It's back to school time and we would love to go on and on about how structured and peaceful the morning routine is in our homes, what with getting the kids ready, making a healthy breakfast, packing the perfect lunches, signing permissi…
They may not get filled with anything more exotic than ice water, but a new travel series SIGG water bottle for kids will get your brood thinking about far-away places while they sip. With six different cities represented in the series t…
Skip Hop is inextricable from my memories of my boys in their early years. My older son started preschool with a frog backpack and ended Pre-K with a very well worn monkey on his back. My three-year-old is currently toting the fox around…
As I start to evaluate my kids' lunchboxes and decide which will actually hold up through summer camp, and which require a loving send-off, I come across these wonderful new lunch bags for kids and coordinating accessories from our frien…
Chalkboard paint is a big trend that we're seeing everywhere lately. We love that it help you customize all kinds of things with a fun vintage flair. So I've been searching for the coolest easy chalkboard paint craft projects that I can …
The wonderful PlanetBox eco-friendly stainless steel lunch boxes are a favorite for my kids -- and for me. Now, through an Earth Day partnership with kid-friendly folk musician Jack Johnson, they're making school environmental education …
Oh, those shiny, shiny cans of soda pop that your children look at so longingly. Wouldn't it be nice if they could have the shiny outside without the sugar inside? Well, thanks to the clever design of these Cozy Cans reusable drink cups …
I love beautiful bento lunch boxes, but some of them make you feel like you need an MFA in order to make your kid's lunch. Especially holiday-themed lunch boxes! For Halloween I decided to come up with a few easy, festive lunch ideas. I …
There's no shortage of cool lunch containers, bento boxes , water bottles and other fun accessories to help make your kid's lunch a little more appealing than our own brown-bag days of yore. Here, we've pared them down to a few of the ve…
Finding the best new lunchboxes and lunch bags for kids is one of our favorite back to school rituals. It's even more fun that we get to pick more than one, since we're shopping for you all! This year for our back to school shopping guid…
My kids have loved Milkdot lunch bags since we first found them. And Milkdot's brand new styles give us one more reason. Or, three. Milkdot insulated lunch totes are the right size to shove in multiple bentos and a small water bottle or …
I'm a big fan of the FEED mission, which sells products to directly feed schoolchildren both at home through Feeding America and abroad via the UN's World Food Program. Whenever I carry my FEED bag, I'm reminded of the good it did. So I'…
Back to school shopping season gets earlier every year, doesn't it? I have to say, there's something about a shiny new backpack ready for new learning and new adventures that makes the season more fun. I mean, for the kids. Of course. We…
As I start to take inventory of our end-of-school-year bento boxes and food storage options, I ask myself, where did all the freaking lids go? Then I quit complaining and start looking for replacements. {Don't miss a great limited time o…
featured partner We love that the notion of cutting down waste has gone from something for the uber-frugal, to something we all want to do, both to save money , and make sure the earth as we know it is still here for our kids in years to…
I had such a great time discovering so many cool new picks at the NY International Gift Fair this weekend. But what was maybe more interesting, was letting my 7 year-old daughter tag along so I could see her own favorites from the show t…
I've always liked BuiltNY's lunch totes, so much so that I own a few of them myself. I can assure you they've all stood the test of time. And the test of peanut butter. Now they're offering new kid's lunchboxes and brand new reusable san…
The summer is almost officially over and that means one thing: The launch of our sixth annual Back to School Shopping Guide , featuring close to 150 goodies that will help make your little and big kids' school year the coolest one yet. Y…
I learned the hard way, as have many parents, that if you buy a cheap backpack for your kid, even your toddler, you will be buying a second (and possibly third) backpack before the school year is through. So now I look for good quality, …
Between summer camp and school, tossing an ice pack in with a sandwich, apple and yogurt is pretty much a no-brainer at this point. But when you consider that not all lunch boxes and ice packs are made for each other, there are plenty of…
My kids and I are suckers for cool lunch boxes and bento boxes. We are constantly stealing each others--they take my "sophisticated" boxes and sometimes I borrow Hello Kitty. And now here's another amazing bento box that anyone of any ag…
As the old saying goes: Once you go Bento you never go back. Okay, that's not it at all. But it's exactly how I feel every morning that I pack my kids' lunches. After discovering the perfect reusable, food-safe containers , those plastic…
For those of you with kids (like my son) who would rather eat just a little bit of everything instead of a big Dagwood sandwich, CMP favorite LunchBots is going to make your day. (If not your kids' lunch.) The brand new LunchBots Quad is…
Why is this new SIGG bottle awesome for Valentine's Day? Because no one can live without water. (And lots of us can't live without Twitter.) It's a child-sized bottle, but I would totally drink from it. Damask, birds, flowers, bright col…