Power Wheels: My kids have a nicer ride than I do
The other day an enormous semi-truck stopped traffic in front of my house and delivered a box approximately the size of my living room. It contained shiny blue pieces of the new Power Wheels Ford 2015 F-150 truck. What does this mean, exactly? It means Christmas is ruined. Nothing I get my boys will be as awesome as this swanky motorized ride-on toy. It has an MP3 player, people. I don't know about you but my childhood dream was to own a Power Wheels, and I never did. Now I own one, and it's making my 2010 Dodge Journey feel pretty insecure. Is this thing expensive? Yes. Is utterly awesome? Also yes. It took me about 45 minutes to build with the "help" of my 5-year-old. My 8-year-old and 5-year-old are able to ride together while blasting Imagine Dragons from my iPhone. Life is good. (Walmart, $350)
Zipz Wine: The only thing better than wine is portable wine
If you've ever attended a picnic, barbecue or parent-teacher conference, you know that the only missing ingredient was wine. Zipz Wine has the solution to every wine-on-the-go problem — shatterproof, single-serving wine. It's like those juice-box wine boxes, except way classier. Because it has a stem. I'm no sommelier, but I tried two reds and loved them and subsequently dispatched a lot of semi-coherent tweets about hugging the internet. I have two boys who tend to knock over everything ever, so I love that Zipz look like a legit wine glass without all that pesky breakage. Cheers! (Zipz Wine, $40)
Celestial Buddies: If you don't want to hug a planet, we can't be friends
My son has been obsessed with space since he was 2. And I'm not being one of those "oh my kid learned French and Swahili when he was 10 months old" moms, I'm dead serious. The kid can't get enough of the cold, terrifying depths of space and the infinite capacity of our universe — and honestly it kind of makes me reach for my smelling salts because space scares the crap out of me. However, Celestial Buddies don't scare me. They're adorable. We have Jupiter and the spot is his nose. I dare you to find a cuter space toy. Don't tell anyone, but my third grader sleeps with his every night. (Celestial Buddies, $26)
Hervana: Blush you can dash on when you're late to everything
I go through rare makeup phases. Those phases are called when I actually have a date. The rest of the time, I don't bother with much makeup. My only absolute go-to must-have-no-matter-what makeup is Hervana, a Benefit blush that's super foolproof and ultra flattering. I wear this every day. It hides the appearance of barely-concealed rage, sleepless nights, the lingering terror of almost rushing out the door with no pants on and a host of other imperfections. Seriously though, it's the perfect barely-there healthy blush and every mom should have it in her arsenal. (Benefit, $28)
The writer received the Power Wheels, Celestial Buddies and Zipz Wine from the respective brands so that she could try out the products. All opinions expressed in the article are based on the reviewer's own assessments of the products.
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