Family Friday: Reusable Water Balloons
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During a pool playdate, one of my oldest’s friends brought these reusable water balloons to share.
Instead of single-use balloons, use these balloons over and over again for endless summer fun, year after year. Simply open, dunk, close, and splash! These lightweight balloons are good for up to 10,000 splashes.
A six-pack of Bunch O’ Balloons Reusable Water Balloons is $12.99 at Target.
Sales of note for 5/27/25
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Lots of markdowns on AGL (50%!), Weitzman, Tumi, Frank & Eileen, Zella, Natori, Cole Haan, Boss, Theory, Reiss (coats), Vince, Eileen Fisher, Spanx, and Frame (denim and silk blouses)
- Ann Taylor – 25% off tops & sweaters + extra 30% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – Memorial Day Event: 50-70% off everything + extra 25% off
- Eloquii – $25+ select styles + extra 60% off all sale
- J.Crew – Summer kickoff event, up to 50% off 1000s of styles+ extra 50% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – Up to 70% off everything + extra 70% off clearance
- M.M.LaFleur – Memorial Day Sale: extra 20% off with code + try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off.
- Spanx – Free shipping on everything
- Talbots – $29.50+ must haves + extra 50% off all sale styles
If you had a night doula or other post-partum support, how long did you keep them? I’m thinking about a night doula 3 days a week but I’m not sure how long I’ll need her. Suggestions?
Just popping in to say hello and give a report from the land of college parenting! My rising sophomore is home for the summer. She did very well in her primary major. In her second major, she persevered through several challenging courses, made it through, and ultimately decided the major wasn’t for her. She found her people, had success in her extracurricular activity and was appointed to a leadership position, got a fun on-campus job, and made good faculty connections. She has settled on a career path that seems well suited for her talents and personality and got herself a summer job in the field. There were plenty of panicked phone calls and text messages about various crises throughout the year, but she used her resources well and honed her problem-solving skills. She came home spouting grown-up phrases like “protein,” “on time,” and “decluttering.” Her adulting is miles ahead of where it was when she left in the fall.
Her dad and I have been having lots of fun empty-nesting. I have gone all-in on my serious hobby and some volunteer work. We have also achieved our life goal of becoming those people who go to a concert or comedy show every other weekend. We can decide just to eat cheese for dinner if that’s what we feel like.
Because this is a fashion blog, I will also share that since she got home the kid has appropriated or attempted to appropriate half of my closet, including a Clare V bag that I told her is only for moms over 35. At least our feet are different sizes so my shoes are safe.
Maybe too late in the day for this, but what the heck. TLDR: Has anyone successfully stopped arguing with their spouse about money/budgeting?
I fully get that it is a major source of tension for a reason, but I’m just really fed up. I manage 99% of all purchasing; DH occasionally buys himself a sandwich. For context, we have plenty of income, savings, and investments. We are not in financial danger. He refuses to use a financial planner, because “he can do all that, and not charge a fee”.
“We” (aka me) basically just use our credit card as the budget – set a monthly limit and try to stay in it.
He made a comment about how our daughter’s camp cost is going to put us over the monthly goal. Because I manage every purchase and financial decision, I’m always annoyed and *I think* correctly perceive his “neutral” comments as a failure of mine to stay within our target. He says he’s “just going to continue to state neutral facts”. And when we argue about money, we always get incredibly irritated with each other, super, super quickly. So, if you’ve successfully avoided getting in these kinds of fights regularly, HOW did you do it?
Dear retailers. It’s May 30th. No need to advertise back to school yet. School is not even over in most places
Recommendations for book about raising toddlers? My 20-month old has started saying no all the time and running away when I ask her to do something, and I would love some recommendations for books to read as I think through my parenting style.
Feeling defeated today. My oldest (14) has Chron’s and Celiac’s diseases. He is monitored every 3-6 months depending on how things are going. He had a really rough time in the spring of 2024, which resulted in a reduced school day and an appt or two every week. He bounced back last summer, and had been doing great!
He had his GI appt yesterday and was down 10 lbs since December. All his labs are ok, and we think it is because he just really doesn’t pay attention to eating. He struggles with hunger interoception after years of pain when eating, meds to increase his hunger cues, and all the other meds. He has been packing his own lunch this school year and has only been packing rice cakes, apparently. It doesn’t help that their lunch period is maybe 15 minutes. We go through this cycle every few years, and it feels like it happens when I am less vigilant about what he is eating. So today was back to a multi-course hot breakfast, me packing his lunch, and we will do a smoothie when he gets home too. Dinner seems to be fine as it’s solely under my eye. This was the first time where this has happened that he was old enough to pick up on the under current of blame in the appt, like this is entirely a behavioral choice and not the result of complex systems in his body. He was angry and upset after the appt. I was upset too and feel completely at fault for the situation. I’ve been on this vigilance rollercoaster for years. I’m exhausted. I came home and cried through a short yoga practice. And I have to make eating a focus in the house, again. It’s exhausting. And I’m exhausted by the blame and lack of support. I’ll just get back to making homemade gluten free meals on top of all the other things. I’m feeling down and defeated by the sheer breadth of all the things and rarely getting the chance to sit down unless its for my job.
Feeling super sad this morning and just need to vent. 10yo DD is dealing with some lovely mean-girl behaviors from her neighborhood besties, E and L. I had noticed for awhile that L had been picking on DD for incredibly dumb, inconsequential things or subtlely putting her down, in ways that I’m not sure DD picked up on right away. I’ve seen this happen in my own house when L has visited! Unfortunately, L loves to embellish a story and has been talking behind DD’s back, painting her in the worst possible light. So, DD is getting the cold shoulder from several girls in their friend group. DD’s original bestie, E, is acting as a bystander and letting L call the shots. L did not invite DD to her birthday party for the first time in three years, even though they’ve been inseparable all school year until recently.
There’s nothing to be done, but there have been a lot of tearful heart-to-hearts with my DD. I hate this. It triggers so many memories of being ages 10-14 and not being able to trust many girls my age. I still have scars from those years, though I guess it gave me a good radar for sussing out adult mean girls. Luckily, DD has other people she can hang with, but coming from her two closest friends really hurts. She’s social and sensitive, well-liked by many, and I honestly think it bugs L. Unfortunately, L goes to our church and is in the same Girl Scouts group, so she’s going to be in DD’s life indefinitely. And E lives next door, so my daughter has to watch those two go back and forth to each other’s houses and exclude her, with all this happening outside her bedroom window. :(
I am friendly enough but not friends with the other moms. It’s tempting to say something (“hey, tell your daughters to knock this stuff off”), but I know I shouldn’t meddle in this stuff unless it’s egregious.
Another entry in the “just chill!” category of parenting advice – asked a cousin for any tips on introducing allergens while also being a working mom and she said “I had a second kid and stopped being rigid about it LOL.” Like sure, glad that gamble worked out for you given the history of severe anaphylaxis in our family, but that’s not advice…
Starting our 6 month old at daycare, and they want us to send in 2-3 sleep sacks. We use Kyte at home — does anyone recommend a cheaper version ($55 a pop is steep!)? Thanks!