10 Great Holiday Gifts Under $50
Dec.14
Photo credit: Ian Barnard
Christmas Day is only two weeks away, but your shopping list isn’t getting any shorter. Between your kids, relatives, friends, and the lucky colleague whose name you picked from the Secret Santa bowl, there are probably still a few handfuls of folks you’d like to surprise with a little something special this year. ‘Tis the season to feel elfish, right?
Giving gets even better when it’s done without breaking your holiday budget. We’ve compiled a quick list of 10 great holiday gifts under $50, which we’ll gladly ship to any of the 48 contiguous states for free until the last day of December. When you give a gift from WallCandy® Arts, you support a small mom-owned-and-operated business that designs products proudly made in the USA with non-toxic, high quality materials that will last for years to come. So, go ahead – shrink your shopping list with universally appealing wall décor from our 10-under-$50 gift guide:
Luv Letters – $6 per letter
Help your coworker claim his cubicle with starry blue stick on letters, provide your family’s patriarch with a proud surname to display on the foyer wall, or personalize your daughter’s bedroom with peel and stick letters in a whimsical bird print.
Superstar Chalkboard – $14
Give your niece a removable, reusable chalkboard star sticker to decorate her bedroom door now (and her dorm room door later). It’s removable and reusable without damaging surfaces, so her parents and future resident advisor won’t have to worry about chips or smudges.
Mini Chalkboard Panels – $18
Redesign your beau’s office space or your son’s pretend workshop to include mini chalkboard decals he can use and reuse to manage his to-do list without damaging that cherished Mets-themed paint job.
Mini Whiteboard Panels – $18
If there’s only one way to show your child’s teacher some thoughtful holiday appreciation, it’s giving him or her a trio of peel and stick dry erase decals for the classroom, kitchen, or home office.
Watch Me Grow – $32
For your family’s littlest growers, a cheerful growth chart wall sticker provides the best way to check vertical progress daily without marking up the walls.
Design Your Own Snowman – $38
For your aunt and uncle’s family, a design-your-own-snowman kit packed with removable, repositionable winter wall decals will encourage them to spend more than a few snowless afternoons sipping hot cocoa and building snow pals indoors.
Rococo Chalkboard – $36
This regal-looking decorative chalkboard decal is gorgeous enough to fit in with your best friend’s posh living room décor and functional enough to provide your dear mother a place for working out her latest recipes.
Chalkboard Heart – $36
No kitchen is complete without a peel and stick chalkboard heart for jotting down phone messages, grocery lists, or love notes. This spacious chalkboard wall decal is the perfect place to write “I adore you” all year long.
Night Lights – $48
Surprise your dear mother with a screened-in porch decked out in glow in the dark wall decals that emit just the right amount of moonlight without electricity or recharging. Each peel and stick strand is removable and reusable, so she can easily transfer her design to the guest bedroom in case visiting grandkids need a little nighttime light.
My Sunshine – $48
Know a nursery or playroom in need of some warmth? This all-in-one sunshine kit comes with a brilliant sun wall decal and the celestial accessories to keep blossoming babies always looking on the bright side.
Need your gifts by Christmas Day? Order with ground shipping by Dec. 16, or with expedited shipping by Dec. 20. We can’t guarantee that orders placed after those dates will arrive in time.
Happy holidays!
Huffington Post names WallCandy’s decals to “Best Gifts under $100″ list — twice!
Nov.28
WallCandy's removable wall decals are beloved by the Huffington Post's gift gurus.
So did you take our holiday shopping advice for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend?
DID YOU?
Well, whether you relaxed on T-Day or not, Black Friday and Small Business Saturday are now distant memories. However, there’s still time to take advantage of WallCandy’s amazing 4-Day Sale — Buy One and Get One for 50% Off (click here for details)!
According to the Los Angeles Times, Cyber Monday was only the 12th most popular online shopping day of the year back in 2006. Not surprisingly, today it is Number One by far.
We’re celebrating our Cyber Monday with a bit of pride for twice cracking the Huffington Post’s “Best 100 Gifts Under $100” list.
