Want to keep your friends and family from eating your Smarties garland?  I found that a death stare and a strategically placed bowl of Smarties did the trick 🙂 #IAmASmartie

I know I told you last week about how Smarties are a great safe alternative for people with food allergies but did you know that they are vegan, gluten free,  fat free and only 25 calories a roll?

Are you a Smarties lover?  I know, silly question!  Here is a Smarties giveaway to make your holiday a little more merry.  You’ll  get a whole bunch of different Smarties products including Classic Smarties, Tropical Smarties and X-Treme Sour Smarties to name a few so enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Just so you know, I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Smarties. #CBias #SocialFabric everything you see is my own quite picky opinion and seriously, who doesn’t love Smarties??

It seems like each Winter Baby Gap releases one collection of graphic tees that I absolutely fall in love with.  I always wait till they go on sale since they constantly have promotions (especially if you’re a Gap card holder) and buy the next size up as well.

This year they had some super cute and whimsical feeling shirts finished with tulle and this is one I grabbed in both a 4T and a 5T.  You can take a look here

Does this necklace look familiar?  If you’re a J.Crew lover like me then you’d immediately identify it as a miniature version of their famous bubble necklace which is often imitated and never well executed.

Kayla has quite a few Crewcuts necklaces but I haven’t been able to bring myself to splurge on this one…yet!  You can check it out here

Do you have a little girl who refuses to wear hats in the winter?  I do!  That is until we got this super cute princess inspired hat complete with its own jeweled tiara.  It’s super cuddly and warm for cold winter days and well…it’s adorable!  Take a look here

I’m in the camp that for the first few years of life jeans are pretty impractical unless they are made of super stretchy material.  Leggings are how we do it in our home.  But winter calls for a heavier version and these velour leggings really remind of of a nice pair of pants but are beyond comfy and easy to run, play and do all the things a little girl is supposed to be able to do.  You can see them here

Simple and cozy with the right dose of sparkle I love this winter white sweatshirt…so much that I’ve considered trying to squeeze into the largest children’s size.  You can take a closer look here.

We had one of these jackets last year for a winter trip to New York and when it went on sale I bought this year’s size and put it in a storage box. Right now I’m thinking about going back for the next size up to hang on to for next year because it’s just SO warm, cozy and understated but cute.  Check it out here.

When my sisters and I were kids, we were one of the only families I knew who celebrated both Christmas and Hanukkah.  This garnered friends saying “omigosh I’m sooo jealous…how cool that you get double presents!”

One of my favorite things about Smarties is that they fall on the very safe side of the spectrum when it comes to kids with food allergies because they are gluten free, dairy free and not manufactured in a facility which processes tree nuts.  These days it seems like 95% of the food packaging I read has the tree nut warning so it was nice to know that kids like my nephew can have a safe alternative at Hanukkah.

What I love about this project is it’s super simple, looks adorable and is the perfect way to discuss 

Hanukkah with a small child.  All you need to get started is:

• An elongated cardboard box (the ones that hold foil or wax paper or spaghetti are great)
• Some festive wrapping paper or construction paper
• Basic school glue
• Some scissors or a craft knife like an X-Acto knife – it’s definitely easier to work with the craft knife.
• Smarties of course!  I used Tropical Smarties for their orange wrapping.

If you want a more festive menorah you can also add some fun Hanukkah stickers or use Hanukkah wrapping paper in lieu of construction paper.  Here is my #IAmASmartie step-by-step tutorial on how to make a Smarties Hanukkah menorah:

It took me about 10 minutes to put this Smarties menorah together, that’s it.  Both Kayla and my husband thought it was pretty cute and we’ll be using it through all eight nights of fun.

If Hanukkah isn’t your holiday don’t worry, I promise I have a fun Smarties Christmas idea and a Smarties giveaway coming up next week!

Just so you know, I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Smarties. #CBias #SocialFabric everything you see is my own quite picky opinion and seriously, who doesn’t love Smarties??

Every year when the holidays roll around, there is no question as to who in our family puts in the double overtime.  Although Santa can claim much of the credit, I think in most families Mrs. Claus is the unsung hero.

By the time Halloween approaches I’ve got the holiday shopping itch.  I’m already making extra laps around the toy department in every store I visit and adding to my neurotically thoughtfully collected stash of stocking stuffers bought throughout the year.

So this week, after what feels like a century of shopping, ordering, debating, returning, and hiding all of these gifts it was time for the grand finale of wrapping each and every awkwardly shaped package I managed to purchase.

