Sponsor Giveaway: O.R.E. Hamper Tote {CLOSED}

I can't tell you how happy I get to see my little guy learn new things. From the time he smiled for the first time to recently when we gifted him with his first bike, he's kept up a steady stream of learning that's keeping us on our toes. When Heather at Smart Space Organizing first showed me this hamper tote by O.R.E., I thought it was brilliant! What a fantastic visual way to start teaching your young child how to separate their clothes into the proper place.

And children love helping mom and dad do chores around the house.

Smart Space is one of our generous sponsors here on Kids in the Capital. Heather and Karen often contribute excellent posts with tips and ideas for parents to try when organizing their family lives. Today, we're happy to be able to give away one of these hamper totes so you can start teaching your child how to separate their clothes.

HOW TO ENTER

• Just leave us a comment on this post telling us the one room or place in your house you'd love to get organized. (Mine is my office - it's like the bottomless pit!)
• You have until 6:00pm Monday, May 21st to enter.
• We'll  announce the winner in next Tuesday's post.

Be sure to follow @smart_spaces on Twitter and like their Facebook page  to get tons of great tips for organizing and simplifying your life!

Going Bananas Over Allergy-Free Desserts (egg/dairy/nut/sesame/soy/wheat/gluten-free)

by Meghan Allergy-free and kid-friendly can pose a real challenge in the food department. When it comes to kid-friendly and allergy-free desserts the choices are limited unless you want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Allergy-free baking can be tricky (as with regular baking) and a lot of moms want easy – not everyone is a Martha Stewart.

It is difficult to find easy pre-made allergy-free desserts as they usually cater to only one food allergy or they are ridiculously expensive. I remember bringing home a $30 allergy-free cake to treat my family only to have my 3-year-old exclaim it looked yucky and the baby toss it on the floor.

When you want to treat your little ones and you don’t want all the mess/work, I say grab a banana. I live with a bunch of monkeys, so bananas do not last in the fruit bowl. I end up making a second trip to the grocery store to replenish what was eaten. Even the pickiest of eaters seem to be okay with a banana, so why not make a quick dessert from it? You can even get your picky eater involved!

Now you may wonder how a simple banana could be transformed into an easy dessert without just looking like a boring banana – “yippee mom, bananas again for dessert”.

Here are 5 ways to get your kids going bananas for these banana inspired allergy-free desserts:

Banana Sushi

As adults, we just love to use chopsticks even though we could take the simple route and grab a fork. My oldest daughter is fascinated by chopsticks, but wouldn’t touch real sushi. When she saw that I was rolling up some bananas for dessert, she was ready to use those chopsticks.

Directions: Slice 1.5 inch wide strips of a tortilla wrap. Spread sunflower seed butter (I use SunButter) on one side of the strip. Slice 1.5 inch piece of banana and place on one end of the buttered strip. You are then going to roll the banana into the strip. I topped each of the rolls with a little bit of raspberry jam to mimic fish eggs on real sushi.

Banana Boat

Why dirty a bowl when you have a banana?

Directions: Carve out lengthwise the top of the banana. Take a spoon and scrape out some of the banana and place in a bowl (you want to create a partially hollowed cavity in the banana). Mix 1 tbsp of brown sugar, 2 tbsp of oats, and 1 tsp of butter spread (I use Earth Balance – vegan) into the bowl with banana. Mash all together and place back into hollow cavity of banana. Top with dairy-free chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life brand). Place in oven for 10 minutes at 375F (you can make a little stand from aluminum foil). Banana skin will turn a bit black, but insides will be all warm and gooey.

Banana Sundae

A simple summer treat!

Directions: Slice a pineapple and place ring at bottom of bowl. Place one scoop of sorbet in the middle of pineapple ring. Slice banana and layer around sorbet. Melt a few tbsps of dairy-free chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life brand) with one tbsp of rice milk (or any other choice of milk) in microwave – stir. Pour chocolate sauce over sorbet and bananas. Top with a cherry.

Banana Chocolate Fondue

Kids love to get involved and decorate.

Directions: Slice bananas in 2 inch pieces. Melt dairy-free chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life brand) with rice milk (or any other choice of milk) in microwave – stir (1 tbsp of milk for every 3 tbsp of chocolate). Dip banana pieces into melted chocolate and place on plate. Put toothpick in top of banana piece. Let kids decorate with sprinkles or cereal.

Banana Fruit Stick

The easiest and healthiest of all desserts, but children just love anything on a stick! My daughter wouldn’t touch kiwi, but since I put it on a stick next to the bananas, she didn’t make any mention of hating it.

