Finding affordable childcare can be a challenge. Because of this, many people are looking for a job that they can do with their kids. While many of these jobs are done from home, there are a few jobs that allow you to bring the kids with you.
The following employment ideas include jobs where you work for another person and business opportunities that the whole family can work on together. In the case of the businesses, it’s recommended that a family try out the idea before the parent or parents make the decision to quit their job.
For people who have little money for start-up costs, there are a lot of financing options. Business loans are the most common financing route, but they typically require a person to have a good credit history. A bad credit business loan can be taken out by people who are in this situation.
The majority of day care centers, as well as many private schools allow their workers to bring their kids to work with them. In the case of many day care centers, the employees are offered free care for their children as part of the benefits package. Depending on the center’s rules, the children are allowed to stay in the same room where their parent works.
Many schools allow the children of their teachers and other staff (such as cafeteria workers) to attend classes there. In the case of private schools, this is considered to be one of the main benefits of the job by many of the people who work there. While children are often not allowed to be in the same classroom in which their parent teaches, they are often just a few feet away.
Parents who choose to work from home and/or who own their own business have a lot of flexibility with their schedules and they can often plan to bring their kids to work with them.
For example, there are a lot of home-based craft and baking businesses that are operated out of homes. Start-up costs for most craft businesses typically just consist of the craft materials or ingredients themselves as well as some basic advertising. Depending on their age and ability, young kids can sort materials, attach price tags, and even assemble simple parts.
Older children can help out by photographing the items made and creating listings for them on internet sites such as etsy and craigslist. Kids of all ages can accompany their parent to the flea markets, swap meets, and farmer’s markets where the parents sell their goods. In fact, many parents site these places as a good way to teach their kids about the basics of a retail business. Kids learn good math skills, as well as how to interact with other people and a variety of sales skills.
Photo by ButterflySha
Candy is fine in moderation, but you have to resist temptation around holidays, especially Easter. Of course, like most kids, whatever I say goes in one ear and out of the other, so I learned that distracting him from the candy using Easter activities was the best bet to avoid a sugar frenzy.
Easter Egg Animals
I’ve personally done chicks and dinosaurs, but you can make nearly any animal out of dyed eggs. Simply dye the eggs according to the color of the animals your kids want to make. Get some modeling clay that dries in the air and non-toxic glue and paint.
Use the modeling clay to make the animal’s feet and other features, such as beaks and ears and attach the pieces to the egg with the glue. Once the glue dries, have your kids paint other parts on the eggs to complete the look, such as eyes or color patterns.
Basket Decorating
Baskets can be decorated using whatever theme your kids chose. My son loves cars, so we went out and bought foam shapes. We painted the shapes and made cars by cutting pieces to sizes we needed and gluing the pieces together. Once the glue dried, we painted each one. After the paint set, we glued the cars all over his basket.
Foam shapes will work for most projects. You can make a princess theme and flowers for girls and dinosaurs and cars for boys using foam shapes. Talk to your kids to get other ideas for basket additions, such as stickers and glitter.
The baskets can be used around the house for holding different things; we keep an especially good one by the front door as a key dump, and there’s another in the bathroom which holds fruity soaps.
Easter Savings
A lot of family members give my son money at Easter. Putting change in a plastic Easter egg or at the bottom of the basket in the grass is considered good luck. However, I prefer to use these Easter windfalls to teach my son about saving money.
Get a plain, unfinished piggy bank or other coin bank from a crafts store. Use stickers or glue on foam shapes representing items he wants to buy onto the bank and have your child put all his Easter money into that bank. Talk to him about saving for items he wants instead of spending his money all at once.
Since Easter happens right around the ISA season, it’s a good time to think about opening a junior ISA for your kid and it fits with the saving theme. Even though your child may not understand the reason behind a tax-free savings account, they will understand you’re using a junior ISA to save money for them for the future.
A junior ISA allows you to save money tax-free and invest the money in the stock market if you want to do so, so you can help your child pay for their education and other life necessities later.
Children love to create gifts that they can give to loved ones. This is their heartfelt way of showing those who love them most that they love them back. We must keep in mind that not all crafts our kids create will look perfect but that is what makes them so beautiful!
Here are some fun and creative crafts that will be simple to make and your friends and family will be delighted to receive. I also believe that these crafts are so simple that even an uncrafty mom such as myself, can happily join in the fun.
1) Handprint Wreath
This is a craft that each of the boys made as at preschool last year and I absolutely cherish it! It can be a little messy but if you are organized about it this (like their fabulous teachers are) it shouldn’t be too difficult to do with preschool age children or older. Of course, you can do this with toddlers if they will cooperate but my experience in getting the boys to make hand prints when they were that age was not great.
