Santa hats, stuffies, Christmas decor, and visits from big red himself!
Everybody looks forward to Christmas card photos with cute babies. You don’t need to be a seasoned photographer or Pinterest pro to take them; you just need one great photo idea. And we have nine ideas for your baby’s first Christmas card that’ll put them front and center in that holiday photo.
Snowbaby
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A white swaddling blanket or long t-shirt, a colorful scarf, and a hat are all it takes to turn your baby into a wintery snowman, I mean, snow baby. Pose a stuffed snowman alongside for an added touch and everyone who sees the photos will want to give your child warm hugs.
Plan a pre-holiday visit from Santa to get some memorable photos for your baby's first Christmas card. A beloved grandparent, friend, or even dad can play the role of the big guy to create moments they'll both treasure.
A Favorite Stuffed Animal
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A favorite stuffie is a great way to keep your child from howling their way through holiday card photos. Baby will love on their stuffie like they always do, leading to adorable photos. Re-create the photo with the same stuffed animal every year to show how much your child has grown.
Baby Santa
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Sometimes the simplest setup turns into the most incredible photos. A Santa hat is all you need to convey the Christmas spirit and capture some snaps of your child touching it, holding it, pulling it off, or falling asleep with it on.
Santa’s Legs as a Backdrop
If your baby is still learning to sit, leaning back against Santa’s legs will help you get the shot. This photo idea from Precious Moments Photography gives you a fun new way to incorporate Santa as a backdrop. Black boots, white fuzzy fabric, and red fabric positioned to look like pants are all you need for the Santa stand-in. Bonus: That person can also help keep your little one entertained and looking picture-perfect during the shoot.
Baby in a Gift Box
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What better way to convey that babies are a gift? To create your gift box, cut off the flaps on one side and cover the box with holiday wrapping paper. Add a big bow—to both the box and your baby—and pop your little one inside. Babies and toddlers usually enjoy being in boxes, so the smiles and cute expressions should come naturally. If they don't, add small toys that stay out of sight.
Take advantage of the beach for your child's holiday card debut. Take a cue from Danielle May Photography and build a sandman that will give friends and family warm fuzzies this winter.
An assortment of colorful ornaments in deep jewel tones, classic red and green, or gold and white helps you re-create this card idea from Shanna Simpson Photography. Mix in glittery, matte, and traditional balls for extra dimension, and let your beautiful baby shine in the center.
With white holiday lights, leg warmers, and a fluffy mat, you can re-create this cozy holiday photo from Red Lotus Photography for your baby's first Christmas card. Vary the shot by swapping the leg warmers for other cute holiday gear.
with additional reporting by Eva Ingvarson Cerise
Make sure to capture all the memories—and share them with your family and friends near and far—with the Tinybeans app. The secure platform puts parents in total control of who sees and interacts with photos and videos of their kids.
Working (and parenting) from home during a pandemic can be isolating and overwhelming. Whether you’re looking to vent, get practical advice or even give away gently used baby and kids gear, there’s an LA Facebook group for your to join. Read on to find that support and camaraderie are just a few clicks away in a local online group for parents.
LA Mommies With 59 thousand members, this group is the biggest of the bunch, offering plenty of differing opinions and insights which can make for spirited discussions. LA Mommies is intended to be a supportive group and community for parents and caregivers. You can search for popular topics like giveaways, reviews of Covid-19.
NICE Los Angeles Moms Supporting Each Other As the name says, the most important rule governing this LA group is BE NICE. This group is a place to vent (no politics allowed), share and ask questions. The goal of the group is to help lift up other women, and the group's admins promote a spirit of kindness in their posts.
LA Moms Uncensored This group takes a more irreverent approach to motherhood. It's a place for moms in the LA area to receive support, laugh, vent and connect. As they say of themselves, "Controversial topics are ok but don't be a dick."
LA Peds and Parents: A Covid Kid Forum When covid 19 first became a public health crisis, a group of Los Angeles pediatricians came together to figure out how to serve patients and their community. The doctors spent months supporting each other, and are now here to support parents! Ask your questions and they'll do their best to answer.
LA Tutors and Related Professionals Overwhelmed with at-home learning. LA Tutors and Related Professionals is designed to connect families with local tutors, teachers, instructors and even healthcare professionals. If you're looking to form or join a learning pod, the group also helps connect like-minded families.
Los Angeles (LA) Nannies & Babysitters Exchange This is a group to connect LA parents with caregivers, nannies and babysitters. Members can post if they're looking to hire a caregiver or babysitter, or want to recommend one to others. Worried about spam overload in the posts? No au pair agents, nanny agency, sales or personal business posts are allowed.
Moms Helping Moms This group is for donations only! Giving, helping, trading, receiving. This page is not a forum for airing personal problems of your own or another.
