• I find it difficult to shop for my kids with my kids, and most of us just don’t have time in our busy schedules to plan for both shopping and a play date. Instead of planning on (and paying for) a babysitter for your kids so you can go shopping why not try a “Drop ‘n’ Shop?” This is the most ingenious idea since play-dates themselves. Get together with some of your other parent friends, pick a day and get shopping.

    Everyone gets their time to get stuff done, and the kids get to play.

    Here is the plan: On the day of your choice, everyone brings their kids over to someone’s house. Ideally this would be the house closest the shopping. One set of parents then leaves for an hour or so to get their shopping done while the remaining parents watch all of the kids playing. When the first set of parents return, the next set takes their turn. You continue this until every family has had a chance to get their shopping finished. All without having to pay for a babysitter.
    You can even use this idea for mommy and daddy date times, as well as for a time to wrap all of your gifts. Everyone gets their time to get stuff done, and the kids get to play. When Ladybug was very small, my play group and I did this the second Monday of each month so that all the mommies could run errands without having to worry about taking the kids along. It was a lifesaver then, and now. Make sure to send your kids with plenty of snacks and drinks to ease the burden on the hosting family. So you can have it all, shopping, and happy playing children.