We all love a day with IKEA news and this news is extra adorable! The beloved Swedish retailer has dropped this year’s SAGOSKATT collection, limited-edition soft toys that have been designed by kids for kids. Even better, they bring kids’ imaginative drawings to life.
Each year IKEA holds an annual soft toy drawing competition and this year, more than 66,000 drawings worldwide were entered for consideration. Judges selected the five most original creations to be turned into real toys. This year’s winners are “Sandwich friends,” “Cat,” “Fried egg,” “Mermaid dog” and “Bird.”
The U.S. winner, 10-year-old Nick, shared a little insight into his silly stuffed bird. “I drew a prehistoric dodo bird that looks goofy with his tongue sticking out. If we were to do math together, he’d say in his dorky voice: I can’t count.”
The soft toys are available to buy now online and in stores for $4.99 each. From October 1, 2021 through February 1, 2022, IKEA will donate 100% of the retail price from the purchase of each SAGOSKATT soft toy to Save the Children’s relief and recovery efforts in the United State
Howdy neighbor! Good ones are hard to beat and Neighbor.com wanted to find the cities with the best of the best. After weighing charitable giving, volunteering, happiness and more, one clear winner rose to the top.
Madison, Wisconsin claimed the number one spot, probably because it’s also ranked the #1 Happiest City in America! It also leads the nation in nonprofits per 100,000 residents. Neighbor.com reports that Madisonians spend plenty of free time volunteering and performing kind acts for neighbors.
Here’s the full list of the Top 25 Most Neighborly Cities:
Madison, Wisconsin
Rochester, New York
Portland, Oregon
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Des Moines, Iowa
Washington, D.C.
Boston, Massachusetts
Seattle, Washington
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Raleigh, North Carolina
San Jose, California
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Salt Lake City, Utah
Spokane, Washington
Oxnard, California
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Indianapolis, Indiana
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Durham, North Carolina
Provo, Utah
Baltimore, Maryland
San Francisco, California
To compile the list, Neighbor.com considered factors like charitable giving and volunteering, as well as happiness, low crime rates and where non-profits thrive. They also surveyed 1,000 people around the country and asked what it meant to be a good neighbor. 29 percent said they hang out with their neighbors weekly and most people (65.8%) have at least 2 neighbors they can rely on to help out when they’re out of town.
If you’re curious how this year’s rankings compared to 2020, you can read the full report online. Cheers to good neighbors everywhere!
—Sarah Shebek
Featured image courtesy of Edward Cisneros, Unsplash
What happens when you lock top pastry chefs into a deserted Hersheypark? A brand new chocolatey show for the whole family! Chocolate Meltdown: Hershey’s After Dark is coming to a screen near you on September 27 and it’s part of the Food Network’s biggest Halloween lineup yet.
Hosted by Sunny Anderson, chefs will compete to create amazing chocolate showpieces over four episodes. The twist? The competitors also have to solve clues, brave Hersheypark’s rides and use Hershey’s sweets for their creations. The episodes clock in at an hour long and the judges are Ralph Attanasia (Food Network’s Buddy vs. Duff) and Maneet Chauhan (Winner, Tournament of Champions).
“This brand-new series, the first ever to film overnight inside Hersheypark and Hershey’s Chocolate World, is a viewer’s ultimate Halloween fantasy brought to life,” said Courtney White, President, Food Network and Streaming Food Content, Discovery Inc. “Our partnership with the iconic candy brand and the show’s no-holds-barred access to rides, sweets, and everything Hershey, Pa. offers, makes Chocolate Meltdown: Hershey’s After Dark an addictive new highlight to our supersized Halloween lineup.”
In the first episode, pastry artists find themselves in the park on a rainy night, but that doesn’t slow them down. After taking a spin one on of Hersheypark’s infamous rides, they enter Chocolate World to conquer giant slabs of chocolate and mounds of Hershey candy. Intrigued? Tune into the Food Network on September 27 at 10 p.m. ET to watch the premiere!
