It’s tailgating season! Read our Tips for Backyard Tailgating!
When you hear the word tailgate, what do you think of?
I think of football, tasty food, snacks, ice cold beverages, and time spent with friends and family.
With a few months of football left including the Super Bowl, there’s still plenty of time to plan your next backyard tailgate party.
Throwing a tailgate party can be simple when you consider the following tips below.
Tips for Backyard Tailgating
1. Plan your space and gather outdoor supplies.
How many people will you be hosting?
Plan out how much space you will need for your backyard tailgate party. Set up a space outside with tables, chairs, a canopy, and if possible, a TV for entertaining your guests (unless you’ll be moving your party indoors when the game starts).
Fill up coolers with ice and add a variety of beverages for your guests. If you have kids attending your party, you’ll want to set up a space with fun activities to keep the little ones entertained!
2. Choose your menu and beverages.
Food and drinks are the most important part of any tailgate party in my opinion.
Your guests will most likely arrive hungry, so be sure to serve a variety of food, snacks, and beverages. We like to serve chicken wings and finger foods at our tailgate parties.
If you are looking for a quick and easy way to serve chicken wings, pick up Franks RedHot Bone-in Wings! You can find them in Original Flavor, Buffalo Flavor, and Kickin’ BBQ Flavor.
Not only are these chicken wings quick and easy to make, they taste great, too!
3. Make Cleanup Easy
Use paper goods for quick clean-up including paper plates, cups, napkins, and plastic utensils. Cover your tables with a plastic table cloth that can be thrown away after your party.
Set garbage cans around your space that can be seen easily by guests, but also out of the way to avoid attracting bugs to your tailgate party.
If you are planning your next tailgate party, consider these tips above for a successful party!
What backyard tailgating tips do you have? Leave a comment below!
Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Walmart Family Mobile. All opinions are mine alone. #TreatYourFamily #CollectiveBias
My husband’s career has taken us pretty far from our family. I would have to say that the hardest part about having a career so far away is not being able to see family more often. We rely on mostly technology to keep everyone connected these days. We do our best to call home, text, and email on a regular basis. Many times we make dates over the computer so that we can see each other. Thankfully, the technology we have these days helps us to stay connected easily.
The holiday season and new year is approaching. One of our goals is to stay in touch with our family more. Even though we communicate on a regular basis now with family and friends back home, I know we can do better. I want my girls to start having more conversations with their family members as well! Keep reading to see how we plan to connect with loved ones during the holidays!
6 Ways to Keep in Touch With Family this Holiday Season
1. Call Home
As a busy mom, my days can be filled with activities and a never ending to-do list. When writing your to-do list, add simple phone calls to your list. For example, if it’s been a while since you’ve called your mom and dad, write a simple reminder, “Call mom and dad,” so that you don’t forget! Time can get away from us and before we know it, weeks can pass by before we realize we haven’t connected with our loved ones.
To make it easy to communicate with our loved ones this holiday season, we went to Walmart and purchased the LG Leon LTE phone for $69.82 with the $39.88/month (for the first line) Unlimited Talk, Text & Data service plan which now includes up to 5GB of 4G LTE data. We also purchased the $25.00 starter kit since we were new to using the Walmart Family Mobile as our service provider.
The reason why we made the switch to this plan was because we are trying to save more money on our phone plan and we also needed a more reliable service with plenty of text and data. The Walmart Family Mobile’s 4G LTE service and data increase was a huge feature in our decision with this purchase. I call, text, and use the internet often and need to know that I’m not going to have to pay a bunch of fees at the end of the month because I went over my limit. Plus, saving money on our phone plan = having more money to spend on holiday gifts this year!
Disclaimer: All prices for phones and plans included in this post are accurate as of the date of posting; however, these prices are subject to change. Please refer to this page or your local Walmart for current pricing.
2. Email
How many times during the day do you check and respond to emails? Email is a great way to keep in touch. It’s super easy and quick to use. Try to email your family members on a regular basis. Emails don’t have to be long. Short and sweet emails can go a long way. I like to send a quick email to my sister letting her know that I’m thinking of her and wishing her a great week at work. If your kids are old enough, allow them to write an email to family members, too! This is a great way to teach them basic computer skills while communicating with their loved ones.
