This is a sponsored post with Swiffer. There are also affiliate links included. All opinions are my own.

The holidays can be one of the most stressful times of the entire year. Between the cooking, the guests, the parties, and the shopping, you almost need a vacation after the holidays in order to recover. However, what we've found is that instead of trying to keep your kids entertained to help relieve the stress, it is better to actually put them in the middle of all the chaos! Yes, I know, they are naturally already in the midst of the chaos, but we have some ideas to move them from being the cause to being the remedy. Here are three ways to make this happen.

Buddy the Elf School Lunch

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear! One of our favorite Christmas movies has to be Elf. Of course, this is true for many people out there. The movie has so many great lines. We just watched it again and my kids thought it was just as funny as last year. It truly is a Christmas classic. If you disagree, well, then you sit on a throne of lies.

Now I have to make one thing clear. There is no maple syrup involved in this lunch. I wouldn't judge anyone who poured it all over the spaghetti but I personally had to draw the line somewhere. You have to make that decision for yourself though. If you do make this lunch just be prepared to have your kids say, "I love you, I love you, I love you!" Have a merry Christmas!

5 Holiday Present Ideas For People of All Ages

We could all use a little more help picking out presents around the holidays. In fact, if you could give me some ideas for a Christmas present for my wife, I would really appreciate it! Beyond that, my family picked out five presents for the holidays that can work for kids on up to parents. They range form stocking stuffers to gifts that will make that special person's entire year. We picked out items that are especially fun to use together. This year, we even did something different. Instead of writing about each item we did a live video showing how each great each present is. So after you watch the video, check out the website for each present. You can also buy it from my Amazon store.

I haven't been paid to feature any of these products, but a few were sent to me for review. Others I bought myself. If you do buy any item through my Amazon store I will receive a small percentage back. I hope you and your family have a fantastic holiday season!

How to Make a Christmas Trees Lunch

You've almost made it to Christmas break but you still have a few days to go and you want to have a little fun with your kid's school lunch. I have you covered! Here is a simple school lunch that brings in the holiday cheer. My kids devoured this one and I even made it for a local TV show! It really only takes a couple of minutes to assemble once you have the ingredients on hand. So get to work and have a Merry Christmas!

The Thanksgiving Leftovers Waffle Sandwich That You Never Knew You Needed In Your Life

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Pyrex. All opinions are my own.

I'm going to be open and honest with you. Thanksgiving dinner is one of my favorite meals of the year. I mean, I love other holidays, but when it comes to the act of actually eating, the Thanksgiving meal is king. Sure, Halloween has its candy, Easter has some great delicacies of its own, and St. Patrick's Day food is really underrated, but Thanksgiving is where the culinary magic happens. In my family, we always deep fry our turkey and serve an abundance of pies. It's making me hungry just thinking about that cranberry sauce. However, the sweet potatoes could really just disappear forever and they would never be missed. I have seriously tasted every sweet potato dish imaginable and I am done with that vile root. But let's stay positive, okay?

I also believe that the day after Thanksgiving is the best day-after-a-holiday all year long. Why? You open up the fridge and all of that beautiful food is still right there. Because if you didn't make enough food for leftovers, you did Thanksgiving wrong. The thing is, after that first day it helps to mix things up a bit. That's why we decided to bust out the waffle iron. Because if something is good on its own, it will be next level if you waffle it. And guess what was pretty much created for waffling? That's right, Thanksgiving stuffing! The amazing thing is that molding stuffing into waffle form, and combining it with the powers of the other leftovers, makes this recipe the perfect dish to send to school or work in a Pyrex storage container with the person that you love.

Disney Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse Ears School Lunch

So I am going to say something right now that will blow your mind. Our family loves Disney. Shocker, right? Well since we are literally now counting down the days to our first ever trip to Disney World (we've been to Disneyland), I thought I would make a Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears lunch for my kids based on those awesome mouse ear hats that you have to buy when you get to the park! If you are planning your own trip, maybe this will give you some inspiration for a special lunch leading up to the trip. Also I wrote a post sharing how we were able to fly our family to Disney World (and more place) for basically free. Check it out if you want to save money on your next plane trip.

