With Father’s Day just around the corner, we know you’ll be looking for a way to express to express your love for him. Whether shopping for something to give your dad, granddad, children’s dad or a dad-to-be, it can be tricky coming up with a gift that’s unique, special and will make them feel appreciated. That’s why we’ve already done the searching so you can tackle the task with ease. We’ve highlighted a few of our faves for starters here:

Retro Turntable. Let Dad relive the hippest sounds of his past while converting groovy record albums to digital files with this vintage-looking turntable. All he needs is a USB cable and a computer to run the supplied software and presto—those rockin’ record tunes have now entered the digital realm!

Photo Negative Converter.  Help him transform stacks of 4x6 photographs and 35 mm film into digitals files in seconds with this easy-to-use device.

Tees to talk about. Whether it’s a witty “Real Men Change Diapers” or “World’s Greatest Step Dad”, a nifty tee celebrates dadhood in a wearable fashion. Dads-to-be and grandpas can sport their status too with a commemorative piece from this collection.   

Visionaire Podpal in black or silver. The perfect dadget—gadget for a dad—when he travels.  This suitcase can dock an iPad on top of it plus still serve as a carry-on item for domestic and European flights. How’s that for a tech travel bag?

Leather iPad holder (also available in black).  Keep Dad’s iPad protected tucked into the plush case of a premier leather holder. Thanks to the cool foldout kickstand, it holds up the iPad so it’s easier to use, while the corner straps hold it in place. Special cutouts enable him to plug it in for charging.  Alternatively, tuck his nook or kindle into the nifty i-Pouch (also available in black and can hold the iPad too). A separate rear pocket keeps cables and power cords at hand without scratching the screen.

Need more ideas? Browse our Father’s Day-themed events today for selections from sports-themed items to accessories and footwear. 

Children’s Book Week is the longest running literacy celebration in the nation! We at zulily are happy to participate by gathering together a new selection of books each day this week, focused on different age groups.

To celebrate, zulily sat down with authors Kim Baker and Terra Lynn Childs, and illustrator Sara Anderson to talk about how they got their start in the literary world and the importance of reading with children.

zulily: What inspired you to become an author/illustrator? 

Kim Baker: I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl! I loved books and reading so much. I would write stories for fun, submit poems to the local newspaper’s contest, and I had a notebook to write down observations about neighbors and local events à la Harriet the Spy. I read every chance I got, and even made a deal with the school librarian to help shelve books and dust in the library in exchange for recommendations and having it all to myself. My parents were always really supportive of my writing and reading, and I spent my formative years in libraries, comic shops, and bookstores. Some of my best, most vivid, early memories are of reading.

Tera Lynn Childs: My path to writing was a winding one. Growing up I was always into math and science and I thought I hated reading. After getting degrees in Theatre and Historic Preservation, I found myself basically housesitting for my parents in the country while they traveled for work. It was during all this alone time that I first found my love of reading. I would head to the bookstore and bring home a stack of romance novels every week and just devour them. It was this late-blooming passion for reading that eventually led me to think about writing my own stories.

Sara Anderson: Ever since I was very little, when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I always said “an artist” (if only I had known)!  I studied art all of my life - drawing, painting, printmaking, and graphic arts. By the time I looked to pursue children’s books, I was already a designer and working as an illustrator. I compiled all of my story ideas with characters I had created and at the first meeting they okayed 7 book ideas! I started with NUMBERS, they added COLORS, and 3 years later they were books.  The author part happened because I worked so fast, there wasn’t time to find and get a writer on board, so it turned out I had to do it, myself. Now I really like playing with words, trying to make them into magic groupings. 

zulily: Why is it important for young people to read/ to read to kids?

Kim Baker: Reading gives us a window on the world. We can gain understanding of situations and settings that we would otherwise never have access to. Even stories that are seemingly silly or fantastical can help kids learn about solving problems, friendship, loyalty, and coping with issues, It’s important to read with kids and to allow them to make their own choices, book-wise. We never “make” our kids read anything, but we encourage them to mix it up and try new things. The tendency at this age can be to reread something familiar rather than try something new, but there’s always a new favorite just waiting on the shelf.

