May you discover the magic of la Navidad all over again! Merry Christmas!

I am part of the Windows Champions Program. As a Windows Champion on behalf of SpanglishBaby, I am loaned a laptop, and, on occasion, Microsoft products such as software to assist me in developing content for my blog posts. All opinions are my own.

Do you send out Christmas cards? This season is so busy that if you haven’t gotten around to it yet, you’re running out of time to get them to the post office and sent so that they arrive before the holiday. If you’re sending a card from the U.S. to anywhere in Latin America, you’re probably already too late. (Honestly, I don’t even attempt it anymore. I sent handmade cards to family in El Salvador around 2008 and they still haven’t arrived! Who knows what happened to them.)

One solution to consider is sending your holiday greeting online. The Hallmark “Go Cards” app is a free download from the Windows 8 app store, and they even have a few cards in Spanish.

Once you download the app, simply open it and choose “Winter Holidays.” Select a card, personalize it, and send! All the cards are $3.49, about the average cost of a printed card, but these are customizable so that you can write your message in whichever language your recipient might prefer and include a photo of the niños, too!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Have we told you that being a SpanglishBaby subscriber comes with perks? Well, it does! Not only will you guarantee you never miss one of our articles and finds, but you also get access to exclusive and free downloads of printables for bilingual kids, as well as giveaways for subscribers only.

This month we’ve put together a holiday pack in Spanish with:

• Bingo navideño
• Juego de memoria navideño
• Tarjetas de regalo
• Carta a Papá Noel

You’ll be able to download it as soon as you subscribe below. If you’re already a subscriber, just check your SpanglishBaby email and you’ll see a link to download the full pack for free! We hope you and your peques love it!

We are excited to share our favorite bilingual and bicultural Holiday gifts with you! As we do every year, we’ve gathered some of the best regalitos of the season to feature in our 2013 Holiday Gift Guide for Bilingual Kids. This very unique gift guide includes Toys with English and Spanish features, our Favorites (De todo un poco) and Ana and Roxana’s Picks - our co-founders and experienced bilingual moms share their must-haves. Plus, check out the non profit organizations we’re featuring, spread the love this holiday season and donate to those who need it the most.

Click here to check out (and share!) SpanglishBaby’s 2013 Holiday Gift Guide for Bilingual Kids!

The Giveaway!

You know we love to share the love, so to celebrate the holidays we have a huge giveaway of some of our favorite items from our  2013 Holiday Gift Guide for Bilingual Kids!  ONE lucky winner will get one of each of these gifts featured below. The total value of this prize is over $450 USD!!

Looking for a decorative, yet educational and classy gift? Customizable World Maps by Children Inspire Design are perfect for a child’s room or anywhere in the house, really! Place your heart anywhere in the world where your’s belongs… (ARV $60.00)

Baby Alive Baby All Gone Bilingual by Hasbro - By holding her wrist down for a few seconds you can switch from English to Spanish! Doll comes with an outfit, bananas, spoon, bowl and a sippy cup. So sweet! (ARV $36.95)

The Dual Language Translator by Ingenio is perfect for your preschool aged kid. It includes 17 double-sided cards with useful everyday words including numbers, shapes, weather and much more. ¡Vamos a aprender español! (ARV $16.99)

We just love MamaYala’s creations! With the MamaYala Flash Cards  the whole family can play and learn vocabulary from Latin America and Spain. Includes a 100% cotton & customizable carrying bag, ¡Qué cute! (ARV $15.95)

You and your familia are going to love the Celebrations Around the World Activity Box by Lakeshore. You will have materials to celebrate five holidays: Cinco de Mayo, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Chinese New Year and Independence Day.  How cool is that?! (ARV $34.99)

The Orphaned Earring is a non-profit blog dedicated to bringing arts and crafts, school supplies as well as year-round festivities to four orphanages in Latin America, Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico through the sales of hand-made bracelets from donated orphaned earrings. The winner will receive a set of two bracelets. (ARV $15.00)

For kids ages 3-6 Ladybug en español is an excellent reading tool, plus your child will love the illustrations! Read our review A Magazine for Children: Ladybug en Español. The winner will receive a one-year subscription of both the print and digital publications of Ladybug en español, Ask en español and Babybug en español. (ARV of over $150 USD)