Good Day, Good Night Will Be Your Kids' New Favorite Book (and This Will be Their New Favorite Recipe)!

This is a sponsored post in partnership with HarperCollins. All opinions are my own.

You know the drill. Your child goes and gets the same book out of the bookshelf every night. Every. Single. Night. There are those books that you can't really stomach to read more than once, and you do your best to make sure these "accidentally" get lost.  Then there are those that are classics that you cannot wait for your child to choose again. This post is about two books that fall in the latter category, and one recipe that pairs well with both!

If your kids are like mine, they have grown up with Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. From the time they could sit still enough to look at the fantastic pictures by Clement Hurd, I read this to all three of my kids. To tell the truth, my older kids still love to sit and listen to the story when I read it to my youngest at night. Our family's love for Goodnight Moon is why I was so excited to hear about the previously unpublished book by Margaret Wise Brown, Good Day, Good Night.

We received a copy of Good Day, Good Night in the mail, along with a new copy of Goodnight Moon, a rabbit plush toy, and an exclusive press event kit. By the way, you can win all of these by entering my giveaway below! I wasn't sure if the newly released book would come close to the old one, but after the first reading, my youngest was enthralled. From the familiar way it was written, to Loren Long's enchanting illustrations, it was an instant classic in our house! My son now wants me to read this to him almost every night (and most times twice a night).

How to Make Spooky Spider Snacks for Halloween!

These spiders just appeared out of nowhere! We came up with these Spooky Spider Snacks on a whim as we were planning another recipe. I just thought, we have crackers, hummus, and olives, what if we just put them together in a recipe? That would seem a little weird if it wasn't for Halloween I guess. So it all worked out for the best! Anyhow, you can easily put these together for your own Halloween get together. You just need the ingredients I listed above and to watch the video below. Happy Halloween!

A Piece of My Heart Pasta Dinner For Your Kids!

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Barilla®. All opinions are my own.

Sometimes you want to surprise your family by making dinner a little extra special and then there are times where you will give anything for your kids to eat dinner without complaining. During this hectic back-to-school time you don't have time to make dinner and deal with complaining as well, right? This is when this Piece of my Heart Pasta Dinner, made with Barilla pasta and sauce, comes in handy! These pasta hearts and veggies are super tasty but sometimes kids need a little extra motivation. When your kids see the little extra love that you put into their dinner, it just might give them that extra motivation and it will shock you with how eager they are to eat!

Let's stop for a personal testimony here. My seven-year-old son always complains about eating his vegetables. At times, it's definitely a struggle. When we made this particular dinner, it was a completely different experience. He definitely loved the Barilla pasta heart, so I had an idea. Because of how easy the pasta is to eat, a portion of vegetables were also easy to eat after that. When he discovered that he could eat that combo together, he devoured the rest of dinner with no problem. The pasta worked a miracle!

Hey parents, have you ever wanted to sleep better? This might help!

You know how when you become a parent you give up certain things for awhile? You know how one of those things happens to be sleep? Yeah, I know, it's a sensitive subject. I remember when our third was born he was such a poor sleeper that we had to keep him downstairs while one of us slept on the couch next to his bassinet. For a month. Every night. If you're looking for a positive side to it, I don't really remember exactly how tired I was because I walked around like a zombie for that entire time. So there's that. Now if you are looking for tips on how to get your kids to sleep through the night, this isn't the post for you. This post is about how much, when you become a parent, you truly start to appreciate sleep. As big fans of sleep, my wife and I had the chance to review Tomorrow Sleep's mattress, comforter, and pillow. After a month of using them, this is what you need to know.

