5 Things We Love About the Mom’s Plan It Engagement Calendar

The Mom’s Plan It Engagement Calendar is our best selling mom planner and there are plenty of reasons why.  Here are the top five reasons moms love this planner.

Convenient Storage Pocket – Built right inside the front cover is a handy storage pocket for your loose papers such as birthday invitations, business cards, maps, or directions.  This pocket really helps to keep things in one place and easier to find things in a hurry.

Peel Off Stickers – The Mom’s Plan It Engagement Calendar includes 288 peel off stickers so busy mom’s can quickly note and remember important recurring events such as birthday parties, dance recitals, school vacation days, and doctor’s appointments. Covering 43 different topics, the peel off stickers have something for every mom.

Tear-off Grocery List – We absolutely love this feature because it makes grocery shopping so much easier.  Simply jot down your grocery items and when it comes time to go to the grocery store, tear off the list and take it with you.  No need to carry around a planner through the store.

Meal Planner – Built into each weekly planner page is a convenient meal planner.  Moms can use this to write out their meal plan for the week and then use the tear-off grocery list to jot down everything they need at the grocery store.

Notes -Take your planner with you when you attend meetings or make phone calls and simply jot down the important things you need to remember, so they are readily available for future meetings or reference.  The handy built in note section eliminates the need to bring both notepads and planners with you when attending meetings and makes scheduling follow up meetings a breeze.  Perfect for jotting down phone messages, phone calls, or meeting notes, the note section helps keep everything in one place.

5 Ways for Families to Save on Food While Traveling

Feeding the family while traveling can be and often is one of the most expensive parts of traveling, so to help we have pulled together five quick ways families can save on food and meals while traveling.

Search Out Kid Eat Free Meal Deals – Many restaurants offer kid eat free meal deals, so be sure to do your homework ahead of time and find some stops along the way that offer these types of deals.  Use resources like KidsMealDeals.com to help find these places.

Stay at Hotels with Free Breakfasts – Search out hotels offering free breakfasts.  There are many out there, so be sure to take the time when booking reservations to find one that meets your needs.

Pack Snacks and Meals – You can save a lot of money by taking the time to shop in advance and pack meals, drinks, and snacks in advance.  Also, forego expensive soft drinks and juice boxes for water bottles and fill them along the way.

Shop at Local Grocery Stores – Stop by the local grocery store and pick up things for a picnic lunch or dinner.  Head to the local park, have a picnic, and enjoy the new scenery.

Cook for Yourself – Consider staying at a hotel or condo with a kitchen and cook your own meals or bring frozen casseroles that only need re-heated.  The added cost of staying at a larger place with a kitchen could easily be offset by the money saved in meals especially if you have a large family.

5 Things We Love About the momAgenda Planners

The momAgenda planners are by far the most comprehensive mom planner we carry.  They are jam packed with just about everything a busy mom could need and essentially eliminate the need to carry multiple notebooks, maintain multiple lists, and carry stray papers.  Here are the five top things we love about these planners.

Multiple Calendar Views – Both the momAgenda Desktop and the momAgenda Mini include a full Month at a Glance calendar in addition to the week at a glance calendar (Desktop design) and day at a glance calendar (Mini design) .  This comes in really handy when you need a snapshot of the month rather than the nitty-gritty detail of your weekly and daily schedule.

Provides Separate Planning Spaces for Mom & Kids – The separate planning spaces for mom and up to four kids is a really nice feature especially if you have very busy schedules.  The separate planning spaces help moms focus on the details much quicker and make it harder to overlook something important because the calendar details aren’t all crammed together in one planning space.

Built in Spot for Meal Planning – The momAgenda planners include separate spots to jot down the family dinner plans for the day making family dinner time and grocery shopping much easier.

Party Planning Note Pages – This is an extremely helpful feature especially when it comes to planning birthday parties for your kids.  The party planning pages not only let you keep track of party details (what, where, when, etc) but also the guest list and RSVP notes.  Use them to plan birthday parties for your kids or adult parties for the parents!

Reusable Address Book – Every momAgenda Desktop Planner and momAgenda Mini planner come with a handy reusable address book called momEssentials.  This handy pamphlet keeps track of all your important contact information and simply slides in and out of the back of your planner, making the change to a new planner every year a breeze.  No more re-writing your address book every year!

8 Free or Low Cost Family Activities for the Summer

A few weeks ago we were discussing on our forum ideas for free and low cost family activities, so I thought it might be helpful to offer a few up here.

Letterboxing – Letterboxing is a treasure hunt hike that families take in search of hidden letterboxes.  Using clues found on the internet (most letterboxes are hidden in a park or central community location), families set out on a hiking adventure in search of the hidden letterbox.  .  Once the letterbox has been found, families then use the pen to leave a message in the logbook along with an image from their personal stamp.

Bike Riding – Take advantage of your local parks and trails by taking a family bike ride.

Berry Picking – Help your local economy and eat healthy too by spending a day picking berries from a local farm.

Backyard Campout – Pitch or make a tent and spend the evening making s’ mores, telling ghost stories, sleeping under the stars.

Treasure Hunt – Keep your kids guessing and moving all summer long with a summer long treasure hunt.

Make a Family Journal – Family journals are a simple way of expressing and recording your family’s life, dreams, and memories without a lot of fuss and most importantly without a lot of anxiety and time.

Homemade Rockets – Add a little science education to your summer by making rocket launchers.  Just do them for fun or add them to your July 4^th celebrations.

Nature Scavenger Hunt – Enjoy the outdoors and the thrill of a scavenger hunt with a nature scavenger hunt.  Use this nature hunt list to get you started or make your own.

