Search Results for: blog family book club

How to Save Money on Family Portraits

Family portraits are a nice way to create lifelong memories, celebrate special occasions or craft a favorite holiday gift. You can capture your family moments without spending a ton of money. Whether you get photos of just the kids or the whole extended clan, use the following ways to save more and spend less on all of your family pictures. Portrait Studio Deals and Coupons You can get some good coupons and deals with the chain portrait studios, especially if you are a new customer. They want to get you in the door where you will hopefully love your photos … Continue reading →

How to Use Freebies for Family Fun

It is possible to have a year full of family fun for free or nearly free. It is all in what you know and how you do your research. Take advantage of the following free family fun opportunities. Free Movies There are a number of ways that you and your family can enjoy free movies. The first is through free movie screenings. Movie studios like to test out an audience’s reaction before a film is released to the general public. To do this, they offer free movie screenings. Sometimes you will be asked for your opinion, usually by filling out … Continue reading →

Top 10 Ways to Get Your Kids Excited About Reading: Family Bonding

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Do you want to get your kids excited about reading? If so, get ready for the countdown: ten days of ideas that will get you and yours into reading! Today’s challenge? Make reading into a family event. While all of the past suggestions that I’ve made apply to families, today’s ideas focus on reading as a family bonding time. Make a book of family stories, or collect memories from family members. One of my favorite school projects involved collecting stories from my grandfather. I’m sure that you have some family stories floating around. Even if they’re newer stories about what … Continue reading →

Join the Club

As if my email inbox was not on the brink of exploding as it is, I keep getting invitations to join different scrapbook clubs. While I am appreciative to friends and family who forward me the evites, I barely have enough time to complete my backlog of layouts, let alone participate in a monthly club. If you are short on time and money, then you should really think twice about joining a monthly scrapbook club. Which is not to say that the clubs don’t offer a variety of benefits; however, you should know that membership requires a certain level of … Continue reading →

The Family Celebrator

I’m a celebrator. I enjoy commemorating evenest the smallest of accomplishments and the most obscure occasions. I feel like everyone in the world should eat cake on 10/10/10 or get a bouquet of flowers for pulling off a successful all-nighter, whether it be finishing a term paper or surviving your kid’s bout with chicken pox. You don’t need a birthday or anniversary to have reason to celebrate in my book. But what happens if you are married to the CEO of the under-celebrators’ club, or worse, a non-celebrator. I exchanged wedding vows and procreated with the former, which kinda stinks … Continue reading →

Save Money With the Barnes & Noble Kid’s Club

Do you like rewards and cupcakes? That was the subject line of an email I got this morning. It was from Barnes & Noble, and it was their way of introducing me to their brand new Kid’s Club. It’s free to join, and gives you some great deals on books and more. If your child enjoys reading, either by herself or by having someone else read to her, you are going to need access to a lot of books. Keeping a child interested in reading is a great way to help her improve her reading and decoding skills. It’s the … Continue reading →

Barnes & Noble Free Kids Book, Online Storytime and More

Barnes & Noble is giving kids some incentive to keep reading over their summer vacation from school. Keep your children’s reading skills sharp by taking advantage of this great offer from Barnes & Noble. Visit http://www.barnesandnoble.com/summerreading/index.asp and download the Passport to Summer Reading. Have your children read eight books and track it on their “passport”. They can read any type of book that they enjoy reading although it would probably be best if the majority were at their reading skill level. When they are finished reading all eight books and Mom or Dad signs their “passport” they can go to … Continue reading →

Tween Book: “My Life in Pink and Green”

My 12-year-old daughter is reading a great book called “My Life in Pink & Green,” by Lisa Greenwald. I took some time today while she was at school to peruse it. It’s a great book not only because it speaks to her tween age group but it’s also eco-friendly. If you have a tween daughter I strongly suggest this book. First of all it features common tween topics including: make-up, makeovers and adolescent anxiety. The story is about a 12-year-old girl named Lucy. Her mother and grandmother run the Old Mill Pharmacy, which is in dire straits. To drum up … Continue reading →

Family-Friendly Holiday Vacation Ideas

Tis the season to be booking holiday cruises, ski vacations and tropical getaways. With students on Christmas break, planes and hotels will be filled to the gills next month. If you haven’t solidified your family’s holiday vacation plans yet, you might want to get cracking. Parents magazine is lending a hand to procrastinating moms and dads by publishing its annual list of top 10 places in snowy destinations that cater to families. The following resorts got high marks for offering a variety of on-site family activities, quality ski lessons for young children, upscale rooms, child care services, kids’ clubs or … Continue reading →

An Alternative (Please!) to the Adoption of the Month Club

In my last blog, referring to various obituaries written about Patrick Swayze, I talked about how calling attention to a person’s adoption without reason can seem to make a false distinction between permanently adopted family members and other permanent family members. Respect for the concept of permanence is also why I was a bit sad to receive a catalog in the mail yesterday. The National Wildlife Foundation suggests giving your child an “adoption kit” for Christmas. This will include a stuffed animal (size dependent on the price level you choose). In a more “deluxe adoption”, you will receive a book … Continue reading →