As soon as you arrive home from the hospital play Spanish lullabies to your sweet baby with  Twilight Turtle Tunes! With wireless Bluetooth technology you can get the Premium app (available for $1.99) and play your mix of canciones de cuna to soothe your precious bebé. (Prize only includes one Twilight Turtle Tunes, Premium app not included.) (ARV $51.95)

For ages 3-12 Baking Around The World Kit by Handstandkids is the perfect gift for kids who love to cook and bake (and for those who might like to!) With recipes from around the world, our young bakers will enjoy learning about other cultures’ sweets. Yummy! (ARV $25.00)

Lanugo — La Sinfonía de… includes a unique personalized CD with your child’s name sang in each fun & engaging song! Plus the CD comes with your child’s name printed on it, as well as with a set of stickers — we love it! (ARV $14.99)

Se habla Spanglish Tee by Dos Borreguitas - We can’t say the word Spanglish enough so we’d like to wear it as well! This makes a great gift for your mamá, hija, tía, or anyone in your Spanglish familia! (ARV $20.00)

Little Passports‘ mission is to inspire children to learn about the world. Kids can get a package every month with country-specific souvenirs, stickers, photos, activity sheets and much more! Recommended for ages 5-10 years old. Yes, you can raise a world traveler and explorador! Winner will receive a 1-month subscription. (ARV $10.95)

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Thanksgiving is almost here and before we have a house full of food, family and friends I wanted to take time with my kids to make cards to thank those that are in our lives.

My kids love quick crafts and I love easy clean up!  These DIY washi tape turkey Thanksgiving gratitude cards are definitely fast and so easy, not to mention the little turkey is adorable! My son is now learning to write sentences so this will be a great way to document his milestone this holiday.

To make these Easy DIY Thanksgiving Cards you will need:

• cardstock- brown and white
• glue spots — 3d or popup work best
• washi tape in festive colors
• scissors
• marker
• optional- circle punches in 2″ and 2.5″

Let’s get started!

If you have punches go ahead a punch out one of each, if not feel free to freehand your circles on the brown cardstock. You will need one for the body of your turkey and one for the head.

Using the body circle (the larger on) adhere the washi tape to the back. We used about 2 inches long and folded over 3/4 of the way leaving a sticky edge for adhering to the back of our turkey body.

Yours should look like the picture above. Add as many washi-tape feathers as you’d like!

At this time prepare your card. Take the white card stock, fold the long way, cut and fold again. This makes 2 cards. The crease of the card will be at the top.

Have the kids adhere the washi tape. Washi tape is forgivable and can be repositioned. No mistakes no hassles!

Once all your feathers are on, using a glue spot, adhere the head of your turkey.

Flip your turkey over and add some wash tape legs. We cut a stip in half and added them on just like the feathers.

Add three glue spots to the body part and adhere to your card towards the top. Set aside.

‘

Add a beak and some gobble! Cut a triangle out of washi tape turn it upside down. Crinkle some red washi tape for the gobble, adhere to the back of the upside down triangle and stick to the head circle.

Add a sentiment — follow this easy tutorial.  Decorate with some washi tape,  add to card with some glue spots and done!

Make a few more and don’t forget to have the kids write inside! Ready to be given to those you are most thankful for!

Here’s a great idea: Neighborly Thank You Gifts with Free Printables to kick off your Thanksgiving week! The lovely thing about this activity is that it’s super kid friendly and you can share it with your vecinos or la policia, the local fire fighters, el cartero, or your family members when they come over for Thanksgiving dinner.

If your children are little then all they have to do is hand out the notes as is, but I bet they still would like to scribble their name.  If they are older then you can encourage them to write a message, if they’d like.  To download your Gracias Labels just click here: Neighborly Thank You Labels

What our familia did is we bought a box of chocolates and stuffed each bag with chocolates and these cute notes.  Our kids helped us get them together and then placed them all in a basket. As we walk out the door or someone comes to our home we will fill their day with a joyful treat in hopes to remind them that they are appreciated.

At dinner time we discussed all the people they had an opportunity to share their Thank You gift with and my son’s eyes lit up and said, “It made me so happy.”  ¡Que lindo!  My older boy shared what each person’s facial expressions were like when they received the gift and he said, “It made them smile.”  Enjoy brightening up your neighbor or community helper with these treats.

