As moms of babies and toddlers, I know sometimes every day life is busy enough and it’s hard to plan for holidays…like Halloween! With Halloween just 10 days away, there’s no need to stress– RealSimple.com has everything you need to gather up costumes, decorations, and party food just in time for the spooky fun holiday.

No-Carve Pumpkin Decorating

You still have time to pick up pumpkins at the grocery store or garden center to decorate your home or front yard – and you don’t even need to make a mess carving! Have clean fun with your kids using ribbon, paint, buttons, and more with these creative designs.

10 Last-Minute Costume Ideas

Never got around to buying that Morticia Addams ensemble? Harness the Halloween spirit with a kooky (but not creepy) look that you can pull together in a snap, snap.

Easy DIY Costumes

Have some more time to play with but still want to save money? Use items you have around the house to make one of these costumes, and your child will be the shining star of the Halloween parade.

Let Makeup Make Your Costume

No costume? No problem! Try a budget-friendly and fun alternative for your October 31st look.

8 Easy Halloween Hairstyles

Draw inspiration from these easy-to-do ‘dos!

PLUS:

Halloween Party Checklist

New Uses for Old HALLOWEEN Things

Sesame Workshop has been creating engaging educational content for children over four decades, but no decade is more important than this one.  In support of the UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, is working with partners from around the world to help raise awareness and promote safe road practices.

With funding from the FIA Foundation, three animated Sesame Street public service announcements (PSAs) were created and will debut in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East today.  The PSAs feature Grover in different scenarios shown buckling up or putting on a helmet, and then giving a thumbs up—the universally used symbol by pilots, astronauts, race-car drivers and other highly-skilled professionals to denote readiness, preparedness, and “all-systems go.”  Grover will be wearing the official international road safety symbol—a yellow Road Safety tag to show his support to the road safety cause.

This month, Grover joins world leaders at Road Safety events in the Washington DC, Mexico City, Leipzig and Berlin to launch this long-term commitment to protecting children from accidents and injuries.

In addition to the PSAs, Sesame Workshop and the Global Road Safety Partnership are jointly developing a Road Safety Education Framework intended as a practical guide for Road Safety educators, parents and practitioners who are developing content, educational materials and communication strategies to help children better understand the risks associated with travel on or near the roads.

The objectives of the Sesame Street Road Safety Campaign are:

·         To help children understand that vehicles are complex and technical things that need skill, caution and preparation to ride in them and be around them;

·         To build in children an “I can” attitude toward this positive mind-set and behavior;

·         To empower children to take action in communicating this positive and proactive attitude to their family and friends; and

·         To make the safe use of cars and roads a priority and a shared family experience.

“Using the unique lens of Sesame Workshop’s 40-plus years of research-based experience and our partners’ expertise of best practices in road safety education, we hope to make critical changes in how people interact with the road,” said Gary E. Knell, Sesame Workshop President and CEO.  “Today kicks off an important coordinated effort among global organizations to mobilize and reach families to promote safety awareness among all road users.”

Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization that revolutionized children’s television programming with the landmark Sesame Street.  The Workshop produces local Sesame Street programs, seen in over 140 countries, and other acclaimed shows to help bridge the literacy gap including The Electric Company.  Beyond television, the Workshop produces content for multiple media platforms on a wide range of issues including literacy, health and military deployment. Initiatives meet specific needs to help young children and families develop critical skills, acquire healthy habits and build emotional strength to prepare them for lifelong learning.  Learn more at www.sesameworkshop.org.

One of our writers at Tips for Toddlers is expecting a new bundle-of-joy, and we just couldn’t wait for the ultrasound in three weeks to determine if she’s having a boy or a girl. We’re secretly hoping for a baby girl, but before we start buying pink and ruffles, we thought we have a little fun with the Intelligender Baby Gender Prediction Test.

We know these tests are just for fun and have about a 50% accuracy rate– however, the box claims it’s more like 90% accurate. We’ll see…

The test is similar to a home pregnancy test, but instead of peeing on a stick, you pee in a little cup. You then take a little syringe and transfer the pee into a little container, swirl, and wait five minutes. Thankfully, it’s not as messy as it sounds.

