ML Interest Tag: hair-color

10 Crazy Hair Day Ideas That Won’t Stress You Out

by Karly Wood

“Mom, it’s crazy hair day tomorrow!” Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard those words and cringed! Whether it’s Red Ribbon Week, Halloween, Spirit Week, or just your kids’ school’s attempt at stressing out parents, wacky hair day tends to drive moms and dads crazy. But don’t stress: we’ve got some simple crazy hair ideas that don’t require tons of effort, but pack on the wow factor in a big way.

Crazy Pipe Cleaners

this crazy hair idea uses pipe cleaners
Karly Wood

Ok, parents, this is easy peasy. Grab pipe cleaners at your local craft store (we found these uber cool multi-color "fuzzy sticks" at Amazon), twist around a pencil, then stick in whatever style you want! For this crazy hair day idea, we opted for double buns with a few extra bobby pins and they lasted an entire dance class.

Googley-Eyed Monster

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVSzteUFROO/?hidecaption=true

A little colored hair spray and two big googly eyes are all you need to catch this crazy hair day look. A quick trip to your local party store can knock both of these items off your list, too!

Colored Shampoo

Using washable dye is a good crazy hair day idea
Rock the Locks

If you're a parent who thinks ahead, this fun hair color from Rock the Locks is a kid-friendly way to add a pop of color! Lasting five to 15 shampoos you can use again and again and rest easy in this vegan and phthalates, sulfates, and parabens-free formula.

Grab a bottle from Amazon for $9!

Crazy Hair Day Idea: Cupcakes

One of the easiest crazy hair day ideas, all you need are two cupcake liners for this sweet look. Make two buns, then cut slits in the bottom of the liners before slipping over the bun.

Related: Dear Day Camp, Enough with the Crazy Hat Days

Octopus

This crazy hair day idea is an octopus
One Creative Mommy

You can finally use all those pipe cleaners you've had lying around! Grab those plus a puffy ball and googly eyes, then add to a bun for a cute look that works for any crazy hair day. Head to One Creative Mommy for all the details.

 

LEGO Surfer Crazy Hair Day Idea

Make waves with this adorable ‘do for boys. Make that hair stand tall, add some blue, and don’t forget a few LEGO minifigs.

Shark-Infested Waters Crazy Hair Idea

Got a little shark lover? Grab some blue hair paint and one of their many plastic sharks to hook up this fun look.

The Prettiest Pumpkin for Wacky Hair Day

Perfect for Halloween, this pipe cleaner pumpkin is a quick style that definitely passes the wacky hair day test.

Little Mermaid Tail

Master braiders will love this fun hairstyle that incorporates Ariel! Braid your fave mermaid into the braid, then top it off with a little green hair spray to give that authentic “tail” look.

Christmas Tree

Paint the Moon

Ok, we admit this isn't the quickest crazy hair day idea, but it's definitely epic! If you're down for some hair dying, tree trimming antics then this amazing tutorial from Paint the Moon is for you!

 

All the products listed are independently & personally selected by our shopping editors.

If you buy something from the links in this article, we may earn affiliate commission or compensation. Prices and availability reflect the time of publication.

All images courtesy of retailers unless otherwise noted.

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12 Creative Ways to Celebrate New Year’s Day at Home

by Allison Sutcliffe

Whether you choose to look back on the past year, or forward to 2023, your family will enjoy doing these New Year’s Day activities together

It’s that time of year and you’re going to need a stash of fun indoor activities for kids. While we can’t provide any mimosas with your New Year’s Day brunch, we’ve definitely got awesome traditions to start, activities to try, and other creative ideas to help you start the year right (there’s even a printable calendar craft for kids!). Scroll down to see them all. Happy 2023, y’all!

klimkin via Pixaby

1. Tradition Kick-Off
2022 has been a memorable year, to say the least. Start an annual tradition by writing letters to open the next year. As the mini-time capsule gets going, you’ll have a memorable way to look back and ahead. 

2. Make a Handprint Calendar
Using a printable calendar, you can make a handprint calendar for 2023. Get the tutorial here.