I have to stop and mention here that we love our old mattress that we've had forever. When we would travel, I would dream about coming home to our mattress. It was actually the first legit piece of furniture that we bought when we got married. The problem is that we've now been married for sixteen years. Let me rephrase that. The problem is that we've now had the same mattress for sixteen years. So as much as we love it, we knew it was time to look into a new one. This was about the time that Tomorrow Sleep contacted me asking if we would like to review their mattress and a few other products. I skeptically agreed. How great could a mattress in a box be? We literally have kept our old mattress in our room just in case we hated the new one. Now, on to what we think about the Tomorrow Sleep products.

The Nightmare Before Christmas Black Bean Dip

I'll just be honest here. In our house we have gone through a few bowls of this dip because this Disney's The Nightmare Before Christmas Black Bean Dip is so good. I wish that we would have put together enough that it actually would have made it all the way to a party, but we have failed in that goal. However, if you have more self control than us, this Jack Skellington appetizer would be great for a Halloween get together!

You only need a few ingredients and a couple minutes to put this together. Below is the list of ingredients and you can watch the short video to see the instructions. Have fun this holiday season and whether you make this for Halloween or Christmas this is sure to be a hit!

The Perfect Bag of Snacks to Keep in Your Car

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Snyder's-Lance. All opinions are my own.

It's the eternal parental problem. You're going drama practice, to a little league game, or even just to the park down the street. In your head, you know your kids are going to be asking for food exactly 2.4 seconds after you sit down. Apparently their stomach timers are synced to the timers in your muscles that control when you want to sit and relax for five minutes. But you can't fight it, you can only prepare for it. This is where your ability to choose the right snacks comes in.

Of course, as a parent, you've have to deal with this for years. There have been times where you picked the wrong snack (it melted in the bag), or you forgot the snack on the kitchen counter because it was hiding right next to your keys. I'm not judging, I've been there. This is why my family is always looking for a versatile snack that can go anywhere. After untold hours of searching, we might have found the snack that fits our needs. We have taken these to a local monument, amusement park, and even to my son's soccer game. They actually were perfect because we were able to hand them out to other hungry kids at the field as well. Kids at youth sporting events are actually kind of like ants. When they smell a tasty snack, they swarm you and there is no getting away from them. Sometimes I wasn't even sure they were there for the game, I think they sniffed out the snacks in their car while they drove by.

What is this magic snack you ask? You probably have to buy these snacks on the black market of the of the internet, right? They are actually right at your local grocery store. It's the Snyder's-Lance Snack Packs. So why are they the perfect snack-on-the-go? There are four reasons. There might actually be more than four, but we are parents here, and we probably don't have time to read more than four. In fact, only reading four will more than likely take 2-3 attempts trying to read this whole post with all of the interruptions, so let's just keep it simple.

How to Make Easy Jack O' Lantern Orange Smoothies for Halloween!

When I say that my kids loved a recipe, I don't throw that word around lightly. We recently created this smoothie idea and my kids couldn't get enough. They literally kept asking for more! That is why I had to hare it with you, especially with Halloween almost here. As parents, we are always looking for easy and healthy recipes that our kids will actually eat. This is one of those recipes. In fact, it is designed for Halloween but really can be served all year round, just skip the step on making it into a Jack O' Lantern.

The ingredients are listed below and I've also made a video with all of the instructions. Have a safe and fun Halloween!

The Nightmare Before Christmas Oogie Boogie Lunch

So it's about time one of the biggest stars from The Nightmare Before Christmas was featured in his own lunch. After all, Oogie Boogie was Jack Skellington's "enforcer." He is the one who held Sandy Claws hostage so that Jack could fulfill his mission. He also has one of my kids' favorite songs in the movie, so he has that going for him as well. I am also on a "Nightmare" kick so this is my third lunch in a row on this theme. To see all the other Nightmare themed lunches I have made over the year's, CLICK HERE.

I created this lunch in an Easy Lunch Boxes container and yes there is an actual sandwich underneath Oogie Boogie. The cheese is just the top for it! If your kids are as big a fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas as mine are, they will love this lunch. Directions are below!