HuffPo enthusiastically recommends our peel-and-stick Chalkboard Circles, also a fave of Everyday with Rachael Ray. These fun round decals (chalk included) give a 360-degree twist to the traditional rectangle chalkboards we’re all so accustomed to using. Check out some candid feedback from our recent customers:
Unfiltered, uncensored product feedback from WallCandy Moms!
Oh and Monika’s Mom, we concur that the best chalkboard experiences will result from non-oily hands. Grease-covered chalk can also slip and cause poor penmanship!
The Huffington Post is also a fan of our Blossoms collection, a splendid blend of bluebirds, butterflies and floral magic.
Here’s a quick glimpse of what the nature-loving crowd thinks of our removable wall sticker tribute:
Luckily, there are no reports of French Fry oil on any of the bluebirds or butterflies. From what I understand, this can cause some significant flight problems.
Happy Cyber Monday, Everyone!
This Birthday Decorating Kit Requires No Bull
Sep.12
One candle? No way!
As the girlfriend of an Irish lad with a host of small nieces and nephews, I celebrate a lot of single-digit birthdays. Because we were lucky to find an old Queens apartment with a massive living room connected to an equally large, U-shaped kitchen, we regularly host birthday parties for kids (when we’re not respackling the ceiling after the daintiest spring shower, that is).
In fact, we recently wrapped up a first birthday party in early September. Baby James turned one, which meant he didn’t yet have the vocal ability to share any recurring favorite characters or themes to inspire his party decorations. James’s mom and dad planned to stock our apartment with snacks my dearest and I will get to enjoy for weeks to come, so we felt that supplying the venue and decorations was the least we could do. Just as we were wondering how to make his first birthday memorable and easy, on ourselves as well as his parents, WallCandy® debuted the first design in their blooming collection of birthday decorating kits. The kit contains a room’s worth of western-themed wall decals, perfect for celebrating a child too young to insist on decorations that feature a trademarked cartoon character or comic book superhero.
Shopping for party decorations is burdensome; I’ve been to a gigantic party supply store and I could never call the experience anything but overwhelming. Instead of shopping multiple aisles to find complementary or matching decorations, I pressed a button and ordered an all-in-one western birthday decorating kit that just so happened to match a leftover hoard of plain red party servingware.
Once the kit arrived in the mail, I found preparing the party room to be a cinch. The peel and stick wall decals are removable and reusable, so I was able to play with a few different arrangements on the wall before finding one I thought made a lovely focal point. It took less than an hour to create a festive space and I never once worried about the post-party condition of our interior paint job. The cutest part of the kit has to be the bandana birthday bunting, which both inspired and matched Baby James’s party favors, miniature bandanas and sheriff star stickers.
At the end of the party, we returned the wall decals to their original backings and sent James home with some memorable playroom décor to inspire and give setting to any horse operas he might think up as he grows. I suppose we could have kept the kit to decorate birthday parties for other young’uns in the future, but we like to think we’ve planted some western obsession seeds to follow up on once James is old enough to appreciate Gene Autry and John Wayne. And is there a better gift than that?
Oprah’s Last Show Still Not the End of An Extraordinary Background
May.24
Photo credit: Associated Press
Today, America witnessed the official end of The Oprah Winfrey Show, which debuted back in 1986 at the height of daytime talk show popularity and has since zipped past all other shows in its genre to become a one-of-a-kind… entity. But before attempting to pay tribute to a woman whose life and influence will be studied for centuries after she’s gone, I must admit that I have never been a die-hard daily viewer, nor have I made a decision based on one of Oprah’s renowned bits of wisdom or glowing recommendations. Or have I?
Like most people born in the early ’80s, I grew up with a vague awareness that Oprah Winfrey was someone everyone loved to watch, talk about, and make fun of. Her show was often on in the background while I struggled with my first difficult homework assignments in fourth grade, and when I became a fan of the sketch comedy In Living Color during middle school, her apparently fluctuating weight was an easy target and still remains a prime example of the worst kind of pop culture comedy.
