How to Find the Best Deals at a Children's Consignment Sale

Why pay retail prices for children’s’ clothes and toys when you can pay a fraction of the price for lightly used items at a children’s consignment sale?

Find a local consignment sale by looking through the newspaper, online websites, and by word-of-mouth advertising. The basic idea behind a children's consignment sale is that someone gives an organization, often a church or school, some articles of clothing or toys which are clean and lightly used. The organization will tag the item with a price and a reference to the seller. The general public is admitted and when someone buys the item, a large percentage of the money goes to the seller and a small portion to the organization, so both parties benefit. These consignment sales may be listed in local newspapers or even mentioned on web sites like Craigslist.org. Friends who also have young children are also good resources for discovering new consignment sales.

Consign several items yourself or volunteer to help with the sale. Most organizations who conduct consignment sales will offer a discount to the people who consign their items. Volunteers who help with the sale also may receive a discount and be allowed early entrance to the sale. Early entrance is a great privilege because it will give you access to the best items at the best prices. Also, you get to shop with a much smaller crowd. Some popular things to search for at children's consignment sales are the "boutique" items, which are normally isolated in their own section. These are high dollar items like fancy dresses and shoes and usually cost more than the average items.

Be prepared to shop aggressively. If you do not consign or volunteer for a sale, but you do want to shop, be sure to arrive early and bring a container, like a clothes basket to carry your purchases. Also be sure to bring some cash as many consignment sales are not equipped to process credit cards. Be prepared to navigate through a highly motivated crowd. Due to the low prices and crowded spaces, it is not uncommon for tempers to flair and for people to get into arguments over items. It is best to avoid these confrontations if possible.

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How to Protect Your Family from Home Invaders

The security of your family is very important. Not everyone can afford home security systems or guns. This article describes several easy and inexpensive ways to prepare a home to protect your family.

Always know that if someone wants to break into your home badly enough, they will find a way. That doesn't mean that you should make it easy for them to do so. It is surprising to me how many people have told me that they lock the doors to their home only while away. This is very dangerous! Purchase a deadbolt lock for any doors that are easily accessible to the public and keep these doors locked at all times. Start a habit of locking all doors at all times. If you leave to go to the store, lock the door behind you. When you get home... lock the door behind you. Teach children to lock doors behind them and to always see who is knocking at the door or ringing the doorbell before opening the door.

If the home is equipped with wooden window panes, use a power drill to drill a hole in one corner of each window where the upper and lower panes meet. Make the hole large enough to insert a heavy gauge nail. The nail should be easy to remove in case of emergency. It's not a bad idea to tie a piece of string to the head of the nail to make it easy to pull out. The point of the nail is to make the window difficult to open from the outside.

To secure a sliding glass door, cut a broom handle or stick to fit the space in the track behind the door where it slides when it is opened. It is very easy to bypass the latch on a sliding glass door, so be sure to leave the stick in position while the door is not in use. If you have a fenced-in yard, be sure to lock the gate when not-in-use. Also lock storage sheds with a lock large enough that it may be seen from outside the fence.

Leave a light on during the night, both inside the house and outside. This may just deter someone from breaking in if they think someone may be awake inside the house. Also, it's easier for crooks to operate in the dark. If you own a dog, give them full run of the house during the night. They have amazing hearing and will let you know if someone is snooping around outside.

Cover all windows with shades or blinds at night so that it is difficult to see into the home. If it is easy for someone to see from the outside that you own the latest game system, a huge expensive TV, or maybe some expensive artwork, then it may prove tempting for a would-be thief to put your home at the top of their list. Actually, if you can afford all of these high-dollar items, then a home security system is probably a wise investment too. The bottom line is that your family's safety comes before all material things. If you find yourself in the situation where someone has entered your home, let them take your money or some of your belongings if it means that they leave without harming anyone. Then call the police and file a report.


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How to Throw a Halloween Lock-In Party

It's that spooky time of year again when ghost and ghouls walk the streets in search of fun and yummy treats. Keep children safe and sound this year while entertaining them and create long-lasting memories with a Halloween lock-in party!

A lock-in party is an exciting way to entertain a large number of children, while keeping them safe from the outside world. During the Halloween season, a lock-in is the perfect way to celebrate with a large group of children, while reassuring parents that their little ones will not be roaming along dark streets, accepting candy from complete strangers.

