Decorate an Outdoor Edible Tree for the Animals
As an alternative (or in addition to) a traditional indoor holiday tree, decorating a live outdoor tree with biodegradable, edible ornaments for local birds and other creatures makes for a fun project with kids. We love all these edible ornament ideas from around the web, such as citrus bird feeders, peanut butter pinecones, seed ornaments, and classic popcorn and cranberry garlands. Trim the tree and watch the critters come by and enjoy their treats!

Make Happy Winter Solstice Art + Lanterns
Our favorite winter solstice art project is making lanterns—one of the most popular winter solstice symbols of adding light to the darkest day of the year. There are dozens of DIY-lantern projects out there, and it’s really about finding one that works with what you already have at home. We tend to have an abundance of glass Mason jars, so we use colored tissue paper, cut-out sun, moon, and star shapes, and foraged leaves, and adhere them to the outside of a jar using modpodge or white school glue and paint brushes. Once the final decorations are in place, apply one last thin coat of glue on the outside of the lantern, and let it dry for about an hour. Remember to only decorate the outside of the jar, as once it’s all dry you drop a tea light into it and enjoy the warm glow!

Read Winter Solstice Books
What better time to snuggle up under a blanket and read through a stack of wintery-themed books than the shortest (and likely one of the chilliest) days of the year? The winter solstice book The Shortest Day, written by Newbury Medal–winner Susan Cooper and illustrated by one of our favorite mamas, Carson Ellis, is at the top of our family reading list these days. It moves through times to show how the winter solstice traditions and celebrations have carried on and evolved over centuries—from the earliest pagan traditions. It includes the most beautiful winter solstice images and pictures that you’ll want to pour over again and again.

Recite Winter Solstice Quotes, Poems, or Blessings
The book The Shortest Day utilizes the beautiful 1977 winter solstice poem by Susan Cooper of the same name. Take turns reciting different parts of this beloved winter solstice quote or another winter solstice blessing and spiritual winter solstice quotes found online—including the winter solstice poem Mary Oliver wrote, Snowy Night, and pagan winter solstice quotes—with your children. Our favorite is listed below:

The Shortest Day, by Susan Cooper
And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us—listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome, Yule!

Incorporate Celtic and Pagan Symbols Of Yule Time
Do some research with your little ones on specific pagan yule time and celtic winter solstice traditions. This might include incorporating a pagan winter solstice symbol—like Candles (Winter Sun), Pine (Healing), Holly (The God), Mistletoe (The Goddess) and the Yule Tree (Renewal)—into your home.

Make A Winter Solstice Food or Craft, Such As Orange Pomanders
This is a simple winter solstice food craft that’s easy to do with kids and one that you will actually want to keep around the house afterwards. Start with firm oranges and a jar of whole cloves. Use a citrus zester to create patterns in the fruit peel and a small toothpick or skinny nail to make holes where you want the cloves to go (the pre-poked holes make it easier for kids to stick in the cloves). Stick the cloves in the fruit and you’re all set. Place a few in a bowl as a fragrant solstice centerpiece, or hang smaller fruit as ornaments on the tree. They also make sweet winter solstice gifts!

Spend The Night By Spiritual Candlelight
Switching off all the electric lights and doing dinner, homework, bath, story time, and more by the light of flickering candles and warm lantern light makes even mundane activities extra special and spiritual, and also makes the long, dark night more real. It also helps everyone appreciate the modern conveniences we take for granted!

Strike Some Winter Solstice Yoga Moves
Welcome the shortest day of the year with a graceful winter solstice yoga sequence. Here is one great 12-step yoga winter solstice practice to get started.

Experience Winter Solstice At Stonehenge (Virtually)
Stonehenge was specifically created to align with the sun on the winter solstice and summer solstice. On the morning of December 22 (not December 21), the 2022 winter solstice sunrise at Stonehenge  will be live-streamed via Stonehenge Winter Solstice on YouTube.

