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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My holiday hack: my husband is Spanish, i am Mexican-american (both catholic) so we celebrate three kings January 6th where we give gifts that day instead of Christmas Day. So what I do is I buy our kids’ presents dirt cheap after Christmas when the stores are wanting to get rid of everything and make room for dieting and Valentine’s Day, I patiently wait w my stash of money to buy what everyone else paid much more money for
My holiday hack is stress. Putting as much stress on myself as possible really allows me to be flooded with enough cortisol to get everything done at the last minute and I always wait until the last minute.
But no seriously. I do wait until the last minute. But online shopping is my true holiday hack. So much less stressful than dealing with other people in STORES.
I am also a fb fan and an email subscriber!
Tweeted.
We keep some unopened bottles of wines as quick gifts!
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One holiday hack: go through old books and recycle/replace with new ones from free library boxes around town (new to my 3 year old). Around Denver and Atlanta we have several of those free library boxes in neighborhoods and they are always full of great finds. It’s free shopping while you recycle books no longer used by your family! Don’t have one near you? Create one!
For the holidays we make a giant batch of sugared cranberries, which is super simple and fast to whip up! We then wrap them up and give them out to neighbors/coworkers/anyone who we forgot gifts for. Everyone is always impressed by our beautiful, fancy, seasonal gifts-they never have to know it only takes us 30 minutes start to finish!
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we buy our tree on Christmas Eve because it’s HIS family’s tradition to put the tree up while the kids are sleeping for the “big reveal” on Christmas Morning. My hack? I got to bed early and let him do all the work. 🙂
My holiday hack is to pick a diy on pinterest and buy bulk of all the supplies to make really fun, yet inexpensive gifts!
One of my holiday hacks is shop for Christmas present throughout the year! It’s a great way to make sure you’re not shopping last minute the day before Christmas/Hanukkah.
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I’m now an official mommy shorts weekly email subscriber!
Tweeted! Hope I win!
My holiday hack this year is making mason jar presents for the family with my daughter.
Homemade relaxing bath salts and homemade bath fizzies in cute baggies tied around the jar for all the women of the family.
And for the men, a homemade 14 spice meat rub.
On the jars will be a footprint snowman of my 2yr old.
Cheap, easy, useful, and great bonding time with my little one 🙂
My favorite holiday hack: Buy or bake brownies, get a bunch of candy canes, and locate a hammer. Put all of the candy canes in a ziploc baggie and take all of your holiday anger out on them with the hammer. Sprinkle the candy cane crumbs on the brownies and enjoy! 😉
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I tweeted! https://twitter.com/cindy_saw/status/540282514435473408
I suck at the holidays in general, but I will say I expedite wrapping by cutting a bunch of pieces of tape and partially sticking them to the edge of my table – that way a perfectly sized piece of tape is ready right when my hands are busy holding wrapping paper that’s 2 inches too small for my gift. I realize that they make do-dads that dispense small pieces of individual tape for this express purpose now, but if I were organized enough to have one of those when I need it I probably would’ve just bought a ton of gift bags instead.
I already subscribe to the daily email. Also, Mazzy is adorable.
My holiday hack is gifting photos. I buy a pretty frame and include a print (usually a sentimental photo) and bam! A gift with sentiment!
Already a subscriber. LOVE the video! Go Mazzy!
Im using the free frozen kosher turkey from the grocery promotion for our Chanukah party. We had chinese food on Thanksgiving.
This is the first year EVAHHH that I have shopped sales throughout the year (I have three small ninja kids). I always have the best intentions but, totally fail at the follow through. This has been the most relaxed holiday season to date and I’m really enjoying the last bit of shopping that I have left. Mom not sure if this is the hack you’re looking for but, I’m pretty stoked about it!
Oh!! I’m a subscriber.
I subscribed! Woohoo!
My holiday hack is to spend the holidays at in-laws. We pack our presents and clothes, do a relatively short car ride (1 hour). And there! Food is ready, all family is at one place and I am not cooking or cleaning! Only sometimes if I feel nice enough I can bake a cake (of course out of a box-baking, cause it’s easy!) and let the frosting part to my kids. Again no hassle no work! You gotta love the grandparents
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Third entry. Tweeted!
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My holiday hack is to make two cups of hot chocolate for yourself, so when your toddler drinks half of it you still have some left!
My holiday hack is that I keep a running list of gift ideas in a notepad app on my phone all year long (because I totally have mommy brain and would otherwise forget). If someone mentions that they need/want such-and-such during the year, I add it to the list so that once the holidays roll around I already have everyone’s list done and don’t have to come up with last-minute ideas.
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Tweeted! https://twitter.com/FunnyIsFamily/status/540323470698369024
Have I mentioned lately how cute your girls are? My kids loved watching Mazzy’s video! Also? I’m already a subscriber. 😉
My favorite holiday hack is online shopping. No one knows the difference, but instead of fighting the crowds I get my shopping done in about 1 hour, get to use discounts, and it comes RIGHT. TO. MY. DOOR. I even get them gift wrapped sometimes if I’m really feeling lazy.
