Covid-19 Survival Guide | Sparkle In Pink

Jessie Cozzens| 15 Mar, 2020

Our Sparklers!

We hope you are all doing well during this trying time for our country. It has really been quite unbelievable hasn't it? All of us here at SIP have been trying to make sense of this and really thinking about what we can do to help. We weren't planning to do a blog post until Easter but decided a blog post would be good to help some of you prepare or deal with what is happening, and help keep the kiddos entertained during the break as well. Our schools here in Utah have been closed for at least two weeks.

I just wanted to show you a few things I have come up with to help make the next couple weeks a little easier and fun. It's all about routine in our house so if I can have a plan, we will all be much happier!! ☺️

Kid's Craft During Quarantine

 
My kids are all about crafts as I'm sure yours are too. I made it a goal to keep this unexpected time as inexpensive as possible.

I went to the Dollar Store and made my girls this craft tote.

All new art supplies; canvas, construction paper, pipe cleaners, stickers, paint, etc. And I also got a few learning books they have for my kid's ages. This whole tote cost under $15 total and will make for lots of creativity! Even though we already have most of these items, something about it being new really excites my kids and having their own little tote makes for no fighting over who gets what color! 

 
I also saw this cute "bowling" idea with just using cups and a ball. Which I'm sure most of you already have. You can play with neighbors, play it outside, etc. Great idea for toddlers!

Germ Soap Experiment


I'm sure a lot of you have seen the videos of the germ experiment using water, pepper, and soap. I wanted to show my girls why we are so adamant about hand washing several times a day and always when coming inside the house. Especially now!


All you need to do is fill a bowl with a little water, and put pepper in it. Then have your child put their unwashed finger in the pepper water. Let them see all the "germs" (pepper) on their finger. Then dip their finger in the soap and do it again in the water. They will see all the pepper float away from their finger. The soap reflects the germs and this is a great visual activity so they can really understand what hand washing does. My girls thought this was so cool!

Our COVID-19 Daily Schedule For Kids


To wrap some ideas up, here is a daily schedule example that we will be using in our home. The reality that it will actually go as planned is slim, but one can hope! Haha. And also, a list of free online learning websites. My girls love to do learning apps or sites, so we will definitely be looking into all of these and letting them stay in the school mode as much as we can.

Finally, we really wanted to express to all of you that our thoughts and prayers go to everyone. This can be scary for kids and even us as parents. But if we can all focus on the positive and see the good in this situation, things will improve much quicker. We have strangers helping strangers, buying necessities for elderly, or those less fortunate. That is what we all need to do. 

That being said, we wanted to offer a different kind of giveaway for this blog. We want to help some of those in need. Whether it's yourself, or a family member or friend, we want to give back a couple of gift cards to stores for some family necessities. We will be giving away gift cards for Visa and Venmo! We know our giveaways are normally for our store, but there are families who need this more and that's what we're going to do!

TO ENTER: Comment on this blog post if you or someone you know could use a little help. No need to specify a name, we will reach out to you if you are a chosen winner and get the details. But let us know what some struggles are and some necessities or items you or a friend are having a hard time finding during this time. We wish we could help all those who enter, but we will do as much as we can for those who really could use some help. Let's all work to make the world a better place! Winners will be carefully chosen and notified in a few days.

Thank you! 💗

 

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166 comments

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Heather

    Im a food service worker, they are talking about closing our store for just carry out. Sales have already been down. Im super worried about making rent with hours being cut. On top of that i didnt panic buy groceries, so now stores are out and i cant get basics. My daughter has been constantly sick with influenza/ viruses and ear infection. Im worried she’ll end up with it.

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Melissa Smith

    I would like to nominate my sister. She is a hair stylist who recently for the first time made a huge leap of faith & decided to go into business for herself (is renting a chair at a studio instead of actually working for a salon). She is a single mom who has spent every extra dime she makes to get custody of her son. She lives where there are many confirmed cases, so her clients have all canceled and she can’t find toilet paper anywhere (some of the stores thought she was prank calling them)! She is so worried about losing her studio space (if she does, she will not get her son back that’s she been working so hard to do for almost a year & her final return home court date is set for the beginning of April), paying her other bills, and just finding the basic necessities to live on. She’s also worried about her son, his health and if he’s getting everything he need, and being away pretty far from him doesn’t help matters. She gets to visit with him next weekend & I know that the $ will help her with money to get down here to see her so as well as help pay her chair rent, so she doesn’t lose her studio spot.