Not around your personal laptop? Send an email on your new LG Leon LTE phone!
3. Write letters
Writing letters is becoming a lost art. Rarely do we receive handwritten letters in the mail anymore! Be different this year and get creative! Grab a piece of notebook paper and sit down to hand write a letter or two to your loved ones. Handwritten letters are special and imagine the look on your loved one’s face when they open your letter! Dust off your address book and start writing!
4. Connect via social media
Connecting via social media is one of the easiest and quickest ways to connect with family members. My family relies heavily on social media to keep in touch with us. Social media is great because you can update family with new and updated family photos. Through social media, my family can watch my girls grow up even though we are far away!
5. Connect via webcam
Technology is amazing these days. I’m impressed with all of the ways we can connect with our loved ones when they are away. Set aside regular time this holiday season to visit with your family members over webcam. It’s super easy to do and there’s something special about seeing your loved ones on a screen even when you know they are far away!
6. Send holiday cards
Holiday cards are becoming a thing of the past in my opinion. With all of the technology at our fingertips: email, social media, e-cards, etc., sending actual holiday cards seems to take too much time and work for some (including me). But, I actually love sending and receiving holiday cards. This year, we are making it a goal to send holiday cards to our immediate family members and will be including an updated family picture inside.
As you can see, there are several ways to keep in touch with family during the holidays! Head to your local Walmart soon and pick up the new LG Leon LTE phone and connect with your loved ones. While you are here, check out Walmart Family Mobile on Tumblr.
How do you keep in touch with your family during the holidays?
From awesome careers to great families to interesting hobbies to beautiful, Pinterest-perfect houses, women these days seem to have it all. There really is no limit to what we can accomplish–both for ourselves and for our families. Yet, does all of this success come at a cost? Unfortunately, it certainly can. Here are four ways your overly busy schedule may be hurting your family.
Is Your Busy Schedule Hurting Your Family?
Your Relationships May Not Get the Attention that they Deserve
No matter how great we all are at multitasking, the truth is that every person only has 24 hours in their day. Once you fill them up, there simply isn’t room for more without kicking something else out. Sometimes it’s your health that suffers, which is bad enough, but more often than not it’s also your relationships with your friends and family that don’t get the attention they deserve.
When women are overly busy with work, volunteering or their children’s activities, they often end up missing out on the little things that make life really grand–such as taking their children to play at the park, stopping to jump in puddles, spontaneous date nights with their husband or spur of the moment girls’ nights out. Do this often enough and your relationships are sure to suffer as a result.
Your Mood is Likely to Suffer
Furthermore, it isn’t just the time that you don’t spend with your friends and family that is affected. Even the time you do spend with them can turn sour too. Women who are overly tired due to a busy schedule tend to be grouchier and more irritable. Then, even when they want to spend time with their loved ones, they often end up being not very pleasant to be around.
It Can Set a Bad Example for Your Children
Have you ever thought about what type of message you are sending your children with your busyness? Are you encouraging creativity and room for daydreaming, or do your kids also need to be entertained every minute of every day lest they get bored or lonely? It’s hard to relax and just be when you are constantly running from activity to activity, and many kids simply don’t know life any other way.
You May Not Notice Problems Until Its Too Late
Lastly, if one of your friends or family members were going through a rough time, would you even notice? Studies show that children who regularly eat dinner together with their family are far less likely to try drugs and alcohol. If you rarely have time to sit together as a family, you may miss any potential warning signs until it’s too late.
Turning down new opportunities can be very difficult, especially when they are great opportunities we’d love to pursue. At the end of the day, however, each of us have to decide which of our priorities is the most important and make sure that our top priority (hopefully, our friends and family!) is getting the attention that it deserves!
Do you feel like you are “too busy” lately? What are some things you could cut from your busy schedule?
My husband and I recently celebrated our 13 year wedding anniversary! It seems like only yesterday that we were celebrating our big day surrounded by our friends and family. I have so many great memories from our wedding including the giant rainbow that appeared in front of the church (when there was no rain!) Many of these memories I’ll be able to share with my children and smile at in the years to come.
I remember fretting about our wedding day months in advance. Planning a wedding can be stressful and overwhelming, but once the wedding is over with, you can enjoy your honeymoon with your honey. Planning for the honeymoon can be just as stressful and overwhelming as planning the wedding. This list below of must haves for your honeymoon can help!
