Family Friday: Fancy Sprinkles
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.
Here’s another pick that I found when going down the Instagram rabbit hole. Apparently, Jack Osbourne’s (son of Ozzy and Sharon) soon-to-be-former wife, Lisa, has an online sprinkle company. When I clicked the link in her bio, I had no idea what to expect from a company named “Fancy Sprinkles.” Well! Indeed they are very fancy and very fun. I wanted to add every product to my cart and I’m not even an avid baker. I have no idea what the price point is for unfancy sprinkles, but $8–$9 is cheap enough to indulge my inner child… and my actual child. Since I’m not one of those people who can whip up a fondant cake, these sprinkles could make even canned frosting look professional. You eat with your eyes first, right? The pictured mix is called Hop Scotch, but the site’s other offerings include Roller Disco, Purple Pony Party, and Mr. Gatsby, just to name a few. Fancy Sprinkles
I love little treats like this. It’s the sort of thing that makes life feel special.
Suggestions for a low-key fourth birthday party? I am due with a baby at the end of the month, and my daughter will be turning four in mid-July. She has been talking about and (apparently) planning her party for months, largely because we are now reaching the age where her buddies from preschool are all having birthday parties. My husband and I are both on board to do SOMETHING, but I have no idea how much mental bandwidth we’ll have. We can keep the guest list relatively small and consisting of parents and children we know and are already friends with. One thought is to have it at the park/splash pad down the street, which would be convenient unless the weather is bad, in which case it would be at our house.
Am I crazy to consider doing this? Any suggestions for low maintenance games/food/etc.? I know she will be delighted by whatever we end up with, so any pressure will be solely self-imposed.
I’m way too cheap to outsource (and when outsourced parties cost $600+ near me cannot imagine how that can be cheaper than DIY, at least the way I DIY). I think if you can lay in the supplies in advance and have help on the day of, it isn’t a terrible idea. I would do it at the park with a rain date instead of moving inside as Plan B, have pizza delivered, store-bought cake or cupcakes, and let your daughter pick out plates/napkins etc. You can buy the partyware, favors (i recommend water squirters, the kind made out of pool noodles are great for little kids), and juiceboxes now. You could also ask if some of the other parents could each be in charge of something – e.g., ask 1 family if they can pick up the pizza if you can’t get it delivered, 1 to pick up the cake (preorder and prepay), etc. I would love to do that for a family with a new baby. You could also schedule it closer to the end of July in case the baby is late. Prep an evite in advance.
Old Navy is also selling matching/coordinated family outfits now, or at least mom/daughter and dad/son. Similar to Target’s, not really my cup of tea, but if you like tropical prints, lots and lots of tropical prints…
https://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/category.do?cid=1108994&sop=true
No. Non fancy sprinkles are about $2 and don’t look that much different. Not worth $8 in my opinion.
My mom just suggested in jest that we hire a good friend of ours as a nanny. It was a joke but got me thinking… has anyone had success with a friend as a nanny?
This guy is a self-employed (read: unemployed) attorney, who was largely a stay-at-home dad for several years. His daughters are in school now. He is very very poor and has recently gone through a rough divorce. He stays with us occasionally and dog/house sits sometimes when we’re out of town. He loves kids, is responsible when it matters, and is great with our three large dogs (which are a big reason we aren’t even considering a nanny).
I’m pregnant and freaked by the cost of daycare. What prompted this is that the friend is staying with us now and being super helpful. Like, he offered to mouse-proof our whole house when we’re away next week and has been walking our dogs. I also wonder (perhaps unfairly…) if we could pay him a more reasonable rate than daycare considering he is somewhat desperate for employment and has never nannied before. Taking this to extremes, we also rent out the bottom floor of our house. The tenant’s lease ends around when I’ll go back to work, maybe we could even work out some kind of room/board situation with our friend?
I think this is probably a totally insane idea and a great way to ruin a friendship. But any insight is welcome.
Thank you for the comments! By “when it matters,” he sometimes flakes on social engagements with us, but has never flaked on dog walking/sitting, favors we’ve asked for, etc. His kids are 7 and 9 and he has visitation each weekend and one weeknight. They’re still working out their divorce. He is looking to transition out of law entirely.
I’m sure we won’t end up doing this. My brain is desperate for creative childcare options…
A happy thing: we gave our kids different last names (our baby boy has my last name, our toddler girl has my husband’s last name). The baby is starting at his sister’s daycare next month and we just got a mailing from the daycare center addressed to The Parents of….
And both of their last names were printed correctly! I know it’s a small thing but I really, really appreciate it and it makes me hopeful that this won’t be the logistical nightmare people keep telling us it will be.
Should I be worried that my four month old doesn’t nap…like, ever? She sleeps great at night (~12 hours with a break for a feed about 8-9 hours in) and some days we can get her to take little catnaps in her carseat or our arms, but there are lots of days she literally does not take a single nap. She doesn’t seem overtired, hardly ever cries unless there’s an obvious explanation like hunger, and has no problem going down at night. I mentioned it to her pediatrician at her 4 month appointment but the doctor kind of brushed me off and said it was impossible she’s not napping and she must just be napping when I don’t notice …but I’m home with her all day and I’m sure she’s not sleeping except at night!
Please talk some sense into me.