    I really think that what y’all are doing is wonderful!! I know this virus has been really hard for our country as well as the world, but the way that people are uniting & helping each other is incredible.🥰

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Gris

    Hi, sparkle in Pink! We’re so grateful and blessed that you’re helping out anyone in need. Especially families who really need it during this time of event. I greatly appreciate what you’re doing and God bless you and your family.

  • Jessie Cozzens

    J

    Would love to enter. Me and my husband just separated a few weeks ago after finding out of his 3 year long affair. We have 2 small children and I have been a stay at home mom for years. So to say I’m starting over from nothing is hard.
    You guys are amazing! And have been a customer since day 1. I might now be able to buy as much anymore but we sure love all your adorable clothes

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Tanya

    So great what you are doing. We are a family of 6. Schools are closed, grocery stores are emptying out and no hand sanitizer, masks or toilet paper. We live on one income, are still waiting on our income tax return and are in a tight financial situation…at the worst possible time. Thank you for considering our family and for helping others in this time!

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Rachel

    I’m a police officer who is required to interact with the public on a daily basis, we have not changed any policy on how to interact with the public as of yet. I have a 1 1/2 year old and fear bringing any germs back. There have been multiple cases of infected individuals that fellow officers have come into contact with. I am blowing through cleaning supplies trying to keep me/my gear/ my car/ and my home as clean as possible and sanitized to try and keep any germs from coming home. I am struggling to keep the cleaning supplies handy. We have been lucky so far with wipes and diapers but they are quickly coming up short in all the stores.

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Rachel Kipfer

    Bless your heart! Such an amazing thing to want to help in time of need. We all appreciate it so much ❤❤

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Megan

    This is amazing. We could all use a little help right now! Thank you for your kindness and generosity. You’re making the world a better place ♥️

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Sabrina

    Y’all are amazing for doing something like this. Our family could use a little bit of help with things like toilet paper diapers and wipees and baby food. You’d be surprised the things. Are out of stock at our little town you can not find any wipees or any diapers and I just went to Walmart and I could hardly find any baby food. Don’t even make me mention the whole toilet paper situation thankfully I found a few cheapy Dollar Store toilet papers which I gladly bought because there’s just no toilet paper around here. I have a four-year-old and a 7-month old little girls and with school being out I have to find things to keep my four-year-old busy instead of going to pre-k which this post blog did awesomely she’s very excited to try the germ and soap one, so thank you for that! I’m very fortunate to have my in-laws here to help my family whenever they’re able to and my family only lives an hour away so they can help as well I would just really like the security to know that I would be able to provide for my own family. Nonetheless thank you so much for all of these awesome ideas to keep my little one busy.

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Jennifer demings

    Hey there! I would love to enter Heather Jenkins sister.(comments below) She is a hair stylist and just had a baby boy January 11th. Her husband works tirelessly many many hours to provide extra now with the baby while she didn’t get paid any maternity leave. Now, with the virus closures she can’t go back to work and doesn’t have enough saved up for bills and baby supplies. She is one of the kindest people I know and deserves this extra help during this time. As heather had mentioned, I too, would love to be able to help, but also another military family here and already struggle on my own. So if me entering her is my way to help then that’s what I’ll do. I have Extended family to help me, her not so much. So heather and I have come together a few Times to help when we can.

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Caitlin

    You guys are truly something else! Not only do you provide super cute outfits for bargain prices but you are still thinking of your customers at a difficult time.