Parents Need Each Other's Encouragement More Than Each Other's Criticism

Dads are lazy. I just finished reading an article from a well known parent magazine talking about how "science" has proven that dads use their time at home hanging out and relaxing, while moms work. The title was absolute clickbait and it smelled strongly of a safe place to let unhappy wives vent about their husbands. Oh, and it also served as an incubator for accumulating easy website clicks. The article itself picked and chose what it wanted from the actual study done by a university, in order to make the editorial as inflammatory as possible. The beauty of the internet is that we don't need to let facts get in the way of our opinions. The article, and the comment section of the Facebook post, was pretty much a breeding ground for negativity. It once again reminded me how much more us as parents need positivity and encouragement, rather than criticism and name-calling.

This is one of my favorite new sites to find encouraging stories instead of negative ones.

The Strangest Netflix Giveaway Ever!

You guys I am so excited for the Stranger Things Season 2 to come out on Netflix! I regularly scour the news for updates, I have my T-shirt, and I have been basically waiting on pins and needles for October 27th, 2017 to arrive. The only thing that's just as fun is that Netflix gave me two three month subscriptions to give away to a few fans in order to celebrate the new release! But more on that below. To prove to you how big of a fan I am, here is a fun little food art project I made after watching season one of Stranger Things.

The Nightmare Before Christmas Zero Lunch

So I figured, "It's Halloween, why not make another The Nightmare Before Christmas Lunch?" I know I made one last week but it is just far and away the best Halloween/Christmas movie out there. My kids love it. I love it. Why not? So I thought I would take a bit of a different angle and feature Zero the dog in this one. After all, he might be the unsung hero of the movie.

We actually still haven't watched the film yet this season but it will definitely happen. In the meantime, there are always more lunches to be made! I created this lunch in an Easy Lunch Boxes container. I also used Pumpernickel bread but you can use any dark wheat. I also had a silicone mold that containers a number of expressions for Jack Skellington. I have had it for almost a year but haven't used it. I figured it was about time. This is how I made Jack's face using white and black edible modeling dough. The rest of the directions are below!

3 Tips For a Small Town Trip With Your Kids

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Merrell shoes. All opinions are my own.

Maybe you need a change of scenery or maybe you just need to prevent your kids from destroying the house again. Every parent gets the feeling once in awhile that you need to get out of town. You want to get away, but there is no way you can take that extra long trip. It's too much time and too much money. But you still have the motivation to gather up your kids, pack up the car, and go on a day trip. One of the easiest, and most cost effective, adventures you can take with your family is a day trip to a small town near you. This might sound cheesy, boring, or cliche, but believe me when I say that your kids will love it! When you promote it to them as a time to explore mysterious places, discover fun food, and climb over new obstacles, you can usually get them excited to go.

The thing about day trips is that you need to be a little bit prepared. You don't have to spend hours doing homework about the town you are traveling to, but it does help to spend a few minutes looking up local eatery ratings, getting some good shoes on your kids' feet, and making sure you have an extra hoodie in the trunk. Here are three more tips that will make your time together a huge success!

The Nightmare Before Christmas Bean Burrito Lunch

It's October which means that it's time for... no not candy! It also doesn't mean it's time for costumes. October means that it is time to once again hold screenings for the incredible family cinematic adventure The Nightmare Before Christmas! Ok, maybe it's only our family that calls it that but I can say that there is no other Halloween/Christmas mashup movie that comes close to beating it. We are already singing the soundtrack together as a family. So in honor of October, I had to make my kids this Jack Skellington lunch to celebrate!

If you have been around my blog at all, you know this isn't the first time I've gone with this theme. I have a few other Nightmare lunches that you can find HERE. This particular lunch was made in an Easy Lunch Boxes container and is complete with a Jack Skellington bean burrito and Oogie Boogie yogurt! See the instructions below.

