Blog Posts by Good Housekeeping

Delight family and friends with homemade treats that are fast, frugal, and festive. Find the perfect gift for everyone on your Christmas list

Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels
These pretzels are super-easy to whip up to give as a gift. Dip them a day ahead, and pack them in a box lined with waxed tissue paper. Don't forget to add a note, or simply remind your friends that pretzels are best eaten within a week - if they're even around that long!
Check out our Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels Recipe for complete instructions.

Read More »from Easy Homemade Holiday Food Gifts

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• Get the Recipes for Our Homemade Food Gifts
  
• 12 Makeup Mistakes That Make You Look Old
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• 30 Best Drugstore Beauty Buys Under $10
• 5 Best Haircuts of All Time
  
• 52 Home Organizing Tips

Read More »from 8 Easy Homemade Food Gifts

We all would like to give lavish presents to the people we love. The truth is that after several tight years, gift-giving remains a touchy and pricey prospect for many of us. So how do you avoid giving credit card companies the gift (interest payments) that keeps on giving? Follow these rules to keep the red on the poinsettias and the green in your wallet.

1. Everyone gets a price tag
Nobody likes to assign dollar values to loved ones, but if there was ever a time to say that Uncle Dave gets less than Grandma, it's when you're creating a holiday budget. Karolann Patranzino, founder of Purse Strings Online, recommends making a simple budget chart. First, determine how much you have to spend in total and write that number at the top of the page so it's always in view. Then decide whom you will be buying for, and list their names down the left side of the page. Put dollar limits in the next column and the gift you'd like to purchase in a third column. Finally, leave a fourth column to

Read More »from 7 Ways to Stretch Your Holiday Dollar

Don't head to the mall until you read these tips 1. Subscribe to your local mall's e-mail newsletter. You'll be alerted to upcoming sales and may receive e-mail coupons you can then use at the stores.

2. Get even better deals at outlet stores by going to their mall's Website to print out coupons or a voucher for a coupon book you'll find at the mall. You can also buy coupon books online for $3 to $5.

Related: 20 Best Toys of 2011

3. Use coupon Websites for other stores. Two good ones: keycodecoupons.com and couponcabin.com.

4. Don't forget warehouse clubs like Costco, Sam's Club, and BJ's. Costco. And look for warehouse-store deals on digital cameras and jewelry this holiday season - perhaps 30 to 50 percent below retail. If you aren't a club member yet, your gift savings may justify buying an annual membership.

5. Be crafty. Clip crafts stores' weekly newspaper coupons (often 40 percent off). Most crafts outlets accept competitors' coupons, so you may save yourself a trip by Read More »from 10 Ways to Spend Less in Stores

GHRI experts examined hundreds of new playthings and chose 85 contenders for the truest test: a lab full of kids. Next, 115 children played for days to help select 20 winners. Here are some of the top picks:

Educational Insights' PlayfoamBreak the Mold
AGES 2-5
Endlessly squishable, Educational Insights' Playfoam ($5 for a four-pack, other sets available; educationalinsights.com; ages 3+) captivated our young testers with its sculptability. Kids created colorful creatures, decorated walls with the beady dough (it peels right off and won't stain), and discovered that it even sort of bounces!

Related: Best Board Games

Mattel's Hot Wheels Wall TracksCourse of Action
AGES 2-5
With Mattel's Hot Wheels Wall Tracks ($30 for the starter set; mattelshop.com; ages 4+), toy cars climb to new heights. Tracks attach to a wall via removable brackets; cars zip down through straight-aways and loop-the-loops without getting scattered across the floor.

Ravensburger's LoomySketch Artist
AGES 5-8
Ravensburger's Xoomy ($25; ravensburger.com; ages 7+) comes with 20 whimsical image

Read More »from 6 Best Toys of 2011

By Janis Graham

No need to go into hiding: These research-proven strategies will protect you at the office, on planes, and in crowded malls'Tis the season...for colds, flu, stomach bugs, and all those other ills that spread when people come together - whether by choice (at holiday parties) or circumstance (on airplanes). But don't start calculating your sick days just yet. This year you can do more than wash your hands and cross your fingers. Recent research, some of it sparked by the scary H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009, has uncovered new steps you can take to protect yourself and your family. Most of these tactics are targeted at specific settings as scientists tease out what will safeguard you at the food court, for example, versus what works to bolster everyday immunity. Here's what to try - and when and where to use it - to get through the holidays without sneezes, tummy aches, or flat-out-in-bed flu.

Related: Feeling Stressed? Try These Crisis Control Tips

AT HOME:
• Pop a vitamin D supplement at breakfast. In a Yale medical school study, adults with high blood levels of vitamin D (at least 38

Read More »from How to Stay Well (When Everyone Else is Sick)

If your Thanksgiving menu is traditional, the dishes will run a rich gamut from mashed sweet potatoes to tart cranberries to a savory gravy. And that leads us to a simple wine tip: With so many flavors on the table, you'll complement them better by serving several different wine varieties rather than just one. Here, our Turkey Day picks and a guide to what goes best with what. (Editor's note: If you can't find these brands in your local shop, ask the staff to recommend a similar wine.)

For Starters
Begin the feast with a food-friendly Riesling. Its balance of sweetness and acidity make it a perfect match for almost anything you put on your table:
Snoqualmie Naked Riesling Snoqualmie Naked Riesling • 2006 • Washington State ($10)
This reminded us of pears and apricots - fruity but with a dry finish. Try this organic choice with our spinach salad.

Main Attraction
For the full spread, choose a white and a red, and let your guests mix and match. Each of these is versatile enough to be sipped with every bite:
Sterling Sauvignon Blanc

Read More »from Wines for Thanksgiving

Find out when to enjoy the season's best foods.

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• 30 Best Drugstore Beauty Buys Under $10
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• 52 Home Organizing Tips

Read More »from The Freshest Foods Each Month of the Year