Jennifer James is one of the first bloggers I met in real life, through the inaugural Disney mom bloggers mixer. She since has become a dear friend and a trusted professional confidante; someone I admire for her kindness, good karma, smart insights, and astute perspective as a long time blogger (among her many projects, she’s best known as the founder of the Mom Bloggers Club). The second in my Simplifying the Holidays guest blog series, today Jennifer shares a collection of wonderful ideas for everyday philanthropy where you can make a difference from the comfort of your home.

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From Jennifer:

It's the season of giving and there is no shortage of requests for donations to charitable causes both in our local areas and nationwide. While someone, somewhere is in dire need of help, it seems as though the demand is higher than ever before. Many people less fortunate than us desperately need a helping hand. The sheer numbers are overwhelming to be sure, but there is a lot we can do that does not always entail writing a check.

A new book, How to Be an Everyday Philanthropist, has hit book stores just in the nick of time for the giving season. With brilliant strategies and thorough research, Nicole Boles lists a plethora of charities in which you can donate your time and talents and that will make a measurable difference in the lives of those in need.

Reading through How to be an Everyday Philanthropist I was shocked, but delighted, by the types of charities you can volunteer your time to from home. As a busy mom, these are the types of charities that piqued my interest first and may pique your interest as well:

Read This to Me: I bet you didn’t know you could read documents to the blind and all that’s required is a fax machine and a working phone. Now this is a volunteer job we could conceivably do every day to help the blind. Read more on page 9.

Guide Dogs for the Blind: Guide dogs are amazing animals. They are expertly trained and wholly devoted to their master, but did you know that as puppies they are first raised and loved in the homes of everyday families like yours and mine? I didn’t either. Essentially you and your family raise a guide dog until they have to go to training school. What a great charity to give to! Read more on pages 33 and 34.

Look Pink: If you are a hardcore digital mom like me you probably spend your fair share of time on search engines. The next time you need to look up a recipe for dinner or want to do a search for mom blogs, for example, use LookPink.com. Each search you perform automatically raises money to help fight breast cancer. Read more on page 47.

Hang Proud: It's tough being a young girl these days. Although we felt inordinate pressure to be stick thin and take cream puff courses in college, the expectation of girls to be sexy at younger ages is mind-boggling and girls still are underrepresented in science and math. That is why it is vital to mentor girls to become strong young women who are confident and love their bodies. And you guessed it, you can mentor a girl from the comfort of your own home. Through Hang Proud, you can become an e-mentor to a girl who is in desperate need of direction and a friend. Learn more on page 47.

Warm Up America: If you can crochet or knit you can help families stay warm during the bitterly cold winter months. Volunteers around the country knit everything from shawls to blankets to give to people who could genuinely use a handmade gesture to brighten their day and also keep them warm. Since 1992 volunteers have been keeping people around the world warm, from babies to women in battered shelters. Read more on page 63.

Giving to charitable causes does not always mean giving money, especially as the economy continues to do scary things to our savings accounts and discretionary income. But there are always ways of giving that utilize our skills and talents that really make a difference in the lives of others and that you can even do at home.

Learn more about charities that can benefit from your skills and devotion in How to Be an Everyday Philanthropist by Nicole Boles.

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Jennifer James is the founder of the Mom Bloggers Club and the The Mom Salon and writes about social media and mom blogging on her Tumblr blog. You can follow Jennifer on Twitter at @mombloggersclub.

Today, Kate and April share their thoughts on a couple of winning games from local children’s game company Gamewright. Read on for Kate and April’s reviews, as well as to learn how to win a signed copy of Gamewright’s popular Can You See What I See? Finders Keepers Game (entry closes November 11).

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From Kate:

“My daughter is just getting to the age where she can understand and enjoy simple board games, and we've introduced a few as a way to teach her about following the rules, playing with others, and adhering to the basic concepts of sportsmanship. We started with Candy Land, which she loved for its bright colors and vivid drawings, and have since sampled a few others. I have to confess that she will often stack the deck (literally) in her favor, but we have a lot of fun and I believe that she's learning good lessons about logic and collaboration.

