Easter Clothes
A quick cartoon drawn in Photoshop. I like imagining the words being spoken by George Costanza’s mother.
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A quick cartoon drawn in Photoshop. I like imagining the words being spoken by George Costanza’s mother.
Love is in the air! I’ve created a bunch of art over the last year that lends itself well to Valentine’s Day. And while they have not yet been transformed into real live paper greeting cards, I thought it would be nice to make them into eCards for Kim & Jason Insiders, who are pretty much our favorite people on the face of the Earth. (Yet another perk of free membership.)
Only Insiders can send them, but recipients don’t need to be an Insider to receive them. It’s a stamp-free, paper-free benefit for people who want to send a little digital love across the Interwebs. Enjoy!
Continue Reading →
One of the attendees of last summer’s Escape Adulthood Summit was inspired by the Barbarian birthday party we held to celebrate our son Ben turning one. She wanted to have one with her family on Christmas Eve, but she was worried about how it would be received. Unsurprisingly, it would be quite a departure from their normal holiday traditions.
Judging by the pictures she sent, it seems like it went over pretty well. (Bonus points for the twisty straw!)
Sometimes the biggest hurdle to initiating a Small Rebellion is our own fear. That feeling of dread or uncertainty is Adultitis’ last stand against against you. 90% of the time, our attempts at a Small Rebellion will be well received and much appreciated. So maybe it falls flat the other 10% of the time.
The cool thing? In either scenario, Adultitis loses.
For the last week I have felt this unsaid pressure to take down the Christmas tree. It’s January 15th, we “should probably” get it all put away. (Hmm, is this a “rule that doesn’t exist“?) Here’s the dealio… when the tree comes down, I’m afraid that the reality of January floods the house. It’s cold. Spring is a LONG ways away. Like, not even in sight. January has the potential to be quite BLAH without the twinkling lights on our beautiful tree.
But if I think about it even more honestly, the real reason is not the winter blues. It’s this… Continue Reading →
If you’ve been around here for awhile, you’ve probably heard of a Pajama Run. The Minivan Express is similar, but with a holiday twist. First, print up some golden tickets (templates here) and hide them under your kids’ pillows. While the normal bedtime routine is underway, prep some popcorn and hot chocolate in coffee mugs (with lids).
When the kids discover the golden tickets under their pillows, it’s time to grab some slippers and head for the family vehicle (doesn’t have to be a minivan :) to get their ticket punched. Then, with a soundtrack of Christmas music playing in the background, go for a ride around town looking at neighborhood light displays. You could also plan on stopping by the mall to get pictures taken with Santa or go ice skating if you have a rink nearby.
Family traditions are important and an easy way to create priceless memories that your entire clan will cherish forever. The Minivan Express might be a good one to start this year.
According to Wikipedia, “Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, an ancient Germanic people, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable.”
Most of the time vandalism is mean and perpetrated by jerk heads.
But what if an act of vandalism is done is a spirit of cheerfulness and actually adds or enhances beauty? Is it still called vandalism? Continue Reading →
I made some art that features some whimsical little Christmas friends painted over the top of sheet music for classic Christmas carols. I was originally going to make them into a set of real-live Christmas cards. And them time went by too fast. Oh well, maybe next year.
So I decided to turn them into eCards for Kim & Jason Insiders. (Yet another perk of free membership.) Recipients don’t need to be an Insider to receive them, so you don’t have to worry about hassling them to sign up. Just a fun way to spread a little Christmas cheer without having to buy stamps :)
Here are the four designs:
What sorts of things do you do every Christmas, the exact same way, because you’ve ALWAYS done them that way?
What if you changed things up this year?
I’m not talking about the sacred, untouchable family traditions (although maybe I am). But what about the things you do automatically, without much thought and without any real meaning? What if, instead of trying to make your Christmas cookies look like Martha Stewart’s, you went 180º in the other direction and made them ugly instead. You know, on purpose.
The photos of the treats above are from my friend Soyphet, whose office held an Ugly Cookie decorating event this year. Ugly indeed. Funny thing is, I still want to eat them. And they make me smile.
