It’s hard to believe but the end of the summer is upon us! Though it feels as if summer just began, it’s almost back to school time and a collective groan will soon weigh heavy over the children. If you want to make this a special and fun time of year for your kids, then consider throwing an end of summer bash where they can really let loose.

This is a fun way to let the kids get in some time at the pool and really connect with their friends before school starts. This can be a great way to kick off a school year or to end a fabulous summer. Either way it’s all about creating and reliving memories, having some great food and drink, and just having an all-around fun time!

Splashing Games

No matter what age your kids are it can be a lot of fun to play some fun summer games. Set them up for some fun in the pool and make some championship games centered around it. Set them up for diving contests, searching for rings, and even swimming competitions. Allow them to recapture their youth again (that is, from way back in early summer) before the madness of school begins, and set up a fun competition for them like water balloon toss or even hot potato.

Your child is never too old to have fun with their friends and this is a great way to celebrate summer and leave their worries about back to school behind. You can make it that much more fun by offering ribbons for the winners and prizes for all participants. You can go for picture frames, candy, or just a simple goodie bag to remember the day by.

The Best Food and Drink Around

The food and drink may be the best part of this end of summer party. There are many great things you can make and none of them are hard to do. You can start off with fresh fruit kabobs – they’re not only healthy but they’re fun to eat so kids of all ages will appreciate this little gem. Set out fresh veggies and a ranch dipping sauce, as well as some hummus and pita. You of course have to be sure to put out summer favorites like chips and fresh salsa or even a taco dip that they’ll all love.

If you want a simple dinner then just go for hot dogs on the grill with all the condiments. Serve them up with chips and a nice pasta salad as that’s the perfect summer dish. Then you need to be sure that you have a great dessert like marshmallows that they can roast later on for s’mores along with a nice summer dessert like ice cream. Serve up a variety of ice cream to make it special and fun for this summer party.

You need some great drinks so go for different flavors of lemonade like raspberry and strawberry for a fun and special twist. If you have time, mix up some slushies that they can enjoy poolside. You can pick up an ice shaver from Hamilton Beach, but I actually have a margarita maker that works great for this (and it’s an opportunity to use up the rest of my Elmo party supplies from a birthday last spring.)

Memories of the Hot Days

Take pictures of them all summer long and of course at this fun little last of the year party. Then put this together into a quick little slideshow that they can watch as it’s set to their favorite music. This will allow them to reminisce on their fun days that they shared together all summer long. Print out pictures of the fun day for each of them to take home in a picture frame and they will never forget this summer or this awesome end of summer bash.

By Chris Molnar, editor of a theme party ideas website for kids and adults. He and his two kids greatly enjoy their massive five foot kiddie pool, but that won’t stop them from having a fun outdoor party this weekend with five screaming preschool friends, the hose, some water guns and slushies!

If your daughter never misses an opportunity to play dress up, chances are good that she will love having a tea party with her closest friends and you. In fact, she may have already asked you about hosting one in your home for her upcoming birthday. Especially with somebody’s royal wedding coming up, chances are that “tea party” will again mean tea, crumpets and silly hats!

The Invitations

Given that tea parties are about your daughter’s first attempt at being a grown up, you could offer to have her invitations printed up. Indeed you would likely never indulge this luxury if she were having a party with 25 of her closest friends, but a tea party to be “just right”, you’ll want to have no more than the number of girls that matches your daughter’s upcoming age.

The invitations could read something like this:

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Payne
Request the honor of your presence as they celebrate the joyous occasion of
their daughter Emily Jane’s eighth birthday.

Please wear your fanciest dress as we sip tea and eat sandwiches.

Hats and gloves are encouraged

Tea starts promptly at 4 o’clock in the afternoon of 16, April 2011
Please RSVP by or before 10, April 2011

If you don’t already own a formal tea set, you can easily find one at your local vintage shop. If you do not live near one or they have one, but it’s missing a teacup or two, eBay will undoubtedly have one that your daughter will fall in love with. Given that it’s eBay, you’ll likely be able to bid or one for a relatively inexpensive. It may have been used before and perhaps quite antique. It may also be a new one, still in its original packaging. You never know precisely what you’ll find (and sometimes that’s very cool!)

The Table Centerpiece

Depending on the length and shape of your table, you can add a few adornments to the centerpiece, such as something she holds dear – a stuffed animal, or perhaps or a photograph of her grandmother or other ancestor. Be sure to place at least one sugar and one creamer at either end of the table to avoid spills and too much reaching with little arms.

Might I Suggest a Sandwich to Accompany Your Tea, Mademoiselle?

