Category: holidays

How to Coordinate Holiday Photos

Holiday card photos. Everyone has a love/hate relationship with them. You love getting family pictures taken and sending them out to friends and relatives, but putting together cute outfits for everyone that match but don’t look too much alike is a chore in itself. Today we offer a few ideas on how to coordinate holiday photos for the perfect look.

Having a range of colors for your theme spread out on each person pulls it all together. Mixing several prints is good if they have a cohesive look and are not too overpowering. Say, for instance, you wanted to do grey, navy, teal and lime green. If each person had a large amount of lime it would be too much. But if Mom had a lime necklace, Brother had lime shoes, Sister had a lime dress and Dad didn’t have any it would be just fine. As long as Dad has the other colors on that coordinate with everyone else, it will work. Polka dots, strips and even tartan can work together if the colors flow from one person to another.

For Christmas pictures though if you have little ones, having a back drop is always extra fun. Going outside in the snow, drinking cocoa, a Christmas tree, some simple lights, the kids building a snowman and so on can add an element of humor and be more personal than just everyone standing together.

For Ideas on adding pattern, texture and color see this great post for Holiday photos

We hope you have fun putting together memorable photos this season! What are some color combos you have tried?

Mom Fact #4

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family from One Small Child.

Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes from One Small Child Staff

Looking for something new to add to your menu this holiday season? A few of us at One Small Child would like to share our tried-and-true Thanksgiving recipes with you!

{Katy’s favorite Thanksgiving recipe is this Pecan Pie recipe from The Pioneer Woman.}

Sue Ann from our shipping department shared her recipe for Slow-Cooker Veggies:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes
1 pound parsnips
1 pound carrots
2 large red onions, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation:

Peel first 3 ingredients, and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Combine parsnips, carrots, onions, and cranberries in a lightly greased 6-qt. slow cooker; layer sweet potatoes over top.
Whisk together sugar and next4 ingredients in a small bowl; pour over vegetable mixture. (Do not stir.)
Cover and cook on HIGH 4 to 5 hours or until vegetables are tender. Toss with parsley just before serving.

Audrey shared her favorite recipe for rolls here: “Jeremy’s Rolls”.

Bethany loves these Homemade Cinnamon Rolls from LiveCraftEat.com. She says: “This is the closest thing to my mama’s homemade rolls. But add about double the butter. She is southern so the more butter the better!”

Ramona shared her family’s favorite Candied Yams from AllRecipes.com.

Care to share your favorite recipe links?

Simple Thanksgiving Centerpieces

We all want our home and dinner to look as warm and welcoming as possible this time of year, but it can be hard on top of all the preparations to prepare to get all of the decor up too. So today we are doing a Pinterest Roundup of simple Thanksgiving centerpieces that you can do in a hurry. The end result will be beautiful and everyone will enjoy the warmth you added to the dinner. If you are not hosting the dinner, offer to take flowers and centerpieces to the hostess to help out. It’s a nice gesture and one that will be appreciated.

Source

Thanksgiving Kid Crafts and Activities

Everyone did a painting of a turkey in the shape of their hand in school; and kids still do. But doing something new never hurt either. We highlight a few Thanksgiving kid crafts and activities that you can do to get into the spirit of Fall and will add some festive flair to your home.

This adorable painting is easy for even the youngest littles. They can use their fingers or paint brushes. All you need is paper, paint, leaves and tape. When it’s all dry, put it in a frame and every year pull it out to display in your home. You’ll be able to talk about the day it was painted with your kids for years to come. Find a tutorial here.

Kids love to make things, but things with eyes on them are always better. This simple craft could be done with a group of kids with each one being a little different. Another idea would be to let your kids make enough to use as napkin rings. Find a tutorial here.

On the big day sometimes it can be hard to keep the kids distracted long enough to cook. Have them paint some feathers (or just buy colorful ones) and hid them around the house. Tell your kids they have to find all of the “Turkey” feathers before they come into the kitchen. Depending on how well you hide them you may even be able to sit down for a few.

To see more fun ideas, check out Parenting.com’s great article!

Family Time: Month Long Thankful Wall

During the craziness that is this time of year, it’s easy to rush through our Thanksgiving plans and into preparing for Christmas–it can be hard to really stop and breathe for a moment to reflect. Last year one of my favorite blogs, Our Happiness Tour, was featured on her local news channel for a “craft” she did with her family of four. I loved it! I immediately put it to work in my home. I couldn’t believe the difference it made for me. {Lindsey’s Blog Post , Lindsey’s Video Interview about the Banner}

We had to think hard about what we were thankful for each day. Closer to the end of the month it was getting a little difficult, but that is the point. You have to truly decide and speak out loud what you can’t see yourself being without. Below you can see the start to ours in our entry way. Because we are proud of the things we write down, we want everyone that comes into our home to see them.

My kids enjoy it because they can participate and help hang them up. But it’s a daily activity that will build a memory over time. Although mine isn’t as fancy as Lindsey’s, I hope to add some fun touches over the month.

{Tip: you can find cute paper cut outs at your local craft/scrapbooking store}

Easy Baby Costume Ideas in a Pinch

Halloween for children is one of the most exciting times of the year. They can be their favorite superhero, princess or whatever their little hearts can dream up. The best way to use their imagination! But with that imagination comes a project for you. And as busy as we are it can be the last minute before we come up with something worthy of leaving the house.

Following are easy DIY baby costume ideas that we loved because many of the materials are things you already have. Making a smaller trip to the store and helping your wallet.

Happy Halloween! And here’s hoping you get at least one good piece of candy out of your kids’ bucket before they notice. You deserve it!

