Your Picky Teen Will Love These 5 Gifts
Your Picky Teen Will Love These 5 Gifts By Rachel Naud Tweens and teens can be the toughest people to shop for. Buy something cringey and cute, and you get the eye rolls! But don’t worry, we’ve got a few gift ideas that are sure to please your pickiest people! For the Film Fanatic Teen Love going to the movies over the holidays? Make teens' stockings more memorable by giving them Cineplex gift cards that they can use either with their parents or with their friends. Spend $50 or more on Cineplex gift cards (either the plastic card or online) and you'll receive a holiday gift bundle with more than $60 worth of coupons for things like free admission, free popcorn, discounted food, free movie ticket upgrades, and more! With this holiday bundle, your teen can also play games, eat, and be entertained at The Rec Room with friends! The offer is on now and runs until Dec. 31! You can pick it up in theatres, at cineplex.com, or at The Rec Room or therecroom.com For the Fashionista Teen These stylish Joe Fresh Knits & Jewelry from Shoppers Drug Mart will appeal to any fashionista on your gift list. Changing up your winter wardrobe is always fun, and this season, Ombre All Day is the theme of this stylish and cozy hat and scarf. These cute toques and mittens will make you smile - especially this pom-pom toque! With everything from bracelets and necklaces to earrings, Joe Fresh jewelry has everything your teen could need to celebrate the holidays in style. For the Skincare-Savvy Teen Everyone wants to look and feel their best—especially our teens—and this Proactiv system will help them put their best face forward this holiday season. It’s an easy 3-step system—you just cleanse, tone and treat! Dermatologists developed the original Proactiv system to treat existing acne and help prevent future breakouts, which is also important. And to make it even easier, you can unlock exclusive savings when you purchase the 3-step system as a subscription including a free gift. To get more info and to buy the system, visit getproactiv.ca. For the Glamorous Teen Make the perfect holiday-glam look for the glamorous teen on your list with COVERGIRL Exhibitionist Stretch & Strengthen Mascara! It's formulated with Peptides, Biotin and Pro-Vitamin B5 for a lash extension effect that lifts, stretches, and adds volume all day long! With its wavy bristles and wavy design, the brush reaches every lash from
Gift the Unexpected: 3 Unique ‘Gifts for Good’ Ideas that Help Children Worldwide
Gift the Unexpected: 3 Unique ‘Gifts for Good’ Ideas that Help Children Worldwide by Fred Witteveen My family, perhaps like yours, has an annual holiday tradition. Every year, no matter where we are, we make the same Christmas breakfast. We prepare our special crepes, the recipe handwritten on a stained decades-old 3x6 card. As a family, we have moved often and even relocated abroad for a time. Change is a constant for us, but so are those pancakes. My daughter, now 28, grew up on them; I figure she downed hundreds over the years before leaving her now empty-nester parents. As a result of COVID last year, we spent the holidays miles apart in New York and Toronto. Even quarantine could not stop us; we laughed together as we flipped crepes made with our special recipe over Zoom. Holiday Traditions Children everywhere love traditions (parents, too), and traditions make memories. Celebrating Giving Tuesday (November 29) is a tradition in our family, too. It marks the largest global movement of generosity and signals the start of the holiday season. If you're writing up your family's holiday wish list this year, consider including some 'gifts for good' that will make a lasting difference to vulnerable children worldwide and create a new family tradition. Children Believe is a charity that supports more than 1.2 million children, youth and community members annually. They release their Gifts for Good catalogue every year. It features gifts that can help break the barriers to education that millions of children, particularly girls, endure in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Nicaragua and Paraguay—countries where Children Believe serves. All 54 gifts featured in the Gifts for Good catalogue will support children and their families to overcome the challenges they face, not only during the holiday season but all year long. Here are three of my favourite picks that I hope might make your family’s list this holiday season, too. Goats – the Gift Of All Time? Being the GOAT – what younger generations recognize to mean the “Greatest Of All Time” – may be an accolade given to sports stars, but we think real goats are the “Gift Of All Time”. Why? Goats have proven to be useful in developing countries as a source of milk, fertilizer, and income for vulnerable families. Parents can use these funds for their children’s school fees and supplies. You can help a family for a year by giving a goat ($100 per goat, $250