Mama Knows Best: Mama Cozzi’s Pizza Kitchen Take and Bake Deli Pizza*
Little Fan Favorite: Happy Farms String Cheese*
Sip & Celebrate: PurAqua Belle Vie Sparkling Flavored Water*
Dinner Delight: Fresh Family Pack Chicken Breasts
Keeping it Fresh: Strawberries* *Denotes repeat winner
It’s no secret that ALDI shoppers are big fans of the store’s low prices and wide selection of high-quality foods. More than 360,000 shoppers have voted over the last three years.
The Mama Cozzi’s Pizza line earned its own category this year, after being the overall fan favorite in 2020. And it’s still a winner: The brand’s Kitchen Take and Bake Deli Pizza was a top vote-getter this year, with more than 45,000 votes.
Among kid favorites, three-time champion Happy Farms String Cheese earned more than 50% of the votes in its category this year, winning by a landslide.
You’ll find these winners by looking for a blue heart-shaped logo on store shelves and on the ALDI website. Learn more about the 2021 Fan Favorites here.
Nothing sounds better in the summer than a cold scoop (or two, or three) of ice cream! With National Ice Cream Day coming up on July 18, Instacart decided to research the most popular flavors in the nation. Although vanilla is a perennial favorite, Americans had quite the range of flavor preferences!
Using purchase data, Instacart determined a top flavor for each state. The results? Moose Tracks, which features fudge, peanut butter cups and vanilla ice cream, took home the most popular flavor, coming out on top in 12 states. In a tight race for second place, Rocky Road, Green Tea, Coffee and Birthday Cake finished in a four-way tie.
The four corners of the country all had their distinctive loyalties. In the Pacific Northwest, Green Tea reigned supreme. In the Southwest, Rocky Road was the overwhelming favorite. In the Northeast, Coffee dominated and in the Southeast, Rum Raisin was the winner.
The Midwest overwhelmingly preferred Moose Tracks and a few states had unique favorites. Delaware preferred Cherry, Pennsylvania screamed for Mint Chip and New Mexico bought pints on pints of Chocolate Chocolate Chip.
Wondering where to plan your next vaycay that also guarantees some heart-thumping fun? Make sure its home to one of these top amusement parks!
USA Today recently published the most thrilling theme parks in the U.S. based off of reader votes and the list is a sure fire winner. Editors at 10Best paired up with experts to pick nominees, then readers whittled the list down to their fave? Did you local park make the cut? Keep scrolling to see who won!
Unsurprisingly, Florida took home three spots in the top ten with its SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Magic Kingdom Parks. After that, Ohio stole two, with several other states each picking up one park each to round out the list.
SeaWorld Orlando – Orlando
Silver Dollar City – Branson, Mo.
Kings Island – Mason, Ohio
Busch Gardens Williamsburg – Williamsburg
Dollywood – Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
Busch Gardens Tampa – Tampa
Cedar Point – Sandusky, Ohio
Hersheypark – Hershey, Penn.
Magic Kingdom – Orlando
Knott’s Berry Farm – Buena Park, Calif.
You can start your amusement park bucket list now!
More than 90,000 babies competed for a spot as the 2021 Gerber Spokesbaby, but only one could prevail! And his parents have a fantastic backstory, too. Four-month-old Zane Kahin from Florida is this year’s winner after his mom beat cancer and the odds.
Erin Kahin and husband Mike hoped to have kids, but they weren’t sure if Erin could conceive naturally after she faced treatment for breast cancer, including a double mastectomy. But Baby Zane surprised the family and entered the world on February 3!
“Zane is a little comedian – he loves to crack himself up and even wakes up laughing. His cheerful attitude, captivating giggles, and playful smile can light up any room!” his parents noted.
As for the prize, the Kahins received $25,000 in cash, free Gerber products for up to one year and a wardrobe provided by Gerber Childrenswear. You can buy a bodysuit or t-shirt design inspired by Zane and the company will make a product donation of equal value to the charitable organization Delivering Good. Zane will also keep busy as the “Chief Taste Tester” for new baby food products and serve as Gerber’s “Chief Growing Officer.”
The Gerber Spokesbaby is an annual award inspired by a 1928 company contest to find a face to represent their baby food. Artist Dorothy Hope Smith’s charcoal sketch of a neighbor’s child perfectly captured the spirit and it’s been the face of all Gerber packaging since 1931.
So you have a baby—congrats! If you gave birth during the pandemic, you may have left a few essentials off of your must-have baby list, namely, those that make traveling easier. Well, it’s finally time to dust off those suitcases and head out to see people we love and have missed so much!