Traditionally, cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches, with a touch of dill, are served at formal teas. Below are some recipes to consider making:

Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwiches

Ingredients

• 10 whole wheat bread slices
• All natural cream cheese
• 2 Cucumbers, peeled and sliced thinly

Prep:

Let cream cheese sit out for about two hours to soften up. (Alternatively, you can put in a food processor).

Spread your cream cheese onto half the slices of bread. Add 4 cucumber slices and a sprig of dill. Knowing how much little girls despise edges, best to remove them. Lastly, create fun shapes – triangles, rectangles, circles, etc.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches

Make these sandwiches as you would normally. Again, slice off the edges and cut into fun shapes. If there’s still some room on the platter with the cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches, add them.

Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

Ingredients

• 10 slices whole wheat bread
• 1 pound your favorite ham, sliced
• ½ pound sliced cheddar cheese
• ½ pound sliced Swiss cheese
• Mustard and mayonnaise

Prepare these sandwiches as you normally would. After you’ve removed the edges, and cut into cute shapes, add to a platter.

Your Daughter’s Favorite Fruit and Whip Cream

Whipping cream is very easy. In a mixing bowl, blend 2 cups of heavy cream and 4 tablespoons of sugar. Mix until whipped. Pour over berries.

Preparing Tea

You may use tea bags or a strainer filled with your daughter’s favorite black tea. If you have concerns about giving that many little girls such a large boost of caffeine to go with their already “amped up” energies, (given all the sugar in the cookies and jelly), use decaffeinated or herbal teas. A teaspoonful of tea leaves per cup of boiling water promises the best flavor.

As Guests Arrive

Be sure to greet your daughter’s guests by referring to them as “Miss” or “Mademoiselle” and welcome them into your home, offering to, if appropriate, remove their coats. Show them to the table and ask your butler (aka your husband) to begin the festivities. Do ensure you take plenty of photographs. Enjoy!

About the Author: Chris has 2 preschool daughters, and his eldest has already been to a fairy princess tea party. Daddy will definitely be a butler for her and her friends this spring! Chris writes about party themes and is editor of Themeaparty.com.

The time invested in preparing your kids for a trip to the dentist will be well worth the sanity you save! Here are a few simple tips to help you get your kids ready for a visit to the dentist.

Take Your Dentist’s Advice

Personally, I have a terrible fear of everything related to the dental profession. When I got my first job with health benefits, I knew that regular dental check-ups would be one of the ways I could continue to keep my teeth, so I’ve gone twice a year since then.

My dentist happens to be awesome and we’ve worked on my dental fears over the years. When it was time to bring my oldest child to the dentist, he gave me great advice which was the equivalent of “never let them see you sweat.” Only for me, it was “never let them know how afraid you are of the dentist.” My kids can learn the truth several years down the road, when they already have a positive association with the dentist!

Be a Good Example

Kids watch everything we do, and everything we don’t do. If you want your kids to go regularly and cooperatively to the dentist, it will greatly help your case if you go yourself every six months. It’s also vital to have a good attitude not only about going, but about the different activities like getting x-rays and your teeth cleaned. Show your kids the “loot” you get from the dentist – they’ll be excited about a new toothbrush, the toothpaste and the floss they’ll get as a result of their visit!

Explain What Will Happen

Since this will be a new experience for your child, it’s best to have as many conversations as you can. Some of the elements to cover include:
• the dentist chair that tilts back
• the bright light and the sunglasses
• the fact that your child’s mouth needs to be opened for the dentist
• the special toothbrush the dental hygienist will use, as well as the water sprayer and suctioner

Before you take your child to the dentist, ask if the first visit can be an introduction to all of these elements if they don’t already provide this kind of service.
Use Books and Videos

Head to your local library and check out picture books about kids going to the dentist. While you’re there, search for any DVDs that also address this issue in a positive way.
Read the books and watch the DVDs several times in the two weeks before your child’s first dentist visit. This will help your child internalize important information, and young children love repetition.

Special Treat

Usually dentists have their own rewards to reinforce good memories of the visit. My kids love the toothbrushes and toothpaste they get to choose, as well as the pencils and balloons. If your dentist doesn’t offer these treats, make a suggestion and see if he/she would be open to it. You can also take your child to a local store for an inexpensive toy or balloon after this first visit to reinforce your child’s good choices at the dentist.
When it comes to taking small children places, I’ve found that preparation is the key to happiness for all involved, including a first visit to the dentist!

Kelly Wilson is a mom and freelance writer who visits her awesome Dentist in Silverton, Oregon every six months to maintain a fabulous smile.