Directions: Cut up bananas, watermelon, kiwi, pineapple, or any other fruit on hand and place on a skewer.

Meghan is the mother of 2 beautiful girls aged 1 and 3. She has been recently diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis which is a form of arthritis. In the process she has discovered that diet severely influences her symptoms as she is intolerant to dairy, gluten, eggs, and corn. She blogs about her daily challenges with dietary restrictions at Bon Appetit Allergy Free Treats and you can also follow her on Twitter .

Flashback : Victoria Day Festival

Here's a great post by Sara about the Victoria Festival from a couple of years ago. I'd never heard of this festival until she first wrote about it! Don't miss out on the Victoria Day Festival which runs from May 11 - 21. We haven't been this year so all the descriptions may not be exactly accurate for what they've got going on this year. ~Lara by Sara

The Victoria Day Festival is the perfect opportunity to combine kid-friendly fun with tulip gazing at Dow's Lake.  The Festival runs from May 13th to May 24th and culminates with a fireworks show on the final evening.  The festival is being held at Queen Juliana Park (corner of Carling and Preston), which is across the road from Commissioner's Park on Dow's Lake.

On the weekends there is a charity breakfast from 7 am to 11 am and all proceeds are donated to CHEO.  The festival opens weekdays at 4 pm and free parking is available (evenings and weekends) at the Sir John Carling building across the road as well as the Dow's Lake NCC parking lot and Dow's Lake Court parking lot (intersection of Champagne and Carling)

We arrived just as the midway opened at 11 o'clock and took advantage of our early start: the boys were oftentimes the only kids on the rides.  The rides are best suited to preschool and elementary children, with only two stomach-churning spinning contraptions on site.  There is a 7 metre high Ferris wheel, which gives you a birds-eye view of Dow's lake and the tulips and several midway games where you can test your hand-eye coordination (for the record, mine is sadly lacking).  My boys especially enjoyed all the vehicle midway rides and took turns driving a fire truck and big rig.  I was greatly appreciative of the seatbelts on every ride, which kept my almost two year old in his seat.

There is a small petting zoo and pony rides at the back of the park, where a very loud turkey is currently in residence.  While we were admiring the sheep, we were treated to a show by the three ducks, who took turns bathing themselves in the water trough.  Even my animal-phobic four year old peered through the fence to check out the action.  Along with balloon animals and concession stands, there is live music everyday starting at 12 pm.

The festival gave the boys a chance to burn off their energy before we ambled through the tulips in Commissioner's Park.  I wasn't expecting so many tulips to still be in bloom and was pleasantly surprised that there were still so many flowers to admire.  The boys enjoyed running along the pathways and through the park and took turns (gently) smelling some of the flowers.

Summer is scheduled to make a return this week so I encourage you to get out and enjoy both the Victoria Day Festival and Tulip Festival before both events end on the 21st.

Sara is mom to a 6-year-old firefighter and 4-year-old monkey.  You can find her at her blog, My Points of View

Flashback: Parenting tip: Bargain hunting at garage sales

by Lara Garage sale season is back in full swing! Will you be checking any out this weekend?

Kids and their stuff can cost a lot of money. They move through clothing and toys so quickly it can be painful.

Shopping at consignment stores and sales is one way to save money but in the spring and summer months in Ottawa another great way to save money is to hit garage sales.

I am VERY lucky because my mother is practically garage sale royalty. She knows the tricks to not only get great stuff, she gets it for great prices. And passes it on to my kids! I would guess that at least 80% of the clothing and toys my children have are from garage sales.

I go out a few times a year too though and am thankful for the strategies and tips my mother has passed along to me. And now, with her permission, I pass some of them along to you :)

My 3 cuties, all in garage sale found outfits

- Knowing where you're going ahead of time saves lot of wasted time trying to figure out where the garage sales are. You can look up garage sale postings online the night before and figure out what route makes most sense for you to take to be most efficient.

For me personally, I stick to the big community sales to get the most bang for my buck.

- For kids' stuff you can do drivebys. If you drive by a garage sale and see an exersaucer or any other big children's item, the chances are they have more stuff for kids and it's worth stopping and having a look.

Q in a garage sale rocking chair and sleeper

- Bring exact change. Lots of loonies and toonies, a few quarters and $5 (depending on how long your list of items is). And for any large items keep the maximum amount you're willing to pay with you. You don't want to ask for change after you've been bargaining a person down.

