Creative Gift Ideas for a New Baby

Last month I shared gift ideas for a new mom. Today I'm listing some of my favorite creative and classic gift ideas for a new baby! Many of these baby items can even be made yourself! I've included links to some great tutorials. For the less crafty, you can find most of these items on Amazon.com or Etsy.com.

***If you have a great baby gift item I've missed, leave a comment and feel free to link to a tutorial!

Fun Gift Ideas for a New Baby

*Baby's 1st Year Calendar- I've kept one of these for each of our children on the nursery wall. Having it on the wall made it super easy to remember to the dates of Baby's first written down!

*Time Capsule- This is a time capsule you decorate and give to the parents. You include ideas on what to put in it. I've never received one of these and have never given one out, but I think it's a very cool idea!

*Receiving Blanket with Baby's name embroidered on it- Kids love things with their names on it. Plus, a personalized blanket makes a nice background for Baby's first photos.

*Diapers- Some babies fit well in size 1 from birth or quickly outgrow newborn size within weeks. Plus, almost everyone buys the itty bitty sizes as gifts (baby clothes included). So skip the newborn sizes and go for size 1 or 2 which will fit longer.

*Hand Casting Kit or Hand Print Kit- makes a great keepsake for both Baby and Mom

*Baby's First Doll or Stuffed Animal- Carters and Baby Gund have some super cute ones.

*Picture books to add to Baby's library- Write an inscription to the baby in the front of the book and it can count as a card too!

*Sleep Sack- Sleep sacks are nice for keeping little babies warm without using a blanket. These were great during the winter months even with older babies! You can find sleep sacks at Carters, Baby's R Us, Amazon.com and just about everywhere else. However, you can also make one yourself!

*Growth Chart for the wall- Makes a really nice way to keep track of Baby's height over the years!

*Personalized Burp Clothes- Very cute and sure to be used a lot.

*Bath Apron- It's a towel Mom wears to keep dry while giving Baby a bath. I received one of these recently from my mother-in-law and am looking forward to using it with my new baby. I always used to get wet when giving my younger babies baths!

*A Baby Sock Bouquet- This makes a really cool looking (and practical) baby gift! It looks like a bouquet of roses but it's made from baby socks! Plus, you can make it yourself!

*Diaper Cake- It looks like a cake, but it's made out of diapers and stuffed with goodies for Baby!

*Robeez Style Infant Slippers- Robeez shoes are really cute, easy to slip on Baby's feet, and keep Baby's feet warm without needing to put "real" shoes on his feet.

*Tiny Diner Place Mat- This is a really cool place mat that is for eating on the go. Instead of needing to put Baby's food directly on the table or on a plate (that will end up thrown on the floor), Mom can use the Tiny Diner to keep Baby's food clean! Although it's not something that Baby would use for 6 months or so, it's still a really cool gift to receive!

*Gift Card- Great for using towards clothes or diapers or other items that babies go through quickly.

Saving Money on Bread

One of the most frequent items on our grocery list is bread. With 4 kids, we go through bread pretty quickly- we go through almost a whole loaf of sandwich bread in one meal! When I decided recently that it was time to cut back our grocery bill, I knew something would have to change in regards to buying bread.

Last month we decided to do something different. We visited local bread outlets and found the same bread we buy at the grocer's for less! We also found packages of breakfast bread, mini-bagels, and English muffins for significantly less than they're priced at Wal-mart and other stores!

The bread items at the bread outlets come from local grocers. How do they end up at the outlet? The grocers have a certain amount of time to sell the bread. If it hasn't sold by that time, the bread then goes to bread outlets. There were some loaves that were a little smashed, (make sure you check carefully as you're going through the bread) but most were just fine and very soft! Not even expired yet!

7 Great Things About Bread Outlets:

*Name brand bread loaves are significantly less than at the grocers or even Costco/Sams Club. For example, Sara Lee 45 Calories loaves were only $1.29 a piece (vs. the $1.89 at Sam's). Texas Toast was only $1.38/loaf (vs. $2.47 at the local grocer).

*The bread is as nice as what you'd find at a grocery store

*You'll find other great bread items- bagels, hamburger buns, breakfast breads and more!