It seems like every time I am out somewhere with my kids we run into friends of theirs from school and the same thing always happens. The kids get to talking and want to plan to get together. The moms and I try to exchange information. “Do you have an email account?” “Do you text?” “Are you on Twitter?” There are so many ways to get in touch with each other and most of them are more efficient than the phone numbers listed in the student directories.

Because of this, I am loving the new Mommy Contact Cards from Kodak. You can include whatever information you most want friends to use to contact you. I would include my email, my cell phone, my Twitter, my Facebook, and maybe even my blog site. It’s like a business card only more personal. And you can get 50 free Mommy Contact Cards right now (although you do need to pay shipping and handling). Get them in a variety of colors and add your kids’ pictures to them so the parents will be able to put a name with a face.

No coupon code is necessary, but this special will surely end soon. Click here to visit Kodak and get more information.

I’ve always been a fan of American Eagle clothes for myself but have not found much there for my kids. That completely changed when I was introduced to 77kids by American Eagle. 77kids is American Eagle’s brand for kids only. Right now the sizes range from toddler through 12, but I have heard that those will be expanded on each end in the coming months. The merchandise is currently available online only, but 77kids will be opening stores soon in select cities.

What I love most about 77kids is that these are clothes that kids can wear to school or church but also play in and not have to worry about ruining. In fact, they say that you can wash the clothes 77 times and the clothes will look as nice (or better) than when you bought them. I know some of my kids’ favorite clothes that I have washed at least 77 times! Most of them do not look as good after even 5 washes as when I bought them. In fact, I don’t even let them wear some of their outfits before we go on a vacation for fear that they will not look very nice by the time that we get there. If I could wash them even 10 times before we go, the kids would get more use out of them.

Take a look at 77kids by American Eagle and tell me what you think of their line. I’m anxious to get some ordered for my girls since they will be needing new spring clothes soon anyway. I love that I can now get American Eagle quality in kids’ sizes.

I don’t usually jump on blog contests when I see them but this one really spoke to me because I’ve been down the road and back a few times!

“Drama” is not just a word in the dictionary in our house–it’s a lifestyle! With two girls ages 6 and 8, we live drama from the time we get up until the time we go to bed. But there are ways to help with the bedtime issues.

First, we try to stick to the same bedtimes every night. It’s tempting to let the kids stay up too late on the weekends (in hope that they will sleep in the next morning). But it does more harm than good. Stay on the schedule!

Second, use books in an age appropriate way. I know that personally reading helps me wind down before bed, so I figured it would help my kids, too. Both girls spend 15-30 minutes now in their own beds reading a book of their choice before bed. It does wonders!

Third, set expectations. When our older daughter was little and struggling with the “I need a drink, now I need to go potty, I forgot to brush my teeth, etc” we made a chart out of posterboard on the wall. We glued on pictures of all of the things that she needed to do each night. We pointed out each thing on the chart as she did it and that was it for the night. We used pictures of a toilet, a toothbrush, a mom and child hugging…you get my drift.

Fourth, try a “pass.” With our other daughter we gave her a “hall pass” of sorts every night before she went to bed. She could use it ONE time after she was in bed for whatever she needed (last minute hug, one more drink, etc). Once she used the pass, she had to stay in bed. It made her feel like she had some control over the situation.

Fifth, be the adult. We learned the hard way by giving in to our first daughter and she thought she didn’t have to say in her room if she didn’t want to. With the second daughter, we made it clear from the very beginning that we were in charge and staying in bed was non-negotiable. Except for the “last minute” issues, we never had a problem of getting her into her own bed.

I’m sure my tips won’t solve every problem but they might at least solve a couple of your problems or help you come up with some yourself. Thanks to St. Eve Kids for prompting me on this topic! Their www.DramaU.net site is a cute reminder that we all struggle with bedtime issues at one time or another.

My daughters have recently started loving Wizards of Waverly Place on the Disney Channel. In fact, at 6 and 8, it is one of the few shows that they can agree on. I’ve watched it a couple of times and actually find it to be pretty good sometimes. At least enough to hold my attention. Wizards of Waverly Place stars Selena Gomez, David Henrie, and Jake T. Austin.

I started looking around for some Wizards of Waverly Place merchandise for my girls and found a few things that I thought I would pass along:

Amazon has an amazing Wizards of Waverly Place collection.  They have the merchandise that everyone else is sold out of.

You can find about 50 different Wizards of Waverly Place backpacks at Amazon right now and many of them even feature free shipping!

