I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, crafter, and blogger living in rural New England. As seen in Martha Stewart Living, Food Network Magazine, and more!
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Posted in: holidays
Today we’re hosting an amazing giveaway with our friends Bixby Chocolates over on Instagram - Don’t miss out! You can enter by visiting either of our Instagram pages and following the instructions on the post. Good luck!
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You all know by now that I LOVE showcasing small businesses on my blog, so a small business that features many local small businesses is just right up my alley! Delicious Food Delivered was kind enough to send me their New England Advent Calendar to try and I’m so excited to share about this company with you all. | This post contains affiliate links and a review of a gifted product, though all opinions expressed are my own |
Delicious Food Delivered is a small business that offers carefully curated advent calendars for 42 states and 5 regions of the United States. They even have fun themed boxes like Route 66! They were kind enough to send me their New England Advent Calendar and the first thing that grabbed my attention when I received it was how HUGE it was - seriously, it is SO BIG.
Each little numbered door for the New England Advent Calendar contains a carefully chosen treat from the New England area. I am so excited to open this with my family each night and see what local treat we get to enjoy! And I am especially looking forward to discovering new-to-us small businesses and trying what they have to offer.
These advent calendars would be the perfect gift for any family or hard-to-buy for person. It would also be a great gift for a kid away at college or a friend that moved out of the area - you could give them one for where they’re from, or one for where they are now so they can learn more about their new location!
Delicious Food Delivered Advent Calendars are amazing and sell out quick every year - most varieties sell out by the first week in November so if you‘d like to get one don’t delay. (And if the one you had your eye on is already sold out this year make sure to put a reminder on your calendar for next year to buy early!)
Want to see what’s inside the New England Advent Calendar? You’re in luck - I’ll be opening mine early (wooo!) every night on my Stories on Instagram. Just follow @birchlandinghome to get a sneak peak of all the amazing things included in this year’s calendar!
Don't forget to check out Delicious Food Delivered to see all the incredible Advent Calendars they have to offer!
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I received this item for review from Delicious Food Delivered but all opinions expressed are my own. This post contains affiliate links. Please see our full Disclosure Policy for more information.
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Happy 4th of July Week! This week I’m offering 10% off EVERYTHING in the Etsy Shop - no coupon code needed! This includes our New England Lakeside Hats, New England State Stickers, our popular Watercolor American Flag Stickers, and Vintage Items.
Get your hat for the lake and stickers for your cooler and be ready for summer! ;)
Sale runs from 7/1/25-7/7/25. Limited quantities available.
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It may be February but I’m dreaming of summer and the beach! Get your cooler and water bottle 4th of July ready early and order one (or several) of our Watercolor American Flag Vinyl Stickers. We also have several New England State sticker designs available and more New England-inspired designs coming soon!
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‘Tis the season of Yankee Swaps! (Being from New England, we call them Yankee Swaps but most parts of the USA call them White Elephant Gift Exchanges.) Yankee Swaps are always a fun time and joke gifts usually rein. That said, it can be hard to decide what to bring as your gift so here are a variety of affordable gift ideas, ranging from funny to nice to extra cheap/free, all broken down into categories for easy shopping (I will keep adding to this list as I think of more). | This post contains affiliate links |
The first thing to consider before you choose your gift is your audience… is this a professional work party? Then you might not want to bring the toilet coffee mug.. however if the party goers have a sense of humor then silly gifts may win the night! Also consider if there’s an inside joke you can play up - for example one year at our work party someone wrapped and gave the dead houseplant that had been sitting in the breakroom for months! Now that was a clever and funny gift idea.
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Happy Plaid Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday! (Whew, what a mouthful) To celebrate we’re offering 20% off everything in our Etsy Shop with no minimums - including some really unique Vintage Christmas items, as well as our classic Stickers, New England Lakeside Hats, and Hand-Etched Ornaments. Shop now before the sale ends!