You have probably figured out that you need a lot of gear to travel with an infant—but it doesn’t have to be that way… at least as far as carriers go! We have found the holy grail of baby carriers, seriously: We may want to have another baby now just to use this carrier—and couldn’t have come at a better time to travel and see family. Read on for seven reasons why the CUDL™ baby carrier by the baby-gear geniuses at Nuna® is the only baby carrier you will ever need.
Newborn carrying? No problem. Baby wants to face in? No problem. Baby wants to face out? Got it. Now your baby is not so little anymore and getting too heavy—want to carry them on your back? Go for it! This carrier works overtime, canceling out the need to keep buying carriers for multiple scenarios. Once again, the CUDL baby carrier has your back (and can go on your back), with four carry positions that encourage healthy hip and spine development: Newborn mode, facing in, facing out and back carry. With its wide adjustability range, 24-57 inches, it’s ideal for all sizes and shapes of adults, so you and your partner can share this one fantastic carrier.
2. Integrated Infant Booster Seat
No need to buy another item for your infant that you'll use for two months, then pawn off on someone else—Nuna'sCUDL has you covered! An infant booster is included in the design for comfort and safety, with covered, locking zippers to ensure soft and safe use with babies under four months. They've also included innovative leg opening buttons for proper adjustment for smaller babies.
Cue music and slow clap: “A moment like this, some people wait a lifetime…”. We have struggled to get a carrier on and off ourselves FOREVER—but those days are gone, and we are never looking back. The CUDL has four ergonomic magnetic buckles with MagneTech Secure Snap™. These self-guiding magnetic buckles automatically lock into place, ensuring an easy and secure attachment. No more bashfully asking a stranger to help you clip on your carrier—you can do it all by yourself!
4. Dreamy Fabric
This extraordinary carrier is made with better-for-baby OEKO-TEX® fabric verified in an independent laboratory and tested for harmful substances. Nuna thought of everything and even included two GOTS™ certified organic cotton bibs. What's so great about GOTS? It's grown without harmful pesticides, and this organic cotton is toxin-free and best for babies. Need a refresher? Just toss the removable bib in the wash or your entire CUDL when life gets too messy. And because a sweaty baby is not a happy baby, the CUDL is warm-weather ready with mesh fabric that allows air to flow... ahh.
Because health matters, too: The CUDL is designed and acknowledged as a “Hip Healthy” product by the IHDI (International Hip Dysplasia Institute) when used as instructed. Dad joke alert: Hip, Hip, Hooray! (cue the groans.)
6. Winner, Winner! (Hands-Free So You Can Eat Dinner)
You want the best for your baby, and to make your life easier—you want a product that is out there winning awards; that’s how exceptional this carrier is! The CUDL by Nuna is the proud recipient of The Red Dot Product Design Award 2020, an international design competition for product design, communication design and design concepts.
Because parents have their own gear to carry, too, Nuna incorporated a zip-open storage pocket on the waistband to fit your cellphone, keys and cash—brilliant!
Among the lessons of the pandemic is that family matters—more than perhaps we ever realized. To be sure, over the past year many of us found creative ways to stay connected with family in other cities or countries, hosting holiday Zoom sessions and virtual family reunions, posting smart-phone videos of graduations, and other rites-of-passage to our preferred social media platforms. But flat-screen interactions by their very nature lack a third dimension, meaning depth—depth of feeling, of understanding, of intimacy. The months of enforced separations and make-do virtual encounters have heightened our appreciation for the value of face-to-face interactions and the comfort of human touch.
Prolonged separations of the pandemic have been especially hard on grandparents, whether they live in the same neighborhood as their grandchildren, or an ocean away. Between the enforced travel restrictions and their own increased vulnerability, many, perhaps most, grandparents have had to step away from familiar, sometimes frequent, and always cherished, interactions with grandchildren. With vaccines in arms and restrictions lifting, grandparents everywhere are reuniting with their families, returning to the warm embrace and open affection of their grandchildren.
While the second Sunday in May is Mother’s Day, we thought it was a fitting month, and an opportune time, to also honor grandmothers—and the interdependence of generations—in our May book choices. The selected stories feature traditional and non-traditional grandmas (storytellers, protectors, and confidantes) and the children who love them—in beautifully written prose that all will enjoy.