Sure feels like a more fun and meaningful tradition than the boring old Christmas cookie swap.
A few months ago, as our son Ben’s first birthday was approaching, Kim and I wondered how we could make his party special. We were well aware of the fact that he would remember precisely none of it, so our focus was actually about making it memorable for the guests. Continue Reading →
Star Wars stuff was always in the conversation when it came to what I wished for from Santa, but I remember one year when I had Go-Bots listed as the top of my list. (He delivered, big time.)
I’d love to know what I was pining for those other years.
This ornament idea is a pretty cool way to record the visions that kept your kids on their best behavior through the Decembers of Christmas Past. You can buy one here, but I’m pretty sure you crafty types could figure out a way to make your own!
It’s a busy time of year. Most of us are knee-deep in the holiday frenzy.
There are trees to trim, decorations to put up, gifts to purchase, cards to send, office parties to attend, cookies to bake, crowds to navigate, presents to wrap, miles to be traversed, groceries to buy, meals to prepare, snow to shovel, rooms to clean, in-laws to suffer, and to-do lists to be tackled.
Prime feeding ground for Adultitis, especially if you take it all too seriously.
Please don’t forget there are also memories to be made, cookies to be eaten, jokes to tell, ho ho ho’s to be hollered, bells to jingle, carols to be crooned, laughs to be shared, cardboard boxes to be transformed into castles, and (depending on where you live) snowflakes to catch on your tongue.
This holiday season, please don’t forget the silliness.
The 3rd Annual Kim & Jason Virtual Halloween Parade was another resounding success. We get more entries every year, which makes judging all the more challenging. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth, but when the dust settled, these were the winners: Continue Reading →
Halloween has come and gone. For those of you that still have candy leftover from the big haul, I applaud your self-control. We try to limit the amount of candy that comes into our house because we know the chances of it lasting more than twenty-four hours is about as good as that moldy jack-o-lantern throwing itself away.
But if you have some extra candy corn, Snickers bars or Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups* hanging around, Curbly.com has assembled a great roundup of 10 recipes that use leftover Halloween candy. Check ‘em out here!
* Anyone that has any Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups leftover at this point should be deported. Because I’m pretty sure they’re communist.
Because a girl’s gotta have what a girl’s gotta have.
Made with my iPad.
This is the third year in which we will be combining the awesomeness of the Halloween parade with the amazing connecting power of the Internets. It’s our annual Kim & Jason Virtual Halloween Parade! Continue Reading →
Feratu Bites Cereal Box Print by Daniel Davis
Daniel Davis makes monsters for a living. Daniel and his wife Dawna are the purveyors of Steam Crow, a neat little Arizona-based company that draws monsters, invents their stories, and makes products based on them. I stumbled across Steam Crow at the San Diego Comic Con last summer and was blown away by their colorful, whimsical booth. In a sea of licensed Star Wars and superhero memorabilia, here was someone successfully selling their own original creations (which is no easy feat!). And when I learned that this husband and wife team worked together and traveled to shows with their son — affectionately referred to as Goblin Boy — I knew I had to interview them.
In this chat, Daniel and I have a man-to-man talk (our wives were otherwise preoccupied during the interview) about how one gets started drawing monsters and, more importantly, how one gets to the point where he believes he can make a living doing it and quits his “safe” job at a credit union. We also talk about the importance of permission granters, the misperceptions of “overnight success,” the realities of going into business with your spouse, and of course, why Halloween is so awesome. (Daniel and Dawna host an event called Keen Halloween with the goal of helping you make Halloween even better.)
I think you’ll find this interview to be a real treat! Continue Reading →
Remember our epic Small Rebellion in which tons of people used sidewalk chalk to scribble inspirational quotes in public spaces? It was awesome.