Gamewright Games of Newton, Massachusetts offers a range of beautifully-made games for kids of all ages, and we've recently discovered one that is just the right age and skill level for my daughter. Go Away Monster! encourages little kids to recognize and match shapes, while also helping them to deal with any monster-oriented anxieties by figuratively casting out monsters (funny, not scary) from under the bed. My daughter understood the concept of the game after just a few moments of explanation, and has been enjoying it ever since. Gamewright Games is a good option for families who are looking for games that aren't flashy or jarring but that offer fun in thoughtfully-designed packages.”

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From April:

“Play at our home rarely involves an actual game. Puppets, dancing, and coloring are the usual activities with occasional dramatic reenactments of Little Bear stories. Recently, I've been wishing for a few games to keep our 3 1/2-year-old daughter engaged and playing with us, but perhaps a bit calmer than 40 pirouettes. I want a couple of very quiet evening activities we can share together before we do our bedtime routine, or to take up a quiet block of weekend time.

Up until now we haven't found any games that are interesting, nice, and sweet enough for her (and our) tastes. We've tried several but the rules often go out the window and she uses the cards or pieces as props in a massive architectural build or an elaborate puppet show. Or, worse, she shows no interest at all.

Recently, though, we tried out Feed the Kitty from Gamewright. Instantly she was intrigued because it involves mice and a theoretical cat. We opened the box and she was immediately involved in the entire potential story contained in the pieces. It comes with a green food bowl (belonging to the cat), 20 purple wooden mice, and two simple dice that set the play in motion.

The idea is that everyone gets a certain number of mice. The dice that you roll tell you whether to put a mouse in the kitty bowl, take one out, give one to your neighbor, or do nothing (because the kitty's sleeping). The directions on the dice are pictorial, so once our daughter learned what each image meant to the game, she could keep track of the action and figure out what happens at every play. She got a real thrill telling us how to interpret the dice rolls.

The subtext is that some mice wind up in the bowl and become kitty food, but that would not play well with our little naturalist/animal lover. We asked her what she thought was happening and she said the mice were sneaking into the bowl to snack on the kitty's food—a much kinder read for the younger or more sensitive set, although older kids or those that understand that cats actually chase mice and eat them wouldn't be fazed. Our daughter didn't even consider that you want to keep the mice out of the kitty bowl—just that they don't want to get caught there—and yet the game still works perfectly!

The game lasts about 20-25 minutes the way we play (which is with a lot of talking). If you wanted to do a fast game before bed, you could easily speed up the rolls. The last player with mice is the winner. The game is recommended for kids age 4 and up, although our 3 1/2-year-old started playing it as if she'd had it for ages already. It's a sweet game with cute pieces and a new favorite for us when we need a quiet but involved family activity.”

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winner Lynn!
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Now, want to win a signed copy of Gamewright’s popular Can You See What I See? Finders Keepers Game? Here's how:

Visit the Gamewright store locator page, then email contests@bostonmamas.com (with ‘Gamewright’ in the subject), and name a store where you can purchase Gamewright games.

One entry permitted per person; US residents welcome to enter.

Entry period closes at midnight EST, November 11, 2009.

*One lucky winner (drawn using Random.org) will receive a signed copy of Gamewright's Can You See What I See? Finders Keepers Game.

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Image credits: 1 (Gamewright); 2 (April Paffrath)

Are you on the (seemingly elusive) hunt for music that the whole family will enjoy? Today, Jennifer recommends Mary Kaye’s latest album Music Box. Read on for Jennifer’s review, as well as to learn how to be one of two winners to receive a copy of Music Box (entry closes at midnight, November 5):
“I knew Mary Kaye’s Music Box was special 20 seconds into the first song, when my son Gabriel came running from the other room and immediately started dancing. The first track, ‘Under the Moon,’ is an invitation, as animals of all sorts -- including children -- lend their sounds to Mary Kaye's lyrical rendition of a walk through the night. With Kaye's deep, rich vocals (think Natalie Merchant) and a diverse blend of acoustic and electric accompaniment that evokes all the magical noise of childhood, listeners are drawn into a world that is decidedly kid, but where adults feel at home as well.

