Raves, Craves, and Not So Faves - Dramatic Fanatic

This week I am raving about Dramatic Fanatic, a whodunit mystery theater kit for birthday parties, classrooms, or just fun. Each kit comes complete with a mystery game in which each child plays a wacky character involved in a silly crime. Each child acts out an assigned role and the object of the game is for the kids to figure which one of the characters committed the crime. The kit comes complete with a script and roles for up to 16 children and are available for either boys or girls. A minimum of 8 children are required for the game.

Recently used at my daughter’s 9 year old birthday party, this was a huge hit. The girls loved coming dressed in character, acting out the mystery, and solving the crime. A truly original idea that offers loads of fun.

Weekly Meal Planner

For those of you who subscribe to our free monthly newsletter, you know what a big fan I am of our monthly meal planner. Even though it is a bit more time intensive at first, I love the feeling of contentment that comes from knowing that all of my meals are planned out in advance and that I won’t have to get creative on the quick. But we do understand that monthly meal planning isn’t for everyone and have recently added a new weekly meal planner for those families who prefer to plan their meals weekly rather than monthly.

The weekly meal planner comes with 52 weekly meal planners, tear off grocery lists, and plenty of storage for recipes and take out menus. It is a perfect option for busy families on the go who still want to serve nutritious meals without a lot of fuss.

Getting Back Into The Groove After a Family Vacation

Sleeping in, relaxing by the pool, spending quality time with the family, and having wonderful memories are all the great aspects of family vacations and frankly the reasons most families take a family vacation year after year. But with all of the great fun, getting back into the groove of things after the vacation can be a challenge. So to ease you back into your “family groove” after your vacation, here are some quick tips to help.

Buy Your Groceries Before You Leave - Use your monthly meal planner or weekly meal planner to plan your meals for the first week you are home from vacation. Just prior to leaving for vacation, go grocery shopping and buy all of the non-perishable things you will need for your first week back. So that the only shopping you need to do when you get home from vacation is for a quick stop for the perishable things (milk, eggs, fresh vegetables and fruit).

Sort Your Laundry While on Vacation – Catching up on laundry can be a big deal after a vacation. Make it a little easier by sorting your laundry while on vacation into large plastic bags. Ziploc® Big Bags work really well for this and can usually be found in the plastic wrap section of your grocery store. Use 4 bags to sort the laundry into whites for parents, whites for kids, colors for parents, colors for kids. If you are really motivated, keep stain remover nearby and quickly spray the stains before you put them into the bags. By the end of vacation all of your laundry will be sorted (and hopefully treated for spots) making it easier to quickly throw in a load when you return. If you are traveling via airplane, take along an extra large duffle bag to throw your bags of sorted laundry into while traveling.

Save a Day for Unpacking – Try and plan your vacation, so that you have an entire day to unpack and get reorganized before you have to head back to work. For example if you have to go back to work or the kids to school on a Monday, arrange your trip so that you arrive home on Saturday, leaving Sunday free to unpack.

Arrange for Postal Delivery of Your Mail – If you stop your mail while on vacation, arrange to have the post office deliver it to you on the day you return from vacation. This will save you a trip to the post office and allow you to sort through it quicker.

He Misses Me

While at home and going about our busy lives, my husband often takes the time to quietly complain about my compulsiveness. My need to have order, control, and a chaos free life he does not always appreciate. How I can’t go anywhere with dishes in the sink, how I can’t leave for vacation without the house being clean (this is a major point of contention with him), or how I take great pleasure in organizing a new cabinet or drawer. But since being on vacation since Saturday, my husband has actually admitted to missing some of these Bree like traits. Since being on vacation for the last 3 days, I have taken the fact that WE are on vacation seriously and have not made much effort at keeping the small 500 square foot cottage all 6 of us are staying in order. I am leaving dishes in the sink, letting the kids eat on the couch, and have made no effort whatsoever to sweep the sand off the floor. After all, WE are on vacation.

So today after sleeping into 9:00am (this is rare for me), I happily declared, “Aren’t you proud of me? I have totally relaxed and not made an effort to get this cottage in any kind of order. Don’t you love the mess?” Fully expecting him to hug and kiss me and echo my cheers of pride, he grumpily replied (after stepping in a pile of sand), “Yeah I guess. But I kind of miss it….” (aka “please take some time to clean up - it is now inconveniencing me”). Men!!

Pack Your Car the Night Before!

by Laurel Smith

“Pack your car the night before!” I said.

I told this to my brother before his 7 hour drive to meet us at the beach for Thanksgiving, but of course, being my “little” brother, he did not listen. He thought he could pack his wife, two young children and all their cribs, strollers, snacks, toys, car seats and suitcases in the morning before they left. As a result, they didn’t get on the road until noon!

Seriously, packing the car the night before a big trip accomplishes several things. First, it allows you to pack at a leisurely pace so you are not rushed and panicked, leaving you stressed out just before you get behind the wheel. You will be able to hop in the car cheerfully rested and relaxed in the morning with your coffee in hand, more able to enjoy the journey, and with more patience to keep the kids happy.

Second, it gives you more time to think about what you have packed so you don’t forget anything, and so you can decide whether you really need to bring certain things. This really helps alleviate that “I wonder if I forgot something” feeling that everyone gets when they are about 30 miles into a 300 mile drive.

Next, it allows you to plan better for games and travel activities you want to bring, and what snacks to bring. This will save you money and time on the road if you can bring lunch with you, and save you sanity if you have planned well to keep the kids busy.

One final bonus is that it might buy you a couple of hours of quiet time at the beginning of your drive. This is well worth it! Many times when we have left for long trips early in the morning, we literally picked the kids up out of their beds, took them to the potty and put them in the car — pajamas and all. If we were lucky they often slept a couple more hours before we had an easy breakfast break in the car (usually cereal mix or granola bars) and a clothing change at our first gas stop.

With safety in mind, think about where you keep your car before you pack it. Since we keep our minivan in the garage, we feel safe having our stuff in the car overnight. If your car is outside, you might feel better piling it all up inside near the door the night before. It will still only take a moment to toss it all in if you’ve got it all ready to go ahead of time.

Packing the night before will help you get on the road sooner which means you’ll arrive at your destination sooner!

Laurel Smith is a former schoolteacher and mother of three who has logged thousands of road trip miles both as a kid and a mom. Visit her website for more than 101 travel games and activities for kids at MomsMinivan.com