Family Traditions - Hello Little One Blog

Disney Vacation Tips!

12 Apr posted by jenny

School vacation week is coming up and if you’re going to DisneyWorld with half the population of the United States (the other half was there during February vacation as was I), here are some tips we used that made our trip a lot more enjoyable.

Get a Disney App on your phone
By all means download one of these apps – they provide valuable info: wait times for rides (so important when the parks are crowded), character sighting places, dining advice, extra hours and daily entertainment. I used it about ten times a day.

Bring some rain ponchos
Just in case it rains: rain poncho – two to a pack for $1.00, easy to pack, beats the expensive park price. You can get them here.

Get groceries delivered to your hotel room
We used Goodings who delivers groceries, baby items, and personal care items to Walt Disney World Resorts. Order online or by phone. Tip: We ordered breakfast items and made our own breakfast every morning in our room. It saved so much time, money as well and we made it to the parks much earlier than having to go to a restaurant in the morning. We also ordered snacks that our children could have when we returned late from the parks, it seems they always were hungry when we returned after a long day.

Food Allergies
Disney World does a great job catering to anyone who has a food allergy. We know this first hand and found Disney World to be very accommodating. When visiting any Disney World food establishments – from the finer restaurants (Cinderella’s Castle, Fultons in Downtown Disney, The Turf Club Grill at Saratoga Springs Resort, the Cafe at the Grand Floridian Resort, Chef Mickeys at the Contemporary – we ate at each one of these) to the quick meal cafes (La Cantina de San Angel in Mexico Epcot, the Artist’s Palette at Saratoga Springs Resort, the Yak & Yeti at Animal Kingdom – again , we ate here also) just inform the wait staff that someone in your party has a food allergy. In the finer places, the chef will come to your table and talk with you and let you know what he can do for you. We found the chefs at each restaurant very, very accommodating, as they to listened to our concerns and always came up with an allergen free meal. Here’s a great site where you can plug in your allergy and ratings for all the restaurants come up.

Birthday Cakes!
Again, our trip included two family birthdays and we had to make sure the cake served had no dairy or peanuts. Before our trip we ordered a delicious chocolate birthday cake from Baby Cakes in Downtown Disney. Baby Cakes “offers all-natural, organic and delicious alternatives free from the common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs.” Best of all, they deliver! You can order a cake and have it delivered to a Disney World Resort or Restaurant – we did at Cinderella Castle for a family birthday dinner celebration. You can visit their store in Downtown Disney. Be sure to try their chocolate chip cookies – delicious and mostly allergen free.

Swimming
Pools at resorts are 3 to 3 1/2 feet deep. Perfect for most children, but a little deep for toddlers, so check at each pool to rent a swim vest for your child – free – just have to show room ID. Also, don’t forget to check the resort’s pool activities. They often have BBQs, pool activities and games, and nightly movies – great fun and sometimes a great rest from the hustle of the parks.

Kids Activities
Pin collecting & trading: Disney Pin Trading is a fun and interactive activity that my six year old niece LOVED. You can trade Disney pins with Disney Cast Members (i.e. employees) and even other visitors to the parks. Choose a lanyard and a few pins, then each time you visit a park, you can approach any cast member who is wearing a lanyard and trade one of your pins for one of theirs. Many cast members will tell you stories of how they acquired their pins.

Epcot: Kidcot: Okay, we know the children will love the Magic Kingdom, so the folks at Epcot have initiated Kidcot, a free crafting station, at each country in Epcot for the little ones. One activity that was a hit for us was getting a free Duffy the Disney Bear, a cardboard bear, that your child colors in, attached to a stick. Then as you visit each Kidcot station around Epcot, your child can add more to Duffy with stamps, markers, and stickers representing the different countries.

Bellhop Service
This may be the greatest tip you’ll thank me for: after a long day at the park, getting back to your room in one of Disney’s larger resorts (we stayed at Saratoga Springs which is gigantic), can be long and arduous – especially with younger children. After you get off your bus, go directly to Hotel Bell Services, ask for a ride to your room – they will usually accommodate you, especially if it is a quiet night- don’t forget to tip the bellhop – we did this many nights, and it was worth every cent of that tip!

Make a Photo Book Right Away
This is really an after the trip tip, but making a photo book as soon as you get home is the best way to get it done, and relive your trip for years to come. We chose the Project Life design at Shutterfly.