Tera Lynn Childs: Reading is a gateway to so much of life. Whether it’s succeeding in school, getting a good job, or just escaping to another life through a book, reading is a fundamental part of our society. And if we want to raise readers, we have to offer them stories they actually want to read. I hated reading as a teen because I hated most of the books we had to read for school. As Walt Disney once said, “I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.”

Sara Anderson: Reading opens worlds and sets the imagination to dream and run wild.  As a child you can be anything and do anything, in stories. It allows freedom that children might need from their real world constraints (i.e. like being able to fly).

zulily: How do you incorporate reading together into a busy family routine?

Kim Baker: It can be tricky, but I think a lot of it is about making choices and setting routines. My son will ask if he can bring his iPod to play games in the car while we’re driving around town, and nine times out of ten I’ll tell him to grab a book instead. Their dad and I take turns reading to each of them at bedtime. It’s a great way to connect and wind down after a busy day. If there’s an issue at school, a bully, a deployed parent, a new kid in class with some different limitations, picking a book that deals with those issues is a great way to gain perspective. Plus, I get to share my favorites! Laughing our way through Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is a memory that I’ll hold dear forever.

Sara Anderson: I like bedtime reading because it brings the day to an end in a nice wind-down kind of way (and prolongs having to go to sleep). When a parent is reading, it’s the child’s time to absorb attention being intently on them through storytelling. It can be intimate and relays the message that engagement matters. Doing it at night allows for the entering of other worlds and opens the mind of dreams. Magic.

About Kim Baker

Kim Baker’s debut middle grade novel, PICKLE, is a  Junior Library Guild Selection, one of the New York Public Library’s 2012 Best Books for Reading and Sharing, the 2013 Crystal Kite West Winner, and a finalist for the 2013 Children’s Choice Awards, Book of the Year for 5th-6th grade. Kim’s second grade teacher said she’d be a writer someday, and by the time Kim figured out that her teacher probably told everyone that, her heart was set. She lives in Seattle with her family and a few furry creatures, where she is working on her next book. You can see more at www.kimbakerbooks.com

About Tera Lynn Childs

Tera Lynn Childs is the award-winning young adult author of the mythology-based Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp, the mermaid tales Forgive My Fins, Fins Are Forever and Just For Fins, and a thrilling trilogy about monster-hunting descendants of Medusa that includes Sweet Venom, Sweet Shadows, and Sweet Legacy (September 3, 2013). She has epublished two fun chick lit romances, Eye Candy and Straight Stalk, and has two e-novellas coming soon from HarperCollins. Tera lives nowhere in particular and spends her time writing wherever she can find a comfy chair and a steady stream of caffeinated beverages.  See more on her website here: teralynnchilds.com. 

About Sara Anderson

After spending years and years drawing and painting, making quilts, doing textile design, paper collage, weaving, and designing products for children and adults in a studio much bigger than her house, Sara has settled into storytelling as the one thread that encompasses all the other strands of her life and makes a tapestry of disparate experiences, selves, travels, lives, and talents. She has been getting her “Ph.D” in the narrative for the past dozen years or so.

Here at zulily, we know moms are amazing. Incredible. Absolutely splendiferous. Moms are superheroes! But what’s the one word you’d use to describe your mom? What’s the one word your kids would use to describe you?

 This Mother’s Day, we’re celebrating all that moms are with something called my mom is. It’s a chance for each of us (kids and grown-ups!) to express that one unique thing that makes our own mom extra-special.  

 Will you be part of our celebration?  View and print the my mom is sign right here, then snap photos to share on Instagram anytime from now ‘til the big day on Sunday, May 12. Make sure to follow @zulily and use the #mymomis tag. 

