Make a cake that will make a kid's birthday! Photo courtesy of For Goodness Cakes, Facebook

1. For Goodness Cakes expands

For Goodness Cakes matches home bakers with foster and at-risk kids. You get to bake and deliver a dream cake to a child who otherwise might not get a cake on their birthday. This month, my all-time favorite charity has opened up in a whole slew of new cities, including NYC. Mommy Poppins readers (and staff) were so generous with our Operation Santa endeavor this year that I thought everyone might like a way to keep the giving going year-round. The timing of this expansion really hit my heartstrings, since it's birthday cake season at my house, and we will definitely be signing up to bake a few more cakes this month.  

Book cover of Stacey's Extraordinary Words. Photo courtesy of Amazon

2. Stacey’s Extraordinary Words by Stacey Abrams

It might not surprise you to learn that I love words. As a writer and editor, words are my world. As a mom, I take pride in raising kids who are delightfully, proudly word nerds. I can’t recommend this great new picture book by Stacey Abrams highly enough. It’s about being yourself, perseverance, acceptance, and loving WORDS. Also, it’s a great excuse to talk about one of my 2021 heroes: spelling bee champ Zaila Avant-garde.

If you’re looking for a new book to add to your bookshelves in honor of Black History Month, this is my pick.

 
Our family tradition is to make homemade fortune cookies to celebrate Lunar New Year. 

3. Celebrate Lunar New Year and the Year of the Tiger

February 1 kicks off Lunar New Year—check your local event calendar to see what celebrations are happening in your city. This is the Year of the Tiger, which is said to be a good year for strength, exorcising evils, and braveness. I’m all for exorcising evils this year! Though I know these cookies are an American invention, our family tradition is to make homemade fortune cookies to celebrate Lunar New Year. My kids love to write silly fortunes for each other and our family and friends, and the recipe we use is really addictive. 

 
See the Maya Angelou quarter up close. Courtesy of the US Mint

4. Maya Angelou is on the quarter

February is Black History Month, so it's only fitting that these quarters have officially entered circulation just in time for February. Maya Angelou is the first Black woman to be featured on the quarter. It may be because we’re not leaving the house as much, or because we have been paying for everything with contactless payment methods, but I have yet to see one in person. So one of my February goals is to acquire some Maya Angelou quarters.

There are so many wise and wonderful things Maya Angelou said, but the one I always repeat to my kids is this: 

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

 
It's time for the Olympics. Photo courtesy of the US Figure Skating Team, Facebook

5. The Winter Olympics begin on February 3 on NBC channels and websites

Didn’t we just have the Olympics a few minutes ago? But I don’t mind; since we’re all spending more time at home, I’m happy to have an excuse to make some popcorn and watch allllll the ice skating. Plus the ski jumping and snowboarding. And did you know that this year is the first time in 24 years that a Jamaican team has qualified for the Winter Olympics? That is a perfect excuse/reminder to show your kids Cool Runnings.

 
The Cuphead Show is one of the shows in February we can't wait to see. Photo courtesy of Netflix

6. Three Cool Cartoons Premiere in February

February can feel like the time of year where people dump really bad entertainment, but this year there are several new cartoons that look delightful, and they all premiere in February. Every single one looks like it will entrance kids while also throwing in enough adult humor to keep parents entertained. Alice’s Wonderland Bakery on Disney Junior premieres February 9. In each episode, Alice’s great-granddaughter, also named Alice, is a budding baker who goes on culinary adventures through Wonderland. The Cuphead Show! premieres February 18 on Netflix, and this is the one I’m actually interested in watching for myself —it’s styled after the early Disney animation and based on the video game characters. And finally, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder starts streaming on Disney+ on February 23. This update of the classic 2001 cartoon follows the adventures of Penny Proud and her family, and features cameos from Lil Nas X, Lizzo, Normani, Tiffany Haddish, Chance the Rapper, Gabrielle Union, Jane Lynch, Lena Waithe, Tina Knowles, and more.

 
Dessert boards make perfect Superbowl snacks... Photo courtesy of Mommy Poppins

7. The Super Bowl is on February 13

You don’t have to love football to look forward to Super Bowl Sunday, which this year takes place on February 13 in my hometown of Los Angeles. (And yes, it's the second year in a row where the host city has a team in the running. Pretty exciting!) You can also love music, since this year’s halftime show features legends like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar. You can be a fan of funny commercials and new movie trailers. Or, like me, you could just be a huge fan of delicious snack food. Personally, I’m using this as an excuse to make a couple of these dessert boards, and snack all day.

 
Build a globe while you dream of taking a family vacation. Photo courtesy of the Lego Toy Company

8. Lego Globe is available February 1

This is not cheap. But the list of things that everyone in my family enjoys doing together that does not involve a screen is short these days. And one of the things we all love is Lego. The only downside to Lego building is that once the sets are built, no one really knows what to do. We don’t want to undo them, but I also don’t want the Razor Crest starship from The Mandalorian sitting in our living room. My almost 15-year-olds are too old to really play with the sets, even though they love building them. But this new globe looks amazing. It’s an actual working globe that spins and has glow-in-the-dark tiles. We can use it to daydream about future and past family trips, putting little Lego dots on the spots we have visited and want to visit. Hopefully my kids aren’t reading this, because I already ordered it as a joint birthday present...

 
What's your best day look like? Wordle image courtesy of Pinterest

9. Wordle

Since our list of favorite things to kick off the year, one short month ago, Wordle has blown up. And like the rest of the world, pretty much our whole team is obsessed. Do you Wordle? Do you have a starter word you always use? What’s your strategy? With everyone from Jimmy Fallon to your retired librarian aunt talking about this, you probably don’t need me to tout this daily word puzzle. But just in case you’ve been resisting, I wanted to tell you that it’s a very wholesome yet utterly addictive game—and the best part is, you can’t spend all day on it or lose too much time playing. It’s one puzzle a day, and that’s it.

 
Organizing things is my love language. Photo courtesy of Target

10. Brightroom for Target

So, after holidays and birthdays for everyone in a two-month span, we end February with a LOT more things taking up space in our house. When I read about Target launching a brand new storage and home organization brand, I got a little too excited. These bins, boxes, baskets, trays, and organizers are inexpensive, chic, and incredibly handy. I can’t wait to start cleaning out outgrown clothes and shoes and books and getting all the new things organized.

Got some recommendations for March picks? Meet me on Facebook or shoot me an email at meghan@mommypoppins.com!

By the way, none of these items are sponsored—these are just things we're excited about this month. However, this article does contain a few affiliate links, which means we might earn a small commission if you make a purchase. We only recommend items we've personally used and loved or researched thoroughly.