Make Some Wassail
This traditional warming drink is perfect for sipping during a  solstice celebration (and it makes the house smell incredible). For this traditional winter solstice drink, simply combine 2 quarts apple cider, 1 1/2 cups orange juice, 3/4 cup pineapple juice, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, 2 cinnamon sticks, a dash of ground cinnamon, and a dash of ground cloves in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Discard the cinnamon sticks, pour into mugs, and serve. And for the grown-ups, a splash of rum or cinnamon whisky doesn’t hurt. Combine with other winter solstice food for an over-the-top spread. (For an easy hack, just heat up some pre-mixed Trader Joe’s Wassail!)

Share Funny Winter Solstice Greetings Or Meme
Search the web for winter solstice jokes, winter solstice greetings, and winter solstice funny memes to share with loved ones. (Here’s one to get them started: Knock, knock! // Who’s there? // Yule log. // Yule log who? // Yule log the door after you let me in, won’t you?)

Reflect, Release, Let Go, and Set Intentions For The New Season
The winter solstice is considered the seasonal dark night of the soul. Spiritually, it’s a time to honor both the light and the darkness that resides within each of us. Take small scraps of paper and write down the things that you would like to let go of. When everyone has finished, throw them in the yule log fire, transforming darkness into light. After “letting go,” set intentions for the new season ahead—speak aloud a thing, idea, habit, or practice that you would like to bring into your life.

Happy Winter Solstice!

For more winter family activity ideas, read all about the Danish concept of Hygge, otherwise known as cozy together time!

The post How To Celebrate The Winter Solstice appeared first on MOTHER.

Take a look at The Most Popular Halloween Costumes of 2023 below!

Top 10 Halloween Costumes For Kids in 2023:
1. Spiderman
2. Princess
3. Ghost
4. Superhero
5. Witch
6. Batman
7. Barbie
8. Zombie
9. Mario
10. Wednesday Addams

Top 10 Halloween Costumes For Adults in 2023:
1. Witch
2. Vampire
3. Barbie
4. Batman
5. Cat
6. Zombie
7.  Pirate
8. Princess
9. Ghost
10. Spiderman

Top 10 Halloween Costumes For Pets in 2023:
1. Pumpkin
2. Hot Dog
3. Bat
4. Bumble Bee
5. Spider
6. Devil
7. Cat
8. Lion
9. Ghost
10. Witch

Still need some Halloween costume ideas of your own? Check out these 75+ awesome costumes for kids.

The post These Are The Most Popular Halloween Costumes of 2023 appeared first on MOTHER.

Reports are saying Rihanna had her baby and it’s a girl. (MediaTakeOut)

Easy access to the abortion pill is now in question—and it’s heading to the Supreme Court. (Axios)

Ashley Olsen is a mom to a son named Otto. (TMZ)

Riley Keough revealed her baby daughter’s name: Tupelo Storm. (Los Angeles Times)

Mothers helping mothers—it never gets old. (NPR)

An absolutely devastating account of surviving the Maui fire. (The Daily)

Ways to help Maui right now. (Google Doc via Kenna Reed)

After just 30 days of e-cigarette use, teens face significant respiratory symptoms. (CNBC)

In case you missed it—Ciara is expecting her 4th! (Instagram)

50+ back-to-school fashion styles we love…and backpacks! (MOTHER)

How to (actually) talk to kids. (Vox)

Sonnet James is having a 40% off sale of mom-friendly wares. (Sonnet James)

Reformation’s having a 30% off sale. (Reformation)

How’s your August horoscope shaping up? (MOTHER)

The post West Elm Kids x National Geographic, & More Motherlode News! appeared first on MOTHER.