Grades Kindergarten to Second
Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon written by Patty Lovell, illustrated by David Catrow
Young Molly Lou is reminded by her grandmother that when she was little, she made her toys and fun out of nothing. The fun came from her mind and the simple things around her like cardboard boxes and nature. Molly Lou experiences this same fun and when a new girl, Gertie, moves in next door. Molly shares the fun and Gertie is amazed. The main theme of the book is written on the back: “The Best Thing to Play with Is a Huge Imagination.” A good message about the value of being resourceful, versus heading straight to technology. The beautiful pictures work well to present a cute and simple lesson on the value of good old-fashioned play, just like Grandma used to do. Enjoy the entire series of Molly Lou Melonbooks.
Grades 3-4
Strega Nona written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola
This timeless Caldecott winner is written and illustrated by the legendary Tomie dePaola. Nona is translated into grandmother, and that is what this woman is to one entire town. She helps single young women find husbands, cures warts, and provides fellow villagers with ongoing support. She comes across goofy Big Anthony, who she offers a job as well as a place to stay with her. Strega Nona trusts him, but of course, he fails, and she is there to protect him and teach him an important lesson at the end. This funny, meaningful and exciting tale shows the importance of respecting one’s elders, and the value of a village matriarch. There are many sequels to this tale worth reading as well.
Grades 5-8
When the Sea Turned to Silver written by Grace Lin
This breathtaking, full-color illustrated fantasy inspired by Chinese folklore was a National Book Award Finalist and is a companion to the Newbery Honor winner Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. The main story follows Pinmei—her grandmother is a storyteller, and people from near and far come to listen to her seemingly endless tales. But one day, the Emperor imprisons her. Legends are interspersed throughout, here retold by Amah, to her stonecutter cellmate, and also by Pinmei, to those she meets on her journey to rescue her Amah. This beautiful tribute to storytelling, the power of folklore, and how, through stories, we can find truth and inspiration.
Chirp written by Kate Messner
When Mia moves to Vermont the summer after seventh grade, she’s recovering from the broken arm she got falling off a balance beam. And packed away in the moving boxes under her clothes and gymnastics trophies is a secret she’d rather forget. Mia’s change in scenery brings day camp, new friends, and time with her beloved grandmother. But Gram is convinced someone is trying to destroy her cricket farm. Is it sabotage or is Gram’s thinking impaired from the stroke she suffered months ago? Mia and her friends set out to investigate, but can they uncover the truth in time to save Gram’s farm? And will that discovery empower Mia to confront the secret she’s been hiding—and find the courage she never knew she had? In a compelling story rich with friendship, science, and summer fun, a girl finds her voice while navigating the joys and challenges of growing up.
Keira Pride is the Head Librarian at Stratford School, the leading independent private school founded with a vision of creating a unique, multi-dimensional, educational foundation for children. As Stratford's Head Librarian, she manages the library services department across campuses throughout Northern and Southern California.
Gerber is looking for a new spokesbaby—and that’s not all! This year the beloved brand is adding an extra bonus for the winner. Along with the spokesbaby honor, the top pic pick will also become the Chief Growing Officer.
What exactly is a Chief Growing Officer? According to Gerber, the CGO will “Steer—whether by crawling, wobbling, walking, or running—Gerber’s Executive Committee with big kid decisions, eat tasty and nutritious baby food products, act as the adorable face of the company, and appear on Gerber’s social media channels and marketing campaigns throughout the year.”
photo courtesy of Gerber
Mohini Joshi, Gerber Vice President of Marketing, said in a press release, “As part of our mantra to do anything for baby, each year we strive to make Photo Search bigger and better. In honor of the program’s 11-year anniversary, we’re excited to give Gerber families something new and exciting.” Joshi added, “Our Chief Growing Officer’s adorable roles and responsibilities are sure to make Gerber’s 2021 Photo Search a year like NO other and provide executive leadership new inspiration to help babies thrive.”
To apply for the 2021 Photo Search and CGO position, submit your 0 to 48-month-old’s pic to Gerber through the brand’s submission portal from Apr. 27 to May 17!