And please don’t forget to Shop Local this weekend (and always!) - small shops need your support more than ever. This year we had four brick and mortar shops that we wholesale to close their doors… it’s a ripple effect that goes beyond that one business and impacts all the other small businesses (like mine) that they carry as well. Please support our local Stockists (tell them I sent ya), and all other local shops when you can.
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Having worked at a middle/high school for a few years now I’ve experienced a bunch of Spirit Weeks and they can be pretty fun! I thought I’d share a list of some of the favorite Theme Days I’ve seen or have heard about from others - some are quite creative and ridiculous. I will continue to add to this list as I come across more fun ideas. Disclaimer: always make sure you check with your school/administration for any parameters or rules for Spirit Week Themes as every school will have different expectations as to what’s acceptable or not.
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This is a classic theme day - every grade or classroom gets assigned a color and kids from that group are encouraged to wear that color. Some people get really into it with head-to-toe color-coordinated outfits and even face paint or temporary hair color!
For Wacky Hair Day kids are encouraged to wear their hair wacky! Side ponytails, mowhawks, temporary hair paint/color, crazy wigs, etc - and some kids even go all out with a crazy hair cut (with parents' permission/help of course).
This is a chance to bust out those Halloween costumes, dress up, and have Halloween in March (or whatever month you’re doing Spirit Week). Giving out some candy/trick or treating in the school might be a fun addition too. Just make sure those costumes are school appropriate!
Dress up as your favorite Superhero! Kids can wear store bought costumes or easily make their own with some paper emblems taped to their shirts or homemade masks/capes.
For this day each class is assigned a period of life… for example Freshman dress as babies, Sophomores as college years, Juniors as midlife crisis, and Seniors as senior citizens - of course.
For this one wear your beach-inspired items - think floral print shirts/outfits, shorts, tank tops, sandals, sun hats. Throw a towel over your shoulder or grab a beach ball to complete the look. Adding a flower lei necklace is an easy way to achieve Beach Day status.
Tourist Day attire is usually very similar to Beach Day attire, but usually with the addition of a map, cameras or binoculars, and tall socks with sandals.
This one is always a favorite in our school - the idea is instead of bringing a backpack to carry your stuff, you bring just about anything else (a laundry basket, a microwave, a shopping cart, etc). Check out our dedicated blog post on Anything But a Backpack Day for more ideas!
Career Day is a chance for kids to dress up as what they might want to be in a future career. Doctors, teachers, lawyers, electrician, plumber, race car driver, business owner, etc. This can be an easy one to put together from home with either nice or work clothes and a few accessories (a clipboard, a small toolbox, etc.).
This can be a chance make a spirit day a bit educational as well as fun if kids need to provide a fact about their historical figure in addition to dressing up. Kids could pick figures from world history long ago (Julius Caesar, for example), our national history (ex. George Washington or Betsy Ross), or more recent history (ex. Steve Jobs or Sally Ride).
For this day you write a school-appropriate “little white lie” on a white t-shirt (or a white piece of paper taped to your shirt). They’re typically sarcastic ones like “I’ve never been late to class” or “I always do my homework.” And if you’re not into poking a little fun at yourself you could do something easy and neutral such as “This shirt is blue” (but it’s actually a green shirt), etc.
This is always such a fun one, especially around the holidays! Everyone is encouraged to make or wear an ugly/tacky sweater or a festive sweater. If you make your own sweater it's a chance to get creative and repurpose an old sweatshirt or sweater and add your own fun twist to it - think rickrack, pom poms, old ornaments (just make sure they aren't breakable!), etc. - Don't forget to use a glue gun to make decorating your sweater easy!
There are also tons of options available online if you want to buy a tacky sweater - just make sure it's school appropriate and not offensive.
On this day it’s encouraged to dress up as the stereotypical “BBQ Dad” or “Soccer Mom” - kids had a lot of fun with this one and some girls dressed up as BBQ Dads and some boys dressed up as Soccer Moms (you can do whichever you prefer - or a combo of the two!).