Rare is the children's CD that comes into our house and isn't loathed by the grown-ups after a week or two of kid-demanded repeated play. But Mary Kaye masterfully layers her songs, and adults will appreciate the underlying messages of love and compassion that are relevant to people of all ages. Music Box stands out in its consistent ability to tap into the everyday realities of childhood -- bugs in the house, hot chocolate, the love of a favorite toy -- and illuminate those experiences without condescension or preachiness. When Mary Kaye sings about how much she loves that plastic turtle, you believe it. Her deep respect and perspicacity are no more evident than in ‘Family,’ where a mundane task like buying groceries -- when seen through a child's eyes -- is so much more: ‘That's when I see we are a family / You are the whole wheat bread / I'm a tomato red / You are the blueberries / And we get picked up / And we get squeezed / And we are riding in the cart with our free cookie and our slice of cheese.’

Music Box is now in heavy rotation here, enjoyed equally by all 4 of my kids. Not only have I had no urge to toss, hide, or otherwise lose the CD, but yesterday I absentmindedly put it on while I was out doing errands, and found myself singing along, with no kids in the car.”

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winners Jennifer and Phoebe!
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Now, want to be one of two winners to receive Mary Kaye’s Music Box CD? Here's how:

Visit Mary Kaye’s music page, then email contests@bostonmamas.com (with ‘Mary Kaye’ in the subject), and name another CD by Mary Kaye.

One entry permitted per person; worldwide residents welcome to enter.

Entry period closes at midnight EST, Friday, November 5, 2009.

Today, April shares a review (and some amazing results!) from Petit Appetit: Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: Easy, Organic Snacks, Beverages, and Party Foods for Kids of All Ages:

“What to have for snack? It's the eternal culinary question for a parent who wants choices that are fun, tasty, and reasonably healthy. What about lunch, little gatherings, and festive moments that call for creative bites, drinks, and goodies? It's easy to run out of ideas and get stuck in a rut of cheese sticks, juice boxes, and yogurt tubes.
Lisa Barnes, who wrote The Petit Appetit Cookbook: Easy, Organic Recipes to Nurture Your Baby and Toddler is back with Petit Appetit: Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: Easy, Organic Snacks, Beverages, and Party Foods for Kids of All Ages. This cookbook is focused on those little meals, gatherings, and ‘everyday holidays.’ You'll get kicked out of the routine with a collection of ideas that include lunch roll-up sandwiches, crunchy snack foods, sparkly beverages, and special celebration foods to mark things like the first day of snow.

Honestly, the idea of feeding a play group, adding something fun to a meal, or celebrating something almost ordinary (Cinco de Mayo? Losing a first tooth?) can make any parent retreat to manufactured snacks that are wanting in nutritional value—not to mention variety.

Barnes talks about food choices (organic vs. not, eating seasonally, ‘green’ habits, etc.), but does it in a friendly tone, which is so important. She offers up information and point of view the way an informed friend might when you're talking about issues that affect our families and our food. Because of that, the book is a good overview of some food issues, like refined sugars, outside food influences, and instilling good eating habits. She also talks about ways to make food eco-friendly, tasty, packable (for lunch boxes and potlucks), and coveted by everyone nearby who wants a snack.

The recipes are true snack foods, and mighty tasty. Barnes splits the book up into sections like drinks (by kind: juicy, frosty, warmers, etc.), snacks (by texture: crunchy, chewy, salty, etc.), and celebrations (by type: birthdays, holidays, everyday celebrations). For each recipe, she offers nutrition facts, like you'd see on the side of a package—making it all the better to compare a snack made chez vous to one found in aisle 7. We all buy some snacks from the store, but it's a great reminder that each serving has a potential for good and not-so-good. Just seeing the difference in fat and fiber content is interesting. She labels each recipe with icons that make it easy browsing for parents who need allergen-free foods or lunchbox-friendly snacks. But don't get too concerned about "healthy" snack food. In this case I mean "healthy" as opposed to chemical-laden packaged foods that we sometimes feel are the only option.