I had the opportunity to review the five bilingual board books that form part of the Arte Kids Books collection: Black & Blanco!, Colors Everywhere, 1,2,3 Sí. Animal Amigos! Hello Círculos!  are colorful and full of learning opportunities! The sturdy board books provide colorful images, text in English and Spanish and at the end of each book, an explanation of the artwork that is included on each page. The artwork in the books are quite diverse, coming from all over the world.

One of the things I loved about this series is that it provides learning opportunities for younger and older children. For a younger child that is not very verbal yet, the books are great because of the great colorful pictures, and simplicity of the text. With older children, a parent can talk about the artwork, where the artists are from in the world, etc. The books also provide questions that create an interactive experience. For example, “Can you walk like an elephant?/Puedes caminar como un elefante?”

These books will open a world of color, art and fun to your little one. Make sure you check them out!

The Giveaway!

We’re giving away one set of the entire Arte Kids collection (5 books) to FIVE lucky winners! All you have to do is visit the Arte Kids site and come back here to leave us a comment letting us know which of the five books you’re the most excited about reading to your child. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

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In the world of children’s books, we often speak about the window and the mirror. It is of course important for our kids’ books to serve as a mirror and for them to see themselves in what they read. On the other hand, books must also provide a window into experiences and cultures other than our own. My kids are surrounded by books. Books we own, books from the library… suffice it to say, books are everywhere. Okay, okay, we own a company that helps families discover books, but we are not unlike many other families in our neighborhood. For us, books are in abundance. And yet, throughout the U.S. and in many other countries around the world, there are kids growing up with no books in their homes at all.

Waiting for the Biblioburro gives a window into many things for our kids. First, we are introduced to rural life in Colombia, where a teacher moving away means no more school or access to books for local children. Ana, the main character of the story, reads her sole book over and over again, until she and her village friends are one day surprised by a biblioburro, a teacher from the city who acts as a mobile library for children throughout the countryside. Ana’s deep appreciation for her books, and the love she has for reading and writing, resonate with child and parent alike.

The best part about this uplifting story is that it is based on the real life Biblioburro, which gives us a meaningful opportunity to talk with our little ones about the value of reading and books, and what it means when they are not easy to obtain.  At Zoobean, we have created English and Spanish reading guides to accompany the book and enhance your experience while enjoying it. We hope you love the story as much as we do, and would love to hear your feedback on the book and guide. ¡Qué disfruten!

Special for SpanglishBaby members, enter SPANGLISH at checkout to receive 50% off the first month of a new subscription on Zoobean!

English Guide Here

Spanish Guide Here

The Giveaway!

We’re giving away one copy of Biblioburro to THREE lucky winners. All you have to do is leave us a comment letting us know who you’d like to win this giveaway for. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

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Jordan Lloyd BookeyJordan Lloyd Bookey is Chief Mom and Co-Founder at Zoobean, a discovery platform and service that handpicks book and app selections for each individual child. Every book or app from Zoobean is curated by a team of experts…who also happen to be parents and librarians! These curators also provide reading guides with literacy tips and fun activities for the books selected for each child. Jordan leads Zoobean’s marketing and curation efforts, looking after the content and creative direction of the site. Before she decided to make the leap as an entrepreneur, Jordan served as Google’s Head of K-12 Education Outreach, where she was responsible for the company’s worldwide programs that expand access to technology and computer science kids. Prior to that, Jordan led the Diversity & Talent Inclusion efforts for Google’s Midwest and East Coast offices.Jordan earned an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University in Latin American Studies, spending time in Venezuela and Cuba, and graduated with an MBA from The Wharton School of Business. Before graduate school, Jordan taught middle school Social Studies and Language Arts at the Seed School of Washington, DC, and served as a program director at a literacy‐focused nonprofit.Jordan is originally from Des Moines, IA, and now lives with her family in Washington, DC. You can usually find her at 1776 DC, working on Zoobean with her husband and Chief Dad, Felix, or exploring the city and trying to keep up with her children, Cassius and Florence.

We felt fortunate to have the pleasure of chatting a bit during a roundtable with the talented and funny actress, comedian, voice artist, producer writer and now mom of 2 young boys, Amy Poehler. Amy is the starring voice of Jenny, a strong female turkey character and natural leader who falls in love with Reggie (the main character turkey), in the movie “FREE BIRDS.”