What you need:
* Fabric – A light colored one like the one pictured above will work best.
* Thin dowel
* Green and red paint
* Sponge paint brush and disposable container
* Large bow Stamp
* Ribbon
1. You can make these as small or as large as you would like. It’s totally up to you. So cut the fabric if you need to then either sew – or my favorite is to use fabric tape – to make an opening that the small dowel can slide through.
2. Put some green paint into a container then take the sponge brush and paint your child’s hand with it.
3. Instruct your child to spread out their fingers then push their hand gently onto the cloth. Have them lift their hand straight up. You may have to help them with one hand while holding the cloth with the other.
4. Paint their cute little hand again and repeat Step #3 several times. You’ll want to turn the cloth so you can make a circle of green hand prints. You can overlap a little and remember — it doesn’t have to be perfect!
5. Let that dry. Then either you or your child can dip your finger in red paint and make round red berries.
6. Take the bow stamp and dip it into the paint and stamp the top of the wreath with the bow.
7. After it dries slide the cloth onto the dowel.
8. Cut a long piece of ribbon and tie it to each end ot the dowel, so this beautiful piece of art can be display each year!
3. Painted Ornaments
This is a SUPER simple craft. The only thing you’ll have to do it clean up a little. The kiddos do all the hard work and they love every minute of it!
What you’ll need:
* Paintable ornaments that can be found at any craft store. (They are very reasonably priced especially if you catch them on sale and don’t forget to check your Sunday paper for good coupons!)
* Paint and paint brush– watercolors wouldn’t be great to use but the thicker paints work.
* Newspaper
1. Spread out newspaper all over your child’s work space.
2. Open the paints, get a small cup of water, a paper towel and let the kids have at it. You may of offer instruction if you wish or you can have a sample painted so they have an idea of that colors they can use.
3. Not crazy about letting your kids have paint? Markers will work really well too and are less messy. I chose paints though because my boys just get so excited when they can use them.
3. Bead Wreath
Do you remember making these as a kid? You might even have some of your old ones on your tree or at your parent’s house. This is very simple and not messy at all — unless of course someone spills beads all over the floor 
What you’ll need:
* Beads (or buttons if you prefer)– any color you like will work just fine.
* floral wire 16-20mm
* Ribbon
* Wire cutters
1. Bend the end of the wire.
2. String the beads onto the floral wire.
3. After the wreath is the desired size bend the end of the wire into the other end — cut if needed.
4. Tie a bow on top of wreath to cover wire and attach string or yarn to the top so it can hang on a tree.
The boys and I also shaped these to look like candy canes and hung them on the tree. So cute!!!
For more Christmas crafts check out my post from last year Super Simple Christmas Crafts for Kids
Thanks for Reading!
Christie
I like Halloween. It’s not my favorite holiday but I do think it’s pretty fun. Between ages 19-33 I could have cared less about it to be honest but now that I’m a Mom I do enjoy it. Plus, there’s candy involved so it’s got to be a good one right?
Brian’s post Best Halloween Movies for Kids got me thinking about the movies I have enjoyed over the years. I thought his list was great! It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Escape from Witch Mountain and of course any of the Simpson’s Halloween episodes are awesome!
So, today I am going to share some of my other favorite Halloween movies. These may not have a Halloween theme but I like them and most of them are good if you only want to be semi-scared. I usually don’t go for full blown guts, blood and gore but every once in awhile it’s okay. Again these are MY favorites and not family friendly movies. If you have teenagers they might be okay – other than that ,wait until you put the kiddos to bed, pop some popcorn and enjoy! If you dare ~ muahahahahahahaahaha (that was my evil laugh if you were wondering).
So here they are:
The Phantom of the Opera — DVD
Available on: Amazon
Price (at time of posting): $7.91 sale — $14.99 Regular
I love The Phantom of the Opera in general. I actually like the newest (2005) release of the movie better than the 1993 release. However, I feel that this particular version is much better for Halloween. I mean really, it stars Robert Englund – aka Freddy Krueger – as the Phantom, so it is going to be scary and have some gore associated with it. If you want to see a handsome phantom and enjoy all of the wonderful music you associate with the Broadway musical — go with the 2005 version. However, if you want to see a terrifying phantom, the 1993 Robert Englund version is the one for you! Of course, if you are like me, you will love watching both!
