This one may surprise some of you: Whole Foods is a great place for a (relatively) cheap date.

I know, I know….”How can that be?,” you’ll say.

“Are you talking about Whole Paycheck?”

I’m quite familiar with the thinking on this one.  I love to shop at Whole Foods, but I don’t do it all that often, because for me, it breaks the bank.

There’s one place, though, where Whole Foods delivers tremendous value.  And that’s in the Cheap Date department.  For far less than you’d pay for a great meal and several glasses of fantastic wine, you can get that PLUS a cooking lesson.  It’s really more of a demo, as you don’t have to get all that involved in the process unless you want to.  You can sit back, relax, chat with your date and enjoy some gourmet foods and unique wines.

Classes range in price from $25 – $45 per person, which is why I classify this one a (relatively) cheap date.

Here are some recent offerings:

Special Wine and Food Event: Spanish Tapas
East Meets West: Cooking with Asian Ingredients
Gluten and Casien Free Cooking

Find the classes near you here.

Also offered are some even cheaper “tasting” alternatives, like Dark Chocolate 101 (just $10), which for me would be a “get me a babysitter – I gotta go to this one” type of event. And speaking of sitters, remember that SitterScout is always here to help you find one.

Have a cheap date idea you want to share?  We’d love to hear from you!   Drop us a line at heidi [at] sitterscout [dot] com.

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One of my favorite dates ever with my husband was on our anniversary back in November — and it was also super cheap!  We took our bikes to the Presidio in San Francisco and rode them across the Golden Gate bridge.  It was one of the most breathtaking and spectacular experiences I’ve had.

The benefits from our date were three-fold:

1. Quality time together away from the distractions of kids and electronic gear  –no way to obsess over your iPhone when you’ve got your hands on those handlebars.
2. A healthy way to spend the day – we burned a ton of calories on our ride (which offset the ones we put on when we shared that enormous ice cream sundae afterward!)
3. Our little date was practically free – it doesn’t get any cheaper than that!

The view from our ride across the bridge

So not all of you live close enough the San Francisco to have this same ride, but there are plenty of places all over America that have great scenery and — after all  – the real point here is to spend quality time with your mate, while getting a little fresh air. And lest you think you need fancy gear for a ride, all I had was my helmet, my workout clothes and a bike that came free with my Mercury Mountaineer back in 1999.

I made it work and it was so worth it!

SF Bay Area Tip/Lazy Girl Solution:  If you ride across the bridge, then down to Sausalito, you can catch the ferry back to Fisherman’s Wharf and avoid the ride back up the hill.

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As parents, it’s so easy to fall into the  trap of doing everything for your children and nothing for yourselves.  Between school, homework, sports, meals, baths, bedtimes….it can all turn into a crazy blur, with you completely depleted of energy and left as a limp heap on the floor.

One thing we tend to forget as parents is that taking time to reconnect in our other relationships can be one of the most valuable things we do as parents. It helps us to recharge and refresh, so that we can do all those things we said we’d do, like go a few days without yelling at the kids.  Plus, if you do it right, it’s a whole lotta of fun!

Here at SitterScout, we think that every parent deserves some time off from parenting, which is really the whole point of us being here.  We do know, however, that with what’s going on in the world right now, many of you think you just can’t afford to pay a babysitter and go out on a date.  After all, by the time you pay your sitter and throw in dinner and a movie, you could be looking at a serious outflow.

And yet we think it’s so important that parents take a little time for themselves that we’re planning to help you out on the frugal front.  Not only can you find a sitter for free with SitterScout (though paying them is up to you), we’ll even help you out with ideas for great dates on the cheap!

So stay tuned in 2010 (gosh that sounds strange!) as we bring you a series of ideas we’re calling Cheap Dates.  And if you have an idea or want to share your favorite Cheap Date, let us know.  We’d love to hear from you! (Just e-mail heidi at sitterscout dot com)

We want to help you make (and keep) a resolution to have more date nights in 2010!

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We are very pleased to announce that Caitlin Gilman is our second iTunes gift card winner!  Congratulations, Caitlin!  Send an e-mail  to ” info at sitterscout dot com” with your address and your gift card will be on its way.

We’ll pick another winner next Friday, so stay tuned!

While you’re here, have a peek around.  The new SitterScout blog is focused on providing useful tips for parents and babysitters.  Happy Holidays!

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We are very pleased to announce that Katherine Vick is our first iTunes gift card winner!  Congratulations, Katherine!  Send an e-mail  to ” info at sitterscout dot com” with your address and your gift card will be on its way.

We’ll pick another winner next Friday, so stay tuned!

While you’re here, have a peek around.  The new SitterScout blog is focused on providing useful tips for parents and babysitters.

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This time of year can bring out the best and worst in all of us.  There’s so much excitement happening — so much cheer, so much joy, so much love, oh…. and did I mentioned the rushing around, the stress, the crazed feeling you get when you figure out that there’s one more person on your “list” that you need to attend to?  Yes, it’s true, the holidays can be a double-edged sword.