3. Indoor Campout
No matter where you live, it’s likely too chilly for the real deal, so pitch a tent in the living room, roll out sleeping bags on the couch, fashion a campfire and make sure to include some hot cocoa. Get inspired by these next-level indoor forts!

Related: 12 Decadent DIY Hot Chocolate Bomb Recipes

iStock

4. Cook Out
Staying home is always a little sweeter when you can smell something delicious coming from the kitchen. We've got the best snacks for your hungry crew right here. 

5. Movie Marathon
Whether you cue up all three Cars, back-to-back Descendants, or you’re ready to commit the next generation to every single Star Wars installment, loosen up those screen time limits and go big for once. Psst! If you need more ideas for what to watch, check out our ultimate list of movies for kids.

6. Out with the Old
You know when all you have to do is move the furniture around to get a brand-new perspective on it all? Show the kids how liberating it can feel to go new. Suggest a bedroom swap, a relief-effort donation round-up of old toys and clothes to make room for everything Santa may have just dropped off, or maybe even a fun (temporary) hair color!

Unsplash

7. Game Day
Let the games begin and see who the New Year will crown the champion. Pick crowd-pleasers like Bugs in the Kitchen or Apples to Apples, build an ultimate Magna-Tiles mansion, or set up that sure-fire bet that may last well into 2023: Monopoly. This list has our favorite new board games that even parents will enjoy. 

8. Bucket List Décor
The new year is the ultimate opportunity for a fresh start. Keep up that energizing NYE energy with family plans for 2023: a new place to travel, an activity or sport to try, or an organization to help out. We love the idea of hanging your ideas up on the wall for year-long inspiration. Another great way to display goals for the new year is to create a vision board,

iStock

9. Craft It Up
Get your Pinterest pins at the ready and tag some adorable crafts for the kiddos to create on New Year’s Day. Read through these helpful tips that will set you up for crafting success. 

10. (Get to) Know Your Neighbors
With everyone off from work and school, why not host a mugging for your neighbors? As nefarious as it sounds, muggings are a completely innocent (and oh-so-easy) way to entertain friends. Have each guest bring a coffee mug to use as a plate. You provide warm comfort foods that they simply ladle into their mugs (chili or soup, anyone?). The best part? Partygoers big and small can easily mingle while they munch, mug in hand.

11. Build A Puzzle
Building a puzzle can be a long or short process, but it's always better with family. Carve out some time in your new year's day to dedicate to a puzzle everyone will love. At the end, the final product can even be made into a framed picture if you glue it with puzzle glue.

12. Photo Time
No matter what your family does to ring in the New Year, we love the idea of streaming your “Best of 2022” photos on the TV to set the mood. Focusing on the family is what it's all about, after all.

 

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Candy Overload? Switch Witch to the Rescue

by Amber Guetebier

The gobs of Halloween candy your trick-or-treaters bring home can border on the obscene, but thinking of them actually eating it all is enough to make your own teeth hurt. Luckily, there’s a sweet little trend that will help you reduce their sugar intake and up the Halloween fun. It’s the Switch Witch, and she’s here to turn your kid’s candy into a toy, book or another tangible (non-edible) item they’ve been begging for. Here’s our advice on how to invite the Switch Witch into your home.

photo: Charles Parker via Pexels

Prep the Kids
If you are reading this before Halloween night, it’s easy to plant the seed. If Halloween has passed don’t panic: the Switch Witch’s magic lasts for the weeks following. Ask your kiddos if they have heard of the Switch Witch, and then get your story in order! Basically, the Switch Witch requires payment of candy, quite a bit of it, and in exchange, she will leave behind something cool. An inexpensive but desirable gift is best (an awesome new book, a toy they’ve asked for repeatedly at the grocery store, a sweet new headband, cash, etc.). Tell them they can choose to leave candy out for the Witch, but make sure it’s a substantial amount. It’s up to you where to leave the candy for the Witch, but we suggest leaving it on a kitchen table or somewhere away from the child’s room in order to ensure success (and pop a couple of peanut butter cups in your mouth before she “arrives”). It’s like Santa Claus meets the Tooth Fairy plus Halloween all in one.