Los Angeles Moms Sell & Swap Here is your chance to sell all those items you have laying around your house that you do not use! You can sell, trade, and swap to your hearts desire.
LA Parents Swap This group is for Los Angeles parents living in the Westside LA, Mid City, and South & West Valley to buy/sell/give away baby and kid products they no longer need or would like to purchase.
Westside Moms This group is very strict about its Westside requirements—your profile must share what exact city you are in or you will need to message an admin to be approved. With regular meetups (during non-social distancing times), the group aims to create real friendships among moms and their kiddos. It's also a great local resource for anything parent- and kid-related in Los Angeles.
Pasadena Moms The group is a place for moms in the Pasadena-area to connect, ask questions and support one another. You can use this group to get recommendations, tips and learn more about the area. And while it may be called Pasadena Moms, dads are welcome too!
San Fernando Valley Moms All SFV moms welcome to join this group. It's the kind of place where you can ask for private swim instructor recommendations, and find the latest information on LAUSD school board initiatives (like a resolution to create public childcare pods on campus for homeless and foster youth and kids of essential workers).
For more hyper-local mom groups, search for your neighborhood on Facebook.
As we all have learned over the past few months, working from home, social distancing and homeschooling can be isolating and overwhelming. One of the only things that makes it bearable is knowing that everyone else is dealing with the same issues. Which is why staying connected online is a necessity these days. To help, we’ve found almost 30 NYC parenting Facebook groups you can join to reach out and connect with other parents in your community, whatever, and wherever that is. Read on to find that support, shared knowledge and camaraderie are just a few clicks away in a local online group for parents. (P.S. not all groups have Facebook pages: find more NYC parenting groups here!)
Facebook Groups for Manhattan Parents
Daisy Beatty Photography
Chelsea Mommas, 2.0K members Open to moms and families in general, head here for happenings in the nabe, recs and community.
Harlem Moms, 2.2K members A private group for uptown moms offering the scoop on events, activities, classes and more.
Hudson River Park Mommas, 2.1K members A public group for parents in lower Manhattan neighborhoods, HRPM is a place for info, support, helpful programming on all kinds of parenting issues and more.
Madison Square Park Moms, 6K members A private group with 6000 members, this active forum is a place to to ask questions, find kid activities and events, share experiences, milestones, and frustrations, and post important info such as safety issues, recalls, great deals, etc.
Manhattan Twins NYC, 1.3K members Got double the trouble (or twice the love?). This private group of parents with twins in Manhattan will share wisdom, tips, and photos.
NYC Moms- Upper East Side, 21.4K members Safe place for moms on the UES to connect with local parents.
Parenting in Tribeca, 2.3K members A public group for families in the downtown area, "because it's all about tribes."
Upper East and Upper West Side, 5.1K members One of the newer NYC parent Facebook groups (it was founded in 2018), this group still boasts over 5000 members. Head here to network, buy, sell, swap, get recs and advice and more.
Upper East Side Moms, 39K members With almost 40,000 members, UES Mommas is a wealth of knowledge, support, referrals and recommendations. (It's also not without its disagreements between members, which have sometimes led to the group suspending activity temporarily.) Still, that's a lot of mom brain to pick and the members just keep coming to this private Facebook group.
Bay Ridge Parents, 6.9K members This private moderated group is a place where area parents can talk schools, events, local businesses, kids items for sale, parenting or other family-related advice, plus advice or steam-releasing vents about living and parenting in Bay Ridge.
Bed Stuy Parents, 2.7K members Connect online with other parents in Bed-Stuy with this private group.
Brooklyn Baby Hui, 4K members Parents from the neighborhoods of North Brooklyn (Williamsburg, Greenpoint) share experiences, resources and stories to empower each other in this private group. (It's pronounced "Hoo-ee.")
Brooklyn NY Freecycle, 3.2K members Great for getting and giving, this site facilitates passing along items and keeping them out of landfills. Swapping is also allowed, but NO money should change hands.
Brooklyn Bridge Parents, 1.9K members Join this public group for news and info for parents in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill and DUMBO.
Ditmas Park Families, 3.2K members Connect with other families in the neighborhood on just about everything, from class recs to restaurants reviews, day trips, swapping and selling.
DUMBO Moms, 2.2K members A private group for moms of all kinds—new, experienced, etc—to share info, recs, frustrations, etc.
Parents Around the Hill, 1.2 K members Connect with other families in the Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy neighborhoods with this group.
Park Slope Parents, 8.3K members Despite its name, this Facebook group for the longtime popular Brooklyn parenting resource is open and visible to all families in Brooklyn. To access all the resources of the group, join Park Slope Parents for a reasonable annual fee.
Windsor Terrace/Kensington Parents, 1.1K members Parents and soon-to-be parents can buy/sell/swap, share tips and recommendations and more in this group.