How you can help the many families of Lahaina, Hawaii, devastated by wildfires. (Google Doc via Kenna Reed)

The FDA approved the first pill to treat postpartum depression. (USFDA)

How parents’ mental health suffers right alongside their children’s. (CBS, Time)

The founder of “house dress” brand Duster on her current must-haves. (MOTHER)

Shop it: Gabby’s Dollhouse x LEGO! (Amazon)

Mini Rodini x Wrangler is live. (Mini Rodini)

Giada De Laurentiis has a new line of pasta and it is delicious. (Giadzy Pasta)

The cutest and coolest lunchboxes for kids. (MOTHER)

School cafeterias are trying to become more appealing to students. (NPR)

Meet the Guinness World Record holder for breastmilk production and donation. (USA Today)

Score 20% off nursing and postpartum basics by Ingrid & Isabel. (Ingrid & Isabel)

Tea Collection is having a big Back To School sale. (Tea Collection)

Hanna Andersson has a new line of gift-able layette pieces for newborns. (Hanna Andersson)

Da Brat debuted her son, True Legend, publically. (Instagram)

More kids are being exposed to toxic e-cigarette nicotine. (New York Times)

The post Rihanna’s Maternity Bra Collection, Supporting Hawaii, & More appeared first on MOTHER.

Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was killed at Robb Elementary, is running for mayor of Uvalde, Texas. (ABC, Instagram)

A deep dive on 20 years of U.S. women’s earnings shows the “motherhood penalty” is even worse than we thought. (Fortune, Knowledia, Pnas)

Best-selling authors/illustrators Andy J. Pizza and Sophie Miller invite us over to their studio. (MOTHER)

Tiffany Haddish reveals she’s had 8 miscarriages, thanks to a bicornuate uterus. (Today)

The 3-part Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument was officially established as a National Park on the 82nd anniversary of Till’s birth. (NPS, C-SPAN)

Juggling motherhood and the World Cup. (Yahoo!, Japan Times)

Naomi Osaka revealed she was working out 15 days after birth. Some postpartum advocates are speaking out. (Postpartum Justice)

Check out Joanna Gaines’ new wooden toy line for Target. (Target)

Hatch launched the Rest Go sound machine for napping on-the-go. (Hatch)

Young adults in China are becoming “full time children” (to their parents) after facing burnout and unemployment. (BBC)

Caroline Wozniacki on her return to tennis after welcoming two children. (Vogue)

Less than half of American teens are driving. (The Hill)

Meet the Bay Area mother launching an Asian doll for kids named Jilly Bing. (NBC, Jilly Bing)

Ways in which Barbie overlaps with postpartum struggles. (Today)

New research on the “millennial mom” experience—and especially Black millennial moms. (The Grio)

Critics of weighted infant sleepwear sound off. (NPR)

How a group of middle school girls are serving Baltimore’s food deserts. (Baltimore Banner)

The Kids Online Safety Act will be heading to the Senate next. (CT Mirror)

Why myopia is becoming increasingly common among kids and adults. (NPR)

July is almost over! How did your horoscope hold up? (MOTHER)

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The Florida Board of Education’s new standards for how Black history should be taught in public schools includes teaching middle school students “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” (CNN)

In the second year of the pandemic (2021), 20% of U.S. high school students seriously considered suicide, and 9% attempted suicide. This devastaing mental health crisis includes a 22% increase from 2020 to 2021 of ER visits for teen girls. (Forbes)

Barbie producer Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach quietly welcomed a second baby earlier this year. (Elle UK)

Robyn revealed she’s a mother to a baby named Tyko. (Instagram)

Our favorite sweatershirts for kids (and more!) are on sale. (Les Gamins)

The softest, sweetest bamboo sleep sacks in a rainbow of hues. (Kyte Baby)

The creative director of Herman Miller on her design mom must-haves. (MOTHER)

When strangers encourage helicopter parenting. (The Atlantic)

Artist mama Laxmi Hussain has a beautiful motherhood-inspired art collection with DWR. (Design Within Reach)

Surprise! Contance Wu is now a mom of two. (People)