In an effort to take awesomeness to a whole new level, how about making glow-in-the-dark chalk! We think it’s a great way to spookify your sidewalks this Halloween. Crystal from Growing a Jeweled Rose has provided the complete instructions for making glowing chalk. It requires making up some batches of glow water (how awesome does that sound?!) and fortunately, she has the recipe to that as well. Thanks Crystal! (And thanks to Kathleen Cummings for sharing the link :)
Taking free candy that someone is offering from the trunk of their car is normally not a very good idea. But we heartily endorse it in the case of Trunk or Treat. Also known as Halloween tailgating, trunk-or-treating is like trick-or-treating, except instead of going door-to-door for candy, you go trunk-to-trunk. Continue Reading →
In celebration of this patriotic day, we are dusting off a video from the archives. Enjoy this classic episode of the Escape Adulthood Show from a few years back in which we experimented with grilling some unusual goodies from childhood. Like Twinkies and powdered donuts and fruit roll-ups.
Also, here are 4 Ways to Guarantee a Fun 4th of July!
I got this idea — and the photo — from Lisa Braithwaite, a K&J Nation member and all around person of awesomeness. It all began last Christmas when someone pulled out a mustache on a stick, which was used in photos at a family wedding the year before. Since there was only one mustache on a stick (note to self: always make sure to have plenty of mustaches on a stick on hand), someone else pulled out a pen and started drawing finger mustaches. Within about two minutes, everyone was in line for one and a good time was had by all.
Lisa’s favorite is her mother-in-law, who is in the third row down, third from left. Although not a particularly wild and crazy person, she got into the fun just like everybody else.
Lisa dubbed it “Mustache Christmas.” But this is June, and Christmas is still half a year away (although we’ll probably start seeing Christmas decorations any day now…) So do you see what I did there in the title? I changed “Christmas” to “Cookout” because it’s summer and that would be more timely. Pretty clever, huh?
Ok, ok, not as clever as the idea itself, which of course can be done any time of year. But I can only assume that the more people you have, the more fun it becomes.
Next time you gather for a cookout, a campfire, Christmas, or pretty much anything else, be sure to pack a marker to make finger mustaches for all!
Had I known about this idea two years ago, it probably would have made it into The Kim & Jason Guide to Cheap Family Fun. But I didn’t, so here you go.
It’s called The Flour Game and if you like fun and aren’t afraid of getting messy, this is for you.
Get a teacup or small bowl and pack it tight with flour. Regular, white, flour. Flip the cup over onto a plate, remove it, and carefully place a Lifesaver candy on top. (Some people use a coin of some sort, but candy is better in every way.) Then everyone takes turns cutting the flour with a knife, taking care not to disturb the Lifesaver. The person who makes the Lifesaver fall has to fish it out with their mouth. No hands — or feet — allowed.
I’m not sure who invented this game of awesomeness, but I learned about it here.
It is a game in search of an occasion. It’s perfect for birthdays, Christmas parties, even National Flour Month, which, of course, is March.
Or, if you’re having a case of the Mondays, you could find some flour and go crazy. And have fun!
Imagine the look of surprise you’ll see when someone in your home or office, on a mission to secure a cup of coffee, walks into a room entrenched with dozens — hundreds! — of Peeps, poised for an ambush!
The idea of staging a Peep De Resistance, shared with us by K&J Nation member Brit Neyrinck, was not in our 20 Unconventional Things You Can Make with Peeps post, but it should have been.
And if this is not already part of your Easter tradition, it should be.
This article gives you all the tips you need, including these great gems: Continue Reading →
Sometimes people get all grumpy about how eggs and bunnies and candy often muddy the real meaning of Easter. Even though eggs and rabbits are often considered symbols of new life, I can see their point.
But it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing proposition.
Check out these two examples of fun Easter crafts. The first one, shown above, comes from the Rice Krispies website. It’s a Rice Krispie Treat shaped like an egg, with M&Ms hidden inside. Neat, huh?
The second one is a nifty project from Not Martha. On the surface, it looks like a regular hard-boiled Easter egg:
Continue Reading →
When it comes to Peeps, our house is divided. Kim is not a fan, but I have a marshmallowy soft spot in my heart for them. Even though I can’t eat as many of them as I used to, they still provide me nostalgic memories of my childhood when I’d eat them by the pound. (Which has to be a lot, right?)
Peeps make some people happy. They make other people sick.
But love ‘em or hate ‘em, there are a surprising amount of things you can make WITH them, from the edible to the decorative. Here are our favorites. Continue Reading →
