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We love it when moms share ideas with other moms (and we love the holidays!), so we’ve worked with our contributor team to collect gift ideas, holiday-themed activities, and great stories to help inspire you this holiday season!

Holiday Gift Guides

We asked our contributor team to share their favorite gift ideas for kids of all ages.
Click through to find the full gift guide for each age group on our blog!

Gift Guide For Babies (Age 0-1)

Everyone asks mom what to give babies for Christmas, and it can be really hard to know what to tell them. Our contributor Sarah Limberg @sarahelimberg put together a list of recommendations that vary in price, size, and more!

Gift Guide For Toddlers (Ages 1-3)

Toddlers are a tough group to parent, but they also get so excited to open up gifts that it makes up for all (or at least some) of the tantrums. Our contributor team shares their favorite gifts for this age group!

Gift Guide For Little Kids (Ages 4-6)

As we see our little kids develop their own preferences and start to share ideas with other kids their age, it can be both hard and rewarding to find a gift that matches their personalities. Our contributor team shares their favorite gifts for little kids!

Gift Guide For Big Kids (Ages 7+)

Check out the gifts that the big kids (ages 7+) in our contributor’s lives are excited to receive, and what our contributors are excited to give them this holiday season.

Gift Guide For The Outdoor Adventuring Family (All Ages)

Our contributor Jennifer Carroll @twinningtheweekend spends her free time taking her toddler twins camping, wakeboarding, hiking, and more. Check out her gift guide for families who love the outdoors!

Mom’s Holiday Wish List

After all of the work that you put into the holidays, have some fun and dream about what you want this year! We asked our contributor team to share one gift that they’re dreaming about right now. See what they’re asking for this year!

Holiday Podcast Listening

We’ll add our newest holiday episodes to this page as they go live, and we’re including some of our favorite episodes from Christmas Past below. Enjoy!

Listen To Classic Holiday Episodes!

Want More From Holidays Past?
Hit Play On One Of These Episodes!

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More From The Blog…

Thanksgiving Planning Guide: Plan NOW So You Can ENJOY Later!

By Joanna Martin | @cafedumartin

We’ve hosted Thanksgiving for the past seven years (give or take a few years), and in that time we’ve learned many valuable lessons as home cooks and hosts. We’ve tried our fair share of trendy recipes and ways to cook a turkey. We’ve mistimed oven usage and have discovered new family favorites. Quite possibly the most important lesson we’ve learned while hosting over the years: Planning is ESSENTIAL for everyone’s sanity and enjoyment. [READ MORE]

Five Pandemic Thanksgiving Traditions I’m Keeping Around

By Chaunie Brusie @chauniebrusie

I won’t lie: Thanksgiving isn’t my favorite, and after so much togetherness last year, I wanted to try to mix things up a bit on that oh-so-traditional holiday. So I came up with a few new Thanksgiving traditions last year to make the day just a bit more fun. And much to my surprise, they were a success! [READ MORE]

Read To Get Inspired…

Need a fun holiday craft to keep your kids busy during winter break? Or tips on planning your holiday? Or a survival guide to holiday baking with toddlers? We have great holiday stories from our contributors coming to the blog! We’ll post links below to more stories as they go live through November and December.

Last Year I Skipped Christmas; Here’s What I Learned

By Chaunie Brusie @chauniebrusie

On Christmas Eve last year, after I said goodbye to my five children and husband as they headed out the door to go see my in-laws, I did something that moms everywhere have dreamed about for centuries: I spent the evening cuddled up on my couch watching cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies and drinking hot chocolate. Completely alone. [READ MORE]

Five Holiday Book And Craft Pairings For Little Kids

By Sandy Hsu | @hopefulsmiles

I began with a list of a dozen holiday picture books and then paired each one to a little craft with a similar theme. Having a simple framework and theme for curating activities helped me to avoid over-planning and Pinterest overwhelm. It was such a joy to spend quality time with my daughter while doing something festive and fun even when life felt crazy. [READ MORE]

Baking With Kids This Holiday Season: A Strategy For The Hesitant Mom

By Jayme Sherrod | @jaymesherrod

A small, flour-covered apron adorns the gleeful child as they work with their mom to finish baking the final dozen cookies for this year’s holiday party. The magazine photo looks magical. It feels inspiring. It seems fun. Yet, if you’ve ever invited your child to the kitchen to bake – or enthusiastically accepted their request to bake – you may have found out that the magic can be fleeting and the cleanup is pretty fierce. [READ MORE]

Easy Tips For Sustainable Gift-Giving

Want to know how you can be more environmentally friendly this gifting season? Our contributor Jayme Sherrod shares three easy ways you can make your holidays more sustainable. Watch her reel on our Instagram, and read on for her tips! [READ MORE]

Creating A Feeling of Advent

By Joanna Martin | @cafedumartin

Christmas decorations up the minute Thanksgiving is done. After the busy-ness of cooking and hosting, I am so ready to slow down and sink into everything the advent season has to offer. Advent is a season of building anticipation. Advent is considered to be a time of preparation and waiting in joyful hope of the birth of Jesus, and it’s typically associated with many Christian religions. However, I find that anyone can find ways, religious or not, to create a feeling of advent in the home. [READ MORE]

How We Do Hanukkah

By Katherine DeVries | @thepaperdart

Hanukkah is just around the corner! And although a part of me always dreads this holiday, because eight days of celebration feels like a lot, it’s also super important to me to make a big deal out of it. Because while my family identifies as religiously Jewish, we’re also culturally interfaith, and we celebrate many traditional Christian holidays (Christmas included), in addition to all of the Jewish ones. [READ MORE]

Other Holiday Goodies

If you made it this far, we’ve got some holiday goodies just for you – little things we love from the archives and things that have brought us joy in past holiday seasons. Enjoy!