10 Must Have Items for Your Honeymoon
Dresses – Pack a little sun dress for a beach stroll or a little black dress for your most romantic evenings out!
Shoes – Depending on your honeymoon location, you may need to pack a variety of shoes. From athletic shoes, flip flops, heels, to sandals, make sure you pack the shoes that will match up with the events you’ll be partaking in!
Swimsuits – Heading to the beach? Don’t forget your swimsuit! It’s always a good idea to pack at least two swimsuits depending on how often you’ll be out near the water.
Lingerie – You can’t forget about your pretty lingerie for your honeymoon! Pack a few pretty pieces for your most romantic nights together with your husband.
Accessories – Get dolled up with your accessories! This includes your earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, watches, and hair accessories.
Toiletry Bag – Don’t leave home without your make-up, toothbrush, toothpaste, body wash, shampoo & conditioner and deodorant!
Camera – You’ll want to take plenty of photos during your honeymoon! Keep your camera handy at all times because you’ll never know when you’ll find a great photo opportunity during your honeymoon.
Bag or Purse – Your purse or bag will come in handy to keep your belongings safe when you are out and about with your husband.
Sun Care – If you know you’ll be outdoors often, pack plenty of sun care including sunscreen, sunglasses, a hat, and other items that will protect you while you are out in the sun.
Perfume – You’ll want to smell you best during your special time together, so pack a small bottle of your favorite scent to wear.
What items would you add to the list of honeymoon must haves?
Two years ago, my husband and I started what I call a “lifestyle makeover.” We were living very busy lives and our home was cluttered with items that no longer served a purpose or brought us joy. Through this chaos, we learned that we were wasting money on things instead of saving for our family and our future.
After letting go of loads of physical stuff in our homes, something interesting happened. We found time to focus more on our finances! Focusing on our finances is one area that we’ve never truly worked on in our 12 years of marriage. We’ve always considered ourselves to be frugal, but our attitude of “we can buy this because we can afford it” was not helping our financial future. Instead of spending money foolishly, we wanted to start budgeting and start pouring money into rainy day fund, retirement accounts, and our children’s college accounts.
During this process of letting go of things and working towards improving our financial health, I’ve learned how to save money for our family. The tips below are the best ways we can save hundreds of dollars each month. Instead of going out and finding more work, we’ve put the following tips into practice and now follow the mentality of, “It’s not how much you make, it’s how much you save!”
5 Ways to Save Money For Your Family
1. Cut back on eating out at restaurants.
I have a challenge for you! Go through one month of expenses and write down all of your expenses from eating out at fast food/restaurants. My husband and I did this experiment and our jaws dropped. Swiping our cards on a regular basis on fast food and restaurants became a bad habit that we needed to let go of. We were spending money on convenience foods and challenged ourselves to eat out less. We now give ourselves a small budget for eating out and this saves us hundreds each month.
The technology we have these days to save money at grocery and retail stores is pretty amazing. Printing and clipping coupons is becoming a thing of the past. Although we still do print coupons at times, I’ve found that there are easier ways to save at my favorite stores. I’m a big fan of using my smartphone apps to find savings when I’m out shopping. One of my favorite ways to save money is with Ibotta and Checkout 51.
If you could place all of the food and ingredients from your pantry and kitchen onto a conveyor belt at the checkout line, can you estimate what the total cost would be? I’m guessing it would total up to a few hundred dollars (or less). Recently, I challenged my family to eat as much as we could from our own pantry and kitchen before heading out to the grocery store for more food. With a little bit of creativity and meal planning, we were able to come up with five big meals to make by pairing up foods and ingredients we already had! We were able to stretch our grocery budget this way and now it’s almost like a game trying to find what we can make and use up before going out and buying more.
4. Go on a “no spend” challenge for a month.
This is tough, but it can be done. If you have a habit of buying just to buy or tend to purchase on impulse, it can be hard to maintain control of your spending during a no spend challenge. However, this is one of the easiest and best ways to save a few hundred dollars during the month. We started a no spend challenge last year and it was easier than I thought it would be. The challenge is to only buy the items you absolutely need during the month, to include groceries, gas, toilet paper, etc. Everything else is a NO! The best part about the no spend challenge is seeing how much money is left at the end of the month for savings. The no spend challenge was successful last month so my husband and I decided to challenge ourselves again this month! Here are free activities to take advantage of during a no spend challenge.
