Month: June 2024

Lavender Essential Oil: Nature’s Swiss Army Knife
essential oils · natural lifestyle

Lavender Essential Oil: Nature’s Swiss Army Knife

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Most people know to use lavender for sleep, calming, and relaxation, right? It’s everyone’s aromatherapy go-to. For the lavender you pick up at Walmart or Target, this is perfect. However, what many people don’t realize is that a little drop of high quality lavender, like Young Living or DoTerra, contains many different constituents. These constituents benefit the body in many different ways, therefore the oil can have many different uses. Here are some lesser known uses for lavender essential oil that you may not be aware of.

  1. Lavender helps promote the healing of minor cuts, scrapes and bruises. Get yourself an empty roller bottle and carrier oil (grapeseed is best for absorbing into the skin) and add ten drops of grapeseed for every drop of lavender. Pompeii brand is my favorite. I use 10 ml roller bottles so I will fill about a tenth of the way with lavender and the rest of the way with grapeseed. This 10:1 dilution will help your lavender last longer and help make sure it is safe and diluted enough for even the most delicate and sensitive skin. This is a go to at our house for all family members! It’s your all natural neosporin, your aquaphor, and your hydrocortizone. Lavender helps accelerate the healing process.
  2. Lavender helps with focus. You can pair it with oils like cedarwood and vetiver. We call these three our focus trio. It’s really good to help with focus and concentration. Isn’t it interesting that lavender helps with sleep and relaxation, but can also help with what we would perceive to be the opposite? The reason for that because it has many different constituents and those constituents help with different aspects of supporting the body.
  3. Lavender helps promote hair growth. You can add a few drops to your shampoo or conditioner, along with cedarwood and rosemary. If you will add these you will be so glad you did. They will help promote thicker fuller hair, or if you are wanting your hair to grow longer. If you dislike DIY and prefer ready made Young Living makes a Lavender shampoo and conditioner that is divine.
  4. Lavender helps with allergies. I love to call lavender “the sneeze stopper.” It’s really good for allergy season. If anyone in your household is sneezing, you can just apply a drop to the tip of your nose and it will help with that.

Lavender is undoubtedly the Swiss Army knife of oils, with many, many uses that I have not even covered here. For more uses, check out my older post, Lavender: Young Living Starter Bundle. However, a part two will definitely be needed in the future.

This article contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Summer Camp Essentials
kids · parenting · product reviews

Summer Camp Essentials

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If you’re child is headed off to summer camp, you could feel overwhelmed or unsure of what to pack and what they need. Most camps will provide a list, however they can be vague and still leave you with many choices to make. As a mom who has sent her kiddo to camps in the past, these are some tried and true essentials that you will want to be sure to grab. I could receive compensation from affiliate links included.

  1. Mesh Shower Caddy. This allows any water or moisture to drain. I love this one in particular because they can even fit their towel and a change of clothes in the compartments. I also love all of the little pockets.
  2. Laundry Bag. Your child will need somewhere to put their dirty clothes. This is a two pack and they are pretty cute as well.
  3. Water Bottle/Misting Bottle. I love that this water bottle also has a mist feature. When your child gets hot on a hike they can cool off with a little mist.
  4. 3-Pack Camping Lights. These can be great for reading at night or for needing to leave the cabin at night to go to the bathroom.
  5. Mini Fan. This would be very handy to stay cool in the hot summer heat, and I love the colors.
  6. Travel Bottles. I love that these are silicone and squeezable. They help ensure less wasted product. And again, all the colors.
  7. Jersey Sheet Set (Twin). I know when you think of camping, you think of sleeping bags, but in the summer heat a set of sheets and a light blanket are the way to go! My girls have tried both and the sheet set has our vote over the sleeping bag for sure!
  8. Quick Dry Microfiber Towel. I’m solutions oriented, and I loathe the smell of mildew towels after a towel’s been sitting all week at camp. This is a great solution! Bought several.
  9. Quick Dry Microfiber Beach Towel. For the same reasons as listed above. Needed! Love this design.

I hope you have found this list helpful! I have shopped around, and these were our top choice for each of these items. If you would like to read more ideas for summer camp, check out 13 Care Package Ideas for your Child at Summer Camp.

13 Care Package Ideas for your Child at Summer Camp
kids · parenting · product reviews

13 Care Package Ideas for your Child at Summer Camp

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This summer will be my daughter’s first time away from home for more than one night. While I know she will have the best time and that she will be in good hands, I also know she must have some anxiety about being away from us – the unknown of not knowing all the girls and experiencing things she may have never been exposed to before. I read in our parent information packet that we are able to send care packages. We can even hand them over at drop off! I love thinking of ways to make my children feel special, and even more than that, I enjoy executing those ideas.

I remember my weeks spent at summer camp, and how special it felt to hear the head counselor call my name during “mail call.” Conversely, the days my name was not called I felt disappointed and left out. I want to make sure she has a letter and or small token of our love each day she is at camp.

I hopped on Amazon and may have gone a bit overboard adding items to my cart that I thought would make her week there a little more special. My criteria for care package gifts were these two things: 1) something she could use or do while at camp 2) something she could share with her fellow campers 3) something that would brighten her day and put a smile on her face.

Here is my list, in no particular order (affiliate links included for which I may receive compensation):

  1. A deck of cards. For downtime when girls are just hanging out in their tent or cabin.
  2. Clue, the card game. She had so much fun playing Clue with her camp friend last time they were together, that this just made sense.
  3. Uno (pocket size) so cute and fun!
  4. Camping Mad Libs. My girl loves Mad Libs so I couldn’t resist grabbing these for her. Added bonus? These tear out and fold into postcards that can be mailed home!
  5. A beach ball. Something fun to hit around with friends at the pool.
  6. Splash balls. She can play with these during pool time at camp. There are enough in this pack to share with friends.
  7. Mini legal pad. So she can write to us, or write or draw anything else she might like.
  8. Cute Stationery and Envelopes. Pre-addressed and stamped so sending us letters is easy, and hopefully more desirable. Our child is going to horse camp and the horses on the cards are gorgeous! How fun it would be to get mail from your child at this age?
  9. This cat night light, is battery-powered and changes colors. How cute is this?? It can be pitch-black dark in those tents and cabins at night!
  10. Camping LED Lantern. Easier to power on and more practical than the little cat; multiple brightness settings.
  11. Glow bracelets. I was going to get glow necklaces, but they were too long to fit in the bubble mailers I bought, even the larger ones.
  12. Her favorite gum. The parent guide stated clearly we could not send food, but made no mention of gum.
  13. A misting fan. Some of the days can be brutally hot.

I hope this list of care package ideas has been helpful and has inspired you. Check out my list of Summer Camp Essentials to help your child have the best possible camping experience.