If there’s no specific scandal or sensational event pinpointing the moment a notable becomes notorious, fame remains just another nebulous phenomenon and explaining one person’s specifically pretty impossible. I can’t tell you how you it happened, but Oprah Winfrey became a force infinitely more interesting and important than the Jolie-Pitts, Charlie Sheens, and Britney Spearses of celebrity culture.
Oprah in 1986. (Photo credit: Chicago Now)
Oprah truly ruins the curve for the rest of humanity. Anyone who can go from what sounds like complete emotional, demographical, and financial destitution to holding a lonely spot as the only black woman on the Forbes billionaire list, founder of an entire network supporting multiple philanthropic organizations, and the inspirator behind countless positive social and consumer improvements makes the phrases “I can’t” or “I shouldn’t” sound so incredibly whiny.
Almost 30 years later, she’s leaving a famous daytime spot she made infamous, still at the height of her show’s popularity. While most people take away bittersweet memories and cheesy office mementos when they leave a cherished, long-held career, Oprah takes away a legacy, a lexicon (the trademarked “aha” moment), and the credit for launching countless careers. And let’s never overlook her impeccable taste. I barely know the woman, yet I’d let her come in to replace my product choices and redecorate my house in a heartbeat, even if she swore me to secrecy and made me leave while she worked. I’d only make sure that all my bookshelves were enticingly empty. Say what you want about an unmovable Oprah Recommends sticker – anyone who inspires Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Q. Television to pick up The Heart is a Lonely Hunter for the bus ride home deserves her own stamp of approval.
For the last couple of weeks, the commercials leading up to Oprah’s last show have been relentless. Gift giving and the intricate psychological processes people can experience while shopping for loved ones is an interest of mine, and every time a teaser commercial popped up, I found myself wondering what Oprah’s friends, coworkers, and personal assistants were going through as they shopped for what to get an unparalleled magnate as a going away present.
Of course, I have some decorative peel-and-stick suggestions, but given the magnitude of this particular going away, even my go-to going away gift ideas are causing me to sweat a little in this very pretend scenario. What do you get for the woman who literally has everything and worked fantastically hard to get it? A written apology from Keenan Ivory Wayans? No, I’m sure Oprah is by now relatively impervious to the ridiculous weight jokes that hackneyed comedians still rely on now and again to poke fun at the inspirational and seemingly untouchable woman.
The only present I could think to get her would truly be for me. I’d get her a set of chalkboard panels for writing down her newly unheard witticisms and wisdoms, but I’d ask her if we could keep them in my kitchen for those moments when an overdue bill or unsuccessful dinner party seems like the end of the world.
Even though I never officially boarded the Oprah train, her permeating presence seems to make the world a better place. It’s nice to know that a few people like that are around, and it’s comforting to know that syndication is just around the corner, just in case I get the itch to find out exactly how much of my subconscious is Oprah-inspired. ♦
I’d love to know what you’d get Oprah if you were her number two (or four, or even seven). Do you know someone who seems to have everything already? What’s your meaningful go-to going away gift for the guy or gal whose life is wonderfully full? Leave a comment and give me a hand with this particular conundrum, won’t you?
Homemade Ice Cream Recipes for Planning Summer Dessert Socials
May.11
When I was a kid just old enough to navigate the dry goods in our pantry, my favorite game to play was Pretend Restaurant. My patrons (sisters) ordered spaghetti and steak, so I served them cereal and marshmallows. My middle sister, who is now a chef, liked to feign outrage, become unruly, and refuse to leave without taking an irritating nap on top of my place settings. Pretend Restaurant became much more fun during the summers, when it often became Pretend Ice Cream Parlor instead. I’d spend scorching afternoons watching my grandmother’s electric ice cream maker spin inside its little wooden bucket, ready to serve whatever manner of frozen chunky peach or mint chocolate chip ice cream would appear inside that thick metal container after hours of torturous waiting. My patrons were better behaved during the dessert course, but a surplus of sugar usually led to monkey antics at the ends of their bowls.
Wherever that little ice cream maker is, I bet it still works like new. Since one of my summer aspirations is to host a Saturday afternoon sundae bar soiree with a few pals (and maybe a sister or two, if they can control the urge to digress), I’ll need to browse a few used electronics sections to find one so comparably sturdy and loud. Decorating the adult version of Pretend Ice Cream Parlor should be easy, since I’ve long envisioned shades of chocolate browns glazed and spackled with oversized sprinkles.