DH just got an unsolicited great offer to switch firms and follow his mentor. The new firm is a satellite office of a bigger regional firm looking to build DH’s practice in our city. DH is a senior associate on the cusp of making partner at current firm. The base salary is only a 20% increase and the originations compensation is much more favorable (he has an unusually large associate book), however, in a year or two the difference as a non-equity partner is really substantial – 40% higher at new firm.
When he got the offer, I really hemmed and hawed, I’m very risk-averse and had to be convinced that he should go to new firm. After a few weeks of discussions with both firms, DH now wants to stay put. He likes current firm, has good relationships there, thinks it will be a better long term platform, etc.
Now I feel really mad at him for wanting to decline the offer. I feel like he put us through this emotional roller coaster and we’ve been talking about it nonstop (thinking about it, pro/con list, projections ad nauseam). I was the one who was against in the first place and had to be convinced, and now he just flips on me and decides to stay. On top of this, we’re TTC and I’m so worried about what a baby will do to our finances and my career. Like the extra money every month would enable us to have more childcare. I know we shouldn’t think about the daycare as coming out of mom’s salary, but I know that having a kid is going to hit my career more than his. I’ll be the one taking a maternity leave and I asked if he’d stay home for 2 months after that while I return to work and he said, if it’s makes financial sense. Well of course it doesn’t because I make 75% of what he makes now.
Sorry for this crazy rant, but I just can’t stop conflating the job question with the ability to buy future childcare/how that impacts my career. It’s bringing all my fears about becoming the default parent to the fore.
Okay, this is a silly question. I want to make flatbread pizza at home, but I don’t actually know what “flatbread” is to make the crust. Or more accurately, I’d really like to purchase the crust. I have some young basil plants that I need to trim so they’ll branch out, and was thinking I’ll have enough for some margherita pizza, but flatbread sounds extra yummy. I truly don’t know what makes it different.
Does anyone have or know an autistic child that they would describe as… mellow? We’re getting a second opinion on my 2-year-old son’s development done on Tuesday because he has some very specific speech delays related to personhood (I posted here before a month or two ago asking about them, thanks for everyone who encouraged me to get a second opinion) and I’m getting more and more concerned about how off “in his own world” he’s getting. He sings/babbles to himself a lot, and he completely ignores any attempts to get his attention until he’s done. At that point, he makes eye contact, and will “parrot” words back that you tell him to say– i.e. he finishes singing, Dad is leaving the house, I tell him “say bye-bye Daddy!” and he says “bye-bye Daddy!”– and I don’t know if that matches up with the “hyperfocus” symptom I always see on lists of what to watch for in terms of whether he’s on the spectrum. If he is, obviously I’ll advocate for him, I’m just struggling with wrapping my head around autism as a possibility because he’s SO zen. He throws a tantrum about every other week, is always cheerful, seemingly has no sensory issues at all… he has a twin sister who is light years ahead of him and he is still my “easy” child. I guess it is called a spectrum for a reason?
This feels kind of silly, but my 14 month old is kind of ignoring me and it’s making me sad! He used to just light up when I came in the room, but now he doesn’t seem to care. My husband keeps telling me it’s just timing, but I think he’s trying to make me feel better. Anyone else go through this? Is it just a phase?
I just remembered that Amy Sedaris has special sprinkles as part of her collaboration with Fishs Eddy. But they are also very expensive – https://fishseddy.com/products/i-like-you-cupcake-sprinkles
I bought myself a bunch of different seasonal sprinkle assortments from here: https://www.countrykitchensa.com/
My calm-but-spacey son got an ASD diagnosis a year ago that I vehemently disagreed with, so I’ve been down the rabbithole. I’m still iffy on whether the diagnosis is “correct” or not, but now I’m more zen about it than I was at first. Some notes for you:
– No one knows anything, least of all a doctor who spends 45 minutes with your kid. To me the diagnosis was a wake up call to push other issues (he’d failed two hearing tests by that point) and educate myself about the issues around ASD kids. It took me some time before I told others (like his preschool teacher) because I didn’t want them to treat him differently… he is who he is and his challenges are evident without slapping a huge label on him.
– Under DSM5 “autim” is greatly different from what it used to mean. Take the insurace money, go full speed forward with any therapies he needs — there is a point (age 5.5 or 7, can’t remember) where kids’ brains become less flexible, so these are crucial years when they’re little.
– re outbursts – a lot of that can be due to sensory overload, which unfortunately may become more pronounced later. Try to pay attention to whether he’s having tantrums (he wants the cookie, you give him a cookie and the tantrum stops) vs meltdowns (he goes beserk for no reason and nothing will solve it) because you have to deal with them differently. My son didn’t start to have sensory meltdowns until he was like 3.5 or so. Outbursts can also come from rigid behavior / OCD-like tendencies — again they’re more flexible when they’re smaller so try to break any patterns before they start.
– FB groups are a huge help — look in your area.
– Betty said it beautifully but just to second her — just if/because he’s on “the spectrum” as it is now doesn’t mean he won’t be a functional, bright, happy adult.
– You may want to check out Sowell’s books “Late Talking Children” or “The Einstein Syndrome” to see if they resonate with you. You may also want to look up 2e/asynchronous development if you suspect he’s gifted.