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Filed Under: Dairy-Free, Disney, Family Traditions, Kids Activities

New Year’s Eve Activities for Kids

28 Dec posted by renee

A fun New Year’s Eve with kids is kind of an oxymoron – like a relaxing playdate or an enjoyable episode of Caillou. To most of us, the “Biggest Night of the Year” is just another night but as the kids get older, they want to stay up to see what all the fuss is about. This year, I promised my oldest two that they could ring in the new year with us so we’re hosting a small, kid-friendly party in the hopes that everyone will sleep in late enough the next day to make it all worth it.

Usually, a bunch of kids in the house means they run around like crazy smashing things and yelling, kind of like what New Year’s used to be with adults actually. This time though I figured I’d come up with some fun activities to keep them occupied so the rest of us can focus on what’s really important, food and cocktails.

If you too are going to be hosting your smallest party animals in the safety of your own home this year, here are some fun activities and ideas to keep even the youngest of revelers happy right up until the clock strikes midnight.

New Year’s Resolution Art

New Year’s Eve Crowns

New Year’s Eve Bingo

Party Hats

Try wrapping some sparkling apple juice in these fun champagne printable wraps so the kids can toast the new year long with you!

Time Capsule Can

Make some clock pops

Is your tree still up from Christmas? Take down the ornaments (or if you have a toddler, pick them all up from under the couches and tables where he’s been throwing them all month) and replace them with New Year’s horns, glasses and party supplies. Turn the lights on and you’ve got yourself a sparkly New Year’s tree!

First Night Hats

Kid’s Countdown Clocks

Write a New Year’s Letter. Imagine getting a letter that you wrote to yourself 10, 15 or 20 years ago? Have everyone write themselves a letter saying what they were doing in 2011 and then write some specific questions down for each of the kids to answer. Where will you be in 15 years? What will you be when you grow up? What do cars look like in the future? How many kids do you have? Think of anything you think would be fun to read in the future and then hang on to them in a safe place until the kids are all grown up.

Party Poppers

New Year’s Pasta Numbers

Noisemakers (because kids aren’t loud enough already)

Bubble Jumping

Hand out some fun confetti party favors to guests, young and old, so everyone can join the wild rumpus once the clock strikes midnight.

Whatever your New Year’s plans are, have fun, be safe and best wishes for a wonderful 2012! Here’s to hoping all the little maniacs sleep in on January 1st!

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Filed Under: Family Traditions, Kid-Friendly, Kids Activities, New Year's, Parties

Christmas Eve Traditions: Decorating Sugar Cookies

22 Dec posted by renee

If you have kids, you don’t need me to tell you that Christmas Eve is exactly 1 day, 14 hours, 23 minutes and 13 seconds away from now. Your kids probably already told you, and woke you up around 5am to do so. Hopefully by now you’ve finished your shopping (nope), wrapped all your gifts (negative, Ghostrider), baked piles of goodies (getting there) and all that’s left to do is drink some hot cocoa and wait for Santa to slide down that chimney with a bagful of presents.

When Christmas Eve gets here on Saturday, I’m hoping to check most of these things off of my list so I can spend my time with some very excited little boys who will no doubt be bouncing off the walls in anticipation of the big day. We don’t do large family gatherings or anything on Christmas Eve, but over the years we have established some sweet little traditions that I look forward to almost as much as Christmas itself.

My mom will be coming over for a nice dinner, even though she knows the free food will also mean a painfully early Christmas morning wake up call from her hyped-up grandchildren. This year, I’m serving Roasted Cornish Game Hens along with Sweet Potatoes topped with Pecans & Goat Cheese. One thing you should know about me, I love goat cheese more than almost anything in the world so if there is an opportunity to put it in a recipe, I’m doing it. If you’re still deciding on your holiday menu and had to be begrudgingly talked out of naming your first born Chèvre like I did, I highly suggest you give this recipe a try.

After dinner, we all decorate cookies to leave out for Santa to eat, and then feel guilty about later. Santa’s still trying to get rid of the last of the baby weight but they’re cookies and Santa’s willpower does not extend to baked goods. The ensuing piles of sprinkles mounded on the floor and glistening off of the dogs give me one more thing to clean up, but it’s lots of fun anyway. For the first couple of years, we decorated with tinted frosting, but have finally stepped into the big leagues and made the leap to royal icing. If you’ve never worked with royal icing before, here is a really great step by step tutorial to get you started.