Musician mama Shana Cleveland invites us over and talks about surviving breast cancer and more. (MOTHER)

Watch it: the beautiful new movie, Earth Mama. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Dealing with intense summer heat…at summer camp. (The New York Times)

The evolution of American parenting, in comic strip form. (The Atlantic)

It’s here! Puma x PAW Patrol. (Foot Locker)

Karlie Kloss debuted her second son, Elijah Jude. (Instagram)

In case you missed it: Naomi Campbell welcomed her second child, a baby boy, at 53. (Vogue)

Friday Baby’s got a new product: the Booty Brush. (Walmart)

The post The Motherlode: Birth Control Goes Over-The-Counter, & More! appeared first on MOTHER.

Da Brat also became a brand-new mom to a baby boy…at 49! (Instagram)

Cedars-Sinai is facing a federal rights investigation over its treatment of Black mothers. This comes after years of tireless work from Charles Johnson, whose wife Kira Johnson died during a routine C-section at the Los Angeles hospital. (Kira4Kira)

A great listen about the neurology of motherhood and the history of the racist “welfare queen” stereotype. (NPR)

Tea Collection’s latest sartorial inspiration destination? France! (Tea Collection)

Tour a colorful, 100-square-foot dream tween bedroom…designed with yours truly! (MOTHER)

Jon Klassen on his latest children’s book, The Skull, which is darker than previous titles. (Amazon, NPR)

Currently caught in a public mom-shaming situation, Keke Palmer launched an IM A MOTHA t-shirt and stuns as a cover girl for New York Magazine. (The Cut)

After a decade of “sharenting” on social media—here’s what the kids have to say. (NPR)

Mounting state laws are increasingly forcing families with trans kids to seek gender-affirming care across state lines. (PBS, NBC)

It’s not just teens dealing with depression and anxiety—parents are care-givers are also suffering. (Washington Post)

How to help teens recover from the lasting aftershocks of the pandemic. (Greater Good)

Parenting during a climate crisis—an interview with the author of Parenting on Earth: A Philosopher’s Guide to Doing Right by Your Kids—and Everyone Else. (Vox)

The harrowing story of teen migrants risking it all to reach Europe. (BBC)

A wife and husband’s abortion story. (Elle)

Mom-to-be Lindsay Lohan designed a nursery line with Nestig. (Nestig)

Mini Rodini is having a 50% off sale on hundreds of playful clothing pieces. (Mini Rodini)

Ingrid & Isabel has a new line of “cooling” postpartum essentials. (Ingrid & Isabel)

Meet the 2023 Gerber baby. (Today)

Bye-bye, I Love NY tshirts and welcome Mommy’s Little Meatball and Daddy’s Little Meatball editions. (New York Times)

The post The Motherlode: Inside Naomi Osaka’s Nursery & More! appeared first on MOTHER.

Puma x Cocomelon has also arrived! (Puma)

More states are passing laws to restrict or ban gender-affirming care for trans kids. (NPR)

Jodie Turner-Smith on motherhood: “There’s so much guilt and pressure on women and mothers to just act as though you haven’t just gone through this deeply transformational process, this life-changing, earth-shattering, body and perception-shifting transformation. The pandemic smacked me in the face and forced me to slow down, and I’m so glad it did.” (People)

Brooke Shields’ new Hulu documentary, Pretty Baby, takes on the sexualization of young girls. (NPR)

The ACLU and Planned Parenthood sued the Idaho attorney general over an out-of-state abortion referral ban. (The Hill)

The Catch-22 for working parents in America. (The Atlantic)

An instant mood-lifter: this supremely adorable and wise toddler talking about emotions. (Global News)

An absolutely horrific case of a state-sanctioned medical kidnapping of a Black baby in Texas. (Jezebel, Afiya Center)

Questioning Holocaust education in a time of rising anti-semitism. (The Atlantic)

Thousands of Nashville students walked out to protest the inaction of lawmakers and gun makers against gun violence. (Everytown)

Harry Potter might be coming to HBO as a TV series. (NME)

Evite launched a “parenthood journey” category that includes cards celebrating IVF, adoption, and more. (Evite, Yahoo!)

