Giveaway: $500 Amazon Gift Card plus Betty Crocker products
Mazzy will be five next week and Harlow just turned two. For the past few years, we have been able to get away with a pretty minimal holiday celebration. In fact, I’ve been using a sneaky little holiday hack of which I’m quite proud.
Are you ready for this one?
Mazzy’s birthday is December 9th and she always has a birthday party. My trick is stashing away a bunch of her birthday presents to use for the eight nights of Hanukah. Trust me, the last thing Mazzy needs is a double dose of new toys.
But… since Mazzy is now in kindergarten and learning basic math (like “why were there only 7 presents when there were 15 kids at my party????”), I don’t think I will be able to get away with that this year.
To make things even harder, I’ve noticed Mazzy is becoming increasingly obsessed with Christmas. I think she’s a little sad we don’t celebrate it and I find myself looking for ways I can make our holiday season just as festive, without her feeling like she’s missing something by not having a tree at home.
This is one reason I was very excited when Betty Crocker asked me to make a “how-to” video for one of their Top 10 Holiday Cookies for Kids. It seemed like an easy way to amp up Mazzy and Harlow’s Hanukah this year.
FYI- If someone had asked me to make holiday cookies from scratch, I probably would have backed away from the confection oven slowly before hightailing it out of the kitchen. I AM NOT A BAKER. Being in the kitchen with a bag of flour and an electric mixer STRESSES ME OUT.
But cookies from a mix in a box, I can handle.
In fact, I told Betty Crocker I would do them one better.
“If you want to show how easy it is to make Betty Crocker cookies, can I have my four-year-old bake them for me?”
They agreed and another Mazzy Baking Tutorial was born.
If you are not familiar with Mazzy’s tutorials, she has made cookie lollipops and mini turkey meatballs in the past with a confidence I cannot muster in the kitchen. And now, I think Mazzy has done her best work yet— baking Betty Crocker Holiday Present Cookies.
They’re square peanut butter cookies decorated to look like presents with a little frosting, food coloring and sprinkles.
I think you can see in the video how much Mazzy genuinely loves baking. I like to think she also loves spending some quality time with mom. Although I’d venture to guess that dipping her fingers in frosting probably has a lot to do with her enjoyment level as well.
In any case, I can’t think of a quicker or easier way to make it feel like the holidays than baking some festive looking cookies FROM A BOX.
Hope you enjoy this video as much as Mazzy and I enjoyed making it!
You can find the full recipe here, plus lots more kid-friendly cookies ideas at Betty Crocker’s Kid’s Cookie Corner.
Do you have a holiday hack or shortcut you want to share?
It can be about anything from baking to gift wrapping to holiday travel. I’ll be posting my favorite holiday hack responses in a follow-up post, with one answer selected randomly to win a $500 Amazon gift card and a portfolio of Betty Crocker products.
Winning $500 in a Mommy Shorts giveaway is a pretty good shortcut to holiday happiness, don’t you think?
GIVEAWAY RULES:
1. You must be a Mommy Shorts facebook fan to enter. If you are not one already, you can become a fan by clicking here. Then leave a comment below explaining your favorite holiday hack. I will also be accepting entries on my facebook page.
2. If you’d like a second entry, subscribe to the Mommy Shorts daily or weekly email and leave a second comment saying you did so. If you are already a subscriber, just say so in your comment.
3. If you’d like a third entry, tweet the following and then leave a third comment saying you did so.
I’m sharing my holiday hacks for a shot at a $500 Amazon gift card from @mommyshorts & @bettycrocker! http://bit.ly/1tElJtx #getyourbettyon
Winner will be announced on December 15th. You can read the full rules here.
Good luck!
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This post was sponsored by Betty Crocker, but all thoughts and finger licking children are my own. Be sure to check out their Kid’s Cookie Corner for some really fun baking ideas easy enough for your kiddos.
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I tweeted!
My holiday hack is using frosted mini wheat cereal for a “snowy” roof on our gingerbread cottage.
Is online shopping considered a hack? After working in retail for 5 Black Fridays/holiday seasons when I was in college, I can’t stand going out in the chaos. I prefer my pajamas and the comfort of my couch!
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I also posted of Facebook but my hack is all of Santa’s presents come unwrapped, fully assembled and ready for play on Christmas. That way we all sit back and enjoy watching the kids have fun on Christmas morning instead of trying to take a bunch of things out of packages and look for batteries.
