Make Gift Giving Hassle-Free with GC Regalo!

One quarter left and it's Christmas! I love the season. I love Christmas and especially the meaning of it! Moreover, I get overly excited about gifts - don't you? I really like surprises.

Growing up, I always wondered what was wrong with giving another tie to our dad. 

In my case, I gave my dad socks. 

As I got older, I understood. I understood as soon as my husband and I kept getting mugs year after year. It's very useful and highly appreciated. My husband and I like mugs a lot. However, after several years, it's an eye sore to see a lot of them not matching our wares.

Some of them have been put to good use. 

Some stored - just so I can have some semblance of order. Can't discard them because we like changing our mugs depending on our moods. Our faves for now are in the dish rack being used everyday.

Parents know what to give their child. It's usually what they want. In our family, we go to the mall, we give our kids their budget and they get the one thing they really like. Yes, the surprise may be gone but the excitement is still there. It's a sure thing that it's something they really like for sure.

In this day and age, most kids, including mine, know the concept of the credit cards, debit cards and the gift certificates. These and other gift ideas are the adult version of what we do for our kids. 

We get a kick when my hubby comes home with employee incentives from work. I usually share this with the kids. So they pretty much know the concept already.

Of course, nothing beats having to personally pick a gift or make something for someone. But if you're stumped and just don't want to give another "mug,"  then go for these options. The upside is it's for all occasion. Be it any wedding (there's an option for gift registry for this), birthdays and of course Christmas. 

Make brushing more fun with Minions!

My kids love it whenever the mailman, courier or any messenger arrives at the house. They go running out to greet the person and excited to see what he has in store for us. They come in saying "Mommy, mommy! We have mail!" ... even with bills (they get excited over those as well).

Last night this arrived...

The bubble wrap was in the way. But they can see through it and their excitement was threatening to bubble over. Once I took out the wrapper, they started shouting and jumping up and down. They kept saying, "what's inside?! what's inside?!"

I opened it.  The look in their faces! It was like Christmas all over again. Just like me, they like unboxing anything. 

It had a Colgate's Minions toothbrush and toothpaste. We got the oral care pack for 2-5 year old . My youngest got the toothbrush. The toothpaste was for later.

The kids were all too happy to go brush their teeth after dinner. My eldest was looking forward to how the flavor tasted. There's an oral pack also for 5-9 years old which we will be getting very soon. All smiles coming out of the bathroom.

Anika especially loves that it had suction cups at the bottom. brushing doesn't have to be difficult. it just has to be fun.  

Num Noms and The Cravings for Lip Balm

My daughters have always had an eye for doing projects or crafts. Their interest range from science projects...

To the good old reliable clay....

Following instructions to a tee to build structures...

And stimulating their creative juices by creating their own works of art...

Now that they're growing ever faster, they want to do more. 

Num Noms are such a hit with them. They can't get enough of it. Until one day, a eureka moment! They asked if they can possibly make their own lip balm. 

Here we have a step by step way of how they made their own lip balm.

You will need the following:

1. melted Petroleum Jelly - 1 big spoonful heated in the microwave

2. Tang (strawberry flavor is their fave)

3. Water - just enough to dissolve the powdered juice

4. Containers - even unused contact lens containers!!!

We are still far from the consistency of Num Noms but it was still loads of fun making it. They have tried making lip balm with any powdered juice they get their hands on even ice tea! They still like the classic flavors though. 

Ready for the next project.

Kitchen Box of Fun

A few days back, my kids and I saw a post in FB of a kitchen set made out of cardboard boxes. We are advocates of recycling stuff. Today, we finally got to do it. Of course, first and foremost, we needed a box.

Then my kids and I started cutting out the pieces to be placed on the box. It's a great kids activity. They painted the pieces and was excited to put them on. 

While they painted the burners, I cut an opening in the middle to serve as a door for the oven. Then, I placed the handles. These handles are also recycled. They came from the holders of the street gliders my daughter bought.

Now the final touches. We placed all the cut out pieces in place. As soon as all the glue dried, they started playing with it. Another project, another fun day for the kids.