Your kid is attending a party and you are trying to find a present that is educational for the birthday child? Where do you look? Here are some great places to check out:

• Cranium which creates products that “celebrate the full range of everyone’s natural abilities” have excellent, innovative, and creative gift ideas and they are grouped by age as well.
• IQ Kids which provides an excellent selection of award-winning and educational toys.
• Growing Tree Toys which provides a great selection of educational toys. The focus on arts & crafts is particularly good, and check out their Gift Finder…great resource!!
• Leap Frog Store – if you are looking for interesting and educational electronic products, the selection is quite good.

Yes, my mind is already on Christmas! I know, October hasn’t even arrived, but I am already thinking about kids’ birthdays that fall just the day before or the day after the big holiday!

As far as timing goes, if you are planning a party this year, you may want to determine early the date you are going to host your party on, and get those invitations out earlier than normal. It’s just that people’s calendars book up so quickly…for me…it’s only the end of October, and I already have my calendar filling up…so with that in mind, a general thought…if your kid’s birthday falls close to Xmas, i.e. the day before or after, plan the party during the week after Xmas and before New Year’s. This will be the week that will be quietest, any day, especially weekend days before Christmas, they will just be so rushed and harried for you planning it and your guests attending. So, try and plan for after Christmas. An even better idea, if you could simply enjoy cake and ice cream on your kid’s actual birthday, and then hold a party mid-January…when everyone is looking for a perk up and “something fun to do!…that may be the best option!

So, your daughter is turning sweet 16, and you are making the very strong suggestion that her party be all girls! If she wants boys to attend, you may have to come up with some convincing celebration ideas that keep the boys at bay. Here are some suggestions to offer:
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Image: Wilton.com

From Candy Corn to Spider Brownies to a Goofy Witch, if you are into cake baking and decorating, check out Wilton.com. It may just inspire you to create a spooky, spectacular treat this Halloween!

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What if this situation arises? Your kid has invited a whole bunch of kids to her party, and no one – not a single one – has RSVP’d. Now, there is often a problem with parents providing an RSVP to parties in a timely fashion…often it is very last minute that calls come in or, even worse, guests just show up and you aren’t even prepared!

These types of situations aside, what about if your kid is not that popular at school or is new to a school and doesn’t know many people, but your kid wants to invite everyone and have a big party. You have agreed and sent out all of the invitations, and, yet, no one has responded…and the few responses you have gotten are actually from parents asking you to move your date because it interferes with other parties on that same day? What to do??

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It’s Easter time and there are tons of darling bunny cake recipes to enjoy!

PBS Zoom Kids has a great bunny cake recipe that is worth checking out.

More traditional bunny cakes can be found on the Crisco and Betty Crocker websites. (Betty Crocker’s bunny cake is shown in the photo on the right—you will have to enjoy coconut to make this cute cake!)

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So, Rachael Ray kicked off her new daytime cooking show this week. She’s great! And I know a lot of girls between the ages of 8 to 12 really are inspired by Rachael’s exuberance! Many parents are finding that their girls are looking for a “Rachael Ray” themed party these days! If you find your kid asking for such a party, you know that it is going to surround the art of cooking and, in particular, things you can whip up quickly for a few dollars!

Here are some ideas for the theme:

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