For the cookies themselves, I try to bake them a day or two ahead of time because Christmas Eve day usually finds me home alone with the kids while my husband finally gets his shopping started. Have you ever been to a mall on Christmas Eve? Just a bunch of confused looking men wandering around, you know I’m right. Anyway, I’ve tried several recipes for the cookies, many with more seasonal spices, but I really like this one spiked with lemon and vanilla bean the best.

Lemon and Vanilla Bean White Sugar Cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 large egg
2½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
Zest of half a lemon (or the zest of a whole lemon, if you love lemon)
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and confectioners’ sugar on medium-high speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, seeds scraped from the vanilla bean, and lemon zest until blended. Mix in the flour and salt on low speed just until incorporated. Form the dough into a ball and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 1-2 hours.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 375˚ F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough out on a well floured work surface to about ¼-inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters as desired and transfer to the prepared baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through baking, until fully cooked but not at all browned. Allow to cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired.

For the royal icing, I like to use this basic recipe and then I also add 2-3 tsps. lemon extract to complement the flavor of the cookies. This step is entirely optional but it does make them really good.

Royal Icing

4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. meringue powder
5 tbsp. water

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes). Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

So then after I get the kids all hyped up on sugar and promises of gifts, we watch Santa’s progress on the Norad Tracker, open their one gift (Pajamas, mom? Seriously?!), read “The Night Before Christmas” and it’s off to bed. Then my husband and I get to haul all the gifts out of hiding with ninja-like silence while doing duck and cover moves at every small sound we hear. I guess that’s one way to work off those cookies at least.

What are your Christmas Eve traditions? We’d love to hear about them!

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Filed Under: Family Traditions, Holiday, Mommy-hood

How to Make a Homemade Gingerbread House

13 Dec posted by renee

These days, it’s easy to never have to make anything from scratch. Want to make cookies? Just pop them out of the package and bake them. Gingerbread houses? There’s a kit for that, and I buy one every year. But do you know what I just discovered? That with a little bit of advance planning and some creativity, you can actually make some super cool houses at home that will knock the Christmas socks off the ones you buy at the store.

I looked around for a good standard recipe and settled on this one, from King Arthur Flour. You know it’s going to be good coming from them, plus there are very detailed instructions with photos to guide you through each step of the process. Click through the link to get started on the basic recipe, as well as to get some templates for pieces, depending on which style house you’ll be looking to make.

Not sure what type of house to construct? Why not let it fit your personality whether that be modern, minimalist or traditional. Here are some great examples from around the web to get you started. You’re only limited by your imagination so get building!

Modern Gingerbread House by Hometta

Gourmet Gingerbread House

Go Red

Mid-Century Modern Gingerbread House

A nice traditional house with some great detail work

A Gingerbread McMansion

More Modern

A front lawn filled with ice cream cones

Mini Gingerbread Houses to Perch on Your Mug

Gingerbread Church

Architectural Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread Modern….plus a trailer

Gingerbread Row Houses

Gingerbread Estate

Where Malibu Barbie would live if she lived in a Gingerbread House

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Filed Under: Family Traditions, Holiday, Kid-Friendly, Kids Activities, Recipes

Get Crafty: Making Homemade Kid’s Christmas Ornaments

7 Dec posted by renee

If your tree looks anything like mine, you have all the good ornaments on the top third, and all the non-breakable, ‘can find another one just like it at Target tomorrow’ ones on the rest of it. Actually, if your tree looks anything like mine, you used to have the bottom decorated but now all those ornaments are under the couch or in the dog bowl or sitting on the table because you refuse to put them back up one more freaking time. Can you tell I have a one-year-old in the house? Yeah. But this one-year-old also has two older brothers, and for the last few years we have spent some “crafty time” making cute little ornaments that they love to pull out of the box every year.

Now, another way you may be like me is that the entire extent of your sewing skills entails dropping things off at the tailor, so my list of homemade ornaments will not require you to wield needle and thread, just glue and whatever material the activity calls for. We like to label the finished product with the name of the child and the year we made it so every December, the ornament box is a time capsule of sorts for us to go through. Right before the baby tries to destroy them all again, that is.

Here are some great ideas that are easy to do and fun to make with your kids, what level you decide to place them at on your tree is entirely up to you!

Reindeer Clothespin Ornaments (you know you made these too as a kid!) Also, consider staining some brown to get them more of a true reindeer color and painting some pink to get some cute little females (white fuzzy tail required!):