21 Easy Homemade Baby Costume Ideas

A couple of favorites from the link:

A Gnome! Having made this one personally in the past I can with confidence say how cute it is!

Tinkerbell, every little girl wants to be her, or just some kind of fairy. You can find wings at the dollar store and making the tutu is super easy. Here is a link just to show you how easy it is: Easy tulle tutu tutorial

And last but not least, a bowl of spaghetti. Because if your kids are anything like mine, they look like this anytime they eat it anyway.

Now Available: 2014 Baby Holiday Outfits

The holidays are just around the corner! We’re excited to present our 2014 baby holiday outfits today! They are now available for purchase, so snag yours before the season slips away!

Ladies first: Our Lyla is a pretty A-line dress with puffed sleeves. A red carnation adds just the right touch of color to the modern houndstooth fabric. An adorable ruffle diaper cover peeks out underneath. Complete her holiday look with our opaque baby tights in black and our leather ballet moccasins in red! Don’t forget our warm and comfy camisole bodysuit!

Our handsome Ludlow boys sport coat is made to match the Lyla dress. Three shiny buttons and faux pockets decorate the houndstooth suit jacket. A clean-cut white bodyshirt and simple black pants support the sharp style. The red bow tie adds a pop of color to complete his dapper look. These four pieces are all included to make holiday outfit shopping easy for you!

Looking for a great baby’s first Christmas gift? These sweet silver bells are engraved with baby’s name. This high-quality ornament is the perfect way to commemorate baby’s first holiday season!

Holiday Fun: Family Fourth of July Activities Pinterest Roundup

Are you looking forward to all the Independence Day celebrations as much as I am this year? It’s always fun to get together with family. My family loves to play games, do crafts and watch the fun firework displays. It’s a time that we can all get together and catch up with each other.

I have been in charge of my family party on the Fourth of July for several years now, and I needed a few new Fourth of July activities for all the kids this year. I have to entertain every age from toddler to teen, which can be challenging! Not to mention I’m short on time to prepare, and I really don’t want to break the bank. So I went searching on Pinterest and found some great ideas for kids of all ages. (Are you following us on Pinterest?) Most are very inexpensive and simple to prepare. I wanted to include a craft, at least one thinking activity and a couple ‘get up and move’ activities for each age group. Here’s what I came up with:

Fourth of July Activities for Toddlers

Let’s start with the little ones: I picked a straw fireworks paint activity for their craft from ArtsyMomma.com. For their thinking activity, I chose a simple felt build-a-flag activity from LittleFamilyFun.com. The get up and move activities are water bottle bowling from RootsandWingsCo.blogspot.com and an awesome hand and foot-print flag from ParentMap.com. (Wouldn’t this be fun to involve all the kids and compare the flags as they grow each year?)

Fourth of July Activities for Kids

Next up is the kiddos. I chose a fun can wind catcher for their craft from MamaOlie.blogspot.com. I scored with this free printable patriotic bingo from Makoodle.com for their thinking game. And for their get up and move activities, I chose a simple water bottle ring toss from RootsandWingsCo.blogspot.com and fun can-do stilts from Spoonful.com. (To simplify decorating the cans, I may have construction paper to wrap the cans, and use star stickers instead of trying to let the kids paint the metal and let it dry, etc. Crepe paper would also be a less expensive alternative to ribbons for the wind-catcher.)

Fourth of July Activities for Pre-teens and Teens

Now for the older kids. I’ve planned on all these activities at least entertaining the pre-teen kids, and I’m hoping the teens will jump in and enjoy them as well. I chose ribbon dancers for their craft (A little juvenile for a teen, I know. But their “not into crafts” anyway, yeah?) from theGoldJellyBean.com. I’ll use crepe paper for these as well. Their thinking activity is a word search from FourthofJuly2013.com. (I might also do a Declaration of Independence matching game I saw briefly on theRedHeadedHostess.com that would be more challenging for the older kids.) Their get up and move activities are a balloon dart game from RootsandWingsCo.blogspot.com and a fun scavenger hunt from PartyGamesNow.com. Whew! Glad that’s all figured out!

The Challenge

Okay, here’s the monkey wrench. There is a very large, very fun fireworks display that is about 45 minutes away from our small town. After a day of food and fun activities, it’s always fun to go watch this particular firework display. However, we need to show up to claim our spot on the nice soft grass reasonably early. Otherwise we will end up with sleepy kids laying on asphalt or a big tree blocking our view. So, I need a few Fourth of July activities to take along, so the kids are entertained while we wait for the big firework show. Can I just say, Pinterest is a lifesaver? I saw this awesome pin from SugarBeeCrafts.com that is perfect! These games don’t take up a lot of travel space, and they’re very inexpensive. It’s nice that you don’t have to worry about something getting broken or left behind when packing away all the sleepy kids. (Honestly, I’ll probably end up tossing them in the trash on the way out.)

I’m excited to try out all these fun Fourth of July activities this year! I’d love your input! Have you tried any of them? Do you have any other fun Independence Day games or tips?

Baby Easter Baskets: One Small Child Gift Sets

Spring is in the air at One Small Child! We’ve been having so much fun, we decided to keep it going with some adorable baby Easter baskets! We have several gift sets for your little one this year. Each offers a different assortment of toys to amuse, loves to snuggle and books to inspire. Most sets are ready to give in fun totes or suitcases (the giraffe set comes in One Small Child packaging). Tote sets come personalized with the baby’s name. From our Aiden and Anais sets for newborns to our bath time kit for bouncing babies, we’ve got you covered!