    Our family could really just use about anything grocery wise. The kids are out of school which means meals and food at home are necessary! We don’t live in a large enough area where schools are doing bagged breakfasts/lunches. Due to surgeries and other medical conditions, going store to store to just find some necessities is tough. Our local traveling food pantries have even came to a stop. Luckily we were able to stock up on Ramen Noodles and our kids like water, they don’t complain too much about food and they realize what’s going on in the world, but a few other meals would definitely be ideal.

    Thank you for always being so kind to your customers!

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Phylicia Martz

    I know a family with a special needs immunocompromised daughter whose birthday is on the 23rd. She could REALLY USE the help to buy cleaning supplies and nessecities so they can ride this out in their home until its over

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Alyssa McLachlan

    I know alot of people have struggled to buy toilet paper or medical supplies such as alcohol swabs, rubbing alcohol, etc.

    My fiance did this just the other day to show my 6 year old the importance of handwashing and not spreading germs to others.

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Lori Stebbins

    First of all, thank you so much for having this contest! It shows how much you care about your customers!

    With that said, my family could use some help! We are having a hard time finding simple things like baby wipes, cleaners, etc. I was wanting to place another SIP order for some spring items, but I thought with my kids being out of school and husband possibly having work shortages or schedule changes, it may be best to hold off for now.

    We would love to be able to win and be blessed with giftcards to get some crafts for my three kiddos and also help buy necessities for every day living! Baby wipes, cleaning supplies, etc. Times are scary right now, and letting my kids know we we graciously given giftcards, would really help them deal with uncertainty and missing there friends too.

    Thank you once again for this opportunity!

    Love and sparkle daily,

    Lori Stebbins

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Mayra

    Hello i am entering for my family we have 4 children ages 10,9,4 and 4 month old baby girl sadly she’s hospitalized right now on Saturday she was admitted to the hospital for bronquiolitis she’s been really sick and we don’t know when we’ll be going home 😞 my husband haven’t been able to go to work because I need to be here at the hospital with our baby 24/7 and he’s at home with our other 3 children, with the schools closed we don’t have babysitters or family nearby 😢 we could really use some help to buy some groceries..

  • Jessie Cozzens

    D. Perez

    I am very fortunate in saying that my family and I will have what we need. ❤️ My heart absolutely breaks reading some of these comments. Our school district just announced its closure starting on Wednesday. We are from a very poor town and have lots of families who depend on free school meals to make sure their kids good a good meal during the day. Our school district will not continue to serve meals during the closure. My heart is absolutely shattered thinking of all of the kids who will be missing out on meals, simply because their parents just can’t afford to supplement that. My husband and I have talked about donating some money to a local restaurant here to make Sack lunches or some sort of meal for the kids in need but we don’t have a lot of money to donate. We’d like to do what we can, but with your help it could go a little further. ❤️

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Mandy Torres

    I am entering for my daughter and I. I am a Type 1 Diabetic and it has been a struggle to find the alcohol swabs I use for injection sites.

    I am did the same experiment with my daughter…it made quite the impression!

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Heather Jenkins

    Hi fellow SIPS!
    I would love to give my sister some much needed help in a really trying time! She just had a baby and struggled really hard just to save enough to pay her bills during maternity leave and made just enough to get by but now the day she was suppose to go back to work.. they closed for two weeks because of the virus (they are in an county with a lot of confirmed cases) with no pay and she is having to decide if she has to skips bills and get behind and used the little they have for food and baby necessities! She has worked so hard for her family and feels helpless being stuck with no income after already having to stay home with no income to take care of her sweet newborn baby boy ❤️ She is such a great mommy and deserves this so much!!! I wish I could do more for her in person but we are a military family living thousands of miles away so I would love to help her this way if I can!

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Ashley Ward

    I would love it to be nominated towards my grandma. She’s 74 and lives alone. She’s in the process of her lease being up for her home and has to move. She still works but is behind on some bills. I wish I could help her in this time but our family is also in a pickle.
    I know it would make her smile and help her so much in need. Especially with this difficult time. She’s done a lot for my family and I , and I would love to give back in some way by doing this.

  • Jessie Cozzens

    Brittany Gray

    I am entering for my family and I. I know there are a lot of families in need so to have this chance is a blessing! What a bunch of fun ideas!

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