22 Ways To Keep Your Kids Happy When It's Cold And Icky Outside

    Are you spending your winter days staring into a seemingly eternal abyss of freezing cold? Try these tips and tricks for keeping your family healthy, warm, and reasonably cheerful.

    1. Use Halloween costumes to keep the baby warm.

    2. Whip up perfectly smooth hot cocoa — there's a trick to it!

    3. Paint those rain boots.

    4. ...And line them, too.

    5. Prevent Norovirus with grape juice.

    But if that doesn't work, keep a potty by the bed.

    6. Acknowledge that getting ready to go outside is enough of an ordeal to count as its own activity.

    7. It's a good time to educate your kids about cute, cuddly Arctic animals.

    8. Make every night a slumber party.

    9. Layer up, and avoid using cotton as the bottom layer.

    10. Use kid-safe chapstick.

    11. Cure a croupy cough with some steam.

    12. Always carry a spare set of clothes.

    ... Including extra mittens.

    13. ... And buy extra hats, too.

    14. Do cute things with lone gloves.

    15. Make friends with the family next door.

    16. Keep your child's bike wheels from getting muddy.

    17. Give your child's snowball a fighting chance.

    18. Make an indoor slide.

    19. Keep everyone's wrists warm with socks.

    20. Keep everyone's butts warm with socks.

    21. Subject socks to a final indignity.

    22. Read "The Snowy Day"... again