Celebrations Category
National Creamsicle Day
Usually our Tuesday posts are dedicated to a Tip Tuesday but since today is National Creamsicle Day, our tip is to enjoy this last bit of summer making a tasty treat with your kids!
What you need:
- 2 cups orange juice
- Up to 1/3 cup honey
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 cups fresh cream
- 2 cups fresh whole milk
- 4 to 6 drops organic sweet orange essential oil (or 1/4 tsp orange extract)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Stir 1/3 cup honey into 2 cups orange juice.
- Pour the mixture of juice and honey into a heavy-bottomed sauce pan and heat it over a medium flame until reduced by half.
- Once the mixture of honey and orange juice has been reduced by half to viscous syrup, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature.
- Whisk four egg yolks, two cups fresh cream and two cups fresh whole milk with organic sweet orange essential oil or orange extract and one teaspoon vanilla extract. Continue whisking until all the ingredients are very well combined.
- Whisk the mixture of honey and orange juice into the mixture of eggs, cream and milk.
- Pour the Creamsicle mixture into your Popsicle molds and freeze until solid, at least twelve hours.
- Enjoy!
Recipe submitted by A. Koltun, daughter of Kolcraft’s President, Tom Koltun 
*If you are concerned about using raw eggs, you can also try the recipe without them, but there will be a bit of a different texture.
Gold Medal Winner from Kolcraft’s Olympic Craft Contest
We have our gold medal winner from Kolcraft’s Olympic Craft event! This little Olympian sent us photos of each part of her craft: torch, laurel wreath and star medal. We love her creativity and thoroughness! She will be receiving an Olympic goodie box for all her creative efforts.
Thanks to everyone who submitted crafts in our contest. We had lots of fun looking at them. Congrats to all our winners!
Kolcraft Helping Kids In Distressed Situations
Strollers given to children in need through KIDS
For several years Kolcraft has partnered with K.I.D.S. – a mission based company who quite simply give caring responses through time & donations to children in the crisis of poverty. K.I.D.S. brings hope and self-esteem to children & families in need in the USA & throughout the world by providing new clothes, shoes, toys furniture, book and juvenile products. Over the past 25 years, K.I.D.S. has provided more than 65 million underprivileged and disaster-struck children with nearly $1 BILLION of new products.
Tom Koltun, Kolcraft’s president, along with Kolcraft and our Kolcraft Mom ambassadors have been able to donate funds and products to K.I.D.S throughout the years, but we don’t always know the personal stories of those who receive the products. We were thrilled to hear that the 1,658 Jeep strollers we donated valued at over $66,000 were delivered to kids in Sri Lanka. Many of the strollers were given to Development Centers where children and infants with special needs live.
Mas. Dulitha Methsara captured our hearts (2nd child from left in photo above). He was abandoned in a hospital by his birth mom. He has cerebral palsy and unable to walk or talk. He does respond when his name is called and lets the staff know what food he enjoys. He was so happy to receive a new Jeep stroller which will allow him to attend different events and get around more.
Kolcraft believes that all of us can “do our part” to help children in need. We are proud to partner with K.I.D.S. and give back to those who desperately need the basics for caring for their children. Two Kolcraft Mom/Dad blogs – Being MVP and Chunky and Monkey, MD – are hosting silent auctions for Contours Tandem strollers. The proceeds will go to help K.I.D.S. and you will have a great Contours tandem stroller!
A family in poverty received a stroller to help them with their baby
Kolcraft Joins Operation Shower To Celebrate Pregnant Moms
A military mom-to-be shows off her plush Wally baby toy – Photo by Taryn Lisa Photography
On Tuesday Kolcraft joined Operation Shower to celebrate a Star Spangled Baby Shower for military moms-to-be. It was an amazing day in Chicago where 40 military moms came together to celebrate their pregnancies. What exactly is Operation Shower? It is an non-profit organization that celebrates and honors military families by throwing baby showers for moms-to-be. It is an opportunity to ease the burden of deployment (many of these moms are going through pregnancy, labor & delivery by themselves), to celebrate their babies with wonderful baby showers delivering high-quality products and to connect military moms with other military moms so they don’t feel so alone.
Kolcraft has partnered with Operation Shower for over a year, but this was their first shower in Chicago and we were super excited to attend. As we talked with the moms we were so touched by their stories of bravery and love.
The moms were showered with star spangled swag and were excited to receive a Kolcraft Wonderbug Baby Activity Center and a Wonderbug plush toy. Two moms also won a Contours Classique 3 in 1 bassinet!
Kolcraft was honored to be part of this special baby shower and look forward to showering many more military moms with love and great baby products! You can be part of Operation Shower by donating. Every little bit helps!
We know you will love the photos from the event which you can watch in a video montage here!
You can view TV coverage of the event on these links:
Celebrate Oscar the Grouch’s Birthday with Your Kids
Today is Oscar the Grouch’s birthday! While Oscar may not be the happiest character on Sesame Street, he has a lot to teach our children.
- How to recycle.
- How to keep things clean by picking up trash.
- How being grouchy effects other people.
