Do you travel overnight with your kids? Then you need one of these beds. Aero inflatable beds are comfortable and great for adults, and the extra features in this child travel bed make it a travel essential.

Sloped sides mean no one rolls out in the night in an unfamiliar hotel room. Cozy fleece cover encourages deeper sleeping. The included air pump blows the bed up in less than a minute. Flip open the valve and it deflates in seconds and easily rolls up into the included travel storage bag. We’ve had two of these beds for a couple of years and would never travel overnight with our kids without them. In fact, just yesterday I ordered one for our youngest child, so now all three boys have one!

Where to buy

Regularly $100, Amazon carries them for $69.99 with free shipping. I remember they sold out last year at around this time — check your calendar and see how many days are left between now and when you leave on your next trip!

I was at Target last month (and every other month before that) to pick up my favorite and surprisingly inexpensive shampoo, John Frieda Sheer Blonde (comes in other hair colors too). It smells good without being overpowering, it makes my hair look great, and I can find it everywhere for about $7. But this time I noticed something new sitting next to it on the shelf, and on impulse I bought it. This turned out to be a fantastic decision!

John Frieda Luminous Color Glaze is this amazing product you let sit on your hair for a few minutes after you shampoo and condition. It incorporates a salon-style “glazing” treatment for shine and body, plus it adds a teensy bit of temporary color in a shade similar to your natural (or not :) color to give it some oomph.

This stuff rocks

After one use my hair was shinier and significantly smoother, and after about a week I decided I would never be without this product again. It is simple to use — just smoosh it through your hair and leave it there for a couple minutes– has no strong fragrance, and is affordable like the rest of the John Frieda products.

Where to buy

The best prices are online, and at Drugstore.com you can even get it shipped free if you get a couple of items to bring your total up to at least $49. (Secret fact about me: I love free shipping!!)

And right now Drugstore.com is having a great deal on shipping for new customers. If you’ve never used them before, the minimum for Free Shipping is just $25, so you have no excuse not to try them now :)

BabyGanics aims to rid your home of toxic chemicals while helping you get everything spotless and sparkling clean.

All BabyGanics Healthy Home products are superior in performance to conventional cleaners, safe for children, pets and the environment, non-toxic/free of harsh chemicals, and contain all natural/organic ingredients. All BabyGanics Healthy Home products are free from fillers and dyes, pollutants, caustic ingredients, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

The complete line is available at Amazon.

Digital Music Player Book (Ages 3-8)

The Digital Music Player Book is a portable-music-player-and-book combination that blends the learning aspects of reading with the entertainment of music. This fully illustrated, hardcover board book features a detachable music player that looks and plays like an MP3 player. The player features 20 melodies, an on/off switch, shuffle mode button, forward/back arrow buttons and nine icons that appear on an LCD screen and correspond with illustrations in the book. The player can be stored in a holster mounted on the book cover. Buy it.

My First Story Reader (Ages 6 months-3 years)

A unique product designed for kids aged 6 months to 3 years, My First Story Reader brings popular stories and characters to life. A narrator reads aloud as each page is turned, while My First Story Reader adds sound effects and music. Each 12-page, full-color book features beautiful graphics and illustrations and is printed on durable board stock. My First Story Reader is designed for safe use by little hands and features a clamshell unit with an easy-grip handle. It also features a volume control and two distinct play options: interactive rhyming verse narration and question-and-answer mode. Buy it.

Steering Wheel Book (Ages 18 months-5 years)

Kids who dream of taking the wheel will get their chance with the Steering Wheel Book, which features a mounted telescoping base with a steering wheel that raises and locks into place. Sound triggers, including the horn button on the wheel, make realistic vehicle sounds to accompany the story. Each spread features copy with illustration on the left-hand page, while the right-hand page shows what the child sees through the “windshield” at a particular point in the story. Buy it.

Little English-Spanish Book (Ages 3+)

Popular characters entice young children to read. This eight-button book features Dora the Explorer. The Little English-Spanish Book has a toggle switch at the top that places the book in either English or Spanish mode. Children simply follow along with the story and are prompted to push one of eight different buttons that trigger corresponding words and sound effects. One side of each spread in the book is written in English while the other side is written in Spanish. Buy it.

Today’s featured product is something I wish had been around when I was a girl.

Why won’t anyone sit with me at lunch? Why aren’t I in the popular crowd? What can I do about “frenemies”?

These are the types of questions that cause tremendous angst for middle-school girls. Now there’s help. The publishers of Discovery Girls magazine have developed the Fab Girls Guides to help girls navigate the ups and downs of middle school.

Fab Girls Guide to Sticky Situations, Fab Girls Guide to Getting Your Questions Answered, Fab Girls Guide to Friendship Hardship, and Fab Girls Guide to Getting Through Tough Times are written to both help young girls as well as allow parents to understand what their girls may be going through.

You can get these books at Amazon for $10 each.

I’ve always known that Olive Kids has gorgeous bedding for children, but did you know they also have hilariously cute personalized place mats too?

Name your mess! Your kids will love seeing their name at every meal on our exclusive personalized kids placemats. Our kids placemats are made with heavyweight laminate so clean-up is neat and easy with a damp cloth.

All their cute products are available on OliveKids.com and much of it is available on Amazon as well.

gabbybaby sells shirts for your kids which answer the irritating and dumb questions people think they have the right to ask you once you’ve had a child.

“no, we aren’t identical”

“please resist the urge to give advice, my parents are doing a great job”

“please don’t ask my mom rude questions”

But my favorite is the “pooping” one above — I think the child model is really a method actor, if you know what I mean…

I remember when the Klutz company was founded — they’re based in my home town — and as I recall, they were selling juggling balls and instructional books from a stall in a courtyard at the local university. I was a terrible juggler, but the kit was fantastic. (And by the way, the original juggling kit is still available, and no — the fact that they’re now selling a 30th anniversary edition does not make me feel old. Sigh.)

Fast forward about 30 years and now Klutz has a kit for everything you could possibly want to learn to do or make, and one of their popular ones is about how to make Shrink Art jewelry.

Draw a design on shrink plastic, cut it out, pop it in the oven and watch it shrink to about a third of its original size. With 30 pages of traceable designs and instructions for creating rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, Shrink Art Jewelry makes shrink plastic cool for teens, tweens, and anybody else ready to design their own unique jewelry. The book also comes with beads, cord, bracelet links, jewelry findings, shrink plastic, and a Klutz-custom ring roller. And additional special techniques make it easy to go beyond flat plastic for “did-you-really-make-that?!” results.

You can get a copy at Amazon for $17.