Less Mess, More Yes

It’s a Kiddo Kind of New Year

Staying up late to ring in the New Year can be one of the most exciting times in a child’s life. However, it can be difficult as a parent to find a safe and exciting way for young kids to celebrate. This year, have your kids invite a small group of friends over the house and throw a party! Don’t worry; we have the perfect idea to make the party as enjoyable for you as it will be for the kids.

To make the night run smoothly incorporate a schedule into the festivities. A fun way to do this is by creating a scavenger hunt with the Sterilite 5 Quart Handy Pail. I chose to hide one pail around the house for every hour from 6:00 p.m. until midnight. The textured finish is perfect for decorating with sharpie markers which can be washed off with nail polish remover for future game ideas. The sturdy wire handle makes transporting the pail around the house easy for even the youngest child.

Once you have labeled and decorated your pails, develop your scavenger hunt! I chose to put a different activity in each pail to keep everyone entertained. The kids will also have a clue in each pail that will lead them to the next activity on the agenda. Mix up the events with games, cooking or crafts. If you are struggling to think of some ideas, below are a few to get the creativity flowing.

6:00 p.m. – Let the countdown begin! For the next hour, make your own pizza. At 7:00 p.m. look for the next activity in the room where you sleep!

7:00 p.m. – We are one hour closer! For the next hour, have fun decorating your own party hat. At 8:00 p.m. look for the next activity where we keep the cereal!

8:00 p.m. – Only four hours left! For the next hour, let’s make sugar cookies. At 9:00 p.m. look for the next activity where we sit to watch television!

9:00 p.m. – We are half way through our countdown! Let’s play charades. At 10:00 p.m. look for the next activity where you take a shower!

10:00 p.m. – We are so close to 2015! Let’s make New Year’s resolutions and drink hot chocolate. At 11:00 p.m. look for the next activity where we wash the laundry!

11:00 p.m. – Only one more hour! Let’s have a sing and dance party. At 12:00 a.m. look for the next activity where we cook our food!

MIDNIGHT (12:00 a.m.) – HAPPY NEW YEAR! It’s 2015!

New Year’s Eve doesn’t have to be all about the grown-ups! Change up the occasion and bring in the New Year with the kiddos. Most importantly, have a lot of fun and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Celebrate With A Favorite Holiday Tradition

By Ricky Gray of Sterilite Corporation

The Holidays are my favorite time of the year because of the many traditions shared with friends and family. Of all the traditions, my favorite is making gingerbread houses. As a child my family would gather around our kitchen table and spend the evening perfecting our own delicious creations. To this day when the Holidays arrive we still get together and carry on this fun tradition. With a group of people reaching for the same sugary building materials, organizing the ingredients is essential to keeping things neat and orderly. This is where Sterilite can help.


When making gingerbread houses I find it best to have the candy separated in bowls that can be passed around from person-to-person. Sterilite’s 20 ounce bowls are ideal for this. They are durable and dishwasher safe for easy cleaning. Below are a few steps to help you get started on creating your own gingerbread house:

1. Pick a solid base for your gingerbread house - either a flat cookie sheet, or a thick, sturdy piece of cardboard. If you want, line the base with aluminum foil or wax paper. This will give you a smoother surface to work with.
2. Place a thick line of icing along a short end of one of the side walls. Press the side with icing against an edge of your front wall. Hold these two pieces in place for a moment until the icing begins to set. Repeat this step with the second side all and the back wall. These will come together to form the foundation of your house.
3. Place icing along the inside and outside seams to fill in any gaps and to add stability.
4. Ice the bottom edges of the house where they meet the base.
5. Allow the icing to set for a few minutes before adding the roof pieces.
6. Once the foundation is set, ice along the top edges of the structure, front and back and two sides
7. Place the roof pieces on the freshly squeezed icing along the top of the structure and hold in place until the icing begins to set
8. Place extra frosting across the top seam of the roof for extra support.
9. Before decorating, let the house stand for about an hour to dry
10. Last but not least, decorate! Use icing and a variety of your favorite candy to decorate the house and yard.

When the gingerbread houses are complete, Sterilite’s Ultra+Latch 3.5 Cup Rectangle and Ultra+Latch 3.8 Cup Square food storage containers provide a great way to store the leftover candy and building materials. They feature a domed locking lid with an air-tight, leak-proof silicone seal to keep food fresh, longer. That way you can eat the extra candy over time or use them to build another gingerbread house!

Wrapping up the Holidays

By Tim Serrilla of Sterilite Corporation

The holidays are rapidly approaching! This time of year is made special by the many traditions that take shape with the ones that we hold most dear. Gift giving is one of the time-honored traditions of the Christmas season. While this in itself is exciting, it also brings along the frustration of attempting to store your many rolls of wrapping paper.

Did you know that residents of the United States spent a total of $9.36 billion on wrapping paper alone last year? That is nearly $26 per person!  Thankfully, Sterilite has the perfect storage solutions to make sure that your festive holiday wrapping paper stays organized throughout this hectic season.


Typically, wrapping paper rolls come in two sizes – 30 and 40 inches. These long, skinny rolls can be a nightmare to store, so we are proud to introduce you to the Sterilite family of wrap boxes. These two products are specifically designed to neatly store all types of wrapping paper. Do you have a plethora of 30” wrapping paper rolls? If so, the Sterilite 30 Inch Wrap Box is perfect for your needs. This product holds up to 25 rolls of wrapping paper so you can be sure that your gifts look amazing under the tree this year. If you have a host of 40” wrapping paper rolls, there is no need to worry because Sterilite has a solution for this as well.  Sterilite’s 40 Inch Wrap Box will turn any cluttered Christmas corner into a fool-proof storage system in no time. This item features a clear top with a built-in door that allows you to easily access your wrapping paper without having to remove the top.


So, we encourage you to start a new tradition of tidiness when it comes to storing your wrapping paper. From all of us here at Sterilite, we wish you all a happy, healthy holiday season and hope that you enjoy all of your favorite winter activities.

Be sure to stay tuned to our blog to learn more about exciting holiday storage ideas.