- Keep in mind what is being sold is generally not the latest in styles. For kids they're typically what was being sold 3-5 years ago

- Know what things are worth. Check the ads. My mother's  recommendation is that you don't pay more than 25 cents on the dollar... sometimes the asking price can be as low as 5 cents on the dollar. Once my parents bought a very large set of building blocks for $4. Before they bought it they talked to the seller and she told them that a few specific pieces were broken/missing.They weren’t concerned about those pieces and so for them, it was a great buy.  When they looked things up on the Internet, they found that the original price for a slightly newer model was $80.

- Some sellers are happy to negotiate and others are not. Don't be afraid to try to negotiate and don't get upset if people seem offended you're trying to negotiate. You have a right to ask, they have a right to say no.

Q in a garage sale outfit and exersaucer

- If the price is higher than the maximum you set before you left home and the seller isn't happy to negotiate into your price range, keep walking.  Sometimes, I'll feel the need to explain. Phrases like "that's more than my budget, but thank you so much" can be helpful. My mother often talks of the biggest price difference. She saw a highchair she liked and was told it was $40. She walked away and found exactly the same highchair 4 doors down for $10.

- Ask if the price can be negotiated if you buy a lot  (of the same thing or of different things).

- If items are not priced, find out the price of 2-3 specific items before you start to look through. The first 2-3 that come to hand are just fine. What you want to avoid is spending 15 minutes selecting things, then finding out that their firm price is five times more than your planned price.

K in a garage sale outfit sitting on his garage sale IKEA chair.

- If the buyer really doesn't know what they want to charge for something, suggest a price (like the 25 cent on the dollar rule). They may accept this or there may be a round of negotiation.

- Remember that all sales are final. Take the time to check items out carefully.

It's an amazing money saver and worth the time to head out and do the work a couple of times a year.

Do you shop at garage sales?

Lara is mom to five year old Kiernan and three year old boy/girl twins Quinn and Juliette. Between the kids and her social media consulting business, she spends most of her time running frazzled.

Mother’s day in and around the Capital

by Jenny After spending a lovely morning at the Billings Estate museum Easter weekend, we knew, as a family, that it was a place we wanted to visit again. Centrally located on a gorgeous property, the museum was a perfect venue for my kids, 3 and 5. The staff was welcoming, friendly and had really thought of everything. There was a chocolate Easter egg hunt (complete with a nut-free option for my eldest), face painting, a giant hopscotch board, an egg basket sewing session and all-natural egg dyeing. We went around from station to station, my kids keeping track to make sure we didn’t miss a one. The Easter Bunny was also on hand for pictures and encouragement on the egg hunt.

While this Sunday is my day (to sleep in a bit, I hope), I can’t wait to get out and explore another one of the great museums in Ottawa. Here are some of the special Mother’s day events they have going on this Sunday, May 13. Take note of the mini-manis & chocolate offerings at the Deifenbunker! Mother’s Day Tea at Billings Estate What better place to celebrate Mother’s Day than on the idyllic lawns of Billings Estate National Historic Site? Enjoy a Victorian tea service in the garden, stroll through the grounds, and explore the new Victorian medicine exhibit in Ottawa’s oldest wood-framed building. Tours, crafts and live music will take place from 10a.m to 4p.m. There will also be a flower and plant exchange from 11a.m. to 1p.m. Mother’s Day at the Diefenbunker :  A celebration of the women who served in the Diefenbunker.  A special women's history tour will be given every hour in English, featuring clips from the Diefenbunker's oral history project. Mothers can relax at the mini-manicure station as children craft. Mini-manicures will be offered to mothers and children from 12-3. A colourful display by Ottawa’s own Cold War artist, Marcia Lea, will surely be a thing to see! And what’s a women’s day out without chocolate? Of course, the Diefenbunker will be partnering up with local and surrounding chocolatiers and bakers to offer fabulously themed desserts. Program runs from 11am-2pm.

Cumberland Heritage Village Museum - Famous Funnies-Family Cartooning Workshop It’s the good guys versus the bad guys as the super heroes take over a family cartooning lesson led by our professional artist! Families can discover early cartoon super heroes like Superman and characters like Little Orphan Annie. Young visitors can dress in their favourite character costumes. Program runs from 1pm to 3pm. Cost: Regular admission applies plus $10 workshop fee.

What are your plans this Mother’s day? Any special requests or are you just looking forward to a day with your family?

Jenny is mom to 5 (and ¾) year old Ryan and 3 year old Jaime. A communications specialist with a love for food, wine and outdoor fun, you can find Jenny on twitter @jblatts or in the Kids in the Capital Facebook group.