I tweeted also, @adgemc
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My holiday hack is one of the (few) benefits of having a child’s birthday close to Christmas. It’s the 19th and it’s just inevitable that there will be duplicate gifts, because everyone thinks the same toy or sweater is THE cutest and that he NEEDS it. So I just take the duplicate(s) and gift receipt to the store, and exchange for a new item to wrap up for Christmas! Ta-da! Everyone has supplied wonderful birthday and Christmas gifts while being so easy on mommy’s wallet:)
I start Christmas shopping in January so I’m not overwhelmed right before Christmas and it spreads out the cost. I am a loyal FB fan and subscriber.
My holiday hack is that I save every gift bag and repurpose. That is at least $50 worth of wrapping supplies each Christmas. I also buy wrapping paper the day after Xmas for pennies.
I also like to use box mixes for cakes and cookies but my “hack” is to use store bought items for their decorations too. Like using chocolate covered pretzels for reindeer antlers or M&Ms for faces/buttons! 🙂
My holiday hack is to never host! I have sister’s who compete for the “honor,” but I am happy to show up with a bottle of wine and an appetizer, and head back to my quiet house when its done!
My favorite hack is to bake ahead of time and freeze. Cookies, appetizers, sides, they taste the same once they thaw out.
Also subscribed!
My hack during the holidays is spliting Christmas eve and Christmas day between my in laws and my family. That way my daughter doesn’t miss any time with grandparents, aunts and uncles!
Also, we wrap presents that Santa brought with a specific wrapping paper so we don’t say “we got her that” haha We had a few “oh, what am I saying!” moments!
I subscribed to the weekly email and shared it on Twitter @carolinalittle!
Carolina
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“This. Is. Turquoise.” Great job, Mazzy! You should get your own cooking show!
My holiday hack is ordering my holiday cards all year long when I get “10 free cards!” email offers from online stationery companies. Then when it comes time for Christmas, I have an assortment of photo cards with pictures of my daughter throughout the year, for only the cost of shipping.
I left a comment on facebook already but wanted to say that I am already a subscriber!
Mazzy is a pro at baking tutorials!
Santa gets Oreos, not cutesy homemade cookies, but store bought Oreos. Ain’t no body got time for that!
I tweeted!
I tweeted!
My favorite holiday hack is that I don’t cook on Christmas. I make cinnamon rolls ahead of time and freeze them. And instead of a big Christmas dinner, our tradition is to do soup and sandwiches, so I make a big batch of clam chowder ahead of time and freeze it so on Christmas I just have to reheat everything.
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My holiday baking hack is to measure out all the dry ingredients for all the recipes I want to make in advance. I get out all the dry ingredients once, measure everything and store them in individual tupperwares and then when I actually want to bake the product, I use the appropriate tupperware, add the wet ingredients and voila! Saves a lot of time and the hassle of getting out the flour and sugar every time I want to bake.
My holiday hack is to stay out late visiting family on Christmas Eve and the kids are guaranteed to sleep in on Christmas morning!
I’m very busy at work during the month of December. In order to make it easy on myself I started giving teachers and other special people who need a holiday gift home canned jellies (usually purchased from a local shop, but this year I made them myself in August!) and our annual Thanksgiving, rather than Christmas card the day before Thanksgiving. They get an early gift that they can use throughout the month, or with family that weekend and I don’t have to freak out about gift giving at the last minute.
My daughter’s birthday is just after Christmas, at the beginning of January. I always save a few of the smaller presents we get sent by relatives (the ones that are dual birthday/Christmas gifts) for Christmas for her birthday so her day still feels extra special even though it is right after the holidays.
This is actually my mom’s holiday hack, rather than mine, but she gives each kid 7 gifts on Christmas – 3 things from our list, 1 thing to read, 1 thing to play, 1 box of clothes and 1 gag/thoughtful/silly gift. As we’ve gotten older, my brother and I really love knowing the pattern, so we know generally what to expect, but it also makes the guessing game (what book? which clothes?) a little more fun. And her shopping life is easier because there are such clear rules, and she can sale shop ahead of time. I’m a facebook fan and email subscriber!