During the interview we got to know a little more about Amy and a side of her that we don’t usually get to see, being a mom. Free Birds centers on Thanksgiving and the holiday season, so we asked her about her plans for the holiday season, and also asked if she or her family have any traditions they keep or new traditions they have recently started. Amy’s response, “I like to cook. I don’t get to do it as much as I’d like, but I like it. I feel like holidays in general–correct me if I’m wrong, are becoming really loose in a good way. I feel like everybody’s deciding how they want it to be. Especially when you have your own family, you kind of get to decide how you want to spend your holiday, like what suddenly is important. I like watching movies with my kids on Thanksgiving night. That’s always a really fun thing, especially showing them a movie they’ve never seen is always really fun.”

When asked about her career and motherhood and how she feels is the best way to “juggle” between each. Amy replied by saying, “Just kind of figuring out what is good for you. What works for you is what works. Everybody’s thing is different. And especially as you go on, you learn what things are important to you, what things fall away, and that you shouldn’t listen to anybody’s advice, and don’t worry about what anybody says. Do your thing. Whatever works for you and your family is the right thing.”

Amy then opened up and honestly told us about her most embarrassing “mom fail.” “Oh, Gosh. Sometimes, I forget where I’m driving them to. That happens, right?”

Our last question focused on reading to her kids. We asked, “Are there things that you like to read to your kids, or is reading something you like to do for yourself?” Amy replied, “We read all the time. They love books. It’s fun to read to them. Especially when you’re a working mother, it feels like a really good day to connect at the end of the night, to talk to them without forcing them to talk to you.”

Don’t miss Amy’s animated performance in FREE BIRDS from Relativity Media and Reel FX Animation Studios in Theaters on November 1, 2013. And check out our interview with Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson!

You can also visit the official website Like FREE BIRDS on Facebook. Subscribe on YouTube and Follow @FreeBirdsMovie on Twitter and Instagram #FreeBirds

Carla Gutierrez was born in Lima, Peru. She is the founder of Notas De Mama a Spanish blog created for Hispanic moms living in the United States. At Notas de Mamá Carla shares her daily life, family outings, recipes, product reviews and DIY projects. She enjoys crafting and decorating her home, while challenging herself to do it on a budget. Carla loves being a wife and a mom, and raising her 3 year old son in sunny California. She loves teaching her son about the Peruvian and American cultures, and is proud that at age 3 he is fully bilingual. Connect with Carla @notasdemama .

Looking for a last minute craft activity to celebrate Día de los Muertos with the family? Look no further!

The stores are swarming with DIY Christmas ornaments, but I thought it would be super fun to make personalized ornaments for those who passed on in our family. They are not only great for celebration but they are good for years to come. A great keepsake or gift for those in your family!

With just a few of supplies our ornaments were super easy to make and so fun!

To make these for Día de los Muertos Ornaments you will need:

• Glass or acrylic ornament
• Photo of a loved one who has passed
• mod podge
• scissors
• jewels
• glitter glue or paint/ acrylic paint (we used a combination of both)
• paint brush
• and string or twine!

Follow these easy steps to get started!

 Prepare your photo by cutting it to your preferred shape. Circles work best! Add one layer of Mod Podge evenly and adhere your photo face down. Seal it with another layer of Modge Podge and wait for it to dry.

TIP: Add another layer of paper to the photo the same size. I notice our pictures got a little fuzzy after we added details.

 Once your sealing is dry. Decorate this decor will show thru so if you add letters or certain shapes be sure they are mirrored to the correct view through the ornament.

Wait for it to dry.

 Add decor to the front of your ornament. We used jewels to make crosses and roses.  Swirls and flowers are also common designs for Día de los Muertos, or paint what your loved ones loved best!

Once the back and front of your ornament are dry add the last layer of paint to the back of the ornament on the picture side. Wait for the paint to dry and design a sugar skull!

Glitter glue looks amazing on these little ornaments! The kids loved creating dots all over our ornaments!

Get ready to hang your ornaments or give them away as gifts for others to enjoy!

 Happy Day of the Dead!  ¡Feliz Dia de los Muertos!