Oscar has his own page on the Sesame Street website, where you can find games, activities and more to help teach your children about recycling, etc.
You can also celebrate his birthday with this refreshing, easy summer pie. We added green grapes & green apple slices to make it extra green for Oscar. You can buy green paper plates and napkins at the Dollar Store to add to your green grouchy birthday party!
Happy Birthday to Oscar – the loveable Grouch!
Have Your Child’s Photograph Taken And Help Operation Smile
During the month of April, participating photographers are joining the celebration of smiles by offering individual portrait sessions and a desk size portrait in exchange for a $24.00 donation to Operation Smile. This national fundraising effort will benefit Operation Smile which is an international children’s medical charity with a presence in more than 60 countries that provides free life-changing surgery for children and young adults who are suffering from facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate.
Our friends at Wehmeier Portraits told us about the event and are participating in this amazing event. We love the Wehmeier family and how much they always think of making children’s lives better. We think it is a wonderful way to capture your child’s smile while giving a less fortunate child something to smile about. Check out the Operation Smile site to find a participating photographer. Be sure to tell your child how her smile is helping others. It truly takes a village to raise a child and your child can help make the village a little better for another child.
5 Ways To Celebrate National Wildlife Week with Your Kids
This week is National Wildlife Week which is wonderful week to get outside with your children and teach them to appreciate nature. A child is never too small to be in wonder and awe of the wonderful world around her.
- Participate in the NWF Wildlife Watch Map
- Join others celebrating National Wildlife Week by tweeting your sightings on #wildlifeweek on Twitter
- Enter the National Wildlife Photo Challenge. Encourage your kids to take photos too. You will learn a lot about how your child sees the world when you look at his photos.
- Go for a hike with your kids and point out all nature that you see: birds, fish, trees, flowers, bugs, etc.
- Have a meal dedicated to talking about nature and ways you as a family can respect nature and spend more time outdoors.
Celebrate Dr Seuss’ Birthday with Your Kids
Today is Dr. Seuss’ birthday and what better way to celebrate than through a party and reading to your child? We have a few ideas for making your Dr. Seuss birthday celebration fun and educational!
Dr. Seuss Party Decorations
- Make Cat in the Hat party hats
- Decorate your wall with trees from the Lorax. Just take this finger paint art craft and make it on poster board.
- Make a Dr. Seuss themed birthday cake. We love these ideas inspired by his books! Be sure to sing happy birthday!
- Have green eggs and ham for breakfast with this easy recipe.
Dr. Seuss Party Activities and Crafts
- Play pin the green eggs and ham on the plate. Simply cut out a plate, green eggs and green ham from construction paper and hang on wall like pin the tail on the donkey.
- Do a Dr. Seuss word search with your children or make your own!
- Have kids sit in a circle, read words from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and see how many words they can come up with that rhyme. i.e. – Cat, Fish, Dog, etc.
- Color Dr. Seuss coloring pages and talk about which character is your favorite and why.
- Make bookmarks with Dr. Seuss characters. Encourage your kids to draw their favorite character. It doesn’t have to be perfect!
Make sure you have storytime and read your kids’ favorite Dr. Seuss books. Have fun celebrating the author who has taught thousands of kids how to read!
Fun and Easy Super Bowl Sunday Dessert
Our friends at Parenting Magazine always come up with fun recipes that will make your Super Bowl party sweet. We loved this football cake that is sure to be a hit for everyone at your party even if they are there just for the commercials.
Ingredients:
- 1 (9 by 5-inch) loaf cake
- 1 to 2 tsp cocoa powder
- Red food coloring
- 1 can (16 oz) vanilla frosting
- 6 vanilla Tootsie Rolls
- 7 white Good & Plenty
- Green food coloring
- Yellow food coloring
- 2 cups flaked coconut
- 1 Tbsp warm water
What you’ll need:
- A serving platter
- A bread knife
- A clean dish towel
- A rolling pin or a clean, heavy bottle
- Scissors or a sharp knife
- A medium bowl
To get the complete recipe, visit Parenting’s website!
What yummy recipes do you have for Super Bowl?
End the Mom Guilt – Today is ‘No Judgment Day’
Think about it – when was the last time you judged another mom or judged your own parenting skills? Was it this morning at the school drop off? Really, how could that mom let her child out of the house looking like that? Maybe it was yesterday when the mail arrived? Seriously, she sent her holiday cards out already? She has way too much time on her hands! She doesn’t cloth diaper? The horror! Or perhaps like me you ran out of the house with your child in a pink onesie and a “My First Thanksgiving” bib on her, only to arrive at daycare to see the other baby in a cute red and green holiday outfit complete with a hand knit sweater. I started to seriously question my parenting skills because I can’t coordinate an outfit for my child at 5am. So, yes, I judged myself.
No more judging! Ok, baby steps. No more judging for today. Redbook magazine is declaring today “No Judgment Day” in an effort to end mom guilt because judgement and guilt go hand in hand. We applaud this effort and hope that every day can become “No Judgement Day”.
What do you wish moms wouldn’t judge you for? Let us know!