One of the latest designs from WallCandy® Arts happens to be an extremely spacious ice cream cone chalk board wall decal. I got a chance to play with it during the ENK Children’s Show in March and immediately bought one the moment it appeared on the website. It doesn’t take much to get me thinking about ice cream, but an adorable person-sized space to play with sundae bar ideas is the stuff dreams are made of. Once my very real ice cream menu has been somewhat finalized and the soiree draws near, I’ll erase my blueprints and use it to display descriptions of my creative toppings for any visual learners I might invite. Or, if I’m feeling like a sharer, I could write my recipe in the sherbetest of invented fonts.
Even if summers are already pretty magical in your house, simply adding homemade ice cream to your summer to-make list will send a psychic shiver of glee down the spines of any child within a 2-mile radius. When it’s your turn to host a play date, suggest the kids decorate their imaginary ice cream shack and while you taste your way through the various stages of sorbet-making and topping chopping.
If you don’t have an ice cream maker, start with this basic single-serving homemade ice cream recipe from curvygirlguide.com to satisfy summer cravings without making a dessert run:
Ingredients
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup milk or half & half
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons rock salt
1 pint-size sealable plastic bag
1 gallon-size sealable plastic bag
ice cubes
Directions
Fill the large bag half full of ice and add the rock salt. Seal the bag. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag and seal it. Place the sealed small bag inside the large one and seal the large bag carefully. Shake until mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes. Open each sealed bag carefully and enjoy!
For a more grown-up ice cream party, try this homemade raspberry buttermilk sherbet recipe from foodnetwork.com:
Ingredients
6 cups raspberries (5 or 6 pints)
1/4 cup 100% grape or apple juice
1 cup superfine sugar
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt and freshly cracked pepper
Directions
Puree the raspberries, juice, and sugar in a food processor until smooth. Pour through a mesh strainer into a bowl and discard the raspberry seeds. Stir in the buttermilk, cream, and a pinch of salt, then cover and refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours. Serve sprinkled with pepper.
I’m personally going to try my hand at a sherbet punch ice cream. I haven’t found a solid recipe yet – at least not one that includes any warnings about turning the punch into a solid ice cream – but experimenting with dessert sounds about as risky and intimidating as laying on a beach in Bermuda. I’m sure it’ll be fine, as long as no one demands a sample before my concoction’s official Pretend Parlor debut.
Stumped on Gift Ideas for Mom? Ask the Cat for Mother’s Day Advice!
May.3
Maevis, trying on the give-what-you-want gifting philosophy.
A few of my mother’s most motherly qualities also make her impossible to shop for. She’s selfless, giving, and a longtime expert accumulator of the ultimate just-in-case stockpile, from first aid and batteries to wrapping paper and working ink pens to flood insurance and paper shredder gear grease. Her luxury retail addictions are localized to two manageable arenas: drugstores and beauty supply chains.
As I made my way through college, I’d often come home during breaks to find in her bathroom the kind of full-sized product stash one usually finds in an overstock inventory.
“You don’t even wear makeup. Do you need two dozen waterproof eyeshadows?” I asked.
“Sure I do,” she replied, removing the items in question from the secret compartment in my overnight bag specifically reserved for borrowing things without asking. “And I’ll thank you to stay out of the guest closet.”
Several head-scratching special occasions later, I finally saw fit to cross drugstores and beauty supply chains off the list of places to find gift ideas for Mom. Chances are she’ll already own three of them, whatever they are.
Meanwhile, the only creature alive who considers me her mother could never say that I share my own mother’s motherly qualities. Even if she could talk, my cat Maevis, who I’ve taken care of for all her nine years despite a tendency to get turned around wandering near the Land of Motherhood’s welcoming borders, would probably not describe me as a selfless, giving person. Ever since my mother started calling Maevis her grandcat and suggesting that I, too, am a mother, the amount of time I spend adding (but never actually purchasing) Mother’s Day gifts for myself to my long list of wants would appall most sensible cats. Maevis often sits in the sunlight on top of my desk, watching me add sweater wraps, designer sneakers, and fancy shampoo sets to my list, silently judging me for turning a celebration of mothers into an excuse to think about possibly straying from my budget.