*Specials of the day- shop in the morning and find special items of the day marked even lower. I.e., the day we shopped, Iron Kids Bread was $1/loaf, and bagels were packages of 12 mini-bagels for $1/package (marked down because they had a surplus of them)

*Free items or other incentives based on how much you spend. At one of the outlets we shopped, we were able to pick out 1 free item per $5 we had spent. The items we could choose from were ones that were either expired or close to their expiration date.

*You can freeze extra bread (therefore needing to shop less)

*Bread Outlets are located just about everywhere in the U.S! Use Google or a Bread Outlet Directory to find out which outlets are near you.

What NOT to do When Shopping Bread Outlets:

Don't buy so much bread that that you are left with little room in your freezer or have more than you can use before it gets freezer burn! We bought too much. I'm waiting to see how the bread holds up in the freezer before deciding how much to stock up on next time. It's been almost 1 month since we bought the bread and it's still fantastic, but 2, 3, 4 months from now? I'm not sure yet.

***If you've shopped at a bread outlet, what was your experience like? Any advice on freezing bread for more than 2 months at a time?

Reasons to Read to Your Baby

When my oldest son was only a few days old, my husband and I began reading to him every day. As our family grew, we continued reading to our children daily. My children are old enough now that I can see that reading to them at a young age has has a big impact on them. All 4 of my children LOVE books, and now my oldest 2 even read to me.

2004

I'm sharing this with you in case you've been hesitant to read your kids more than an occasional story. Or perhaps you think your little baby is too young to be read to at all. Maybe you feel that it would be silly to read a book to an infant who isn't even able to sit up on their own yet. Today I want to share some reasons to read to your baby, no matter how old he is.

2005

Reasons to Read to Your Baby:

*Infants are good listeners and stay in one spot while hearing a story. It's SO easy to start when they're young!
*Picture books can be fun even for parents! There are books on just about every topic.
*It's a great way to bond. Snuggling with your baby while reading a story every day creates lasting memories. I still remember my dad reading to me every night when I was a child.
*Helps improve vocabulary. Your child is hearing words that they might not encounter otherwise.
*Improves early learning. I've noticed that children I've met who are read to on a regular basis learn and understand concepts earlier than children who are not read to often.
*They develop an early love for the written word. An interest that will likely stay with them for the rest of their lives.
*Read to your child and someday he'll read to you!

*Most of all, it's fun!

I want to encourage you to start a daily tradition of spending time reading to your kids no matter how old or young they are. Even older children who already know how to read can enjoy listening to mom or dad read.

2010

Related Posts:
♥10 Reasons to Visit Your Local Library

How to Make Fried Ravioli

One of my favorite things to order at Italian restaurants is Fried Ravioli. It's so crispy and packed with cheese, yum! Last year I attempted to make my own fried ravioli, but it only turned out so-so. Yesterday I decided to give it another try and it turned out delicious! Although the recipe can be easily found on bags ravioli as well as recipe websites, I am sharing with you a how-to tutorial so you can see just how easy it is to make your own fried ravioli!

Here's what you need:
*12- 15 Raviolis- cheese or meat filled depending on your preference. Sam's Club sells huge bags of the cheese type for less than $8!

*Seasoned Bread Crumbs- amount depends on how many ravioli you're making
*Olive Oil (or healthy oil of your choice for frying)
*1 Egg
*3/4 c. Milk or so
*Sauce for dipping (Marinara, Alfredo, or any other sauce that strikes your fancy)

Directions:
Pour Olive Oil into a medium sized frying pan until there is approx. 1/2 in. of oil or so (enough to cover over half of a ravioli). Heat oil over medium heat.

Mix together the egg and milk in a bowl and set aside. Pour 3/4 c. bread crumbs into another bowl (or a gallon sized ziploc if you prefer to do an easy shake and cover method for breading).
Dip raviolis into egg mixture so they are well covered in egg/milk. Next, dip raviolis in bread crumbs so that both sides are well covered.

*You may need to use more bread crumbs (I did) depending on how may raviolis you are making. I continued to fill up my bowl as bread crumbs became fewer.

Test oil to see if it is heated enough by dropping a pinch of bread crumbs in it. If the oil sizzles a lot right away, it's ready to go.