If you don’t use Instagram, you can email us photos at mymomis@zulily.com. Plus, you can always share photos with us on our Facebook page (or post to your own wall and tag @zulily so we see it!). We’ll be celebrating on Twitter as well. Make sure to use the #mymomis hashtag. 

Here’s a little inspiration straight from the zulily studio. 

Legal details about sending photos

When you send zulily any photos, you are certifying that you own all relevant rights in the work, that you consider the photo non-confidential and non-proprietary, and that the photo does not and will not infringe the intellectual property or other rights of any third party, including, without limitation, any third party patents, copyrights, or trademarks, or any right of publicity or privacy. Additionally, by sending us your photo, you grant and assign to zulily a perpetual, nonexclusive, world-wide, royalty free, sub-licenseable license to the photo for zulily or any third party zulily designates to use, copy, transmit, excerpt, publish, distribute, publicly display or perform, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, modify, and adapt (including without limitation the right to adapt to streaming, downloading, broadcast, mobile, digital, thumbnail, scanning, or other technologies) the photo in any form or media now known or hereafter developed, and to otherwise use your User Content for related online and offline promotional uses.

Parenting coach Rachel Sklar (@ViaParenting), zulily (@zulily) baby gear buyer Debbie Licolli and HLN’s Raising America host Kyra Phillips (@KyraHLN) are joining forces for a toddler-themed Twitter Chat tomorrow!

On April 23 from 1-2 p.m. EST, meet zulily and the rest of the expert panel over on Twitter to celebrate the zulily sale of Sklar’s parenting CD, Rock Your Inner Mama. Sklar and Phillips will be dishing on all things toddler and zulily buyer Debbie will share her favorite toddler gear and products. What are your child’s biggest strengths? Which of your values are most essential to your parenting? They’ll be discussing all that and more!

To make things extra sweet, we’re giving away one $50 zulily gift card to a lucky participant chosen at random. (Offer open only to first-time winners.) Be sure to add the Chat hashtag #zulilytoddler to follow along and get your voice heard.

The ‘Welcome Baby’ event runs from April 23 at 6 a.m. to April 26 at 6 a.m. on zulily.com. Rachel’s CDs will be sold in the ‘Welcome Baby: Maternity, Baby Gear & Toys’ event. There will also be a ‘Welcome Baby Boy: Apparel & Accessories’ event and a ‘Welcome Baby Girl: Apparel & Accessories’ event running during the same time.

About Rachel Sklar:

Among her many accomplishments, Certified Parent Coach and mother of three Rachel Sklar has worked in foster care, adoption and donor insemination and received an award from the National Association of Social Workers. Rock Your Inner Mama, Sklar’s parenting CD, encourages parents to view her technique as a “mental yoga workout.”

About Kyra Phillips

Award-winning journalist Kyra Phillips has covered everything from elections and 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina and racial tensions in Louisiana. She currently serves as anchor on HLN’s daytime interactive talk show Raising America, which discusses major news from a parent’s perspective.

About Debbie Licolli

Debbie Licolli has been on board with zulily for two years. Her goal is to find the stylish yet functional gear for mommies and their little ones.

If you’re new to Twitter or still learning the ropes, we’ve laid out a step-by-step guide to participating in a Twitter Chat below.

So, what exactly is a Twitter Chat?
A Twitter chat is a public discussion—with “tweeters” from all over the world—based on a common topic of interest.

Why a Twitter Chat?
Twitter has become the go-to forum for moms worldwide to discuss every topic imaginable. Twitter is a big place, though, and our #zulilyNurseryStyle chat will be a great way to share ideas about style on a smaller scale.

How can I follow the discussion?
At first glance, Twitter can seem like a chaotic place for a discussion. Fortunately, some simple tools have been created to help organize the many tweets generated every day. 

While the @zulily Twitter Chat promises to be fast paced, the Twitter “#hashtag” feature allows followers to more easily keep up with and participate in the discussion. 

Each follower participating in the Chat will include a unique hashtag (#) in each tweet. For our Chat, we will be using #zulilyNurseryStyle. This will help readers following the Twitter Chat to separate ours from other discussions taking place on Twitter.