Mother’s Day has thus become a challenging holiday for me; shopping for my mother is as difficult as teaching my cat to give me verbal permission to treat myself for being a mom of sorts. This year, I went the direct route and pumped my mother for information on what she’s into these days, but to no avail. She has a book collection that would intimidate Charles Dickens, enough beauty and health products to open her own Whole Foods franchise, and extra money laying around now that her two grown children aren’t stopping by just to grab a couple of cans of soup from the back of the pantry.
And me? I’ve continued to hold off on treating myself, despite wanting many things from a wishlist that doubles as a map and feeling exactly the way most mothers probably feel when their children are mewling in their faces at 4 a.m., unable to make their own bowls of cereal or manage the pull tabs on a few tuna cans.
Mom's new necklace
As I sat down to write this, I began to slowly, reluctantly wonder if perhaps the best gifts to give are the things I’d want for myself. My mom and I have similar tastes, so I took a chance and chose the item at the top of my own list of wants – a dainty sterling silver wishbone charm necklace – and ordered it in gold for my selfless, giving, jewelry-shy mother. (She’s not allowed to read this post until after Mother’s Day. Mom, if you’re reading, way to spoil the surprise.)
All was well, maybe, until she threw a wrench in the works (do they sell wrenches at Sephora?) by calling to ask what Maevis plans to get me for Mother’s Day. I put up the good fight but gave in to her firm, adorable insistence that Maevis has been bugging her for Mother’s Day gift ideas for the last two weeks.
“You’re her mother and she’s just going crazy wondering what you’d like,” she said.
I know that feeling. Fortunately, it was very recently replaced by yet another surge of loving admiration for my selfless, oh-so-giving mother. She and I will soon own matching wishbone necklaces, mine in silver, hers in gold. It’s not the most groundbreaking Mother’s Day present of all time, but then again, I’m not that hard to shop for.
Toast the Royal Wedding with Hip Housewares and a Fairytale Sale
Apr.28
Only 24 hours to go! (Photo credit: Chris Ison/AP)
With Prince William’s marriage to Kate Middleton only one day away, Royal Wedding Fever is at its most contagious. If you find yourself scowling at your spouse’s sudden obsession with E!, your dental hygienist’s plan to host a WilliKate lookalike party, or your cubicle neighbor’s suspicious new accent, just breathe and remember it’s perfectly natural to find the British monarchy fascinating, if only because any governing organization that dates back to 400 A.D. makes our own political pot look so shallow. If you’ve watched even 20 seconds of The Tudors by accident (or the entire series in one shameless sitting, thank you very much), you and I probably share a category – temporarily interested, but only because it’s more tantalizing than baseball or bickering politicians. Yawn.
If there’s one thing about the Royal Wedding I’m enjoying, aside from a wicked case of gown anticipation, it’s the opportunity to save on a few Kate-inspired fashions or home accents for my own Buckingham Palace, which is slightly smaller and much more prone to hosting city mice but still my favorite place to fix up and Feng Shui. I appreciate any occasion that inspires my favorite designers to add new items to already fabulous collections and oft-visited stores to knock a few bucks off the things I’ve been eyeballing for weeks but avoiding due to a mysterious wallet drought. (If you know a few stores who are taking advantage of the Royal Wedding by allowing me to take advantage of a sweet sale or two, post a comment and clue me in!)
Brandon and his Union Jack
I admit that I never paid much attention to the Union Jack until I visited the humble abode of WallCandy®’s leading lady. I’d seen that most famous of flags numerous times on postcards and flagpoles – and once on a well-sculpted forearm – but its place in the Hall of Style Icons is hard to recognize without the proper medium. As a high-quality home accessory carefully planted among complementary shades and shy standards such as, say, a quilted maple bench purchased straight from the furniture maker’s dusty warehouse, the Union Jack truly stands out as a lovely bit of geometry done up in bright, classic colors. One of the most noticeable items in Allison’s house is the crown in her son’s bedroom, a thick Union Jack throw rug, which I daresay he’ll enjoy as a bit of warm-but-masculine décor well into his teenage years.
