Hey, parents:  Do you hide stuff from your kids on the top shelf of your bedroom closet?  Yeah?  Well, based on empirical evidence culled from data provided by my rigid and objective research (one casual chat with drunk friends at my kitchen table last Saturday night), so has every other parent since the invention of bedroom closets.  As it turns out, all kids seem to eventually figure out that everything you want to find is something Mom and Dad don’t want you to find and that’s why Mom & Dad put it on the top shelf of their closet.

Summary of items which my party-goers found in their parents’ closets as children, in no particular order:

1.  Christmas gifts

2.  Handgun

3.  Christmas gifts

4.  Hanukkah gifts

5.  Christmas gifts

6.  My dad’s bachelor party photos

That’s right, you heard me:  my father’s bachelor party photos.  You would think the top shelf of my parents’ closet was a safe place for such a thing, but I was born a tall and curious person.  And while my dad and his bachelor party attendees were cops, let’s just say that based on those photos the guys were the only ones not wearing police uniforms.  ::coughcough::

I was about twelve years old, and suffice it to say that was the first and last time I ever searched my parents’ closet.  It was Christmastime and all I was hoping to find was a Nintendo ES (never got one).

Folks, the moral of the story is this:  Whether it’s guns, or gifts, or potentially controversial unmentionables: when it comes to where you store stuff you don’t want your kids to see, get creative!  If you want to hide something from them, tuck it away next to the vacuum cleaner.  It’s not like your kids would ever voluntarily shine the light of day on a Bissell, amiright?  But if they do find it, this way they can work off all the anxiety which comes with finding something they had no business finding by cleaning your house.

I only wish my parents had been so considerate…

p.s. My parents still don’t know that I ever found those photos.  Don’t be the jerk-face who tells them please.  PLEASE?

********************************************************

Cassandra can be found on Twitter @aclevergirl.  Learn more about her family’s unique challenges and why they have hope for a cure for muscular dystrophy at byrdsforacure.org.

I’m always amazed at how quickly time passes since I had my first child.  And now it’s Spring again already, which means I am starting to prep and plan the twins’ birthday parties and annual photo sessions!  Lucky for me, I was invited by Minted.com to check out their birthday party invitations and decor in advance and I found some gorgeous stationary products to share with you.

The first thing I do when I find a website offering invitations and announcements is peek around to see if they sell photo birth announcements specifically for twins and multiples.  Minted.com sure does, and they are sophisticated, understated and on premium paper.  Two of my favorite birth announcements for twins are these:

They also have some gorgeous baptism/christening invites which you can peruse further here, plus First Communion, Confirmation, Quinceanera, Bar & Bat Mitzvah invitations and graduation announcements.  No sacrament or milestone has been forgotten here–love it!

I can’t commit yet to one birthday invitation or announcement for the twins’ party.  If they want to have a bowling alley birthday party, this one couldn’t be a more perfect invitation.  If we’re feeling creative and whimsical, then One Happy Day, Stacked, and Circus Tent are floating my boat in big ways.  I love these ideas!  So many options!

I’m thrilled to find a new and better vendor for birthday party invitations.  I was compensated for this post by Minted.com so that you other like-minded parents might find some new inspiration and ideas for your kiddos’ birthdays and other life events, and I look forward to hearing about them.

********************************************************

Cassandra can be found on Twitter @aclevergirl.  Learn more about her family’s unique challenges and why they have hope for a cure for muscular dystrophy at byrdsforacure.org.