This post may contain affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
While most of us are aware that Amazon isn’t exactly an upstanding company, to say the least, many working moms (me, for example) really appreciate the convenience, low prices, selection, and free Prime Shipping — plus the opportunity to avoid going shopping with our kids (not to mention Prime Video). So this one is for the readers that haven’t felt compelled to boycott Amazon: It’s our first post where we’ll each be sharing some of our favorite kid-related and family-related purchases we’ve made at Amazon recently. (Be on the lookout for Kat’s roundup, coming soon!) What are your favorite things you’ve bought from Amazon recently for your family or for your kids?
This post contains affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!
Note: Don’t forget to double-check seemingly well-reviewed items by using a site like ReviewMeta or Fakespot, which I wrote about on Corporette. On Amazon, fake reviews and disreputable sellers abound, as do counterfeits (especially beauty products, which I rarely buy from the site now).
Below are my favorite recent purchases from Amazon for kids and beyond. Please share yours in the comments!
BPA-Free Tritan Water Bottle with Silicone Sleeve
You’d think it’d be simple to buy a kids’ water bottle, but no, it’s not. Some bottles leak (come on, it’s 2020 — we don’t have flying cars yet, but shouldn’t water bottles all be leak-proof by now?), some designs have my pet peeve of an exposed spout (your kid drops it once and then will be drinking from a dirty, germy bottle), and some seem perfectly designed to eventually grow mold in their hard-to-clean crevices. But this 16-oz. bottle from Ello is great! (I really like their glass bottles, but my son’s school prohibits glass ones.) This bottle is dishwasher-safe, BPA-free, and lightweight — and it’s $9.99.
Kids’ Full-Zip Hooded Sweatshirt
I was looking for a hoodie for my son recently when I found this no-frills, inexpensive hoodie from Gildan. There are plenty of nice kids’ sweatshirts out there for $30–$40+, but this one, which is only $10, is comfortable, warm, and soft and fleecy inside. And after a couple of months of washes, it’s held up well. (Note that the linked colors, including the gray pictured, are only in lucky sizes, but if you browse through these search results, you’ll find many more, including non-zip versions.) Besides regular wear, this basic would be great for playing outside or for keeping in the car for unexpectedly cold days. NOTE: These definitely run big! And I mean big — after looking at the size chart, I bought a Large for my average-sized 9-year-old, and it ended up fitting me instead. (Granted, I am 5′ with a small frame.) My advice is definitely to size down, because the sweatshirt is made from preshrunk cotton/poly.
Harry Potter Cupcake Toppers
Last fall, I volunteered to bake cupcakes for a staff/faculty lunch at my son’s school, and I chose these cupcake toppers to decorate them. Sadly, I never actually made them (life happened), so I still have the toppers on hand to decorate treats for my Harry Potter at home (who, incidentally, is a Gryffindor, while I’m a Hufflepuff, not that anyone asked). There were several choices on Amazon, and this turned out to be a good one. The toppers seem well-made, and, while not official Harry Potter merch, the shapes — which include the sorting hat, Deathly Hallows symbol, Golden Snitch, Harry’s lightning scar, and his glasses — are recognizable and authentic enough. These would be great for a birthday party at home or at school, or for a Harry Potter party for grownups. You get 30 toppers for $9.99.
Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speaker
My son isn’t one of those kids who hate taking baths/showers, but showering is definitely more appealing to him when he can listen to music on a waterproof speaker like this one. I made him a playlist on Spotify with his favorite songs, and we cue it up when he showers. (This made for some amusing results when I saw my 2019 Spotify Wrapped). Our first shower speaker was this one from SoundBot (also from Amazon), but I don’t recommend it — it worked fine for a while, but after several months the battery life got so bad that I had to charge it after every use, which was a big pain. So far, the battery on this one has been great, although I do admit that the unlabeled buttons are slightly confusing. (That’s probably because I didn’t really read the directions.) The speaker is $15.99–$26.99, depending on color.
Goodnight Lab: A Scientific Parody and Scientist, Scientist, Who Do You See?
When I buy books as gifts for friends’ kids (and for baby showers), I like buying the classics, but I also enjoy giving newer books, e.g., funny parody books like these. Goodnight Lab is inspired by Goodnight Moon, of course, and Scientist, Scientist, Who Do You See? riffs on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. Both of these are written by Chris Ferrie, a physicist with a PhD in applied math. Scientists featured in Scientist, Scientist include Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Chien-Shiung Wu, and Grace Hopper, while Goodnight Lab bids goodnight to various lab equipment. They are $14.39 and $9.39, respectively.
What have been your favorite kid-related/family-related Amazon purchases recently? Anything that you bought from Amazon recently and regretted getting? Did you give or receive any great gifts from Amazon for the holidays?
