Blog Posts by Good Housekeeping

Adorn your door or wall with a wreath that suits your personality.


If Your Winter Coat is Any Color But Basic Black...
This radiant wreath shows your true colors - and all it takes is a few boxes of glass Christmas tree ornaments. Choose bright hues and a variety of sizes and attach with floral wire.

Related: 9 Homemade Christmas Ornaments














If You're Out Snowboarding When Everyone Else is Huddled Around the Fireplace...
Fill a Bundt pan with water and fresh cranberries and place it in the freezer. Once it's frozen solid, remove the wreath from the mold and hang it outdoors. Next? Pray that the cold weather holds.

Related: Make a Seasonal Fruit Garland















If Your Style is More Haute Than Ho Ho Ho...
This white-on-white wreath is as cute as a button. Simply wrap a straw wreath with cream-colored muslin fabric and stitch on a multitude of pearly buttons.

Related: 6 Stocking Stuffers for Fashionistas













If You Share Animal Videos on YouTube with Coworkers...
Recycle a wooden frame for

If it's the thought that counts, sometimes you have to wonder, What were they thinking? We asked around and came up with this gallery of ghastly gifts - plus a fun idea for what to do with them. Also check out our great gift ideas to avoid making the blunders below.

Love Hurts
Very pregnant and turning 40, Beth was dismayed when her husband bought her stretch marks cream. She didn't need the cream, she insists, "but I get back at him by telling everyone the story. Make sure you spell his name right: M-i-k-e F-i-t-z-p-a-t-r-i-c-k."

Related: Gifts for the Mom Who Does It All

Save it for Halloween?
"A relative once gave me an angel that was holding a little electric candle," recalls Sandra. "The angel's arms swing back and forth, and when the candle tilts the wrong way, it looks as though she's trying to stab herself in the chest."

Related: Gifts for the Happy Hostess

A Clear Signal
One holiday season, Laurie was hoping for an engagement ring from her boyfriend of four years. "I

The Good Housekeeping Research Institute tested 12 of the newest waterproof black mascaras (and one classic) by having testers apply 10 strokes to top lashes and splash their faces with 10 handfuls of warm water, and then visually evaluating each eye for smudging. Testers also took the mascaras home and rated the products on how they performed through sweaty workouts, weddings, and more. Our winners below will pump up the volume - plus length and curl, too.



1. Best Overall
Maybelline New York Great Lash Waterproof Mascara ($6.16, available at drugstores nationwide)

This longtime best-selling mascara with the iconic pink tube received the highest score in our lab's waterproof test - demonstrating its ability to resist smudging. Our testers also gave it high marks for its ability to volumize, lengthen, and separate lashes.

Related: Best Eye Makeup Remover Wipes



2. Best for Lash Lengthening
Christian Dior DiorShow Blackout Waterproof Mascara ($24, beauty.dior.com)

Dior's waterproof

As you're planning your Thanksgiving menu, take inventory of your cabinets and make sure you have the equipment you need before you start cooking. Here's our list of must-haves, all tested at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute and best in their class!



1. Potato Peeler
Whether russets or sweets are your family's spuds of choice, chances are there will be a whole lot of peeling going on. Best tool for the job: Oxo Good Grips Potato Peeler ($7.99, oxo.com).

Related: Top 10 Turkey Tips






2. Potato Masher
Once you've cooked 'em, you have to smash 'em. You don't need a fancy tool. Opt for the Cuisipro Stainless Steel Potato Masher ($21, cuisipro.com) for fluffy results.

Related: Portable Cookware and Serveware for Thanksgiving







3. Roasting Pan
To hold the big bird, you want a heavyweight pan with secure handles that's easy to clean. The Circulon 16" Rectangular Nonstick Roaster ($49.99, circulon.com) will do the trick. Bonus, a rack is included.

Related: Roast a Perfect Turkey







4.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted this week to ban restaurants from handing out toys with meals that don't meet its minimum nutritional standards. In order to include a toy, meals will have to contain less than 600 calories, 640 mg of sodium, and 35% of calories from fat. Since toys are very appealing to children and are often the reason they ask for a specific meal in a restaurant - and parents frequently meet their children's requests - this action is intended to give restaurants the incentive to offer healthier foods. This hotly-debated topic brings up a number of issues, from childhood obesity to healthy school lunches.

Related: Your Healthy Guide to Eating Out and Healthy Fast Food Options for Kids

While the ban won't go into effect until December 2011, parents still need to be wary of fast-food toys. Recently the Good Housekeeping Research Institute (GHRI) investigated the safety of toys that are distributed by chain restaurants and found that they are not necessarily

At last, you can retire your ancient, tattered sweatpants-jeggings are the optimal solution when seeking style and comfort. This love child of jeans and leggings combines the coverage and second-skin silhouette of skinny jeans with a variety of options. Some include real (or faux) zippers, back pockets, and other detailing. Unlike regular denim, they contain more Lycra, so they're easy to slip on and move around in. New York Magazine credits the British brand Topshop with coming up with the phrase "jeggings" in 2009, and they've graced the bums of everyone from Gwyneth Paltrow to Beyonce.

Worried that jeggings will make you look bigger than you really are? Just opt for a dark pair that will go with everything from a basic tank or t-shirt to a tunic or even a long cardigan. Try to stay away from extravagant and oversized patterns, for they will only draw the eye straight to that area. Here are styles for every budget that deserve to be in your denim dossier.

1. Best for Small Budgets

Here's what you can do, to keep the digital junk mail at bay.

Activate Spam blockers that your e-mail provider offers or set your Inbox security to "exclusive." You can choose whether 1) the service will move messages that seem suspicious straight to your Spam or Junk folder, or 2) it'll only permit messages from senders in your address book or those you indicate are "safe" into your Inbox. You'll have to review the Spam folder periodically to make sure messages you want to receive aren't being sent there by mistake. (You can easily mark them as "not junk," and they'll pop right into your Inbox.)

Enable image or content blocking. This prevents the images (also called "content") in a message from downloading simply because you've opened it. Those images often contain tracking software, which beams back info as soon as they're viewed, so spammers know they've hit an active e-mail account. If you do want to see the message in its entirety, you'll have the option to fully download

What eats up your paycheck: food, clothing, your home, your car? Well, you might be making these 5 common money mistakes or missing out on valuable savings. Here are a few simple money-saving tricks for your most common purchases.

Don't miss 104 more money savers you may not know about.

Food:

• Stock up on grocery staples right after Thanksgiving. It's prime time: More food coupons are issued in November and December than in any other season.
• Try amazon.com for nonperishables. Its "Subscribe & Save Program" typically gives 15 percent discounts (plus free shipping) on items such as paper towels.
• Stop buying bottled water: At $1.50 per 20-ounce bottle, a family of four that goes through 20 bottles a week could save about $1,560 annually. The equivalent water from the faucet? Maybe $1. And it takes just seconds to fill a glass or a reusable water bottle.
• Don't buy premixed: You can pay up to 50 percent more for foods with sugar, spices, or sauces already mixed in. Juice in