I love to bake during the holidays and will give away many, many cookies to friends, family, and co-workers. I would go out and buy cookie tins and boxes each year, but seriously found myself spending way more money on them than I would like. So a few years back I started packing cookies into plan brown paper lunch bags, Line with some tissue paper, decorate with a little ribbon and if you are feeling really fancy attach a cheapo ornament or a couple jingle bells. Ta Da! It looks festive and kind of country chic. Its really all about the cookies anyway.
We travel to my in laws for the holidays- and my hack is to fly separately from my husband!! I come a day earlier than him, so my in laws are eternally grateful. Husband misses me, and the reunion is always fabulous. Plus, single mom on a plane with 2 kids yields sympathy when the kids cry, instead of wondering why we never thought of birth control.
My holiday hack is having my mom wrap all of my Christmas presents for me this year. My husband threw out his back last week and my mom swooped in to help me with multiple things. She started snatching up gifts and offering to take them home and wrap them for me. My husband is better and able to help out around the house again….but I’m still giving her stuff to wrap. Whatever…she’s retired. She loves it. Honest….
Ps: I’m a weekly newsletter subscriber
My favorite holiday hack would be buying the prelit trees..that way there are ZERO arguments from my kids what color the lights will be…it’s done. Over with. Now argue and fight about the ornament placements please!
I am already a subscriber- so here goes my second hack.
We also do Hanukkah, so it can be hard to not get jealous of trees and Santa. So, we have a doughnut tradition that requires you to eat as many doughnuts as candles on the menorah. 1st night is only one doughnut, but 7th night is seven…..
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FACEBOOK FOLLOWER! woot woot!
Since I have a newborn this Christmas, I am making a giant batch of sugar cookie dough and freezing it. Then when my 2 year old needs an activity, we can pull out a little bit of the dough at a time to roll out, cut out, bake, and decorate.
I host everything. First hire the cleaning lady, then ask everyone to provide a dish, no travel for me or the baby! And in Michigan travel is the tough part.
I subscribed.
Happy Holidays Ilana! My favorite holiday hack is to re-gift presents that I receive from my students to anybody that needs a last minute gift!
Oh and I am a longtime subscriber!
I am also a subscriber! And I tweeted
subscribed!
I make a ton of cookies dough balls, put them in the freezer and just pop them in the oven when we have unexpected guests. So much easier than figuring out what real food to feed them.
I’m subscribed to your email!
I’m a FB and email subscriber.
My holiday hack is letting my boys decorate the tree (who doesn’t love all the ornaments on one branch) and the cookies (entire contents of sprinkle jar on one cookie-perfect)!! That way when it doesn’t look like a picture in a magazine I can just say, “the boys did it.” Makes them very proud too!
My favorite holiday hack is giving Christmas tree ornaments as presents.
I give my nieces and nephews Christmas tree ornaments instead of toys. They all have toys and games galore and don’t need anymore. The ornaments are something they get excited about and are special because they’ll keep them for years to come instead of outgrowing a new doll or video game. Also, when they grow up and move out, their ornaments will be the starters for their own tree. One of my aunts did this for me and my siblings growing up, so in our family it’s passing down a tradition as well.
I subscribed! 🙂
Here’s the best trick ever.
When I got married, We came to the agreement that he would cook and I would manage laundry.
Now, when the holidays arrive and we are hosting dinner or taking a dish to the family – the husband makes it! SO EASY!
Hmmm. Whisky Advent Calendar! Probably not what you meant by Holiday hack, but… cheers.
And I tweeted! 🙂
My holiday hack is champagne. And staying off Pinterest as much as possible. Too many years of stress and woe – I’m never going to get it right even with hacks. So I just try to roll with it and enjoy. Champagne makes everything 100x more festive (and bearable) so I keep some on hand for “emergencies”!
I subscribe to your mailing list btw 🙂
subscribed to the daily. my bloglovin’ phone app doesn’t pull up the new posts correctly. so hopefully I won’t miss anything now.