How to show up for teens when big emotions arise. (NPR)

New novel The Nursery takes on the ambivalence of new motherhood. (The Atlantic)

Examining the joy and anxiety of parenthood as a Black father. (NPR)

The rise of pandemic-era multi-generational family trips—and how to do it right. (The New York Times)

The number of babies born with syphilis in Canada is rising at a faster rate than in the U.S. or Europe. (CBA)

U.S. teens aren’t as into virtual reality as you might think. (CNBC)

The post The Motherlode: Our Top Weekly Links appeared first on MOTHER.

Research shows dad jokes empower kids to become better adults. (ABC)

The power of “good enough” parenting. (Psychology Today)

The horrific story of 5 Black children (ages 7, 5, 3, 2 and 4 months old) being taken from their family. And the larger history of family separation in America. (Tennessee Lookout, Youth Today, Tennessee Lookout)

Why many flight attendants want to ban “lap babies.” (ABC)

Naomi Osaka’s winning maternity style takes Japan. (Instagram)

Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn named their second daughter Jupiter. Their first daughter is named Lyra Antarctica. (E!)

What’s behind the rise in gender-neutral baby names. (The Atlantic)

Got a culinary kid? Try out these chocolate eggs you can decorate with chocolate ink pens! (Delysia)

The story behind “the rise” in autism rates. (Science)

Poor children and adolescents across the U.S. are participating far less in sports and fitness activities than their more affluent peers. (The New York Times)

Why less and less kids are reading for fun. (The Atlantic)

Some of the best films about motherhood to stream now. (The Guardian)

An argument for exploring AI chatbots as a family. (The New York Times)

A new study on the benefits of giving peanut butter to babies. (BBC)

How to talk to your teen about cannabis. (The New York Times)

The post The Rules Of “Good Enough” Parenting appeared first on MOTHER.

A group of seven STEM professionals also got their own Barbie dolls for Women’s History Month. (Mashable)

The official The Little Mermaid trailer—starring Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy—is here. (YouTube)

The mortality rate for U.S. children and teens “surged” in 2020 and 2021, driven not by COVID deaths but from “man-made pathogens” like firearms, drugs, and cars. (CNN)

While the SIDS/SUID rate for white babies dropped to the lowest it has been since 2017, the rate for Black babies in 2020 was the highest it has been since 2017. (CNN)

How the “rich auntie” movement is empowering Black women who don’t want to have kids. (Essence, @RichAuntieSupreme)

Meet the Nebraska lawmaker trying her hardest to protect the rights of trans kids in her state. (CBS)

How the perception of motherhood in athletics has evolved. (World Athletics)

The enduring wage gap beyond the motherhood penalty. (CNBC)

Kids Foot Locker and Bluey teamed up for two styles of character-embellished sneakers. (Kids Foot Locker)

Lucy Liu on becoming a mother in her late 40s, raising a child in New York, and more. (The Cut)

Lindsay Lohan is pregnant. (Instagram)

An argument for not separating kids in special ed from their peers. (The Atlantic)

Some fathers don’t want to give up the family time they gained during the pandemic. (The New York Times)

Grace Gummer and Mark Ronson welcomed their first baby. (Page Six)

Keisha Knight Pulliam is having a boy. (Instagram)

Only a fraction of the kids who need tutoring help are getting it. (AP)

How babies born via C-Section make up for lost microbes. (Time)

The art of motherhood, two generations deep. (The Sunday Post)

The remarkable tale of the world’s most premature twins, born 4 months early. (CNN)

The story of a family who tried to “end racism” through adoption, attempting to gather “two of every race.” (The Atlantic)

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