To more easily follow and participate in the discussion, we recommend using a Twitter monitoring app. We’ve added a few of our favorites below. They’re free to use and will allow you to view any tweet that includes the right # (hashtag).

New to Twitter? Follow these simple steps to sign up and join the discussion:

1.     Visit twitter.com to sign up for an account and pick a unique Twitter “handle” (Handle = what comes after the @ symbol)

2.     Follow @zulily @ViaParenting @KyraHLN

3.     Visit one of our recommended Twitter monitoring tools. We’ll use tweetchat.com as an example.

·        Once you’ve arrived at TweetChat click ‘Sign In’ and allow Twitter to authorize the TweetChat app.

·        In the field that reads “Enter hashtag to follow,” input zulilytoddler (all one word)

·        Join the chat! Tweet us a question or comment, or simply introduce yourself! We’ll make sure to say hello! Be sure to include the @ symbol to direct your tweet at the right user. Here’s an example:

“@zulily excited to be here! #zulilytoddler”

A few of our favorite websites for monitoring Twitter:

·        TweetChat http://tweetchat.com/,

·        TweetGrid http://tweetgrid.com/

·        Monitter http://monitter.com

·        Hootsuite http://hootsuite.com

We’ll be reading and responding to your tweets in real time, so if you have a question, just tweet @zulily!

Where can I send you photos of cute zulily clothes in action?

We’d love to see them! Share your photo with us on Instagram. Make sure you follow @zulily and use these two tags:

#zulilycutie

@zulily

What if I don’t have Instagram?

You can always share photos with us on our Facebook page or on Twitter as well. Make sure to use the #zulilycutie hashtag. Or, email us at submissions@zulily.com.

What kind of photo can I send?

We want to see your family’s zulily style. What’s your favorite zulily outfit? Have any zulily décor brightening a room? New toy or book your little one is loving? Please only send photos that you own and that feature yourself and your kids.

What are you going to do with the photo?

We love to share photos of zulily cuties, so you might see your photo on one of our social pages (including Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter) or in an upcoming zulily promotion! 

Will my kid’s personal details be made public?

We want to give your cutie the spotlight! If you provide a first name and city, we might include them when we share photos. Remember, we only have access to the information you offer. We’ll never share last names or contact information.

Can I still use the photo in my Facebook/Instagram/etc?

Yes!

Legal details

When you send zulily any photos, you are certifying that you own all relevant rights in the work, that you consider the photo non-confidential and non-proprietary, and that the photo does not and will not infringe the intellectual property or other rights of any third party, including, without limitation, any third party patents, copyrights, or trademarks, or any right of publicity or privacy. Additionally, by sending us your photo, you grant and assign to zulily a perpetual, nonexclusive, world-wide, royalty free, sub-licenseable license to the photo for zulily or any third party zulily designates to use, copy, transmit, excerpt, publish, distribute, publicly display or perform, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, modify, and adapt (including without limitation the right to adapt to streaming, downloading, broadcast, mobile, digital, thumbnail, scanning, or other technologies) the photo in any form or media now known or hereafter developed, and to otherwise use your User Content for related online and offline promotional uses.

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We continue to look for ways to share valuable information with our members. April is National Autism Month so we thought we’d bring you some information from an autism expert. Educational Insights connected zulily with Terri Chew Nishimura, CEO of the Pediatric Therapy Network, to talk about the history of the month and the need for education about autism.

zulily: What is National Autism Awareness Month? 

TCN: In order to highlight the growing need, awareness and acceptance about autism, April has been designated as “Autism Awareness Month” in the United States.  The purpose is to shed light on the need to help improve the lives of children and adults who have autism, so they can lead full and meaningful lives.  Due to concerns by the prevalence of the high rate of autism in children in all regions of the world, the United Nations in 2007 sanctioned World Autism Awareness Day to be held every April 2nd.  According to the General Assembly, autism “posed challenges to long term health care, education, and training and intervention programs and has a tremendous impact on children, their families, communities and societies”.   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates that 1 in 50 school aged children may have the disorder.

zulily: What do you think are the most important things for people to know about austism?