Subscribed! 🙂
I don’t know if this is a hack or not. But hopefully is useful and can be used for Hannukah too (if kids buy adults gifts as part of the tradition)? Anyway, I wanted my kids to really appreciate the giving side of Christmas. So as soon as they were old enough to participate (so say, starting between age 2-3) I would take them to the Dollarstore to pick gifts for my husband, their sibling (when there was one, lol) and teacher. My husband would take them to get gifts for me. Because it is a Dollarstore, so tons of variety but low cost, we would never say “No” to their choices – the only rule was they had to really think about what they were choosing. That way they feel involved and excited, and not discouraged at being told to choose a gift but being told repeatedly no (as would happen if we tried the same thing at a mall or box-store). The best part was we would record their reason for the gifts, then write that on the card. This resulted in some gems that ranged from hilarious such as a vase “for Mommy to drink wine from” (??!!!???) to the sweetest compliment I ever received in my life, a mirror “for Mommy to see how beautiful she is” (dammit! Still tear up just writing that as was so genuine and fyi – Supermodel, I am not). My oldest is now too old for this tradition and my youngest only has a year or two left – I am SO going to miss this phase when it ends!! Hands down my best parenting decision to implement and absolute favourite part of Christmas, period.
I save up little presents all year long in a box and then wrap them as stocking stuffers when the big day comes. Done!
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My favorite holiday hack is buying all of my baked goods from a church bake sale. Put them on a pretty plate and voila! Instant Christmas cookie praise, no baking required!
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Email subscriber! (Forgot to put it in my first comment!)
Refresh your old Christmas bulbs by covering them in fabric–this year, I’m using some of my son’s old baby clothes. It’s a fun and easy craft that uses things you already have around the house–scraps of fabric (old clothes with holes in them should not be thrown away! Pajamas work especially well here), glass bulb ornaments, glue, and maybe a little ribbon.
Tweeted! (lindsaytbaugh)
I hacked the birthday candle idea (yuck to blowing on the cake) by instituting a birthday bell tradition. After the song, my son rings his bell as many times as his new age. It’s cute and doesn’t involve breathing all over the cake during flu season!
I use brown paper bags as wrapping paper and use cute white stencils for the exterior. Nearly free and looks like a winter wonderland.
Holiday hack: We don’t do presents for everynight of hanukkah. One night is presents, one night is just for playing dreidel, one night for doing a mitzvah (like making sandwiches for the homeless), one night for latkes, etc.
I’m a FB fan, and I subscribe to your daily email. If I had a twitter account I would tweeet, but twitter confuses me!
I love this. I might take your Hanukkah hack!
hack: After I get the lights strung on, I let my son decorate the tree. He loves it and I can get back to .. making dinner…the ornaments end up mostly in one spot, but it’s fun for him.
one anti- hack: usually the kids’ grandparents ask us for gift ideas and they usually have the same gift budget (Very generous). I’ve given them some ideas and there’s usually about 4 things that they send… purchased… through Amazon. They show up at my office (more secure of a delivery/ won’t get inspected by the children), UNWRAPPED. I forgot about the wrapping part!! toys are unwieldy things to wrap.
here’s the hack part: Pick one thing that fits the budget- and only have to wrap one thing. Or remind the grandparents to select ‘gift wrap’ when ordering on Amazon! ha ha.
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Holiday hacks:
Thanksgiving – get a complete, to-go Thanksgiving meal from Cracker Barrel.
Christmas – go eat at a Chinese restaurant.
Shopping? Hell no. I’d rather poke my eyes out with a sharp stick. All online so there’s less chance of me going to jail. 🙂
My favorite holiday hack is using brown kraft paper for all wrapping. Just change the bow on top or draw a little on the paper to suit the occasion. With my daughter having a birthday in January, we definitely keep some presents to hand out later in the year!
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My holiday hack is baking with my mom and sister. We each make large batches of different types of cookies and then split the goods so we each end up with a larger variety of cookies since it’s easier to make a triple batch of two types of cookies versus a single batch of six types of cookies.
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I do most of my shopping online. This way I don’t have to deal with the crowds and the time it takes to go to the store and purchase something. Bonus: A lot of our family lives across the state so I just have it shipped to their house which saves a trip to the post office!
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I have a few holiday hacks!
I do bulk gifts for family and friends.. IE, big batches of homemade hot chocolate mix for the office folks, big batches of cookies for family that can be made early and frozen. Home-made but easy!
I’m not as proud of this one, but I work at an office and we get SMOTHERED with holiday gift boxes… nice chocolates and other candies expecially… more than we could ever eat! I’ll set a couple of these gifts aside and keep them on hand in case that random family member shows up – that way EVERYONE gets a gift even if i didn’t expect them!