  • 13 Creative Advent Calendar Ideas
  • Creating A “Kindness Advent” Tradition With Kids
  • Having A December Baby? Pregnant & Postpartum Tips For The Holidays
  • Our Facebook community says these gifts KILLED IT last year
  • Meagan’s 25 Days Of Holiday Help
  • 6 Things You Can Do To Get Dreamy Holiday Photos On Your Smartphone (by Sarah)
  • Sarah’s Christmas 2014 appearance on The Home Hour podcast (the VERY first time we were on the mic together!)
  • 6 Easy (We Promise!) Homemade Holiday Gifts You Can Make With Your Kids
  • Our Favorite Holiday Picture Books
  • Our 2017 Gift Guide
  • Meagan’s Spotify Christmas playlist

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Happy Friday! Modern society loves the concept of Happy Friday!

Modern society loves the concept of 'saving time' - but at what cost? There's nothing wrong with streamlining and efficiency, but today Meagan and Sarah push back against the notion that time-saving strategies - and products - unilaterally bring more calm to our days. Instead we look at ways to think about shifting time to our advantage, batching tasks and opting out to free up schedule space, simplifying rather than optimizing, and finding our own peace with our relationship to time.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts
New episode! Some days we’re the “Sure, why n New episode!

Some days we’re the “Sure, why not?” mom, and other days we’re the “Because I said so” mom - and often we lean more into one side than the other. Meagan and Sarah unpack what the Yes Mom / No Mom binary really means, the why behind our wiring, how it affects our kids, and how it’s not always so black and white. We look at the balance between freedom and structure, and remind you there are many ways to be yourself and be a great mom at the same time.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts
Very special episode in your feed today! Meagan w Very special episode in your feed today!

Meagan wrote a book—and Sarah has lots of questions. In this episode, we dive into Meagan’s journey from concept to publication. From the initial spark of an idea to the challenges of writing, editing, and getting it out into the world, join us for an inside look at the process behind bringing her book to life. Whether you're a writer, a non-writer who likes to learn how the sausage gets made, or simply want to offer Meagan your support during launch week, we hope you'll listen!

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

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Last chance to ASK A LISTENER QUESTION! (Please re Last chance to ASK A LISTENER QUESTION! (Please read the whole post before commenting! 🥰)

We're planning two more LQ episodes before we wrap production, and we'd love to take your questions about ANYTHING. The usual parenting challenges are welcome for sure, but we're also open to answering questions about the podcast, the decade we've spent doing this work, our business partnership+friendship, our future plans, our midlife lady joys and challenges, ALL OF IT.

You can EMAIL questions to hello@themomhour.com with Listener Question in the subject line. (Please don't use the comments on this post to ask your question; we might miss it and it adds organizational clutter to our lives.)

Deadline is Sunday 5/11 at 11:59pm. It's a true 'last call', folks! Can't wait to read your questions! -Meagan & Sarah
New episode! What does it mean to "launch" a kid New episode!

What does it mean to "launch" a kid into adulthood? How does parenting change when you're still mom, but they're no longer children? With Meagan’s new book just a week from launch, we’re diving into five things she’s learned about parenting young adults. Sarah asks the questions, Meagan shares the wisdom—and we both reflect on how the parenting journey keeps evolving.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

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Happy Monday! 👋 It's time for our April sponso Happy Monday! 👋  It's time for our April sponsors roundup, where we remind you of our brand partners and special deals. ALL of our special promo codes and links can be found on the Deals & Offers page on our website. Tap on this image at the link in our bio to check it out.

Thank you for helping support the show by using our links + codes!

Check out our new sponsor . . .
🐻  @paddingtonmovie (available now on digital!)

And welcome back . . . 
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☑️ @todoistofficial (2 mo. free of Todoist Pro!)
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New episode! Raising creative kids isn’t just a New episode!

Raising creative kids isn’t just about paintbrushes and piano lessons—it’s also about noticing how they think, solve problems, and dream up deas. Both Meagan and Sarah come from creative backgrounds and hope to raise creative kids, but we’ve learned that creativity shows up in unexpected places—from storytelling and party planning to building weird contraptions out of couch cushions. We share what’s worked in our own families, where we’ve had to shift our thinking, and some of the misconceptions we’ve had about what being “creative” really means.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts
New episode! We've heard from so many listeners w New episode!

We've heard from so many listeners who say that The Mom Hour helped you through your early years of parenting. Your notes of gratitude got us thinking (and feeling all the feels) about what a uniquely intense and tender season “active mothering” really is—and why it inspires a certain nostalgia when viewed later from a distance. Join us as we share some of your own words as well as memories of our own, reflecting on the pop-cultural, sensory, emotional, and unexpectedly specific things that instantly transport us back.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts
To kick off a special series on the topic of Time, To kick off a special series on the topic of Time, we're talking today about busy-ness—that always-running hamster wheel we either can’t get off… or can’t seem to climb onto. Meagan and Sarah each look back on times in our lives when our relationship with productivity felt off—whether we were drowning in to-dos or floating in a weird limbo of not-enough-to-dos. Where are we at now on the busy scale? How do our personalities lend themselves to being busy - or not? And is there even such a thing as the perfect balance?

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts
New episode! From sandbox maintenance and the end New episode!

From sandbox maintenance and the endless cycle of outgrown kids’ clothes to the rise of sourdough starters and evolving gardening ambitions, today's episode is about how our home management tasks have shifted as our kids have grown. We each share a few “then vs. now” snapshots, offering little insights into what domestic work looks like during different seasons of family life.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts

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