Gently place raviolis into frying pan. Let raviolis fry until they are medium brown on the bottom (approx. 1-2 min.). Using tongs, flip ravioli to other size and let fry until that side is medium brown as well.

Once raviolis are a nice golden brown and crunchy looking, use tongs and place raviolis on a paper towel (or paper napkin) covered plate to cool and to allow oil to drain off. Continue to fry the rest of the raviolis until all are cooked.

After a minute or so of cooling, your raviolis are ready to eat! Heat up your sauce and enjoy!

My husband agrees with me that the raviolis were delicious. Next time I will probably add grated Parmesan Cheese and Garlic Powder to the bread crumbs and see how it tastes. I'd also like to give these a try with white sauce. Mmmmm!

You can find more yummy recipe how-to's at Blessed with Grace's Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays and at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesdays!

How to Make Homemade Kettle Corn

I've always enjoyed eating kettle corn at county fairs and craft shows, but it wasn't until a couple years ago that I learned how to make it myself. If you've never made popcorn from scratch (you know, without buying the little microwave bags), I highly suggest you give it a try this weekend! If you'd like to make plain popcorn rather than kettle corn, the instructions below will work for that too- just leave out the sugar and go easy on the oil (use just enough to coat the bottom of the pan).

Note: If your kettle corn doesn't turn out right the first time you make it, wash your pan out and try again! The first couple times I attempted kettle corn, the sugar burnt and was nasty. I was so disapointed that it was over a year before I tried again. One day I decided to give it another shot and it came out perfect! So don't give up if it doesn't come out right the first time- keep trying!

How to Make Kettle Corn

Publish Post

To get started, you need some popping corn. I've had good success with the Yellow Popping Corn from Wal-Mart. It's very inexpensive and pops up great.

You will need a large solid-bottomed pot to pop the kernels in. I find it helpful to use a pot that has a clear lid so I can see when the popcorn gets close to the top.

To begin, pour Canola Oil (or oil of your choice) into the bottom of the pot until approx. 1/8 in. full with oil. Place one kernel into the pot and cover with the lid. Heat oil over medium-heat.

When the kernel pops, you will know the oil is hot enough. Pour in more popcorn kernels until the bottom of pan is fully covered in one layer of kernels. Very quickly, pour in approx. 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 t. salt. Stir with a wooden spoon so that sugar dissolves into the oil. Add a little more oil if the sugar looks clumpy- you want the sugar to fully dissolve into the oil and to fully coat the kernels. Make sure you do all this quickly before the popcorn starts popping, or remove from the heat for just a second while you stir!

Place the lid back on the pot. With one hand holding the lid on and the other hand holding onto the pot's handle, start to shake the pot. Back and forth, in circles, whatever. You just don't want the sugar to burn. When the popcorn starts popping, you need to shake the pot more aggressively. Again, hold that lid down well as burning oil stings! As the pot fills up with popcorn, not only shake the pan back and forth, but also shake it down against the burner a little so that the kernels that are stuck on top will fall to the bottom and pop.

When the popcorn reaches the top of the lid and the popping starts to slow down drastically, remove the pot from heat.

As soon as popping has stopped, remove the lid and pour popcorn into a large bowl, taking care to leave out any un-popped kernels if you have young children. You may notice that the kettle corn clumps together a little from the sugar.

It's okay if some of the popped corn is golden brown from slightly burnt sugar. Usually a little brown will taste just fine. However, if the entire pot came out dark brown, you may want to toss the batch and start over.

After some practice, you can learn the timing for when to remove the popcorn from the stove so that there is hardly any un-popped kernels at all!

Don't worry if your pan has burnt sugar stuck to it. Let it cool off and then fill the pan with water and a drop of dish soap to soak for a couple hours. The sugar should come right off after the soak and make clean-up very easy!

Now that your kettle corn is done, enjoy! And again, if your popcorn didn't turn out right the first time, keep trying! It takes practice to get the kettle corn not to burn, but you can do it! You can also experiment with the sugar and salt until you find the right combination that suits your taste.

For more info. on homemade popcorn:
♥How to Make Your Own Microwavable Popcorn
♥Popcorn on the Stove Tutorial