The Union Jack toolbox
In case you were wondering how cool the Union Jack can get, take a look at the newest addition to WallCandy’s hip housewares collection, the Union Jack metal toolbox by Alice Supply Co. What better way to commemorate Prince William of Wales’s terrific taste than to treat yourself (or your hosting dental hygienist, who just might know the secret to making homemade Aero bars) to the most stylish method possible for keeping up appearances? Use it to keep jewelry in a safe place, corral day-to-day supplies, or give an inherited tool collection a proper home. However you use this sturdy does-it-all, you’ll surely fall in love with a classic historical icon that just happens to be an effective space-sprucer all on its own.
WallCandy’s own Royal Wedding celebration doesn’t end with a groovy toolbox. From now until May 7, every item for sale on the website is 10% off – simply enter the code royal10 during the checkout process and save on a few fun things that will surely last way longer than the televised exchanging of vows.
Queen Elizabeth II prefers sprinkles.
Anyone itching to start a new season can score a pack of large whiteboard wall stickers or a chalkboard wall decal for planning a warm weather bake sale to christen the newly green front yard. Once rampant Royal Wedding Fever has subsided and we can all unglue our eyes, help your kids plan a menu of royally decorated pastries on our spacious cupcake chalkboard wall decal, throw those windows open, and let the scent of springtime baking permeate the neighborhood with the sweet smells of reality. When the first batch is sold out and everyone’s enjoying a sugar coma, it’s a cinch to move any of our reusable chalkboard decals to the playroom wall for an entire summer spent pretending to be the Royal Family’s official caterers.
Surprise Wall Decals and Other Inexpensive Ideas to Boost Bunk Décor and Sleepaway Camp Experiences
Mar.31
Photo credit: Cammy Ambrosini
We weren’t Girl Scouts, but my sisters and I once found ourselves 50 miles from our home in Smyrna, Tennessee, at an official Girl Scout sleepaway camp. We were outsiders unfamiliar with the creeds, songs, and preexisting friendships. (The cookies, we knew.) Our father, bless his little pea-pickin’ heart, would’ve been fine with only his toothbrush and a pair of sweatshorts, so he wasn’t much help regarding what to bring to summer camp as we were packing only one tiny bag between the three of us the night before. Since children typically aren’t interested in what-to-pack lists and have a limited idea of exactly what they need in order to feel comfortable outside of food, shelter, bear, and blanket, we’d packed only leftover Easter candy and summer clothing. What would’ve been perfect for one night at Grandma’s was a bag of horrors for a week at sleepaway camp – the candy and clothing melted together, as candy and clothing tend to do in severe humidity according to the laws of childhood physics.
Even if your child has been to sleepaway camp before and found it to be a fantastic experience, night-before nerves are as natural as a walk in the woods. If packed carefully and correctly, the suitcase or backpack can be an antidote to that anxiety, especially if it contains little surprises for the child to look forward to once you’ve driven away. Presents make everything a little more bearable, as does the ability to claim a space and personalize it for the week ahead. This year, try the Christmas-in-July approach and include these five pieces of bunk accessories for your child to discover at that crucial moment just after arrival:
1. Bath accoutrements that fit easily into a mildew-proof, easy-to-carry shower caddy can counter the stress taking a shower at camp will likely muster. Bathing is a huge part of everyone’s comfort level, including the folks in our near vicinities, so giving a child a few unexpected grooming luxuries is a must. Pack a travel-sized sample of Mom’s favorite summer-scented shampoo, a soft loofah (even if your child doesn’t typically use a loofah, the gesture is sweetly memorable), and a couple of extra character toothbrushes. I personally recommend some method of marking the outside of a shower curtain to let outsiders know it’s occupied, such as a laminated sign equipped with a hook for a standard shower rod. Camp showers are typically noisy and other campers may not realize that the stall is in use. A moment of exposure can be devastating for a child – trust me.