 

photo: Denny Mueller via Unsplash

Make the Switch
 Put the candy on a fun tray or in a Halloween candy bucket. Have the kids make a note for the SW. Then, send them off to bed. While they’re sleeping, invoke the powers of the Switch Witch and ditch the candy. You can hide it and make it part of a Halloween candy buy-back program, just make sure your top-secret plan remains undetected. Leave the shiny new item in the place of the candy.

photo: Shutterstock 

Tips and Tricks
Be prepared for some questions about the Switch Witch. Determine her name, hair color, (and yes the SW could be a he, too) where she lives, what she does with all that candy, what her mode of transport is (broom, car, giant bird) and any other fun details that make her come to life. If the thought of a witch creeping into the house at night to take candy sounds scary to your kids, make sure you add lots of details about how nice/fun/cool/sweet she is. Be creative and have fun “tricking” the kids out of all that sugar. Check out this book and doll set that brings the Switch Witch right to you.

—Amber Guetebier

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This Baby Shark Baby Alive Doll Actually Swims

by Shahrzad Warkentin

Some things are a match made in toy heaven, like the combination of Baby Shark and swimming baby dolls. This Baby Shark Baby Alive doll is sure to be at the top of every wishlist this holiday season.

Bath time is about to get a whole lot more fun thanks to the new Baby Shark Baby Alive doll which is actually a Baby Alive doll dressed up in a Baby Shark costume. The costume consists of a removable shark head and tail inspired by the famous Pinkfong song.

The water toy is designed for play both in and out of the water. The costume snaps on and off easily even for little fingers.

The Baby Shark Baby Alive doll comes in three shark costume colors, pink, blue and yellow on dolls of different skin tones and hair color. The dolls are available exclusively on Amazon for $24.99 each.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

All photos: Amazon

 

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A Diverse Summer Reading List for Young Readers

By Natalie Thompson

Photo: Natalie via Living by the Page

With a family heritage that is South American on my side and Germanic/British/American on my husband’s, we have quite a mix in our family that is reflected in hair color, skin tone and the like. And I have many friends from various ethnicities or those who are in biracial marriages, or raising a blended family via adoption. All that to say is that we are all very intentional of reading books that feature characters that actually reflect the world around us and I’ve led workshops with children’s author Lauren Ranalli on creating an intentional bookshelf (please contact me if you would like more information on that).  

I grew up surrounded by the European/North American ‘ideal’ of blonde hair and blue eyes and while much has changed in the world of children’s literature, it is still staggering to note that only 13% of books in the last 24 years (1994-2017) contain multicultural content (source: Lee & Low Books). Representation matters and we can do our part by being mindful of what we put into the hands of our littles. With that in mind, here’s a short list of some of our favorite picture books and early chapter book series with diverse characters if you’d like to intentionally diversify your children’s summer reading:

Picture Books:

A Boy Like You by Frank Murphy

Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay by Susan Hood

Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal

Charlotte and the Quiet Place by Deborah Sosin

Flossie and the Fox by Patricia McKissack

Hank’s Big Day: The Story of a Bug by Evan Kuhlman

Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall

La Princesa and the Pea by Susan Middleton Elya

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

Princess and the Peas by Rachel Himes

Steamboat School by Deborah Hopkinson

Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev

The Bake Shop Ghost by Jacqueline Ogburn

The Blacker the Berry (poetry) by Joyce Carol Thomas

The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson

The Very Last Castle by Travis Jonker

Early Chapter Books/Juvenile Fiction:

Book Uncle and Me

Ellie May on President’s Day

Ellie May on April Fools’ Day

Princess Truly series

The Clubhouse Mysteries series

The Questioneers series

West Meadow Detectives series

Zoey and Sassafras series

This post originally appeared on The Faith Feast.

A bookish Latina raising three bookworms in Ann Arbor, MI.  I started Living by the Page as an antidote to our current frantic high-tech world: to remind both children and adults alike that we can still find creativity, imagination and refuge in the written word. Boolists, reviews and more at www.livingbythepage.com

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This Little Girl Wins for Best Crazy Hair Day at School

by Karly Wood

Are you looking for some major crazy hair day inspo? Look no further parents, April Castillo has you in good hands.