For additional ideas for free or low cost family activities see our page with boredom buster ideas and family fun ideas.

On the Road Again

A little preparation can turn any road trip into a fun family adventure.

Here are some suggestions and creative ideas to help families enjoy one another’s company while traveling on the road.

FOR TODDLERS: Prepare ziplock bags of items to be given out every 25, 50 or 75 miles. In each bag put a wrapped item, a small toy, juice or a snack (apple slices won’t turn brown if dipped in Sprite), stickers, or something pertaining to the trip.

Pack a new bag of multi colored pipe cleaners (about $1 or so) and let their creativity run wild as they make letters, flowers, animals, chains, jewelry, twist ties in their hair, and practice braiding.

FOR OLDER CHILDREN:  Let children help plan the vacation. Encourage them to pick motels and other stops along the way. Reserve the right to veto any impractical or unsafe plans. They can research family friendly destinations by region here: http://www.schoolfamily.com/school-family-articles/article/10652-top-20-summer-destinations-for-learning.

Give the children a map to show how far you have come, how much farther there is to go. Each time they ask “How much further?” have them take out their map and see for themselves. Older children can use this site, http://www.travmatix.com, to print driving directions along with a list of all the food, fuel and hotel options at every exit along your route. When they get hungry or need a break, have them check the list of what is available at upcoming exits.

Forego iPods, DVDs and cell phones. Play games instead. Come up with lots of categories and prizes so everyone wins.

1.      Scavenger Hunt. Make a list of items to watch for while driving. Make up the list ahead of time and adjust for scenery. Some items to hunt for: someone on a bike, flashing red light, license plate with Q, playground, church, railroad tracks, American flag, etc.

2.      Counting Cows (or whatever). Divide the car occupants into teams, left and right side. Decide how you will determine when the game will end.  Count the cows you see on your side of the car. If you pass a cemetery on your side of the car, you lose all your cows — but only if the opposing team calls out, “Your cows are buried!” A white horse can count as a bonus. The team with the most cows wins!

3.      True or False. Make a statement about yourself. Ask the children to decide if the statement is true or false. Think about which experiences you would like to share.

4.      My Restaurant. Make up a restaurant and describe it. Include outrageous details such as extreme locations, decorations, menu and customers who eat there often. Have the older children write down what the younger children say. Add drawings.

5.      Dots and Lines. Make your own game board using a blank sheet of paper. Fill a section with evenly spaced rows of dots about half an inch apart. Take turns drawing horizontal or vertical lines between adjacent dots connecting them together. If you complete a full square, write your initial in the box and take another turn. If your line creates two boxes, then you get to put your initial in both of them. Some strategy will be involved to see if you can create more boxes than your opponent. Continue playing until all the dots on the page are connected. The player with the most boxes wins.

Lastly, you can check out books on tape from the library, make up silly stories using Mad Libs, and if you can stand it, print out the lyrics to Willie Nelson’s song On the Road Again and sing out loud.

About the Author: Jodie Randisi is a certified Family Manager tm coach and the author of 201 Things to Do When Children Say I’M BORED. For more information about Family Manager coaching or to get a copy of her book, go to www.201thingstodo.com.

10 Summertime Boredom Busters

Parents envision children being full of energy and ideas, happily entertained by nature, bicycles and friends. Sometimes this happens and other times parents will hear the dreaded words, “I’M BORED! There’s nothing to do.”

As adults, it is not our responsibility to pave the road for our children. It is, however, a good idea to provide a decent road map, and by decent road map I mean provide supervision when needed.

Here are ten ideas that will make summer less “boring.”

Make your own CRAZY PUTTY. Mix equal parts white glue and liquid starch. Knead to desired consistency. The substance will stretch, snap and bounce!

Name that SMELL. Gather items that have identifiable odors. Blindfold the guesser (s). Ask them to name that smell. If they can’t remember the exact name, let them describe some other revealing details such as the color of the bottle, or what meal the spice is used for, etc.

MOW a MAZE.  With a push lawn mower, mow a maze or a crazy path when the grass is fairly long. You could also use the path to play Mother May I? or Red Light Green Light.

Go fly a KITE. Better yet, make your own kite to fly.

Sort BUTTONS. Let children sort buttons into different groups. Use a muffin pan to contain the buttons. Sort by color, or size, or number of holes. Then make a craft using buttons.

Give children a tape recorder. They can record themselves telling or reading a story. You can type the words to their original stories on the computer. Print the words with space at the top of each page so the children can illustrate their ideas.

Find a scenic spot outside, set up an easel and paint the scenery.

Play dress up. Gather old clothes and add to the collection by buying weird and unusual outfits and accessories from thrift stores and garage sales. Store the clothes and props in a trunk. Props can include such things as briefcases, pocketbooks, jewelry, shoes, books, canes, etc. Encourage the children to be creative and act out plays they create. Or, children can emulate a character from a well-known story and have people guess who they are. NOTE: Giving hints may be necessary and will only add to the fun.

Have children hold a full glass of water in a plastic tumbler while they jump rope. Make it a contest to see who can spill the least. Give out prizes.

Ask children to design a product or service and then create a commercial to sell it on television. Go all the way and video the end result and post it on YouTube.

And for timeless summertime entertainment, find a place where you can build a bonfire, roast a ton of marshmallows, look for meteors and lightening bugs, and tell stories around the campfire. Your children will thank you…someday.

About the Author: Jodie Randisi is a certified Family Manager tm coach and the author of 201 Things to Do When Children Say I’M BORED. For more information about Family Manager coaching or to get a copy of her book, go to www.201thingstodo.com.