The first step is to acquire a building for the event. This building must be safe and all entrances must be capable of being locked in a way that outsiders cannot sneak in and insiders cannot sneak out. Many churches have family centers that serve this purpose perfectly and will allow members of the church to use the facilities for free. A perfect building will be equipped with a kitchen, a large room or rooms for sleeping, a gymnasium, adequate restrooms, and many smaller rooms for separate events.

Well before the event is scheduled to take place, the coordinator of the lock-in should determine approximately how many people it will be possible to accommodate during the lock-in. Be sure to also check fire safety codes and set limits to the number of people who will be able to attend based upon these limitations. As you begin to generate interest in the event, try to determine the total number of people that will need to be fed and calculate the total cost of refreshments. It is a good idea to charge a small amount for each guest to cover these expenses unless an organization or church is willing to sponsor the event. Collect permission slips for all participants who are under the age of 18. Verify that a phone number and contact name is available for each child. Be sure to arrange for enough adult volunteers to be present during the entire event to assist with the festivities and to ensure the safety of all guests. It is not a bad idea to hire a security guard to watch the building and to regulate who comes and goes through the main entrance.

In the days leading up to the lock-in, begin decorating the rooms of the building. The adult volunteers will be very useful for this work. Orange, black, and white streamers, fake spider webs, and large sheets of black paper make good decorations. If colored lighting is available, it may be used to create eerie effects. Plan which games and activities will take place in each room. Some suggestions are bobbing for apples, a cake walk, a bean bag toss, and even a maze or a small haunted house. Another popular idea is to create a fake jail cell in one room. Play a game where you have people "arrested" and put in the jail cell for 5 minutes at a time. Allow enough time for other recreation as well. Be sure there are some basketballs and misc. sports equipment available in case you run out of Halloween games. Depending on the age group, you can also organize some games like "Duck, duck, goose" and other physical activities that will keep the children occupied. Also do some research and come prepared to tell some scary and some funny ghost stories in case there are moments when the children become bored.

Buy all food supplies and drinks just before the event. Be sure to make some treat bags to send home the next morning with each child. If the building has a sound system, prepare a recording with some scary sounds to play randomly throughout the evening. Be sure to set a time for everyone to be present for the lock-in and also have a time when the doors will lock. Arrange a time for everyone to go to sleep and a time when the doors will open the next day for parents to pick up their children. Develop a complete set of rules for the event and post them on a sign for all to see as they enter the building.

The night of the event, be sure that, as the event coordinator, you are constantly monitoring the activities in all areas of the building. Delegate this task among the adult volunteers as well. Have fun, but be mindful that the responsibility of the safety of each guest is in your hands. If anyone becomes too disruptive, use the contact information for that individual and contact the parents, regardless of the time of night.

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How to Announce a Pregnancy to Family and Friends

So you just found out that you are going to be a parent. How exciting! How should you inform your family and friends? Here are some suggestions.

One idea is to have a huge gathering of family and friends and tell everybody at once, but the problem with that is that you don't get to see everyone's reaction. I prefer a more personal visit with each person so that you can share a conversation with each one and see the joy on their faces when you share your good news. Save the big parties for the baby showers or just have a big gathering after everybody knows.

To begin, take a piece of paper and write a list of your closest family and friends. You will want to arrange these names in order by when they will receive the good news. In my opinion the parents of the expecting mother and father, if they're still around, should be the first ones to know the good news, since they will be your child's grandparents.

Decide who lives close enough to visit and who will need to receive a call instead. Plan this carefully because good news travels fast. You don't want someone very close to you to receive a phone call from someone else before you are able to tell them. Plan your visits so that you can make phone calls to the out-of-town friends and family while you are on the road from one in-person visit to the other. This is the most efficient way of reaching more people in a shorter amount of time.

For your parents and grandparents, it is a good idea to present them with a gift; something with a significant reference to grandkids or great-grandkids. This gives an element of surprise so that you can watch the look on their face change as they realize what you're telling them. It is very exciting for everyone involved. A book about how to spoil grandkids or a picture frame or flip book with "grandkids" engraved on it are some suggestions.

Take pictures while you are visiting with your friends and family and then write about the experience, including the date and time that you told them. These will make interesting entries into your baby's book and you'll be glad that you took the time to do it when you read them years from now.

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