Mom to two daughters, Ariel and Atlantis, Castillo decided that her four-year-old needed a wow-worthy style for crazy hair day. And boy, did she deliver! Taking inspiration from other crazy coifs, she created a basic French braid surrounding an Ariel doll, used hair color to make it green and voila––she just won crazy hair day.

https://twitter.com/aireuhl_/status/1108035119737196544

Atlantis’s older sis, Ariel shared the pics on Twitter and ever since the style has gone viral. Ariel stated that her “mom was not playing games and really wanted her to win.”

Well, mission accomplished! The Little Mermaid-inspired design took home first prize, and while the PreK-er doesn’t understand what going viral means just yet, we’re pretty sure she knows how awesome her mom is!

––Karly Wood

Feature image: Elizabeth Lies via Unsplash

 

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Who Is Marlon Bundo? This Children’s Book About Gay Bunnies Is a Bestseller

by Keiko Zoll

If you’ve turned the news on this week or simply heard it in passing, you might think The Godfather was coming back in book form. But no, you’re not hearing about the late actor Marlon Brando—no, no. The news is abuzz about a new kid’s book starring Marlon BUNdo. So, who is Marlon Bundo? He’s the family pet of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence—and who also happens to have his own children’s book, Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Life of the Vice President.

But Bundo isn’t just any old bunny—he’s also the titular character of A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, the idea of none other than John Oliver, host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight. And in Oliver’s progressive take on life outside the warren, it’s a far gayer affair—as in literally gayer: Oliver tells the story of a gay bunny rabbit who falls in love and gets married, and who just so happens to share the same name as said family pet of said vice president.

The differences between the two children’s books are pretty striking: In Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Life of a Vice President, Pence’s daughter Charlotte tells the story of their family bunny, with illustrations by the Second Lady, Karen Pence. Marlon Bundo—also know as BOTUS (Bunny of the United States)—has his very own Instagram and has ridden in Air Force Two. But in Pence’s book, his story is about as interesting as you’d expect for an administrative day in the VPOTUS office.

Oliver’s take on the life of Marlon Bundo is decidedly more adventurous. In A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, the titular bunny meets another bunny named Wesley—and the pair fall in love, as rabbits sometimes do. And when two bunnies fall in love, sometimes they get married. Although it’s a special day indeed when they’re married by a cat named Pajama, who brought her wife as a guest.

The timing of Oliver’s book to coincide with Pence’s book is no accident. Common Sense Media fills in what readers can expect of Oliver’s epic trolling of Pence’s views on LGBTQ rights and same-sex marriage. (The Vice President’s Office did not return Red Tricycle’s request for comment.)

This cute, funny, and inclusive picture book has a positive message about celebrating who you are and loving whom you want. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo takes a positive view of same-sex marriage and pokes fun at Vice President Mike Pence, giving The Stink Bug his hair color and style. But young readers probably won’t make that connection.

Of Pence’s book, Common Sense Media writes:

Parents need to know that Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Life of the Vice President is a picture book featuring real-life Pence family pet Marlon Bundo. it offers a bunny’s eye view of the vice president’s workday.

While Vice President Pence has stayed mum about the “other” Marlon Bundo, his daughter Charlotte is taking it all in stride—because hey, any press is good press, right? Speaking to ITK Wednesday, The Hill reported that not only had Charlotte bought the book, she supports Oliver’s book for its charitable aims. “It doesn’t have to be divisive,” Charlotte Pence told ITK. “I think that everybody can come together over Marlon.”

Proceeds from Oliver’s book will benefit The Trevor Project, a crisis intervention and suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ youth. Pence’s book proceeds will go to Tracy’s Kids, a pediatric art therapy program for children with cancer.

If you’re hoping to score a copy of both books, you’ll have to be patient to get Oliver’s Marlon Bundo book: it has already sold out on Amazon and is the third most-sold book on the online retailer in its debut week.

Are you a fan of the BOTUS? Which copy are you buying—or are you trying to get both? Share your thoughts in the comments.

—Keiko Zoll

Photos: Amazon.com

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