Facebook Groups for Queens Parents
Yabome M.K. Casper
BushRidge Parents, 2.6K Members Yes, this is a Brooklyn/Queens group, as the parents in Bushwick in Brooklyn and Ridgewood in Queens are close neighbors and hang together. Connect, share info and support, and let each other know about local events and issues here.
MOMally Parenting, 6.3 members An offshoot of the MOMally Astoria page (which is more focused on reducing parenting anxiety), this group is the place to come with parenting questions and to receive support from area parents. Another option in the area isAstoria, NY Families, which has 4.6K members.
Sunnyside Moms, 3K members A private group for parents in the Sunnyside and Woodside communities, this group is open to parents of all kinds, including if your baby "was delivered to you by an alien." (They obviously have a sense of humor!)
Facebook Groups for Bronx Parents
WCS
Bronx Moms, 1.7K members Head here to join a group of like-minded moms in the Bronx sharing everything from parenting tips, events, free stuff and funny stories.
Bronx & Westchester Moms Group, 6.2K members These moms may technically live in different cities, but they are close neighbors. Join this private group for info on area happenings, advice and supports.
Facebook Groups for Staten Island Parents
Staten Island Children's Museum
Staten Island Moms & Dads, 6K members One of the largest Staten Island parenting groups with 6,000 members, offering info on what's happening on the island for area families.
Staten Island Moms, 2.1K members Join this public group for resources, support and buying and selling among Staten Island mothers.
LGBTQ+ Moms, 2.9K members This private group for mothers of LGBTQ+ kids is a place to come together online and share in their daily experiences of motherhood.
NYC Dads Group, 4K members A popular online place for NYC dads sharing events, tips, discussions and more.
NYC Parents of Kiddies with Special Needs, 2.6K members This is a private group for NYC parents of kids who have special needs, ranging from very minor speech/language/OT, to severe. Parents can ask questions, as well as share ideas and resources, and receive support from fellow members.
New Moms in NYC, 17.6K members Connect early (and often) with this group for new NYC mothers.
Creating art is a great way to bring people together while spreading joy. BIC just launched the BIC 4-Color Garden. They are also encouraging people to use their pens to hand draw simple flowers and share online with #BIC4ColorGarden to help grow the BIC 4-Color Garden, which will live on the Instagram handle @BIC4ColorGarden.
Whether you are looking for a way to recognize our healthcare workers, brighten someone’s Mother’s Day, celebrate a loved one’s graduation or simply say “Thank You” for your support, a hand drawn flower is the perfect way to creatively stay connected and spread cheer during a time when we need it most.
Not only is doodling a natural stress reliever for those feeling cooped up, but for each flower drawing shared with #BIC4ColorGarden, BIC will donate $1 toward Kids In Need Foundation, up to $50,000 through July 1, 2020. This year, BIC also celebrates the 50th anniversary of its iconic BIC 4-Color pen, with an updated look and fresh new color – swapping out Green for Purple in response to consumer demand, and changing the barrel color to a deeper, more modern blue.
“As we navigate these unprecedented times, hand-written notes and drawings have become a great way to express ourselves and connect with those we’re separated from,” said Mary Fox, North American General Manager for BIC. “BIC is excited to build this virtual garden to help spread some cheer – from saying ‘thank you’ to brightening someone’s day. As Mother’s Day, graduations and other important spring milestones approach, sharing a hand-drawn flower from home is a simple way to celebrate family and friends.”
You might dread cleaning your house, but the truth is once you start you actually feel pretty great. A study reveals why cleaning feels so satisfying and it’s not just because you can finally see the floor again.
The Mr. Clean Cleaning Rush Study conducted in partnership with Ipsos Public Affairs tracked the biometric response to cleaning using wearable devices and found that cleaning stimulates an adrenaline rush. The tracking devices measured the Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) and Heart Rate (HR) of participants and found that while cleaning, changes were observed. This shift was driven by feelings of emotional enthusiasm and excitement, much like watching a sporting event.
Participants were also surveyed on their feelings about cleaning and a whopping 100 percent agreed that cleaning provides peace of mind and a sense of control over one’s environment. Among those surveyed, 82 percent also strongly agreed they like to admire their work after a good clean and 81 percent felt a sense of accomplishment when they finished.
“Cleaning anything, whether it’s wiping smudges off your fridge or removing greasy build up from your car’s wheels, can boost your mood and give you a sense of pride for a job well done,” said Dr. Jennifer Hartstein, clinical psychologist. “This positive mental boost can lead to an increased desire to continue cleaning and ultimately results in a truly satisfying experience that leaves the cleaner feeling accomplished.”