TCN: It is important for people to be educated and informed on autism and to know that early identification and intervention are critical to improve the outcomes for children with ASD.

What is autism?  Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a broad group of developmental brain disorders which can cause significant communication, social, motor, sensory and behavioral challenges that typically appear during the first three years of life.  ASD is a spectrum disorder which means that it affects each person in different ways and can range from mild to severe.  With the rate of 1 in 50, nearly everyone knows someone with ASD. 

It is important to know the early signs of autism because early identification and early intervention can make a difference.  Research shows that early intervention can greatly improve a child’s development. The brain develops the most in its early years and therapy programs can make positive changes in the brain’s structure and have a very profound lifelong influence.  Early intervention from birth to three can help a child learn important developmental skills that can carry on throughout life.   There are many different types of treatments available for individuals with ASD.  If you are concerned, contact your child’s doctor or get a referral to a specialist such as developmental pediatricians, child neurologists, child psychologists or psychiatrists or pediatric occupational, physical or speech therapists.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends autism screening for all children between 18 and 24 months.  Find out more about the “Early Signs” at Autism Speaks. 

zulily: Why should the community participate in National Autism Awareness Month?  And how can they participate?

TCN: Autism Awareness Month allows the community an opportunity to learn, inform, celebrate, honor, advocate and share.  There are many different ways to participate in National Autism Awareness Month:

Educate yourself on current information or research on autism and share your knowledge with those around you.

Advocate by contacting your local, state and federal representatives on legislative issues

Support or volunteer at organizations that advocate, research or provide services for individuals with ASD

Attend an event in your community. This year, Major League Baseball is teaming up with Autism Speaks in a league wide effort to recognize Autism Awareness Month.

Honor individuals with autism or their families by embracing them as part of your community.

zulily: How does the puzzle piece symbol reflect National Autism Awareness Month?

TCN: The Autism Awareness Puzzle Ribbon is the most recognized symbol of the autism community in the world.  The puzzle pattern reflects the complexity of ASD and the different colors and shapes represent the diversity of the people living with the disorder.  The brightness of the ribbon represents hope that through awareness, research and effective treatment and services, people with autism will lead fuller and more complete lives. 

Facts and Statistics from the Autism Society and Autism Speaks:

1 percent of the population of children in the US ages 3-17 have ASD

Every 11 minutes a child is born who will soon be diagnosed with ASD

1 to 1.5 million Americans live with ASD

ASD is the fastest growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.

Cost of lifelong care can be reduced by 2/3 with early diagnosis and intervention

Boys are nearly five times more likely than girls to have autism

There is no medical detection or cure for autism

zulily: Can you speak to the importance of developing products for the special needs population?

TCN: Through play children learn skills that contribute to their physical, cognitive, social, language and emotional development.  Play is fun, spontaneous and universal.  Play is needed for the healthy development of children.  Research shows that the majority of brain development occurs after birth and is influenced by early sensory, motor, and social experiences.  According to the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, “the emotional and physical health, social skills, and cognitive-linguistic capacities that emerge in the early years are all important prerequisites for success in school and later in the workplace and community.”  In addition, play activities are important for the entire family and help develop strong family bonds.  Through the interaction of toys and play, young children can learn about classification, imagination, logic, memory and concentration, independence, functional spontaneous communication, social competence and generalization of skills.  Children with ASD can have unique needs and may benefit from toys or other products that provide play experiences that include movement, auditory, tactile, visual, language, creativity, fine and gross motor skills, social skills, creativity and cognitive skills to enhance their development.

In honor of special-needs kids everywhere, zulily assembled a hand-selected collection of items especially for them. From clothing and toys to mugs and books for readers of all ages, the items in this darling event help us celebrate the differences that make all children unique and special: http://zuli.ly/15aQdev.

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