The Fabkins super cute cloth napkins for kids have gone organic! Their napkin sets are now 100% certified organic cotton and come in several fun, kid friendly embroidered designs so you can be sure to find one that fits the style of your kid.  To buy, purchase at one of these online shopping sites or check to see if they can be found locally at a retail store. 
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*** Get 15% off at Yubo when you use coupon code xobo15 at checkout!! ***

You gotta love a company with the slogan “play with your food”! If you are looking for a durable, creative lunchbox for kids, the new Yubo lunchbox is definitely worth consideration. Created with a sharp focus on design, the folks at Yubo produced a lunchbox that meets several great lunch box requirements in a cool way. As lunchbox packing parents themselves, the founders sought a lunch box that is “customizable, interactive, fun, flexible, functional, washable, ecological, colorful, beautiful, and of course, very cool and loaded with personality.”  The resulting Yubo is fun for kids while providing great features for grownups aiming to pack waste-free lunch boxes.
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Four days until Christmas and I’m sure stress levels are high out there! I hope that in the chaos that surrounds Christmas you are able to slow down during your day and enjoy the moment. When I feel overwhelmed I take a few deep breaths and realize how lucky I am to have my family, a roof over my head, and friends and loved ones both near and far. I also think about the Dr. Seuss book “Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?” to acknowledge there are always people less fortunate than ourselves and to appreciate our lives for being precious.
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***Use coupon code “xobobox” at PlanetBox to save 10% through Dec 31, 2009!!***

The new company PlanetBox recently sent me one of their lunch boxes to try out–it is now my top choice kids lunchbox to pack!  In the month that I have used it, I have been very happy with its ease of use, washability, and lack of lids to keep track of (with the exception of the 2 optional “dipper” containers that use lids…). Here are the highlights of PlanetBox features that I love:
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I have 2 kids and 14 nieces and nephews to buy gifts for this holiday season. I like doing my shopping online and early, so that items will get delivered to my doorstep in time for Christmas.  This year, I have found a collection of gifts I think are pretty neat… feel free to steal any of them as gift ideas for the little people in your life    Also, if you have any favorite kid gifts, please send along your favorites so that other readers and I can steal from your list, too!

Some items that made it to my list this year include:
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I recently had the pleasure of e-corresponding with John Flansburgh of the popular band They Might Be Giants. I was stoked when he offered to send me a copy of their new Here Comes Science DVD/CD for review. It has been a great hit with my kids with fun animated videos corresponding to science themes including my kids’ favorites: I am a Paleontologist, The Bloodmobile, and My Brother the Ape. This educational DVD Is a great purchase, with catchy songs and videos you can feel good about your kids enjoying.  The songs, like most TMBG songs, are high energy and fun, and my kids have enjoyed bouncing wildly around our house to the tunes of this album.
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How many items have been lost by your kids this school year?  As a parent, lost items can be both frustrating and expensive!  I was elated to find my daughter’s new jacket in the school’s Lost & Found this morning… in the past I haven’t been quite so lucky!  I immediately came home to write her name and phone number inside one of the coat pockets, wondering how well this will hold up through the wash.  I was reminded of a custom label company with great kids labels: ID ME Labels.  They have an array of self adhesive labels made for school gear (notebooks, lunch boxes, backpacks, water bottle labels, etc) as well as a line of fabric labels that would help keep your jackets, tote bags, and nicer clothes from disappearing.
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