The study also found that those enthusiastic feelings that cleaning elicits can often push you to clean more than you had planned for. Two-thirds of the study’s participants strongly agreed that they often cleaned more than they originally set out to and 82 percent of the participants agreed to clean an optional sticky kitchen mess that hadn’t been on their original task list.
After cleaning, participants reported feeling more determined, inspired and proud, and less jittery, nervous and hostile. So the next time your kids are driving you crazy, you might consider swapping that glass of rosé for a sponge.
The best place to live when you’re single and childless may not be ideal anymore once you start a family. A new study reveals the best and worst states in the country to raise kids.
WalletHub compared 50 states across 50 key indicators of family-friendliness to compile a ranking of the best places for families to live. The facts considered include health and safety, education and childcare, affordability, socio-economics and family fun. Taking the top spot as best place to raise kids is Minnesota, which also came in first last year.
In fact, not much has changed since 2019, with the same states taking the top five spots as the previous year. However, there was some movement among the top ten with Connecticut and Washington working their way up.
10 Best States to Raise a Family
1. Minnesota
2. Massachussets
3. North Dakota
4. Vermont
5. New Hampshire
6. New York
7. New Jersey
8. Nebraska
9. Connecticut
10. Washington
The worst states also lined up similarly this year, with almost no changes in the bottom ten other than a handful swapping spots.
10 Worst States to Raise a Family
41. Arizona
42. Georgia
43. South Carolina
44. Oklahoma
45. Arkansas
46. Alabama
47. West Virginia
48. Louisiana
49. Mississippi
50. New Mexico
Check out WalletHub’s full list of rankings by state here.
Looking for something a little more unique this holiday season? Skip the traditional Christmas tree in favor of something a little more extraordinary and dazzle your family and friends with a magical unicorn Christmas tree!
The newest holiday trend is getting a lot of attention and something your kids are going to be big fans. So how exactly do you bring this magical tree to your home?
If you want to DIY this whimsical Christmas decor at home, start by swapping out your green tree for a pink, white or silver one. Just about any sparkly color will do the trick. Next you need to fashion the unicorn horn topper. You can purchase them already made, like this cute one from Etsy or you can follow a tutorial like this one to make your own.
If you don’t feel ready to dedicate your entire living room to all things unicorn, you can always opt for sprucing up a mini tree with unicorn decor instead.
Earlier in the summer, actress Shay Mitchell revealed her baby joy. In a wild Power Rangers-packed video, Mitchell and boyfriend Matte Babel told the world they’re having a girl! Now Mitchell is telling the world something else—that she wears diapers.
We’ve all been there. The growing baby in your belly presses on your bladder all day and night. That means you need to pee 24-7. When Mitchell couldn’t take the near-constant stream of bathroom breaks, she got creative.
The mama-to-be ditched her normal undergarments, swapping them for adult diapers. In a YouTube vide, she shared her diaper secret with her friends, saying, “So you want to see something?” That’s when the actress showed off her “full-on diaper.”
Mitchell explained her choice, saying, “Okay, because it gets so annoying having to go to the bathroom all the time.” She added, “You know, I’m having to pee way too much. It’s just like, I’m over it.”
Cute couple alert! During a recent appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Kristen Bell may have made her hubby cry. Oh, and it was all for Dax Shepard’s birthday.
So what made Shepard—and then Bell, and then the rest of us get all weepy? Shepard was doing his Dr. Dax segment, where he gives TV doctor-inspired advice to Ellen’s audience. Bell, who was seated in the audience, got up and asked her husband what he thought a good gift for a spouse’s birthday would be. His answer reminded us all that he and Bell are total relationship #goals. See for yourself:
After swapping some quick jokes about gifts “in the bedroom,” Shepard eventually answered, “I would say please, please, please give that person love and support for 11 years. Give them two beautiful baby girls…and you’re good.”
And now our hearts are melting. If you have a tear in your eye right now, you’re not alone@ The answer got an emotional response from both Bell and Shepard. Now that’s love.
Apparently, some educators believe that today’s kids can’t read analog clocks. At least, some educators at British schools do. These schools in England aren’t so sure that their students can read good ol’ clocks anymore (the ones with actual hands that move) and want to get rid of them… the clocks, that is—not the kids.
According to The Telegraph, some administrators at U.K. schools have considered swapping out analog clocks for digital clocks in testing rooms. During General Certificate of Secondary Education and A-level exams (sort of like the U.K. version of the pre-SATs and SATs) students seemed to have trouble reading the “old-school” analog clocks in the test-taking rooms. In response, teachers decided to start using digital clocks to make it easier for their teenaged students.
Deputy General Secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Malcolm Trobe, told The Telegraph, “The current generation aren’t as good at reading the traditional clock face as older generations,” adding, “They are used to seeing a digital representation of time on their phones, on their computer. Nearly everything they’ve got is digital so youngsters are just exposed to time being given digitally everywhere.”