In all the frenzy there may be a couple of people worth singling out.  You guessed it — it’s your babysitters.  These are the gals (or guys) you turn to when you’ve got somewhere you need to be, or just need to be anywhere but home.  These are the folks that get you that “hall pass” you so desperately desire and make sure your precious little ones are safe and sound.  That’s no small feat!

That’s why, at this most wonderful time of the year, SitterScout recommends that you do a little something for your sitters to let them know how much you appreciate them.  It doesn’t have to be a huge something, cash is always nice, of course, but there are other great options, too:

• Bake ‘em a little love – homemade goodies rock!
• Give them the gift of music – an iTunes gift card is always a winner
• Supply them with energy – most sitters I know love Starbucks, especially this time of year
• Provide a great memory – if you have a darling snapshot of your sitter & the kids, find a beautiful frame and wrap it up

What you do for your occasional babysitter this holiday season doesn’t have to be expensive, it just needs to show that you care.  After all, how would you ever get out of the house on your own without them?

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Emily of chatting at the sky certainly did. So she asked. And she found out all sorts of fascinating things.

She found out what they want you to do when they get there. And what it means if they tell you they already ate. As the wife of a youth pastor, Emily has great relationships with the girls that babysit for her, and it’s evident in the answers she was able to get.

Babysitters tell her what information they want us to leave and also clue her in on the question of what to pay your sitter.

If you’re curious about who babysitters call when they have a question, you should definitely check out what Emily has to say about that. Hint: it’s not you!

So if you’ve ever wondered what your babysitter is thinking, take a moment to find out!

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Follow these tips and they’ll ask you back to babysit

I’ve had several sitters ask me what they can do to make sure parents ask them back to babysit, so here are my top 5 suggestions to help you make yourself indispensable as a babysitter.

1. Respond quickly when they ask you to babysit

Many parents have a sense of anxiety and/or panic when trying to schedule a babysitter.  They may have an important event that they need to attend, or may need to RSVP quickly.  Get off on the right foot by responding quickly to a parent’s request.  If you can’t answer right away, let them know you are checking your schedule and then get back to them as soon as possible.

2. Arrive on time

Make it a general rule to arrive 5 minutes before the scheduled time — that way there won’t be one moment when a parent has to wonder if you remembered you were supposed to babysit for them.

3. Engage with the kids

When you are babysitting, give the kids your FULL attention.  Most parents I know will ask their kids if they had fun with the babysitter, and they’ll also ask what they did.  If the kiddos tell mom and dad that they played outside while you talked on the phone, you probably won’t be asked back.

Are you great at a sport, or do you love music?  Figure out a way to incorporate your interests into your time with the kids.  Play basketball.  Teach them a new tune on the piano.  Bottom line — make it fun!

4. Enforce the rules

So make it fun, but not so fun that you disregard the rules of the house.  If mom and dad have asked you to have the kids in bed at 8:30, then get them to bed at 8:30.  If they said “no TV”, then keep it off.  Even if the kids think you’re fabulous, they will generally tell the parents what went on, so make sure you are doing what they asked of you.

5.  Leave the house neat

This is a huge one for me!  There’s nothing worse than coming home after an evening out to find your sitter lounging on the couch, then looking around to find that the house is a wreck.

If you find yourself with some quiet time after the kids have gone to bed, spend some time picking up and aim to make the house look better than when you arrived. I’m not talking about heavy cleaning – just tidying up.  Never leave your dirty dishes in the sink for the parents to clean up!  (It sounds obvious, but it’s happened to me more than once.)

If you follow these simple tips, parents will be beating down your door to ask you to babysit!

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This past Memorial Day marked a big milestone in our family.  We had just returned from a great weekend getaway, and I was sitting at the computer catching up on e-mail when my nine-year-old and seven-year-old cornered me.

My daughter (the seven-year-old) said, “Mom, is Santa real?”

“What do you think?”, I responded.

“Liam thinks he is, and I think he’s not.  Who’s right?”

Ouch, I thought.  What to do? Did I tell the truth and ruin the magic? Or fudge a little and have a few more years of fun?

I took a deep breath.  ”Well, guys, Meredith is right, there’s no Santa.”

“I knew it!”, exclaimed my daughter.

“Awww.”, said my son.  And then, “How do you afford all those presents?!”

No tears.  No yelling.  No flinging themselves onto the couch in agony, as I had done when the next-door neighbor clued me in at the age of five.

It was all a little anti-climactic.  I was relieved.  And to be honest, I felt a bit free.  No more trying to keep track of which presents were from Santa and which were from us!  No more special “Santa” wrapping paper.

But now that the season is almost upon us, I find myself feeling a little sad and a bit nostalgic for the days when they did believe.  Getting ready for Christmas just won’t be the same this year.

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