2. Open up a pack of peel-and-stick chalkboard tiles and use smudge-proof chalkboard ink markers to write a lovely encouraging message on the package’s top tile. Your child can stick the decals to a bit of blank wall space near the bed and use the remaining two to doodle or write little reminders (such as, “Next year, pack all chocolate in a sealed plastic baggie.”) Don’t forget to include the chalk! Once your child meets a few pals, he or she might just decide to move the wall decals to a more common area so everyone can scribble silly messages.
A collection of souvenirs from home.
3. Scan three special photographs and print them as 8″x10″ copies perfect for fitting inside our Polaroid-style frames wall decals. Kids can fill any remaining wall space with comforting, familiar images and decorate each frame with the included tack and tape accent decals. If your child is worried about losing a cherished bear or blankie, perhaps a safe photograph would temporarily replace the real thing while he’s away. Since all of our wall decals are removable and reusable, it’ll be a cinch to bring them back home without upsetting the camp counselors by tearing up the bunk walls.
4. Handmade satchels of dried lavender, peppermint, and honeysuckle can be fantastic mood boosters and effective suitcase fresheners. Since scent is an essential part of human comfort (just ask brain doctor extraordinaire Dr. Daniel Amen) and campsites can quickly become stinky once dozens of children are in their playtime zones, a sweet-smelling gesture for a better night’s sleep might be in order.
"Dear Mom and Dad: Camp smells delicious!"
5. It might sound silly, but seed packets can provide your child with a unique activity for sharing with any would-be camp buddies during free time. Leave a note suggesting she make the campground a prettier place, the way she’s made your life extra beautiful.
The trick to packing a soothing suitcase is to combine new surprises with familiar comforts. Don’t forget to include something special from home that could stand to be soiled or even lost, such as an extra pillowcase in a recognizable pattern from Mom and Dad’s bedspread, or a cozy sweatshirt from Big Brother’s stash for those few uncomfortable minutes after exiting the lake or swimming pool. Oh, and make sure any edible treats you pack have a super high melting point.
Warm Up Your Decor with Summer Shades, Shapes, and Wall Decals
Mar.16
We definitely need some sod for the living room. (Photo credit: Ryan L. Hyde)
This week, it’s supposed to reach the 60-degree mark on the official New York City thermometer. Lately, I’ve been wondering about that thermometer. I’m not sure where it’s kept, what it looks like (cartoonish oversized novelty thermometer, or electronic wonder small enough to fit inside a button?), or who’s in charge of checking it, but I hope he or she is strict and diligent in limiting viewing access. This winter is passing through at a frozen-molasses pace, so it worries me to think that someone has been staring at the official thermometer often enough to cause watched-pot-never-boiling conditions.
Because I just can’t wait to stash my woolly socks away for a short season, I’ve decided to take on a summer-invoking decorating project the way a kid left to call all the interior design shots might hang up the holiday lights the day after Halloween – with gusto! March is always a low-budget affair, but there’s usually a welcome delay in any financial pinch I feel while sprucing up for the warmer months. I suppose throws, insulating curtains, and thicker materials are easily more expensive than vintage mirrors, potted African violets, and pillows fit for a warm afternoon’s nap.
If you’re interested in starting your own relatively inexpensive early indoor summer, start with these five tips for an easy seasonal shift:
1. Consider the sun. As you switch accessories and adjust your color scheme, choose fabrics and hues that look best in bright, cheery light. Mirrors – especially the kitschy vintage kind – are classic sunshine reflectors, so why not hunt ‘em down and hang ‘em up?
2. Berries are best. Replace forest greens with grape, beiges with golden raisin, and reds with raspberry. Color is king from May until December – go ahead, crown your space early this year. After all that snow shoveling we did, we totally deserve a sweet color makeover.
3. Pick summer shapes. The iconic soft-serve snack inspired WallCandy’s new ice cream cone chalkboard wall decal. It’s taller than Lilly, our resident product tester and Allison’s adorable 6-year-old, so there’s plenty of space for a Saturday sundae bar menu, potential summer road trip routes, or a countdown to the school year’s official end.
