Just what is zulily? It’s a fabulous new online store offering daily sales on top-quality apparel, gear and other goodies for moms, babies and kids. Members can enjoy savings of up to 70% off retail prices—not to mention discover some exciting new brands and products. It’s a members-only site so that they can keep their deals “top-secret”, but membership is free!

Each day, zulily launchs 3-4 new deals, and those deals are live for 4 days. They have limited quantities, so when they sell out of an item, it’s gone!  Sign-up and shop zulily.com to save on brands for baby, mom and kids!

Today I purchase the beautiful Truly Me White Dress, shown above, from the brand Hannah Banana for my classy girl, Montana. With summer coming, I think the beautiful dress will be used frequently! I can’t wait to see her in it!

I currently have a contest running AND an exclusive $10 off $30 purchase coupon running on A Mom in Red High Heels. Click over to get all the details and enter to win a gorgeous CJ satchel from timi & leslie courtesy of zulily!  Both end on May 9, 2010.

The wedding season is about to kick into high gear.  I’ve had a few mothers of tween girls ask me about the age cut off for being a flower girl so I thought it might be helpful to clarify the issue.

Typically, a flower girl is a child between 4 and 8 years of age.  Older girls between the ages of 9 and 16 are usually junior bridesmaids.  That said however, age doesn’t have to dictate how a special girl participates in a wedding ceremony.  A wedding is about sharing a special moment with loved ones and older girls can still make charming flower girls.

The role of a flower girl is different from that of a junior bridesmaid.  Flower girls walk up the aisle just before the bride whereas a junior bridesmaid walks with the other bridesmaids.  Last year, we made custom flower girl dresses for two delightful 9 year-old girls.  The flower girl dresses were traditional white sleeveless dresses.  The girls carried small floral nosegays that coordinated with the bridal bouquet.  Both girls were very excited to be part of the wedding and the bride loved the idea of sharing her special day with them.  So the next time there’s a wedding in the family, be open to having a tween flower girl.

contributed by Chief Princess Mom, providing wedding etiquette and flower girl dresses for tween girls.

If it hasn’t already happened, pretty soon your Classy Girl is going to be talking to you about having her first sleep over with her BF.  As a Mom, your first thought will probably be excitement because your daughter is starting to develop her independence.  Your second thought: “Wow, my husband and I can go out that night to a movie and/or dinner–and we don’t need a baby sitter. The third thought: “Is she going to make it through the night?”

Well, I don’t know the answers to any of these questions, but I can help you add a little fun to her send off.  Try an adorable overnight bag from Sassafrass.  You know your classy girl is going to need something to carry all the stuff she will need to get her through the night: her favorite night gown, her favorite bear, puppy, bunny, etc.,  her slippers, tooth brush, her favorite tooth paste, hair brush, hopefully her Ottilie & Lulu Clean Skin Face Wipes, and of course, a complete change of clothes for the morning. Luggage seems too drastic; after all, it’s only for over night. But a cute overnight bag…well, it sort of reinforces that it is only for one night.  The mermaid is only one of the soft, washable fantasy bags that come in everything from princesses, to dragons, to elephants.   Your classy girl can have her own signature overnight bag for $24.95. And believe me, it’s not a bad idea for your daughter to have a signature bag when the sleep overs grow to include 3 or 4 girls.  She has a somewhat better chance of coming home with her own stuff!

A few months ago my daughter chose the hermit crab for her overnight bag.  She takes ownership of her bag and the responsibility of packing for herself.  (Of course, I check.)  There is something that makes me smile when I see her walking out the door with her hermit crab bag.  But it doesn’t come close to the smile on my face when she comes home the next morning.

Healthful Mom, Deborah Hernan

Founder, Ottilie & Lulu

There is something really rewarding about shopping differently to help your child’s school earn some cash. By joining Box Tops for Education and redirecting your online buying habits to go through the Marketplace, you’ll be earning a percentage of your purchase for the school of your choice!

Simply join BTFE.com (Box Tops 4 Education) and choose a school to support. When you start your shopping trips through the Marketplace, a percentage of your purchases automatically goes directly to your school! (If you access a participating merchant’s site in any manner other than by linking directly from the Box Tops for Education Marketplace, your purchase WILL NOT result in a donation to your school.)

There are plenty of great sites to shop for your kiddos in the Marketplace!  A few of our family favorites include:

Barnes & Nobel
Gap/ BabyGap
Old Navy
Disney Store
FAO Schwarz
Leap Frog
Leaps & Bounds
Nordstrom

That’s the short list…there are plenty of other great websites that we enjoy and shop from. We will just make a habit to visit Box Tops for Education before making any online purchases so our school can benefit from our spending.

How about you? Will you join in an important cause…supporting your local school?

I feel like there should be a disclaimer for this post: “If you’ve never been clothes shopping with pre-teenage girls then you might not fully appreciate this.” I’ve helped tons of mothers find special dresses for their daughters and I’ve found that there are 3 things to always remember:

• give yourself plenty of time,
• be willing to compromise
• stand your ground (no this doesn’t contradict the item above)

Finding a lovely dress for yourself can be difficult, so you know that when you add in the opinion of a tween girl, you’ve increased the difficulty of the task exponentially. The worst thing that you can do is rush the process. Being tired reduces our ability to be patient and diplomatic. As a mother you’ll need to give feedback that isn’t viewed as criticism. When you’re tired, you may rebel at the thought of going to another store to look at more dresses. It helps to remember that your daughter is acquiring valuable experience in evaluating options. If you want to reduce the time spent in the store, then talk about the event months in advance and have your daughter express what she thinks the perfect dress looks like. You and your daughter can look through magazines and go on-line to see a variety of dresses.

As you discuss what she likes, be willing to compromise on the small stuff. I had my heart set on a pearl embellished first communion dress for my daughter but she was thinking “sparkly” and didn’t want “boring old lady pearls”. If you let her select the non-essential elements you’ll be able to stand your ground on the styling and ensure that it’s age appropriate. Our girls are in a rush to grow up. Dressing in older styles, is a way for them to feel grown up. But this is where I encourage mothers of the world to unite and stand your ground. An 8 year old should not look like a small adult. Most of us wouldn’t let our 8 year old watch an “R” rated movie so why would we let her wear a style that is too old for her? Let her choose the color and you can nix the bare midriff or the short skirt.

In the end, keep your sense of humor. After all, twenty years from now, she’ll probably bring up something about the time when you and she went shopping and you …

Contributed by:
Chief Princess Mom, A Little Indulgence