My husband took Kayla to their standing Saturday morning breakfast date.  I was just about to make a quick breakfast and pick up some extra gift boxes when I realized that in all of my recent shopping trips I had forgotten to stock up on the most important tool in my wrapping arsenal…coffee!  In my holiday rush I had been ignoring the dwindling supply all month and it was coming back to bite me.

This hardly ever happens, but I used it as an opportunity to treat myself to a trip to Starbucks for a fancy latte before picking up my last few gifts and some wrapping supplies.  While I was there I realized they had started serving all of their holiday drinks like gingerbread lattes and it reminded me that I should look out for something more exciting than my old standby of hazelnut coffee.

After grabbing a few gift boxes at Walmart I headed around the corner to Sam’s Club to grab the last gift I needed to pick up.  While I was there I saw this big display for the Starbucks Limited Edition Holiday Blend coffee and decided to grab a bag.  I don’t always buy Starbucks coffee but buying it in bulk meant it wound up being about the same price as store brand coffee.

You may not know this but I have a severe weakness for cinnamon rolls so it was impossible for me to pass up these mini cinnamon rolls in the bakery section.  They’re mini so they don’t really count if you eat them right?

Back at home I brewed up a pot of the Holiday Blend and set out some cinnamon rolls.  I’m the kind of person who pours a cup while the pot is still brewing so I had to try a sip of the Holiday Blend before it was done and it was a little stronger than I’m used to since I’m a “lots of milk and sugar” girl.

So I grabbed a cinnamon roll and took a bite of that for a cream and sugar effect before having my next sip. The cinnamon really stood out after that sip.  Apparently this special blend brings out the magic in foods that have cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and more which makes for some #DeliciousPairings

I’m not going to tell you how many mini cinnamon rolls were consumed once I realized they were dunking size but it was more than 5 and less than 10 🙂

After my dunk-fest I refilled, added some milk and got ready to wrap till my fingers hurt!  Over the last few years I have learned some lessons the hard way when it comes to wrapping presents for younger children so I thought I’d share them with you…

Kid-Friendly Gift Wrapping Tips

• If you can’t see all the components of the product from the outside of the package open it up carefully and make sure they are all there.  It’s much better to find out you’re missing something before an excited child opens it.  
• Batteries required?  I always load them into the product, put it back in the packaging and then wrap it….because putting them in with a small child desperate to play with their new toy feels as stressful as performing open heart surgery!
• Ribbons on boxes for little kids?  I go with stick-on bows and skip tying ribbon all around boxes since they just frustrate kids and then they need adult help opening the packages. 
• Those stick-on bows?  I save them till the night before Christmas because they tend to get smushed when you have to hide all those gifts in a confined space.  I just pop them on as I put the presents under the tree.
• Speaking of hidden gifts…I don’t even keep ours in the house to avoid snooping! If you have a wonderful neighbor who doesn’t have small children see if they will store yours for you during the home stretch.  My next door neighbors are amazing and keep mine in a spare bedroom, plus I think they like seeing all of the cute kid stuff each year.  

Do you have some holiday wrapping tips?  I’d love to hear what they are…perhaps you’ve got a trick I need to add to my arsenal?

Just so you know, I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias TM. #CBias #SocialFabric everything you see is my personal and incredibly picky opinion.

The folks at Knock Knock sent this duo over for me to check out and I couldn’t help but put them in Kayla’s car seat to surprise her at school pick-up.  What makes the Clump-O-Lumps special aside from their irresistible looks and charm?  They’re interchangeable and allow you to make some hilarious creations.  For example, meet our new friends Squid-O and Shark-O

You’ve got that, right?  Squid-O and Shark-O.  Now, wait for it…

Meet Shark-O-Squid-O and Squid-O-Shark-O!

If you’re 4 years old this is a hilarious concept.  Actually, if you’re 30 years old this is still pretty funny. Naturally, there is a whole family of Clump-O-Lumps that you can check out.

You know I’m not one to show you a product and go without telling you how I would personally use it soooo….how would I use a Clump-O-Lump this holiday season?  I’d stuff it!

Forget the stockings.  I think any child would be so excited about these cute stuffed animals and then even more excited when they went to zip them apart and found some hidden goodies.

Think you might just have to get one of these cuddly buddies for a child you know?  You can order them right off the Clump-O-Lump site or if you’re an Amazon shopper (or a procrastinator) you can get them prime shipped from Amazon.