With two little boys, I’m lucky I get enough time to do THAT…
I’m a fan everywhere – instagram, FB, daily emails. My favorite hack? My 1st thought is – my husband b/c he does most of the baking! But I also just wowed myself by wrapping gifts as soon as I bought them to ease the pain at the 11th hour.
My holiday hack is I take sugar ice cream cones from the store and use a star icing tip to cover it with green royal icing. Add some holiday sprinkles, turn upside down and you have a pretty Christmas tree to put on top of a cake or cupcakes. Looks really fancy, but it’s really easy!
I start shopping for Christmas the day after the previous Christmas when everything is on sale and I store all the gifts in separate totes, one for each child. Then, as stores have sales, I add to the totes. By the time December rolls around, shopping is done and they have a wardrobe for next season! I also use child-specific wrapping paper from year to year. My children always give gifts to their aunts, uncles, grandparents, godparents, etc and it’s always something they have made. This year, they are giving cookie bag treats (one specific cookie from each child to match their personality–their father’s idea)…I already have to bake for Christmas anyway…but now I’m helping the kids make low-cost individualized gifts for their loved ones.
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My holiday hack is also box cookies. Then decorate them with frosting and sprinkles, and the look homemade and taste delicious!
My holiday hack is to skip the baking altogether. I drizzle melted chocolate over mini pretzels and shake on some festive sprinkles. Throw in some bags and done. So easy. Kids love them. And I get credit for making something. Sorry, Betty!
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Favorite hack- taking my son’s old toys and regifting them to my 19 month old daughter!
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I roll out sugar cookies between wax paper to avoid the whole flour mess…then I sprinkle the whole rectangle before cutting out. Soooooo much cleaner.
I shop throughout the year. Just wrapped my nephew a sweatshirt I bought at 75% off after last Christmas.
For our large family we switched to a White Elephant style gift swap. One thousand times easier than shopping for everyone, and still easier than shopping for one specific person.
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I’m a subscriber, natch.
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I got a chuckle from your paragraph about I AM NOT A BAKER. Since it’s called a convection oven. Not sure if that was intentional or not…either way it’s ironic. 😉
Well, that was just about the cutest baking tutorial I’ve ever seen! I just have to say how much I love your site and your videos – our kids are the same age, so it’s really fun to think about doing something like this with my kiddos!
My holiday hacks this year include buying cookie tins at our local reuse store, and filling them with BULK baked treats that I’m making for – wait for it –
1) teacher gifts
2) neighbor gifts
3) AND Christmas Eve Santa snacks.
BOOM! Christmas? It’s done.
I have a 16 month old and a newbon and still getting the hang of being the parent at Christmas and not the kid (although I am 33 years old!). This year I plan on wrapping up some of my toddler’s toys and giving them to the baby because the baby won’t care and the toddler won’t even realize the toys were his! Reuse while I can 😉
I also subscribed to the email!
I tried purchasing gifts for my kids all year long when they were cheap… Like last year I bought jammies for this year b/c they were soooo cheap!
Ps I’m a subscriber;)
“It’s raining peanut butter!” That was adorable.
My holiday hack is putting leftover Halloween candy in our advent calendar. I need to get rid of that candy!
First off, I’ve got a 5-year old daughter, and she adored sprinkles, licking frosting (she’ll get a spoon to eat a spoonful of leftover frosting), and she repeats herself a bit, just like Mazzi in your video. If you ever move to Texas, our kids would be instant best friends. Anyways, my instant hack is having the kids fluff out the tree and decorate it all by themselves. I used to want it perfect, quickly got over that insane notion, and now just hand them ornaments that they put up all by themselves. My 8 year old even used a step ladder to get the top part of the tree. Easiest decorating ever. 🙂
My hack is that I use store bought dressing for the bread crumbs in my cornbread dressing. I can never get my homemade ones to come out right. As an added bonus, the store bought stuff is seasoned so it takes most of the guess work out of seasoning the whole batch.
Another thing we do that’s not really a hack is that we put up the octagon shaped playpen around the tree so no one “accidently” opens any presents. (The playpen just has walls, it has no bottom). I also don’t put out any presents that cost more than about 20 bucks, until Christmas eve, just in case.
We go a bit crazy with the lights. Our hack involves photographing the setup every year and storing lights wound on left over amazon boxes labeled with where they go and the year they were purchased (easier to know when it’s time to retire an old strand)
We like to wrap presents early. It saves Christmas eve frustration!
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My favorite holiday hack, is using some zip ties to secure Christmas lights, especially on the banister.
I subscribe to the Mommy Shorts daily email under the yahoo email: lil_lady_dz at yahoo dot com
I posted to twitter here: https://twitter.com/lil_lady_dz/status/540360339674509312
I start making cookie dough and freezing it around Halloween. Makes Christmas cookies less daunting. Also, this year, I made a humongous bath of mashed sweet potatoes, most of which went into the freezer for easier Christmas side dish making.
