4th of July Giveaway from Birch Landing Home!

We’re hosting a great giveaway this week over on Birch Landing Home’s Instagram! We’re giving away a New England Lakeside Hat and a selection of stickers from Birch Landing Home. (Sorry, dog not included.)

Head on over to our Instagram for details and to enter. Giveaway ends 7/4/26 at 10AM.

Want to purchase these items now? You’re in luck - we’re running a sale through July 5th!

Create an "Analog" Bag or Basket for You and Your Family

It’s more important than ever to incorporate screen-free time for yourself and your family into our daily lives. Most of us spend too much time on our phones or watching TV that we’ve forgotten how to entertain ourselves without a screen. Probably the biggest red flag is kids out and about (especially in restaurants or in the car) always need a tablet to keep them occupied - they don’t know how to sit and enjoy others’ company anymore or entertain themselves. Teens and adults are often guilty of it as well, we keep our noses in our phones and ignore who we’re with.
One easy solution is to create an “analog bag” - a bag that has screen-free activities in it. It can be travel games, puzzles, books or magazines, knitting, small toys, coloring, word searches, etc. You can make it for on-the-go or something to keep in your living room for designated screen-free time. Read on for more ideas on how to incorporate this easy modification into your lives.…
| This post contains affiliate links |

An Analog Bag is something you can make for yourself, your young or older kids, or the whole family! You can also tailor it to things to use on-the-go or something that you keep at home for quiet evenings. Whatever it is you can make it yours and change it up as much as you want! Here are some ideas:

Analog Bag Basics:

• a sturdy tote bag (this "Analog" embroidered L.L. Bean Bag is PERFECT!)
• something to help organize your things, such as a small canvas pouch or a tote bag organizer
• Now for the fun part - filling it with what interests you or your family! I've broken it down with ideas for different age groups below.

Ideas for Adults & the Whole Family:

• a beautiful coloring book
• colored pencils
• Sudoku book
• knitting kit
• mini watercolor travel set
• deck of cards
• magazines or your current library books

Ideas for Teens & Tweens:

• you may want to consider a different bag, like a trendy rubber tote
• a fun card game like UNO or Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
• a travel puzzle game (like Kanoodle)
• a cute crochet kit (my daugther LOVES this brand - they have great tutorials and are easy to make)
• a journal
• Rubik's Cube

Ideas for Young Children:

• you may want to consider a different bag, like a cute animal alphabet themed one
• Water Wow books (these were such a hit when my kids were little - a lot of fun and zero mess!)
• Paint by Sticker books
• Spirograph
• fun activity book
• activity dice (these Bluey themed ones are really fun!)

Analog “Basket” Ideas for Home:

The Analog Basket is something that would stay in your living room or family room and your family can use everyday! The following ideas are for a mix of age groups.

• sturdy basket that will look nice in your room
• puzzle the family can do together
• games such as Jenga, Chutes & Ladders, or Chess (Chess is making a comeback!)
• a tabletop activity like wooden balancing "stones" (irregular-shaped wooden "rocks" that you can stack and balance)
• nice LEGO kit to make with the family

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Shop some of our Analog Bag picks here:

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Looking for New Wholesale Accounts for Spring/Summer!

I am looking for new wholesale accounts for spring/summer (and beyond)! Are you a storefront in New England looking for unique stickers? I got you covered! I have stickers featuring New England states and vibes and more coming soon. Please send me an email or reach out on social media if you would like more information about carrying our stickers. Thank you!

Teaching the Inquiry Research Process in Middle School

Recently for an assignment for grad school we had to create our own Cycle of Inquiry based on Guided Inquiry Design and Carol Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process. Since I teach middle school I thought what better than to synthesize that information and rename everything in middle school slang!

Getting middle schoolers to be invested in researching something for a project is a challenge in itself, so why not get their attention and use their own words? Yes, there will be some eye-rolls - this is pretty “cringe” after all - but it gets their attention. I’m really excited to use this in my own practice and to share with teachers at school so they can use it in their classrooms too.

Library at Lunch - School Library Program Idea

While I’ve been working in the school library environment for several years, this is my first year as an official middle school library media specialist. I’ve been really enjoying it and the challenges that come with this new role. Recently I decided to try a new initiative to bring the library TO the students and called it “Library at Lunch” - and I’m happy to report it was a great success! | This post contains affiliate links |

My idea was to bring a cart of high-interest books, magazines, and “blind books” to the students during lunch. I made sure to represent different genres and choose titles that are popular or had a catchy title, as well as some new books and interesting nonfiction and coffee table-type books. I made sure not overwhelm with choices and only filled one side of the cart. I think sometimes students come into the library and feel overwhelmed… there’s just too many choices - but this made it easier with a smaller selection of fun items to choose from.

Since it was the week of Valentine’s Day I leaned into that with some “Blind Date with a Book” blind books. I picked 8 books that I think most kids wouldn’t mind reading, each from different genre. I wrapped them in bulletin board paper and wrote out little tags (made in Canva) with some very vague information about each book - I wrote just a few words describing the book, the genre, and the barcode number so I could check it out to students.

When I got to lunch I stood behind the cart with my laptop on the back top shelf like it was a checkout counter, then started going around visiting tables. I felt a little like an airline stewardess (drinks? pretzels?) as I went around asking students if they would like to check anything out from the cart. I made sure it was no-pressure and if they weren’t interested I thanked them for looking and moved on to the next table.

The kids LOVED the “Blind Date with a Book” books and those got checked out quickly! They were excited to open them and see what book they got. Kids that never come to the library checked out books or magazines that day. I’m happy to say “Library at Lunch” was a huge success!

Going forward I’d like to do this for each grade every-other-month… I think it’s important to spread it out a little so the novelty doesn’t wear off. I think if we did this too-frequently it wouldn’t get as much excitement. Also spreading it out a bit allows for more new books to be included when I bring the cart.

Overall, I’m very excited with how it went and I’m excited to continue this library program going forward!

All posters, signs, and book tags I created using Canva.

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More Posts About Library Media:

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Teaching Curated Picks:

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Happy New Year! Giving Back for 2025

Happy 2026! Wishing everyone a healthy, happy, and successful new year!

A tradition I started back in 2016 was to donate a percentage of profits from Birch Landing Home to charity at year end, and it’s a tradition I’ve been proud to continue every year since.

2025 had been a challenging year for a lot of small businesses, including mine. Many of my remaining wholesale accounts have been cutting back how often they reorder, regular sales on Etsy have been slow, and affiliate sales/ad revenue on the blog are down (thanks AI). Inflation and spending habits have impacted everyone.

Nevertheless today I made a small donation to continue the tradition. I think it’s important to give back when you can and I want to make sure this tradition continues. This year’s donation goes to Lake Winnipesaukee Alliance, to help protect our local lake for generations to come. Thank you all for the continued support of my little business - wishing everyone lots of health, happiness, peace, and love in the New Year!

Birch Landing Home x Bixby Chocolates Giveaway on Instagram!

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!

Delicious Food Delivered New England Advent Calendar

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!

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Don't forget to check out Delicious Food Delivered to see all the incredible Advent Calendars they have to offer!
| Delicious Food Delivered Website | Instagram | Facebook |

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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.