Lego Ninjago Movie Lunch

If you have kids, you probably have Lego. It's entirely possible that you have stepped on a few in the dark and seriously thought you might need to go to the emergency room. Regardless, Lego are some of my kids favorite toys, and if I'm honest, I have a ton of fun building with them alongside my kids as well. This is why we are so excited for the new Lego Ninjago movie. It is one of my son's favorite series as he can barely contain himself now that the movie is out. This is why I had to make him a Ninjago movie school lunch complete with Lego bread. Of course Lloyd was the star of the lunch. Read on to find out how to make it!

How to Never Take Your Kids Grocery Shopping Again + A Fun School Lunch Recipe

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Walmart. All opinions are my own.

You know it's that time when you break out in a cold sweat, your blood pressure goes up, and the fight or flight syndrome kicks in. Yep, you've run out of excuses and the cupboards are bare. It's time to go grocery shopping with your kids. I mean, your family can't just keep living on those packets of instant oatmeal right? Or can they. Nope, it really is time to psych yourself up, take some headache medicine, get mentally prepared, and hit that grocery store. But what if you didn't have to?

6 Kinds of School Supplies You Should Always Have on Hand at Your House

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Staples. All opinions are my own. 

It's the time of year where you get to enjoy the smell of new crayons, the excitement of first day of school outfits, and the exhilaration of having all of your back to school shopping done. The problem is that this is the beginning of a long school year and it might be possible that your kids will lose something, break something, or use an entire bottle of something before the year–or the first week–is over. That is why us as parents need to be prepared. School supplies aren't just something useful that you buy at the beginning of the year, they are survival tools that you need on hand at all times. Here are my top choices for the gear you will need to make your parenting life easier.

These Teddy Bear Pizza Bagels are the Perfect After School Snack!

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Dave's Killer Bread. All opinions are my own.

It was the 80's and I remember being in elementary school and walking home from the bus stop in my Airwalk high tops and pegged, acid-washed jeans. Each day I would come home, throw open the front door, and head straight to the kitchen. I couldn't wait to gorge myself on an after school snack. If it was a good day, there might even be some of those cheap mini pizza bagels that were so chewy that they tasted like a wet sponge covered with those tiny specks of fake sausage. Apparently in the 80's my taste in snack food was a level below my taste in fashion. I'm pretty happy that my kids have much better taste in after school snacks and in their pants. Those tennis shoes were pretty amazing though!

Fun Flower Bouquet School Lunch Idea

I was pretty excited to make this lunch for my daughter, do you want to know why? There were actually two reasons. The first one is that this is the first time I've had the chance to make a special school lunch for a more mature child. The second reason is that I wanted to give my daughter flowers for her birthday. She just started intermediate school and I didn't want to get her regular flowers, I wanted to do something a little more special. So I researched and found out some tricks for making flowers out of fruit and vegetables.

5 Must See Tips to Get Your Family Ready for Back-to-School + Bonus Ideas

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Staples. All opinions are my own.

It's that time of year when summer is cruising along, you're having a great time, and then you realize that all of a sudden it's August. You look at your list of family goals for the summer and you've crossed out exactly two of them. Those happened the first week when you were extremely motivated. You then scroll to the bottom of the list and you realize that you had committed this year to start planning for back-to-school by the third week of July. This planning included school supply shopping, searching Pinterest for how to build the most efficient homework stations, and also stocking up on creative bento box school lunch recipes.

So that didn't happen. If you are like my family, back to school normally involves scrambling around attempting to piece together a first day of school outfit, trying to make sense of emails from the school district, and going shopping for school lunches—all in the span of about eight hours. However, this year the stars aligned and we were able to get ourselves pretty organized. We found five key tips that have helped tremendously, so I thought I would pass them on to you. Parents have to stick together and if we find something that works let's share it with everyone else, right? Besides the tips below, I also partnered with Staples on the video below to highlight some bonus ideas that we love to put into practice every year. Here's to surviving summer and sending your kids back to their teachers learn new life skills!