5. Start a budget.
This can also be difficult to start if you aren’t used to watching where every dollar is going. A budget is necessary if you want to save money for your family. We started a budget last July, but it took us a while to get it right. We spent the first month or two tracking our spending. Once we saw where money was going, we divided everything up into categories, gave ourselves a spending limit for each category and started living by this budget. By doing this, we have maintained control again of our finances and end up with more money at the end of the month to put away for the important things – our emergency fund, retirement accounts, and the kid’s college accounts.
These tips above can help you save money for your family if you put them into practice.
Having your monthly period doesn’t have to be a dreadful experience. In fact, I’m actually a fan of that time because I know I get to pamper myself more and put my feet up and relax a bit! With the right tips and products on hand, you too can feel comfortable during that time of month! Here are several tips to help you stay confident and feel your best during your period.
6 Ways to Feel Better During Your Period
1. Get comfortable.
Denim jeans are not my friend during my period! Instead, I opt for stretchy pants or leggings. I like to lounge around in my cozy pajamas and warm fuzzy socks, too.
2. Be prepared!
Stock up on plenty of feminine products before that time of the month so that you'll be prepared. I buy several pads and tampons before that time of the month. I like to keep a stash of feminine products in several places including each bathroom in my home, my purse, my car, and my gym bag. If you work at an office, stash a few in your desk or keep an area designated for feminine products in the ladies room.
3. Drink Water and Eat Right.
You may experience bloating, gas, and even constipation during your period. Avoid eating foods that cause these discomforts, especially salty foods. When you drink plenty of water and eat right during your period, you'll stay hydrated and feel less bloated.
Related: 5 Ways to Beat the Bloat
Related: How to Stay Hydrated as a Busy Mom4. Use Heat for Cramps.
If you suffer from cramps during your period, use a heating pad to help with the pain. Choose the appropriate heat setting (low, medium, or high) and find a comfortable location, such as your bed or the couch. I like to use my heating pad while watching mindless T.V. to help alleviate cramps.
5. Stay Fresh.
I recommend keeping flushable scented wipes around during that time to help stay fresh in between changing out your feminine products. Keep a few packets or package in your purse, gym bag, or office for those moments when you need to freshen up.
6. Eat Chocolate.
While I did mention eating right above, sometimes we have those moments when the only thing that can make us feel better is by eating a piece of chocolate (or two, or three!) Chocolate is definitely a comfort food for me when I'm not feeling my best, but as with everything, moderation is key!
Following these tips above will help you feel confident and comfortable during that time of the month.
BONUS TIP:
Create a Pampering Gift Basket
Would you like to surprise a friend in need during her time of the month? Create a cute pampering gift basket! It's super easy to make!
To create your basket, you'll need the following items:
1 basket
curly ribbon
tissue paper
variety of pampering products
1. Line the bottom of your basket with tissue paper.
2. Add the curly ribbon to the front and middle of the basket.
3. Fill the basket with pampering products. In this basket, I included feminine products plus small tote bag, cleansing cloths, ibuprofen tablets, small box of tissues, hand & face wipes, and milk chocolate peanuts.
Deliver your basket to your friend in need and help her to feel confident during that time of the month.
What tips do you have for feeling better during your period?
Looking for a way to display your child’s princess dresses? Try this easy princess dress hanging rack to organize the dresses!
My girls love to dress up. It may be one of their favorite things to do around here! We’ve been collecting princess dresses for about six years and have a nice collection of princess dresses. However, we were running into issues.
We never really had a place to hang these beautiful princess dresses so that my girls would have easy access to them. The princess dresses were either too high in the closets or shoved into a small storage box for wrinkles to set in.
I wasn’t happy with the way we stored their princess dresses and I wanted my girls to be able to dress up during playtime without having to drag the boxes down or take them down from the closet.
I searched online for princess dress hanger systems, but was a bit discouraged when I saw that the prices on most of them. I didn’t want to pay that much so I kept searching.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRejectRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
To create your basket, you'll need the following items:
. 