4. Move flourishing greenhouse perennials to the living room. I love a few good cacti because they love a humid day, they live to be forgotten, and the cat stays far away from all tipping points. If you’d rather keep your plant life to a minimum, try enhancing your indoor creepers by adding a kit of gracefully lush flower garden wall stickers as a baseboard accent.
5. Decorate to remind your kids that winter is on its way out. Nothing’s more contagious than childhood spring fever, so adding a row of festive flowers wall decals or a mighty sun wall decal to your child’s favorite environment is sure to inspire more than a few infectious good moods.
Share your summer decorating tips – we’d love to know how you shed the winter blechs and prepare for longer, sunnier days perfect for sipping iced tea and watching the bubbles float on the breeze.
How a Heart Chalkboard Wall Decal Begat a Better Valentine’s Day
Feb.14
Craig makes it impossible to shop for him on any holiday, which becomes an even bigger obstacle when a holiday technically requires a gift with a specific romantic message. He’s a terrible consumer. If he wants something and happens to mention it in my presence, he’ll immediately talk himself out of wanting it before I can finish staking my mental garden marker in what was briefly a flourishing gift idea. I’ve done the math – six years of dating multiplied by roughly three major holidays per year equals 18 or more times I’ve gone shopping and returned with only sore feet and stress-induced hives.
This year, I decided to embrace the Valentine’s Day spirit by fusing decoration, adoration, and inspiration on our kitchen wall. I arranged a chalkboard heart wall decal opposite our front window where any passing city-dweller could see it and perhaps be unconsciously warmed, should he or she be scanning for visible décor through the windows of the overhead apartments. Thankfully, I’m no longer confined to keeping my chalkboard decals where I know Craig will see them, as he now seeks out and quickly fills all the shapes I bring home with his to-do scribbles before I’ve had a chance to finish playing with potential designs.
My plan was threefold: to decorate lightly for Valentine’s Day (the surprising number of New Yorkers who adorn their porches with lights in February is quite inspiring, although I suspect many of them have simply added strands of red to the white lights they used back in December), to add a month’s worth of meaningful appreciations to a relatively dull daylong celebration of love, and to actively brainstorm until I’d drummed up a decent gift and overcome Craig’s indulgence handicap for once.
“Don’t write on this one,” I told him, sticking the baby hearts where they’d look bubbly and supportive of the queen heart.
“Why not?” He was chewing.
“Because I’m gonna use it to write you a little love note every day this month. It’s part of your Valentine’s Day gift.”
He paused between bites of bran flakes and said, “You don’t have to do that.”
I told you not to get me anything.
(Photo credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
I’d prepared myself for this exact infuriating response, which came from the same place that won’t allow him to buy himself a new pair of Levi’s but once every decade. My response was simply to write “I love you because…” at the top of the heart, leaving space for the first of my daily reasons – “I love you because you’re slightly easier to shop for than the Dalai Lama.”
I wrote a different reason every day for the first two weeks of February. I praised his dedication to nailing a perfect Marge Simpson impression. I celebrated his clam chowder recipe, as well as his admirable work ethic and ability to remove mysterious laundry stains. It’s been a unique challenge to come up with a new and true sentiment for each day, so I recently gave myself a break and instead drew a picture of two doting stick figures at a movie theater, a mountain of fluffy yellow popcorn parked between them.
Craig stood in front of my hasty chalk art for a moment, again munching his morning bran. “Remember that time we left after watching one movie and decided to turn right around and go see another?” he said. “That’s always been my favorite date of ours.”
With that, my chalkboard project led me right where I’d wanted to go. For his official Valentine’s Day gift, I made him a Cinema Night kit complete with microwave popcorn, an economy-sized resealable bag of peanut M&Ms, and a pack of movie tickets thick enough to put us through Oscar season and beyond. It was an easy, stress-free spree.
I plan to see my daily love notes through to the end of the month. Once March 1 arrives, our heart chalkboard decal will become open for his reciprocated affections, fondue recipes to try, running lists of must-see coming attractions… all the lovely things its shape inspires.