1. Get in the habit of prepping food for school lunches at the beginning of the week.

The Emoji Movie Lunch

I can't believe that I'm about to say this but the lunch today is the second emoji lunch I have made. I hate emojis, but I love my kids. In fact, I firmly believe that every time I have to use an emoji on social media, a piece of my soul dies. Is this a little overdramatic? Maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe I'm just Meh about the whole thing.

So a little while back we took our kids to go see The Emoji Movie. My kids were begging to see it and it was pretty much the only kids movie in the theatre at the time. They thought it was hilarious, so now that school is back in session, I thought I would make this lunch to help them smile during their lunch break. This should be proof that the lunches I make them are for their enjoyment! Anyway, if your kids are into The Emoji Movie, then this would be fun to make for them!

If You have Kids in Diapers, This is the Top Parenting Hack of the Summer!

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Pampers. All opinions are my own.

As a parent, I am always looking for tips and hacks to help make my life easier. If you are the same way, I have an awesome new hack for you. This is especially important if you have a child who is still in diapers. My youngest is in Pampers Easy Ups and has also already has seen his share of Pampers Splashers this summer. Did you know that Pampers has had a rewards program for quite awhile? Yeah, that's what I thought, many people didn't even know it existed!

How to Make a Solar Eclipse Lunch

If your family is obsessed with the 2017 total solar eclipse like almost every other family, then this will be a fun idea for your child's school lunch! My kids are going to be watching the eclipse at school with their classmates, which they are super excited about. Don't worry, the school is providing eclipse glasses for them. However, before they get to view this unique event they get to devour this special lunch! Learn how to make it below!

Make a PackIt Back to School Sandwich Monster Lunch!

This is a sponsored post in partnership with PackIt. All opinions are my own.

It's back to school time which means it is time to start making lunches for your kids again. It seems like every school year you start out with good intentions, but then life hits, and you forget all about those plans you had. I know, I've been there. Well hopefully I can help you to start out the year with a little bit more fun in your kids' lunchboxes. In my family, just making one fun lunch a week for my kids helps them to look forward to Mondays at school and it helps bring us closer together. So today I want to help you to make a Back to School Sandwich Monster Lunch in a PackIt bento box and freezable lunch bag.

A post shared by Beau Coffron (@lunchboxdad) on Aug 9, 2017 at 8:15am PDT

I really like PackIt bags because they remove the need for extra ice packs. You just pop the bag in the freezer overnight and the built-in freezable gel will keep food cool for hours! By morning the walls of the bag will be completely frozen and ready to chill your kid's lunch, just like a fridge. It is super convenient. Their new line of bento boxes also helps make it easy to pack healthy meals for your family. So if your little monsters are ready for school (and you are as well), why not make the beginning of the year a little more fun by building this sandwich monster lunch for them? Here is how to do it!

3 Steps to Cleaning the House Before Your Wife and Kids Get Home

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Swiffer. All opinions are my own.

Most dads and husbands have been there at one point or another. Your wife and kids are gone for a night or maybe even the entire weekend. It doesn't happen often, but when it does there's no following your kids around cleaning up toys, you don't have to watch the same cartoon on repeat (unless you want to), and you certainly don't have to share your ice cream. When this weekend happens it's basically going to be like you're living the bachelor life all over again, except that you will fall asleep on the couch by 9 pm and your dinner will probably consist of feasting on your kid's animal shaped fruit snacks.

One thing is for sure. There most likely won't be much cleaning going on during your temporary bachelor extravaganza. It's fun while it lasts, but your wife and kids will be home soon. That means you're going to have clean up the evidence of your crazy/lazy weekend before your family returns. There's no way you want your wife to see the pile of laundry that has accumulated and you absolutely don't want your kids to spy the wrappers from all of their snacks that you've consumed. Here is how to escape your certain doom.

