Digital Switchover Casualties

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Photo by The Hubs. | More Wordless Wednesday.

Kids' party cutbacks send pachyderms packing

Even elephants are having trouble finding work these days.

With all the economic turmoil going on right now, parents who used to throw the elaborate let's-rent-a-whole-circus birthday parties for their children (who sometimes were too young to remember it later on anyway) are cutting back.


"Kids' Parties Take a Pay Cut" (from MomLogic) quoted one mother as saying, "No matter what's going on in the economy, I don't want my children to think that they can't have something as basic as a birthday party."

Really? I'm all for celebrating life's milestones; however, since when are birthday parties "basic" in the same sense as food, shelter, clothing and - perhaps this is where the confusion really stems from - love?

Maybe when we get things sorted into the right categories, we'll be on the way to sorting out the rest of this economic mess too.

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Photos by D'Arcy Norman.

Knot so fast

So I came across these Knot It brand diaper disposal bags. I hadn't really thought about it before, but having a pack of plastic bags in the car or diaper bag could come in handy - for more than just dirty diapers.

The thing about these is that they come in a neat little dispenser, and what you really have is one long piece of bag material that you cut to size as needed (there's some kind of cutter on the container) and knot to form a bag. The versatility of being able to have the right-sized bag for the job is nice. Although I'm thinking that when a sticky situation arises that requires a disposal bag, you're not going to want a lot of extra steps. Also, one product review pointed out that it's hard to know exactly how much bag you need to cut off, and how frustrating to mess that up - when you've already got a mess on your hands!

It turns out there are other brands of disposal bags out there. I had no idea there was a whole market for this, but I found sacks claiming to be sassy or fresh (cute website points!) or even green (as in biodegradable and in color). None of those seemed to come in as handy of a container, but none of them needed to be cut and knotted either. Trade offs, I guess.

After more googling, I found this tip, originally from The Dollar Stretcher: instead of buying disposal bags, you can reuse bread or newspaper bags. They don't come in a neat container, but they're already a good size for a lot of things. Plus, the price is right.

How do you like your wipes?

When I first heard there was actually a product for warming wipes, I think I laughed out loud. Do babies truly prefer warm wipes? If it's hot out or if they've been all bundled up in heaps of blankets, maybe they'd rather have a cold one. (On a side note: it's due to be 114 here in Phoenix today. I think we all could use a cold one.) If not, couldn't you hold the wipe in your hand a second to warm it up? Or use cloth wipes? I finally had a chance to look into it a little more, and I haven't changed my mind. Customer reviews of a wipe warmer at this store range from "Best thing I bought" to "Save your money." So, unless someone can convince me otherwise, I think that's staying off the fave list.

Photo: My budget wipe warmer.
(Just kidding. Kids, don't try this at home...or at your friend's house....)