choose from unicorns, aliens, baby leopards or tigers, all in fantastic neon colorways. They’re non-damaging adhesive and safe for natural nails. At only $11.99 each, you might want to buy them all!
Your mani will definitely be the talk of the next book club or school drop off. All thanks to this nostalgic new collection from ORLY!
Time to fall in love with a new collection! Joanna Gaines’ ever-popular Hearth & Hand line just dropped a myriad of new products at Target. Starting at under $4, it’s an affordable way to do a little seasonal redecorating.
If it’s time to go a bit bigger, check out the Shaker Dining Bench with Curved Back for a statement piece in the kitchen. It seats two people, it’s made of wood and it’s $199.99. Or grab one of the new cozy blankets just in time for chilly nights. The Color Block Stripe Throw Blanket adds a pop of pizazz and comes in three different combinations!
For even more design inspo, Joanna Gaines personally curated a list of her favorite products in the collection. Happy browsing!
My mother was so excited for her son and son-in-law that she continuously sent package after package of new clothes to our house. Week after week they came, each filled to the brim to show just how much she loved her new granddaughter.
Newborns do not stay small for long, and with piles of new clothes forming I found some time to go to the store and exchange some items for some bigger sizes. I packed the multiple bags of pink, purple, and pink/purple pants and shirts into my car, excited at the prospect of getting some greens, yellows, and grays into my new daughter’s wardrobe.
I walked into the store and quickly learned about the “boys” and “girls” sections: girls were meant to wear three colors: pink, purple, and pink/purple. Dresses and shirts were adorned with phrases such as “World’s Best Mom” or “Mom Knows Best.”
Across the aisle in the boys’ section, I saw gray pants, green sweatshirts, black vests, and superheroes. Lots of superheroes. Absent were any “World’s Best Dad” or “Dad Knows Best” shirts, let alone clothes with designs and slogans geared toward kids rather than parents.
After repeated trips to the store to make exchanges—my mom’s packages kept coming—I quickly developed a strategy to find the clothes I want: Ignore the sections; pick eye-catching colors; and get clothes that fit my daughter’s developing personality. As a parent of a child with two Dads the same sentences went through my head every time I went to that store: “Right. I’m different here too.”
Being a new parent is hard. You’re quickly confronted with lots of decisions and few people to help you navigate them. You are also confronted with all the stereotypes and prescribed narratives that come along with being a “mom” or a “dad.” As a gay man, I was used to creating my own narrative. I realized that now, as a gay adoptive parent with my husband, we would have to chart our own course.
And here’s what I realized: Past experiences figuring it out on my own set me up to feel totally comfortable crossing that aisle from the girls’ to boys’ section in the store: I’ve dressed in drag, I like the color pink, and why would I ever let a clothing store dictate to me what was in my closet, let alone my kid’s closet!?!
One thing that’s clear with kids is that they see the world differently than we do. They take things less seriously and like to play. So why not encourage that through their clothing? Why not make fashion an enabler of expressing who they are rather than telling them they have a limited sandbox in which to play?
We have been lucky to be in a generation where more and more we see boys running around in dresses and girls wearing all black. We love seeing kids play with gender, mixing and matching styles that speak to them rather than the outside world. We love the freedom that comes from picking clothes the same way we pick our food at the supermarket: choose what nourishes you and your body. Food is meant to be enjoyed, mixed and matched, played with through new and old recipes. Clothes should be too.
Eventually my mother’s boxes of clothing stopped coming—our daughter passed age 8 and she was ready to choose her own clothes. She is still amazed when we shop for pants and remembers history books that talk about women being admonished for wearing pants. She asks: “Why would anyone care? Who made those rules?” Good questions!
Our kids are ready to have playful fashion that matches their ability to see each other as people, not strictly as boys or girls who fit into a box. Let’s take that box, shake it out on the floor, and mix and match until our kids pick what they want to wear. Everything ends up dirty in the laundry machine anyway!
Elizabeth Brunner is a San Francisco-based designer and the founder of StereoType, a gender-free, style-forward kids clothing brand that’s designed to celebrate individuality and freedom of self-expression by blending traditional ideas of boys’ and girls’ wear. StereoType combines style, design and comfort to inspire creativity, individuality and freedom of expression.
During lockdowns, because of COVID, both parents seem to be more accessible at home because a lot more people are working remotely. But what does this mean for the future of child custody battles? Turns out, according to Jacqueline Newman, author of The New Rules of Divorce, it could impact custody battles a lot more and here’s why:
“Truth be told,I think that there has been a shift, at least the beginning of one, already, before COVID struck. The every other weekend and Wednesday dinner custody schedules were already becoming a thing of the past. Many more non-primary custodial parents were asking for more and more time. Maybe it was not always 50-50 because of the work schedules, and because of the fact that they were not as involved in the day-to-day routines of their child, but it was pretty close.
But now, after COVID? I think the shift is going to be much more extreme. We are 100% at a point where the question is now asked, “Why isn’t it 50-50?” One of the big claims that the primary custodial parent would often make would be that the non-primary custodial parent did not know the day-to-day routines of the child. They did not know that Sally only drew with purple crayons, and Bobby would only eat sandwiches if they were cut in perfect circles. They did not know these little idiosyncrasies of their child because they just were not home all of the time to learn them.