Sarah Drew Talks Motherhood, Holiday Films & the Importance of Family
Out of the ER: From Grey's to Reindeer Games Homecoming Sarah Drew Talks About Her New Holiday Movie and Her Family's Favourite Traditions by Arianne Granada Making her mark by playing iconic characters like Dr. April Kepner from Grey’s Anatomy and Sarah Brown from Amber Brown, Sarah Drew is set to make her writing debut with the upcoming Holiday rom-com Reindeer Games Homecoming as part of her two-picture deal with Lifetime. We sat down with Drew to talk about how she navigates motherhood and parenting while being a full-time actress, director, producer, and writer. Your new show Amber Brown has recently premiered on Apple TV+, can you tell us more about your role? I play Amber’s Mom, Sarah. She loves her daughter so much and is trying hard to navigate the giant changes in their lives with grace and kindness. Sarah creates healthy boundaries for Amber and is committed to repairing when there is a rupture in the relationship. Sarah is also coming into her own. She’s in therapy, learning how to identify and pursue her own desires while also parenting well. It’s fun to see both Sarah and Amber navigate these changes together. How similar or how different is Sarah Drew to Sarah Brown? I’m very similar to Sarah for all of the reasons I mentioned above. I’m always thinking about my kids. I believe in setting good boundaries. I’m committed to raising kind and brave kiddos and part of that comes with moments when they don’t like me very much. Like Sarah Brown, trust is absolutely essential to our family dynamic. We have a rule in our home that we never go to bed angry. We must make peace before saying goodnight. What is your favourite part about filming for Amber Brown? I loved the community that we built. I loved the brilliant words that Bonnie Hunt gave us to say, and how playful the set was. It was also a joy to watch Carsyn grow and blossom into a truly brilliant artist on set! How has being a real-life mom affected how you played your roles? I’m more selective about the jobs I take. Every job takes me away from my kids — sometimes out of the country even. I think about the fact that they will probably watch all of my work at some point, so I am sure that I’m making art that I’m proud of and that I’ll be proud to share with them. It
4 Fun Winter Advent Calendar Ideas for the Family
4 Fun Winter Advent Calendar Ideas for the Family by Rachel Naud The cold, dreary days of winter may be coming soon, but that doesn’t mean the fun has to stop! Here are some ideas for your family's winter advent calendar that will keep you and yours entertained! Guides for Managing Finances With the holidays coming up—and the cost of everything going up—now is a good time to have a talk with your teen about finances. Have a teen that is at that age where they don’t have a job but seems to have expensive taste? Teach them about financial literacy and how to manage their money! The SideKick Mastercard from Hero Financials is a reliable tool that helps tweens and teens understand and manage money efficiently and effectively. No need to set your kids up with a new bank account, you just sign up at herofinancials.com and you can load money on it and use the budgeting tool to divide the money between pre-created categories: general, living expenses, eating out, travel, shopping, and fun which will help your kids budget for what is most important to them. There’s actually a cash-back promotion on the site right now (sign up for Hero's annual plan and get $50 cash back plus a free upgrade after your first load!), which is super cool and the card can be used anywhere a prepaid Mastercard is accepted–in-store or online. Hot Meals for Cozy Nights Is there anything better than cooking a delicious, hot meal on a cold, snowy night? Here’s an idea: get your teen involved and celebrate Pizza Fridays! It's so easy to make, and when you use good-quality ingredients, it makes for a great pizza! To make the sauce, use Mutti tomatoes—it’s fresh just like a summer tomato, even though outside the snow may be flying! Made with 100% Italian tomatoes, this sauce makes for a simple, yet absolutely delicious meal. Fun fact! Some tomatoes are better for certain recipes and to pick the best one for your recipe, Mutti has come up with a handy guide to bring your recipe to the next level—check it out on muttipolpa.ca. Games for Game Nights When the weather turns cold, don’t you just like to heat up the competition with a family game night? Your family will absolutely love the Nintendo Switch OLED Model because it has a 7-inch screen and the colours and graphics are even more vibrant. With the Mario Kart 8