I’m also a FB fan and subscribe to the weekly emails 🙂
My holiday hack is Christmas cookies made from a cookie mix and decorated with lots of icing and sprinkles.
I have 2 hacks actually! 🙂 The first one is that ever year we always buy half a dozen boxes of candy, tins of cookies, or bottles of wine (or some combination), wrap them and keep them under the tree. Every year we have a Christmas Eve gathering of friend and family. Everyone is welcome. If someone shows up that we weren’t expecting and has a gift for us, we always have one on hand to give back! Inevitably we use these gifts every year! The second is that I buy about 3/4 of my daughter’s Christmas gifts second hand! I am a member of several sell and swap Facebook groups and I start looking for gently used second hand toys books and clothing around mid summer all the way through mid December usually. My daughter is only 3, so she doesn’t know the difference. Also the dollar store is a great place for stocking stuffers! I am a Facebook fan and a subscriber to both your daily and weekly emails! 🙂
Holiday hack – tell Mimi to buy the kids the stuff they want! A Frozen bike is sitting in the attic. Thanks Mom!
Already a subscriber. Cute video 🙂
My holiday hack is a no bake rice krispie treat recipe I learned from my college dorm dwelling days. Pour a bunch of ricke krispie cereal in a large microwable bowl, add a little butter and handfuls of mini marshmallows (amount of each ingredient depends on personal taste). Microwave the whole thing until marshmallows are melty gooey goodness (tip: don’t fill up the entire bowl –leave some room for the mixture to expand as it’s being microwaved). Mix well and share with family. If using stovetop: melt butter and marshmallows first over low heat, add rice krispies and mix. To turn it into a givable treat: following microwave or stove top instructions, roll the melted mixture into small lollipop size balls and dip one side in chocolate sauce. Once chocolate is set, wrap a handful of them in parchment paper and tie with colorful yarn. Voila- fast, economical and fun. I’m a FB fan and a subscriber!
My holiday hack is that I wrapped boxes a couple years ago with crazy nice wrapping paper. I taped it to the boxes and used a bunch of different sizes and paper. For years it’s been great to come home, grab a box, throw the gift in, throw it on the mantle and voila, gifts are done!
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My holidays cover more than the 25th since my family travels long distance and will stay longer than the one night. There are loads of make ahead and freeze dishes (lasagna, chili, tamales) that make the week with family more about seeing the family and less about daily feeding 13 people.
Oh…and I’m a FB fan.
subscribed, hack posted on FB!
My holiday hack is to go somewhere else for the holidays–seriously we travel. Other than that I have a present box hidden in a spare bedroom with hostess gifts and kid gifts just in case.
Loved seeing Mazzy sparkle in the video (the turquoise part cracked me up). I’m already a subscriber and a fan on facebook! 😉
My hack is to pay attention all year when people mention things they like/want or post links to hints on Facebook, or I remember a favorite toy from my childhood, and add them to a private Amazon wishlist called “brainstorming” with notes about who they’re for. Then Nov/Dec roll around, and I just click through my list and 95% of my shopping is a no-brainer, but everyone always tells me how I give the most thoughtful presents!
I make a ton of cookies at Christmas time, so I will make all the day on one day, refrigerate and bake it all another day.
My favorite holiday hack is throwing all of our stuff (toys, papers, bags, vacuum, anything) into the office and closing the door when people come over for Hanukkah and Christmas. Voila! Clean living room! I have a mini heart attack anytime someone reaches for that door thinking it’s the bathroom door. 🙂
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I tweeted! https://twitter.com/Spaceshot3000/status/540505375548923904
I start purchasing gifts for the holidays in August. I get great deals and don’t feel rushed to buy last minute gifts. I also make tamales ahead of time and freeze them so on the day of celebration all I have to do is steam them and they are done fast!
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I tweeted @AuroraBoriGarcia.
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My hack for this year was picking up small bottles of flavored/infused olive oil and vinegar, putting them in a little gauze bag and tying a small pier one ornament on a ribbon at the top. Perfect for when you need a quick gift for teachers and friends and if there are leftovers the ornaments can go on my tree and I can absolutely make use of the oils on salads or for dipping bread.
I entered on FB but also need to say here I am already a mommy shorts weekly subscriber!
I like Mommy Shorts on Facebook. My favorite holiday hack is to use crock pots to keep sides warm during holiday dinners.
I subscribe to your email.
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My holiday hack is using a vintage aluminum Christmas tree. It is beautiful and I don’t need to string any lights on the tree.
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Your right. IT is really cute. I love how she thinks that the frosting will change flavors and she has to taste each and every one to be sure it “Still tastes good”. lol Reminds me of my 6 yr old daughter.
My holiday hack is buying frozen cookies to save time then decorating them myself. Facebook fan amanda sakovitz
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My holiday hack is to start planning and making lists in July! The more items you can cross off the list before December, the less stressful the holidays will be.
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Tweeted: https://twitter.com/lisanne624/status/540581236566425601