I like creative snacks, and I never would have figured out how to make chewy granola before reading Barnes' book. Had I tried from another book, I wouldn't have been sure if it was healthier in terms of sugar or fat content than the store-bought kind. I did make it (page 73; see my personal photos below) and it was stellar. Everyone loved it. Everyone. It's so good. Instead of refined sugars and high fat content, she uses brown rice syrup and turbinado sugar—ingredients that enhance the recipe flavors and needs. I changed her recipe a bit—dried cranberries weren't going to fly with some designated eaters, so I used dried cherries and freeze dried raspberries along with her candied ginger. I also found that it needed a bit more liquid than the recipe called for, so I adapted that on the fly. That might be my only quasi-criticism: The recipe ideas and flavors are excellent, but you might need to tweak them a bit, perhaps based on the ingredient brands and humidity differences. So get cooking, but keep an eye on how it you think it should look, keep tasting it, and play with it along the way—it's not hard.

I also made ginger ale from the beverage section. My daughter sees other kids her age drinking soda, and it's not something we give her. But I made Barnes' ginger-agave syrup with fresh ginger. Just add some soda water to make a spicy and perfect drink. It was so good that I think my husband and I drank most of it, but our daughter clamored for it. The book is full of ideas that are new, as well as foods that remake and revise the standard store-bought options.

I like my daughter to take part in wonderful tastes—and I would like it if she craves foods and flavors that are made from real ingredients. To make that happen, we have to give her tasty foods that are, in fact, made that way. Cakes and cookies are no problem, but snacky, chewy, crunchy foods have been a bit of a challenge up until now. Barnes just made it a lot easier. Snack time is exciting, tasty, and a lot better than mass-produced.”

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Awesome granola photography courtesy of April Paffrath. For more foodie awesomeness from April, check out her blog Wicked Tasty Harvest.

Kids need to move, and never is that more evident than when our craft and book loving kiddo reaches the end of the day without enough climb time (envision Laurel leaping off of furniture). And if you’re looking for a way to combine literacy and exercise (particularly on a raw day like today), check out the Literacise exhibit at the Boston Public Library. This exhibit is based on local author Irene Smalls's book Jonathan and His Mommy and allows kids to benefit both mind and body by moving and grooving their way through a kid-sized interactive book. Literacise opened in early October and runs until March 2010.

Today, Sarah recommends Partnership Parenting, a book written to help parents reach mature discussion and calm compromise amidst conflicting parenting styles. Read on for Sarah’s review, as well as to learn how to be one of two winners to receive a copy of Partnership Parenting (entry closes October 17):
From Sarah:

“With one more year to go until my younger son heads off to kindergarten, I’ve started to turn over a new leaf in my parenting arsenal. I devoted a massive portion of my vacation reading -- usually devoted to pulp fiction and chick lit -- to some seriously insightful advice books, in hopes that I could polish out the rough spots in my kid/parent interactions and re-write some of the less effective scripts I rely on when put on the spot. (You know, pot bubbling on the stove, dog whining to go out, phone ringing, and a temper tantrum breaks out in the living room about who touched the puzzle last and thus has to put it away.) And I think the change was worth it; I digested some amazingly helpful books this summer.

One of the top three was Partnership Parenting, by husband and wife psychologists Kyle and Marsha Kline Pruett. Conceived to fill in the gaps between parenting books directed at moms and other books directed at dads, this easy read focuses on the differences between viewpoints that often create conflict between parents when child-rearing situations get stressful. Sort of like Mars and Venus Raise A Kid. The Pruetts point out that many parents receive this advice after getting separated or divorced, when they have to juggle father-time and mother-time and the differences between the two, but this is the first program that helps parents while they’re still together.

Beginning with conversations they recommend couples undertake before the baby is born, the Pruetts guide the reader down a path to better he-said/she-said understanding of the motivations behind our parenting decisions, such as how moms are more likely to protect their children from encountering stressful and possibly disappointing situations, and how dads are more likely to let kids encounter disappointments as a learning tool for the way the world really works. Or how moms are more likely to reason with their children when disciplining or scolding misbehavior, while dads are more likely to summarily dismiss the offender to a timeout without too many words. More importantly (especially when a couple gets to bickering over whose parenting style is “right”), the book discusses the best, most effective and most emotionally healthy approaches to help diffuse the bickering before it starts. And in my household, I know it’s often easy to get to arguing over whose point is the right one and lose sight altogether of why we’re trying to find consensus in the first place.