However, now, for the last year and a half, many parents have both been home. Now we have many parents that might have previously traveled a lot or had to work late and attend work dinners that did not do that during COVID—everybody was home. So, now, both parents are so much more involved in the daily routines of their children. They both know that the math homework is due on Tuesdays, that Cindy does not like her social studies teacher, and that the Sami only likes her pasta without sauce—they know all the little ins and outs. People have been having family dinners together again. I will speak for myself—pre-COVID, my husband and I, would often not be be home for dinner with our children every night. We are both attorneys and often at least one of us would be working a late night. But now, for the last year and a half, we have basically eaten dinner together with our children every single night. And it is something that I did not give nearly enough credit to as being such valuable family time previously. However, I do now.
The fact is, now, when we are moving forward in custody battles, I think a lot of the historical arguments of, “He/She doesn’t know everything,” or “Hasn’t done it before” is just going be thrown out the window. Now you are going have parents that have both done everything. Everyone is changing diapers, everyone is doing sugar cube igloo projects and everyone is more attuned to the likes and dislikes of their children.
Now, I think when both parents want 50-50, I think that the question will be “Why not?” I also think it is going be a very hard pill to swallow for certain parents that may have sacrificed careers, and/or have dedicated their entire lives to their children as being the primary caretaker, to be told that the other parent is going have possible 50% of the parenting time is going be very upsetting. It is also important to note that in many states, the amount of days you have with a child can impact child support (not in New York). Therefore, the repercussions are not just the emotional but also have financial implications.
2022 is going to be a very interesting year when it comes to custody litigation and I expect there will a significant shift in terms 50/50 parenting time.”
Jacqueline Newman is a divorce lawyer and matrimonial law expert. As managing partner of a top-tier 5th Avenue Manhattan law firm focused exclusively on divorce, her practice runs the gamut from prenups for high net worth people contemplating marriage to high conflict matrimonial litigation in dissolutions.
I’m writing this as I watch the peach, purple and blue sunrise over the mountains and through a community of Aspen trees that envelope our little cabin in Fairplay, Colorado. Our faithful dog, Harry is by my side and my family is sleeping peacefully. Tomorrow, I’ll be flying my kids, Lily Love (4 years) and Bear (1 year) back home to New York, while my husband James starts his cross country journey home with a truck full of clothes, toys and his four-legged best friend.
It’s been a month here in the mountains and I can safely say, it’s been the greatest time of my life. We, as a family journeyed here, connected to ourselves, each other and all the beauty around us. We became a more loving family and are now ready to spread that loving energy, like mists of powdery snow, sparkling all around.
Was it easy? Hell no. But nothing great ever is.
My husband and I have worked very hard for a lifestyle that allows us to work remotely. We both have our own businesses and an amazing support team that allows us to make this great escape. We purchase our Epic ski season passes 6 months in advance and rent a sweet little cabin deep in the woods, thanks to VRBO, where we negotiated a discounted rate for the longer stay. The cabin is about an hour outside of the Breckinridge Ski Mountain, making our stay more affordable and the drive to and from is nothing short of awe-inspiring.
While here, our daughter, Lily Love learned to ski and now loves the sport, weaving fearlessly in and out of trees. She went from crushing the bunny slope to being able to tackle groomed black diamond runs. She amazes us and has blown any expectations out of the water—children have a way of doing that.
Our son, Bear had his first experience skiing and although it took us almost 2 hours to get down the slope, due to his tiny skis falling off the chairlift, lots of picking up and resetting and a long, luxurious hot cocoa break, he did it and must have said “woaahhhh” a dozen times. My husband and I didn’t ski together once, as we took turns with our kids but that was perfectly fine, as it was incredible to witness the profound learning going on and to finally see our family having fun together and simply loving this beautiful life together. It was and will be a gift that never stops giving.
Even though my daughter proclaims her favorite moments were “swooshing” and eating Skittles on the chairlift, my favorite moments were far simpler. My son, who used to sleep in a crib, now loves snuggling up close to his big sister in a big bed and we now all enjoy stargazing under a “blanket of stars.” Lily Love’s favorite toy this whole trip was a giant icicle that grew bigger than her off the side of our cabin.
And more than anything, I was able to understand and appreciate what an amazing father my husband is and to see him become the best version of himself when given the time and space. That, to me is the greatest gift of all—allowing myself and my family the sacred opportunity to be, just be.
To play, to relax, to wander, to push the limits and to do something differently. To do it our way.
I’m a beauty hunter, a dreamer, a learner and a doer. I'm also a mama to 2 wild ones (Lily Love + Bear). As a self proclaimed forest fairy + forest school founder, I believe in nature and magic and know that growth happens when you step outside of your comfort zone.
For kids who use wheelchairs, regular backpacks are anything but practical. Fortunately, Target’s expanded array of back-to-school items features an adaptive backpack with plenty of mounting options, pockets and ports, plus easy-grab zippers. It’s new this year and available for $39.99 online!
At 17 inches, the Embark backpack has been thoughtfully designed for school or adventure time. The mounting and carrying straps attach the pack to a wheelchair, and it has tuck-away back straps to prevent tangling and dragging. You’ll also find access ports for tubes or cables, plus a laptop sleeve designed to fit a machine up to 15 inches. Plus it completely unzips for easy access and features a side water bottle holder. Grab one in black, blue or purple, depending on your kid’s style preference.
Another great option for younger kids? The Cat and Jack 17 inch dino backpack! It offers many of the same features as the Embark model, plus a fun prehistoric print and an orange dino keychain to complete the look. There’s even a built-in compartment to add a hydration pack. Did we mention it’s a reasonably priced $19.99? It’s currently (unsurprisingly) sold out online, but keep an eye out for restocking.
The new products are part of Target Adaptive, made in collaboration with guests of all abilities. The special collections offer seasonal and everyday products that are stylish, functional and come at a great price.