For the BBQ Dad ensemble think: aprons, spatulas, white sneakers, khaki shorts, baseball caps.
For the Soccer Mom ensemble think: oversized sunglasses, leggings, an oversized waterbottle (Stanleys optional), oversized sweatshirt, and of course a cross body belt bag.
This one is pretty easy for most middle/high school kids to pull off - the goal here is to dress in “iconic Adam Sandler style” which pretty much consists of things like baggy basketball shorts, oversized t-shirts and flannels, and dark sunglasses. This is easily doable for most kids/staff and a lot of fun. (It’s also particularly a favorite here because Adam Sandler is a NH native!)
I feel like this is a hard one for me - I guess I’m just too old, haha. But for this day you’re supposed to dress up as or reference a meme. A few that I saw - that I understood - were the “‘I’ll allow it’ guy” (wear a sombrero and carry a piece of paper that says “I’ll allow it”) and the one where Kermit the frog is drinking tea (bring a mug of tea and add a green felt zig-zaggy collar like Kermit has). A few other people just printed out a meme and taped it to their shirt and we let it count - such as a picture of Grumpy Cat saying “this is my happy face.”
Very easy and simple one - just wear a sports jersey/t-shirt. Could be a major league team (like Boston Red Sox, etc), school sports team jersey, or local parks & rec sports jersey.
Dapper vs. Napper is a fun one and very straightforward - the goal is to dress either “Dapper” (fancy clothes) or as a “Napper” (school-appropriate pajamas, etc). I feel like most kids and staff go for Napper because it’s easy and comfy and wear PJs, robes, slippers, bring a blanket or stuffed animal, etc. But some people will go all out for Dapper and wear a suit or formal dress, tiara, etc.
For this day pretend it’s a Fourth of July and wear your red, white, and blue! A lot of kids will wear patriotic articles of clothing but it’s pretty easy to DIY the color scheme with blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and red accessories, for example.
Really you could do “Flannel Friday” any day of the week and just call it “Flannel Day” but Flannel Friday sure has a nice ring to it. Simply wear a flannel shirt or flannel items of clothing that day - a pretty easy one for us to do here in New England especially because I think most people own flannel articles of clothing here.
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Having worked at a middle/high school for a few years now I’ve experienced a few “Anything But a Backpack” Days for Spirit Week and they can be pretty hilarious. …What does that mean? you might wonder - well, it pretty much means what it says - leave your backpack at home that day and come up with a creative way to carry your things around school for the day. I thought I’d share a list of some of the favorites I’ve seen or have heard about form others - some are quite creative and ridiculous. Disclaimer: always make sure you check with your school for any parameters or rules for this event as every school will have different expectations as to what’s acceptable or not.
laundry basket
hamper
stroller
car seat
remote control car
PowerWheels
wagon
toy shopping cart
real shopping cart
Easter basket
pizza box
toolbox
bucket
a really ugly/tacky purse or bag (can be found cheap at a local thrift shop!)
tool chest
mini fridge
microwave (that has to be heavy!)
a car bumper (very tricky to put your stuff in - and yes, I have seen this one myself!)
a kayak
a canoe (very awkward to get up the stairs)
golfbag
milk crate
horse saddle bag
office chair
cooking pot
cat carrier
birdcage
wheelbarrow
guitar case
suitcase (the ones with the wheels are handy!)
fishing net
traffic cone
stuffed animal that has a zippered pocket
trick-or-treat bag or container
trash bag or trash can (just make sure your stuff doesn’t get thrown out by accident!)
Check out our Spirit Week Theme Day Ideas blog post for other theme day ideas!
Disclaimer: Always make sure you check with your school for any parameters or rules for this event as every school will have different expectations as to what’s acceptable or not. This list is for ideas/entertainment purposes only.
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