The Silence of the Lambs — DVD
Available: Amazon
Price (at time of posting): $12.91
This is one of my favorite scary movies. I have seen it a million times and it still creeps me out everytime! Jody Foster’s determination and strength almost made me want to be an FBI agent — almost. Anthony Hopkins role as Hannibal Lecter promptly talked me out of it!
Interview with the Vampire — DVD
Available: Amazon
Price (at the time of this posting): $6.05 Sale — $19.99 Regular
I so enjoyed this movie but I haven’t seen it in ages. It was scary and surprising. The young Kirsten Dunst played her role brilliantly and Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt were excellent as well. It may not be the scariest movie of all time but it’s certainly one of my favorites and a good one to watch on Halloween.
The Shining — DVD
Available: Amazon
I have only seen this movie once and it scared me half to death — so I would be remiss if I didn’t include it. Someday when I am braver I will watch it again. If you haven’t seen this classic horror film you should pick it up this Halloween and watch it! The movie may be old, the special effects are a bit outdated but I am sure it will still give you nightmares — if you like that sort of thing.
Scream — DVD
Available: Amazon
Price (as of this posting): $6.49
So apparently all the Halloween type movies I have seen were in the 90′s or later. This move was a little more gory than I like but I was surprised by the ending and terrified while I watched it. I enjoyed it and think it makes a fantastic Halloween movie.
So what are your favorite movies? Do you like to be terrified or only a little scared like me
I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween whatever you decide to do!
Thanks for Reading!
Christie
Do you love the fall? Can’t get enough of changing leaves, warm sweaters and the smell of soups and baked goods coming from the kitchen? Me neither! I adore autumn. So, if you’re like me, you’ll want to seize the season before it goes by as fast as summer seemed to. The fall is a wonderful time to get in some good old fashion family bonding time!
Not sure what to do? Ahhhhhh, well then my dear you’re in luck; you have come to the right place! Here is a list of some fun fall activities that I’m sure the whole family will enjoy.
1. Visit a pumpkin patch.
Sure you can get pumpkins at your local grocery store and that’s all fine and dandy but there is something really special and fun about visiting a farm and picking your own pumpkins. There are usually hay rides, corn mazes, hot apple cider, animals to pet and/or ride, bags of fresh apples and a ton of opportunities for great photos. My family and I look forward to our visit to the pumpkin patch all year long! It’s one of our favorite fall activities.
2. Make some spooky Halloween or festive harvest treats.
The fall is a great time to get cooking with the kiddos. I actually have Rice Krispie Surprise Pumpkin Treats™ on the agenda for the boys and I next week. Should be fun and easy. Should be.
There are tons of yummy things you can make and kids are almost always eager to help. No matter how small or how great their role is, you can be sure they will be so proud of their creations. Check out FamilyFun.com for some easy fall recipes!
3. Go on a nature walk.
I mentioned this in a previous post and we like to do these a lot. Recently, the boys’s preschool teacher sent them home with a bag they decorated at school. Their homework was to go for a nature walk and put items they found along the way in to their bag. When they took their bag of fall treasures to school the next day, they made a place mat which will be used during their Thanksgiving Feast at school. It was a pretty simple craft and if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I do love simple crafts!
After the nature walk it’s just 3 easy steps:
*The kids chose the color paper they wanted for the base.
*Then they emptied out their bag and selected flat items to go on the paper. They arranged them just the way they thought looked best. There were leaves, flowers, grass, pine needles, small twigs, etc.
*To finish off the place mat a clear piece of contact paper was laid on top and the kids pushed it down as flat as it would go and…
Voilá! A beautifully unique place mat all their own. Easy peasy!
4. Rake up a pile of leaves and jump in them.
Okay, I’m not into jumping into leaves but my boys are. You can be sure that as soon as our big tree drops her leaves, the boys will be begging me to make a pile for them to jump into and I will do so happily. My grandparents had several big trees in their yard when I was growing up and my brother and I had hours of fun making piles upon piles to jump into. I want my boys to have fun memories like that too!
5. Feed the birds (and squirrels).
It’s time to make sure your bird feeders are full because soon it will be harder for the birdies to find food. Also, you may have noticed that the squirrels are busy collecting food for the winter. They are all over our yard and driving my dog crazy!
My boys and I do another simple (but slightly messy) craft using pine cones, peanut butter and bird seed. You just coat the pine cone in peanut butter and roll it in bird seed. I usually tie a piece of yarn or string to the top and then we hang them in the trees where we can see them. I’m not sure if any birds ate from them but I do know our squirrels LOVED them. It’s a fall activity that even the animals can share in!