Sales of note for 4.18.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 50% off full-price dresses, jackets & shoes; $30 off pants & skirts; extra 50% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything; extra 20% off purchase
- Eloquii – 50% off select styles; 60% off swim; up to 40% off everything else
- J.Crew – Mid-Season Sale: Extra 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off spring-to-summer styles
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Spring Mid-Season Sale: Up to 50% off 100s of styles
- Nordstrom: Free 2-day shipping for a limited time (eligible items)
- Talbots – Spring Sale: 40% off + extra 15% off all markdowns; 30% off new T by Talbots
- Zappos – 29,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Up to 70% off baby items; 50% off toddler & kid deals & 40% off everything else
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off spring faves; 25% off new arrivals; up to 30% off spring
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Up to 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off kids’ spring-to-summer styles
- Old Navy – 30% off your purchase; up to 75% off clearance
- Target – Car Seat Trade-In Event (ends 4/27); BOGO 25% off select skincare products; up to 40% off indoor furniture; up to 20% off laptops & printers
See some of our latest articles on CorporetteMoms:
Click here to see our top posts!
And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
really? says
Why do we need to have a post centered on items to buy from Amazon? Are any of these exclusive brands to the site? There are other places to buy books, toys, and other kid stuff. I also think it’s problematic on a site for moms not to mention recent stuff about safety issues from counterfeit baby stuff (look up CNN’s piece about crash testing a fake Doona). Amazon has no liability for this stuff, unlike a brick and mortar store.
really? says
And sorry to use “stuff” so much.
Anonymous says
I’m assuming it’s a sponsored post even though not labelled as such. Because why else would anyone advocate Amazon specifically vs an individual product. If someone searches the individual product they can clearly identify if it’s on Amazon or not so it doesn’t help anyone find it faster.
Anonymous says
If it’s not sponsored, it could just be for affiliate links.
Kate says
No, this is not a sponsored post (although it does contain affiliate links, as we noted), and I certainly didn’t make it 100% positive. In fact, we are considering doing a post over on Corporette that features alternatives to buying on Amazon for certain categories (e.g., books).
Anonymous says
Like what? Literally book stores?
The critique is valid. There’s a middle ground between boycotting Amazon and running regular special features on it.
really? says
I agree that there’s a middle ground. I am not currently boycotting Amazon, but I am trying to reduce (both number of purchases by looking elsewhere and considering whether it’s something I really want & how often I use the fastest shipping options when I do buy from them). A post that’s meant to help me browse Amazon for random stuff I wasn’t even looking for is just not what I want to spend time with.
Kat G says
Thank you for reading! No, this is not a sponsored post; in 12 years of blogging we have never “just not labeled” a sponsored post. In fact we have one of the biggest affiliate/sponsorship disclosures pretty much anywhere I’ve seen, down to which stocks I own personally.
As for the “stuff I love from Amazon” posts — a lot of media outlets do these (some every single month!), always on Amazon. As a reader I almost always click through to read them (often long, unwieldy slideshows with lots of ads and one product per page) since the curation is the thing you need on Amazon – everyone knows you can find 10,000,000 yoga pants on there but which ones are actually good? I was looking at my own Amazon purchases and realized 98% of them are for the kids, which is why we thought it would be fun to do here.
You’re welcome to skip them if they’re not your thing, though, or take the product recommendation and then go buy it elsewhere!
Anonymous says
It’s really a cheap trick.
Anonymous says
Obviously for the affiliate link money
Anon says
I think Amazon affiliate links generate more money than other stores’ so I assume that’s why Amazon was chosen. I agree it’s kind of gross to just drop a ton of links.
Anonymous says
Probably because a lot of busy moms rely on Amazon to deliver whatever kid-related thing they need the next day.
Anonymous says
Lol nah it’s about the money
Tweeter says
Like the idea of recent things purchased especially with details by age. Hate this format and the links. Maybe ask for reader input? “What I bought this month”. No one cares about amazon specific.
Anonymous says
I do see people asking for recommendations for specific items (e.g., nursing tanks) available on Amazon periodically, ostensibly because it is fast and easy for many of us, so I don’t think that is so odd, but agree that a broader range of links would be useful too.
My critique about the post was the book recs at the end – those are for baby gifts, not a 9 year old, right? They seem more likely to appeal to parents more than kids of any age (which I think is fine for a baby gift).
Kate says
I thought this post was fine! I do the vast majority of my shopping at amazon and Nordstrom and will totally read posts focused on those retailers! I even clicked through to the comments to see if anyone added helpful things, but seems it was just critiques on trying a new theme of post.
Anon says
+1. I like the idea of curating what real people actually liked from Amazon. Case in point – the $10 hoodie info. We’re in the thick of winter now, but that info would be super helpful in the early spring/fall months.
I also like the idea of “items for X age” because we get so many posts asking for gift ideas for birthdays or to send to relatives. I’d love a repository of crowd-sourced “gift ideas for a 3 year old” that you could sort into “available on Amazon next day” vs “will need to order 2 months ahead but super cute if you’re on top of things”. Especially if they keep the links updated each season, or keep it vague enough to stay relevant (either link to a couple appropriate Duplo sets and keep those updated, or just say “Duplo sets that say 2-5 age range on the box”)