Oh, and I buy EVERYTHING POSSIBLE on Amazon… I love prime!
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I’d have to go with online shopping for my holiday hack. Just took my 3 yr old into a toy store to buy a gift for his baby brother and had to carry him out kicking and screaming. No more of that!
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Starting in August, when I see toys or clothes on sale I know my kids are going to like I buy them and hide it. I have my mom keep the kids for the weekend after Thanksgiving. I finish my shopping for the kids on Black Friday, wrap everything on Saturday then have a date night before picking up the kids Sunday. Presents for the kids are completely done then I make them help me pick out everyone else’s. I also wrap grandparents presents in brown paper and let the kids decorate with stickers and markers. Keeps them entertained while I wrap.
I use betty crocker sugar cookie mix and complements on them all the time. My little secret 🙂
Holiday hack i got from Real Simple… instead of making a real lasagna, layer frozen ravioli, then sauce, then shredded cheese, another layer of frozen ravioli, sauce cheese, bake. So easy.
My holiday hack has worked wonders for years. My family is Jewish and even though we are always together for the holidays, we don’t do Hanukkah gifts. We spend Christmas Eve together and eat Chinese food for dinner and go to the movies on Christmas day. BUT come February, we have Family Festivus. Yep! We wait until after the holidays when sales set in and THEN shop! We keep it fairly small but something about buying a great gift at a super good deal seems more exciting than the holiday stress and rush. It is fun and full of nonsense. But this year we will at least do gifts for our 2 1/2 year old during Hanukkah and celebrate Festivus in Feb with the rest of the fam!
Oh my god she is the cutest ever!! I love her little voice!
My holiday hack iis setting aside a few of my Christmas cards for when we get a holiday card from someone who wasn’t on my mailing list! Oops! Then I can quickly send them a card and they never knew they were (almost) forgotten!
I am a facebook fan, Instagram follower, and email subscriber!
I’m a subscriber (but I’ll spare you the dorky changed lyrics to the tune of “I’m a Survivor” from Destiny’s Child…you’re welcome)!!!
Before I had kids I made entirely too many goodies from scratch, which my husband just reminded me of last week. I share Mazzy’s love of baking….but just can’t quite bake the way I want to since my kids want to “help.” You just can’t make chocolate babka with tiny hands in the mix.
So, maybe my baking hack will be putting my husband in charge of the kids ALL DAY and rewarding them with some tasty goodies.
My favourite holiday hack is for Santa to hide the stockings and presents under a big sheet so that when the kids wake up they can’t cheat n look at their gifts from Santa! My family did this when I was a child n now we passed it on!
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And, I really love that Mazzy told Harlow she could have the smallest cookie. Ahhhh, siblings.
I make a mean cookie from store bought puff pastry. Flatten it out, throw some cinnamon sugar inside (or jam or nutella, whatever you have on hand really), roll up 1 side toward the middle, roll up the other side toward the middle, cut into 1/2″ slices with a filet knife, plop on a cookie sheet & bake. They’re flaky and impressive (and low effort).
I also like recreating the old Rice Krispies commercial where the little girl makes them, throws some flour on her forehead & proclaims to her family that she’s slaved in the kitchen & they’re going out for dinner. Holiday bonus: adding Christmas sprinkles to them before they’re totally cool.
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Ginger ale makes for a perfect, flaky, and nearly indestructible pie crust! 2 cups of flour, 1 cup butter, and 1/2 cup of ginger ale. Add ginger ale slowly into your flour/butter mixture until it is a nice consistency and knead as required. Roll out like a normal pie crust! This is a best kept secret during the pie-filled holidays!!
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I’ve tweeted for a third entry!
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I make as much food ahead of time as possible. Anything that can be prepped and frozen either raw or already cooked gets stashed away between Thanksgiving and mid-December.
Gifts from Santa are never wrapped, just put under the tree. Gifts from Mommy & Daddy are wrapped so we know the difference. Saves tons of time!!
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My hack is to make things ahead of time!! I prep my cookie dough, my apple pies, my pie crust, EVERYTHING ahead of time. That way I have one less thing to freak out about!!
http://its-fitting.com/2013/11/how-prep-for-holidays-recipes-gifts-decor-tips/