6. Splash in some puddles!
Just put on some old clothes and rubber boots and go for it! It’s fun…
7. Play some games.
I didn’t know that their were really any “fall games” other than football but I decided to search anyway. I didn’t have to look far because once again one of my favorite websites FamilyFun.com had just what I was looking for. Some of the outdoor games that I thought looked interesting were:
8. Make some s’mores.
If you have a wood burning fireplace or a fire pit in the backyard, you can still enjoy some yummy s’mores! You can even make them in your microwave but they aren’t quite the same and don’t put them in very long or the marshmallows will explode. Believe me when I say, don’t try it just take my word for it. I’m not trying to be bossy or anything but I just want to save you from having to clean up a super gooey mess.
There are really so many really fun things to do in the fall! What are some of your family’s favorites? Today our family fun activity is yard work. Not my idea of fun but once this is done we can get to the good stuff!!!
Enjoy!
Thanks for Reading!
Christie
Before I begin talking about barbecuing - I feel it is important to note - that Memorial Day- which was once known as Decoration Day – is a time to honor all those brave men and women who have lost their lives serving our great country. The first Memorial Day was observed on May 30th 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers — at Arlington National Cemetery.
For many people, Memorial Day is also when they spend some good quality time – with friends and family. The holiday is viewed as the official kick-off of grilling season. Since Memorial Day provides a good number of us with a long weekend, this seems like the perfect time to get friends and family together – to eat, play and enjoy each other’s company. Like many Americans – you may be thinking of planning a Memorial Day BBQ. However, sometimes budget restrictions can make you feel like you can’t have people over – because you simply can not afford it.
Fear not! I have some great ideas (if I do say so myself) on how you can plan a fun and festive Memorial Day BBQ — and spend less.
{Tip#1} Save on Invites
It’s always nice to send invites but you don’t have to go to all the trouble – and expense – of buying invitations and mailing them out. In today’s world, there are so many ways - of letting people know – about the get togethers we are planning! Evite is one of my favorites! They have great invitations, for just about any occasion. Using Evite is not only frugal — but eco-friendly as well. You probably wouldn’t send wedding invites out this way, but for birthday parties - and other informal get togethers – it is just perfect!
If most of your friends are on Facebook– there is a great event application there as well. With Evite and Facebook events — it also makes it super simple for your guests to RSVP and for you to send out reminders. This will help to ensure that you get an accurate head count, so you can plan accordingly.
*In the invite, remind people to wear their sunscreen and to bring their bug repellent. These are two very important things to have for any BBQ!
{Tip #2} Save on Food
Hosting a BBQ potluck is another great way to save money on your Memorial Day celebration. If your friends and family are anything like mine, they are very thoughtful and always ask – or insist – on bringing something to the party. This is not only a kind gesture and money saver — it also helps take some of the stress of planning, off of your shoulders. The less food you have to prepare — the more time you’ll have to spend on other things, so you can enjoy the BBQ along with everyone else.
Keep it simple. Your guests don’t expect you to do anything elaborate. Grilling up burgers, hot dogs, and sausages — are just perfect for an event like this. If you can find a good deal on ribs, fish or other cuts of meat go for it — but you certainly don’t have to.
{Tip#3} Save on Decorations
Do decorations from parties past – linger in your garage, attic, or some other storage place? Awesome! Get them out, dust them off and put them to good use. There is no law - that I am aware of anyway - which states that you can not re-use decorations. While it might not be appropriate to use your child’s 1st birthday banner, there are other decorations that might work beautifully – even last year’s 4th of July decor will work quite nicely.
If you don’t have any old decorations to use, head you your local dollar store as see what they have on hand. If you don’t want to do that, you can just buy a fun table cloth and put some fresh flowers out – and you’ll be all set!
{Tip#4} Save on Entertainment
You don’t have to spend a lot to keep your guests entertained. Most people like to just sit around and chat – but if you want to add some other activites for your guests to do, there are a few ways to do this.
*Get out the board games or even a deck of cards and have some fun.
*Potato sack races? Why sure – that sounds like a fine idea!
*Host a scavenger hunt. This is great for kids of all ages!
*Do a good ol’ fashion egg toss. Hard boil the eggs if you like — or don’t hard boil them, this adds a little more drama to the competition
*Flag football! Just cut up some old t-shirts – or towels - for the flags and away you go!
*You can play croquet, volleyball, Frisbee or badminton depending on how much space you have. If don’t have these games, a friend or family member might.
What are you planning this Memorial Day weekend? Do you have some other suggestions on how people can save on these types of parties? I’d love to hear them!!!
Thanks for Reading and Happy Memorial Day!