1. Scrape off the top layer of mess

You know that heaping pile of clothes that lies at the foot of your bed? Throw that in the washing machine. Nothing will give away the secrets of your lazy weekend quicker than laundry that isn't done. Also, load the dishwasher and run it. I know you think about getting to the dishes every time you pass by them to get your ice cream, but this is zero hour. Plus, doing this during the first step gives you a fighting chance at finding time to put the dishes away later.

2. Hide the evidence

When the clock is ticking, your talent for hiding things is just as important as your talent at cleaning things. Whisk away all the fast food wrappers and then take out the garbage. There is little chance the outside garbage bins will be searched. For the random items that you have no idea where they go, just stick them under the bed in your kid's room. Eventually the kids will get blamed for it and you're off the hook.

3. Fake the deep clean

This is where you take it up a notch and blow your wife's mind. She won't expect that this is coming and you'll win bonus points to cash in later. Use your Swiffer Sweeper to get the floors so clean you can eat off them. Ok seriously don't do that. If you're hungry you have clean dishes now, remember? Even if you're down to only thirty minutes, it's totally fine. Run that Sweeper over your hardwood floors and they will be ready to walk on just in time! Lastly, if you really want to advance to next husband level, bust out that Swiffer Duster and wipe down the blinds, end table, and baseboards.

My guess is you will get done right before your family walks in the door and throws their bags down on your sparkling clean floor. It will also be right before you get that shocked look from your wife, which then turns into that other look. You know the one I'm talking about. So enjoy that time after your family arrives home. The best part about it? Instead of spending the majority of the next day cleaning you get to spend that time with your family that you've missed so much!

3 Ideas to Get Your Kids Out of the House and Burning Energy This Summer

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Stride Rite. All opinions are my own. 

Summertime causes numerous reactions among parents. Sometimes it's relief that school is over, sometimes it's terror, other times it's just sheer exhaustion at the very thought of summer vacation. No matter what reaction you had when your child burst through the doors of their school for the last time this school year, one thing is for sure. If you don't get your kids outside for awhile, your house won't be standing for another week.

Don't worry we've got you covered with some fun ideas. All you need to do is grab sunscreen for your kids, tasty snacks, water bottle, some comfortable shoes like Stride Rite Leepz, and get buckled up in the car for some fun!

1. Do a local playground crawl.
This will take a little planning but the idea is that you create a route to hit 3-5 local playgrounds in a row. Start in the morning when the weather is cool and spend about 20 minutes at each playground. Set a timer and when it reaches zero, everyone races to the car and then you hit the next stop on the tour. This way the kids get plenty of exercise and they don't get bored being at one place for too long. You can always cut the crawl short if the kids (or you) are getting tired.

2. Head to the local museums.
Most cities have science or history museums that sell memberships, season passes, or even have free days. We use these passes to the fullest extent. These places seriously don't make much money off of us because we are hauling our family there so much. One of our favorites is the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. They have indoor exhibits, kids areas, and outdoor trails. Many museums also have special events throughout the summer. Make a note of the dates that will work with the age level of your kids.

3. Nighttime Race down the block. 
Everything is more fun when it's almost dark out, right? We have our kids strap on their Stride Rite Leepz because they light up with every step. It's not just a walk around the block, it's a nighttime race with flashing lights! Not only does this make it easier to get them excited about running around, the obvious benefit is that it helps them get rid of that last bit of energy before bedtime. It's a win-win.

I hope you have a fantastic summer and that your house is still standing by the end of it! Let me know which of the above tips that you try and what ideas of your own work like magic. To pick up a pair of Stride Rite Leepz, just head on over to www.striderite.com! They have great features like lighting up with every step, fixed laces so you never have to retie them, memory foam insole for comfort, and high rebound insoles.

#fatherhood

The Allowance Hack That All Our Friends Ask Us About

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Swiffer. All opinions are my own.

I am convinced that 86.7% of parental headaches are due in large part to thinking about how to navigate topics like allowances and chores. That is, at least until your kids are old enough to drive and start dating. But we found a system that works for us, and it might be the top parent hack that our friends always want to hear more about.