The books also includes a parenting checklist, to compare your child-raising ideas against your spouse’s and find commonalities and differences (and subsequently to discuss in a civil manner how to reach a compromise), as well as a quiz to see how your idea of developmentally appropriate actions on the part of your child match up with experts’ opinions. It’s amazing how many disciplinary battles, especially with younger kids, simply are the result of parental misunderstanding of what the child is capable of at their age.

In my humble opinion, one of the hallmarks of a good self-help book (or maybe just of someone who’s help-able) is that the advice therein seems like very sensible stuff you would know yourself if you were thinking clearly at the time you needed it most. Partnership Parenting gives parents the tools they need to practice the mature discussion and calm compromise that is the pinnacle of two-parent decision-making, before the three-year-old paints the dog blue while the toddler takes every box of cereal out of the cupboard and crushes it into little piles on the floor. I only wish I’d had this book seven years earlier.”

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winners Annie & Allison!
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Now, want to be one of two winners to receive a copy ofPartnership Parenting? Here’s how:

Visit the Da Capo Press website, then email contests@bostonmamas.com (with ‘Partnership Parenting’ in the subject), and name another Da Capo book you’d be interested in reading (other than Partnership Parenting!).

One entry permitted per person; US residents welcome to enter.

Entry period closes at midnight EST, Saturday, October 17, 2009.

One of the busiest acts on the Boston family music scene is Ben Rudnick & Friends, a five-piece ensemble whose acoustic tunes suit the whole family and cross folk, bluegrass, calypso, and rock genres. Today, Ben Rudnick & Friends contribute to our online birthday party by offering 5 winners a copy of their acclaimed Grace’s Bell CD. Simply check out the rules after the jump and leave a comment on this giveaway to enter to win.

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winners Sandra, Shimona, Staci, Sarah, & Heidi!
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Rules:

Include your name and email in the appropriate fields so we can contact you if you win (your name but NOT your email will be published with your comment. Including just first name or first name + last initial is OK.)

One comment permitted per person; US & Canada entrants welcome.

Anonymous or SPAM-like comments will be discarded.

Entry period closes tonight at midnight EST, Wednesday, July 23, 2008.

Life is meant to be lived joyfully every day, and for parents looking for ways to translate this basic – but sometimes lost – principle to their children, there’s Focus Friends, an independent collection of books and artwork designed to translate messages of beauty, joy, appreciation, wisdom, and inspiration. Today, Focus Friends contributes to our online birthday party with their Joy Is The Greatest Gift storybook + 11” x 18” framed Seeing Beauty print. Simply check out the rules after the jump and leave a comment on this product line to enter to win.

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winner Kimberly V.!
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Rules:

Include your name and email in the appropriate fields so we can contact you if you win (your name but NOT your email will be published with your comment. Including just first name or first name + last initial is OK.)

One comment permitted per person; US & Canada entrants welcome.

Anonymous or SPAM-like comments will be discarded.

Entry period closes tonight at midnight EST, Monday, July 21, 2008.

*One winner will receive the Joy Is The Greatest Gift book + 11” x 18” framed Seeing Beauty print (value: $102).

We are huge fans of Barefoot Books, what with its mom roots and sprouts (the business was founded by moms and supports mom resellers), and its amazing line of beautifully illustrated, culturally aware products. Today, South Shore based Barefoot reseller Alpha Sanford contributes to our online birthday party with a gift set of books, including Swing High, Swing Low, Never Say Boo To A Goose! and There's a Billy Goat In The Garden. Simply check out the rules after the jump and leave a comment on this book collection to enter to win.

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winner Jenn S.!
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Rules:

Include your name and email in the appropriate fields so we can contact you if you win (your name but NOT your email will be published with your comment. Including just first name or first name + last initial is OK.)

One comment permitted per person; US entrants welcome.

Anonymous or SPAM-like comments will be discarded.

Entry period closes tonight at midnight EST, Thursday, July 10, 2008.