One last site… Wizards of Waverly Place Stuff is nothing but Wizards of Waverly Place merchandise! Costumes, clothes, party supplies, posters, books, games–pretty much everything Wizards of Waverly Place you can think of.

Looking for a way to motivate your kids to read this summer or reward them for a job well done? Borders has started up its Summer Reading Program again this summer.

You simply need to visit the Summer Reading Program page on the Borders website and print out the worksheet (one for each kid). Once they read 10 books, they take the completed worksheet to any Borders or Waldenbooks store by August 26 to get a free book.

The program is only for kids under the age of 12. We won’t be doing it this summer because my daughter is reading the last of the Harry Potter books and will be lucky to get through 2 or 3 of them this summer. But I can’t complain about that.

My daughter is 5 and has always loved playing with her Little People. I struggled at Christmas figuring out whether or not to buy her more Little People because she will be 6 soon and it seems that she should be too old for them. I decided, however, that I could not pass up the cute little pink Little People bus because she has always liked to shove all of the people and animals into cars and caravan them around the house.

It’s almost a month after Christmas and she still plays with the Little People every day. I finally asked her today why she likes the Little People so much. Her answer was simple. “Mommy, I get to use my imagination when I play with them.” So I sat and watched her for a while…and I learned a LOT about her. Her world is very organized. The people are all related to each other somehow and take care of each other. They like to travel and go on adventures. Her Little People world sounds a lot like MY world!

It’s nice that in a house with a Gameboy, PC, PS2, and Wii, my daughter chooses to play on the floor in her imaginary world with her Little People day after day. I’ve decided that I need to spend more time playing in that world with her because imagination IS important.

I’m afraid I can’t attribute their tastes to any exceptional quality of their attitudes or palates. I guess it’s simply a result of continued exposure to these foods and environments. According to Isobel Contento, a professor of nutrition education at Columbia University’s Teachers College in New York City, “Continued exposure to new foods is extremely important. Research suggests that children sometimes need to be exposed to food ten to fifteen times before they develop a liking to the food.”

Research by Contento and many of her colleagues supports my hunch: Any kid can learn to dine out and enjoy a broader range of foods, if given the chance. Unfortunately, resisting the temptation to feed kids only “kid food” ordered from “kid menus” at “kid-friendly” restaurants is no piece of Tastycake. But if you don’t, you wind up with kids whose narrow palates and general cluelessness about restaurant behavior are the self-fulfilling prophecies of Ronald, Wendy, and the Colonel.

I love going out to eat, but I don’t love anything that comes in a nugget or is served in molded plastic. My solution is this: While we do consume our share of burgers and pizza, our family also patronizes real restaurants. If you’re ready to try something a little more civilized and adventurous than another trip to KFC, here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Tasting Tips for Kids

The journey of a thousand meals begins with a single bite – or something like that. Here are some clues to guiding that first morsel safely into the hangar.

 
• Don’t make a huge deal out of the new food in question. Start simply – just let your kids see the grown-ups eating and enjoying it. 
• While you don’t want to flat-out lie, remember the old “tastes like chicken” ploy. You might say in your most casual tone, “Want a bite?” Then, when you’re asked what it is, say, “It’s like steak” (in other words, it’s venison). Or try, “Taste a bite and see if you can guess.” 
• Never eschew bribes: “A quarter for the first person who can guess what it is.” “Taste it and you can pick the dessert.” 
• If they absolutely hate it, do not make them eat it. If they’re not sure, you might suggest a second taste, perhaps with soy sauce, pepper, or lemon to personalize the flavor.

Rules for Restaurants

Want to get your kids through an eating-out experience without a meltdown? Here are a few guidelines to make it more fun for everyone.

 
• Do keep paper and crayons or pens in your purse at all times. This way, the gimmick of kid-friendly restaurants is yours anywhere. Older kids can play hangman and “dots.” 
• Don’t make a federal case about dressing up. Most restaurants these days don’t mind casual clothes, and by choosing one with a relaxed dress code, you’ll eliminate one area of dissent. 
• Don’t let kids have too much sugary soda before the food arrives. 
• Don’t let the waitperson serve meals to the kids first. If you do, the timing will get screwed up: They’ll lose patience before you’ve finished your main course. 
• Don’t bring other kids who have more limited palates than your own do. You don’t want to get an “ew” thing going. 
• Do allow a field trip or two to the bathroom or the lobby. Accompany your kids the first time to demonstrate acceptable behavior. 
• Don’t let your child order some expensive item she’s never had before without having her first try an appetizer or tasting portion.

Marion Winik is a writer and a commentator on NPR. Her latest book is The Lunch-Box Chronicles (Vintage).