Orange/yellow means GIRL, while dark green/brown predicts BOY.

Our results…

Looks like we have a baby boy on the way!

The Intelligender Baby Gender Prediction Test costs around $30 and it’s easy and fun. Since we don’t have an ultrasound to confirm the results, there is no way to tell accuracy–yet! There was no denying the color matched for a boy, we’ll update here in three weeks.

The new addition to the Tips for Toddlers family means we will be bringing new reviews and news of all things baby. We know there are a lot of moms out there with toddlers and babies, so we’re making this a one-stop shop. Congratulations Nicole!
UPDATE: It’s a girl!! In defense of Intelligender, we did not follow EXACT instructions and performed the test in the middle of the day. The box states it needs to be tested upon waking.

I LOVE eBates! I’ve gotten almost $500 back since I joined. As I purchase more and more online, it’s always fun to go though eBates and see if a merchant is participating- more times than not, they are! This means more money back for me!! You’ll also find that with the eBates cash back and other merchant discounts (like coupon codes), it’s often cheaper to buy online than in store.

If you haven’t signed up already, you must try it out. It is completely free and you even get $5 back after you make your first purchase (that’s in addition to what you get back from the merchant).

How much have you gotten back through eBates?

Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa is voluntarily recalling specific Julian dates of shell eggs produced by their farms because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditis or arthritis.

Eggs affected by this recall were distributed to food wholesalers, distribution centers and foodservice companies in California, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. These companies distribute nationwide.

Eggs are packaged under the following brand names: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps. Eggs are packed in varying sizes of cartons (6-egg cartons, dozen egg cartons, 18-egg cartons) with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 225 and plant numbers 1026, 1413 and 1946. Dates and codes can be found stamped on the end of the egg carton. The plant number begins with the letter P and then the number. The Julian date follows the plant number, for example: P-1946 223.

There have been confirmed Salmonella enteritidis illnesses relating to the shell eggs and traceback investigations are ongoing.

Consumers who believe they may have purchased these shell eggs should not eat them but should return them to the store where they were purchased for a full refund. This recall is of shell eggs only. Other egg products produced by Wright County Eggs are not affected. Consumers with questions should visit www.eggsafety.org.

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Thanks Deal Seeking Mom!

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Thanks For the Mommas!

My husband and I constantly go back and forth on who looks most like our daughter. I say she has my eyes, while he says she has his nose. The debate goes on and on (all in good fun, of course) until we agree it is a 50/50 split.

When I found out about My Heritage Baby Look alike Meter I just had to try it out…once and for all I was going to see who our daughter looks like more.

The Baby Look alike Meter is free to use and only takes a few minutes. Just register and upload pictures of mom, dad and baby (doesn’t have to be a baby either- we used a toddler picture).

In no time the results were in…

My little girl looks more like me by 4%!!! Yay!

MyHeritage: Family tree – Genealogy – Celebrity – Collage – Morph

When you’re done, you can share your results with friends and family online.

So, what do you think? Did the My Heritage Baby Look alike Meter work for you? Check out My Heritage where you can build your free online family tree and try out the Baby Look alike Meter.

I have known about SwagBucks for the longest time, mostly from mommy message boards were everyone raves about their points and how much money they’ve made (amazon gift cards).

It wasn’t until this last month that I signed up myself, and now I’m wondering what took me so long.

SwagBucks is free to join and your earn points (or swagbucks) when you use their search engine to search for stuff you do anyway.

When you have enough SwagBcks you can start to redeem them in the Swag Store- Currently a $5 Amazon GC is 450 bucks, really not that many considering you usually earn at least 10 at a time (no limit to how many you can earn in a day) and you start out with a bonus.

It’s free to try out and those SwagBucks add up! I am already saving my Amazon gift codes for Christmas

Join SwagBucks and Start Earning Today!

New from Huggies, Enjoy the Ride Rewards.

This new program offers moms a chance to earn reward points which can be spent on chances to win valuable prizes such as trips, gift cards and more!

You earn points by entering special codes that will be located on direct mail pieces, magazine ads, and online -through taking polls, watching videos and participating in other fun activities.

Sign up for free at www.enjoytheriderewards.com