Woman's Day Magazine

Being a grandmother has a lot of perks, and also a few responsibilities. Having 9 grandchildren it seems someone is always selling something for school, scouts or soccer. Of course, I don't mind one bit helping the little ones add to their order form.

Not long ago one of my grand daughters was selling magazines for her school. Looking over the list I found lots of them to be rather…shall we say, pricey. I don't often read many magazines but have picked up Woman's Day (which I'll abbreviate to WD from this point on) whenever I see it at the grocery store. The price is right and I enjoy the articles, so this was a great one for me to have delivered monthly.

The price on the front of this magazine says that a single purchase price is $2.49 in the U.S. and $3.49 in Canada.


The Format

While this magazine doesn't usually have very in-depth type of articles, they do include many different categories of articles that are in each month's magazine.

The two page Table of Contents helps in finding whatever section you would like to read. There are many different sections and include such things as: Your Health, Diet and Exercise, Decorating, Solutions, Children, Food and Editor's Choice.

Each of these categories has several articles pertaining to some aspect of that category.

I have the April issue in front of me and spent a few minutes last night reading about four women who made changes in their lives by walking, in the Diet and Exercise section. Since I enjoy walking and have lost weight in the past by consistently using this form of exercise, I found the article very interesting. I especially liked that they didn't write this as a quick fix to a weight problem, but encouraged readers by showing what others have done and how much they eventually lost. They are also honest and say that a change in diet was necessary and that the four women that they interviewed still struggle to get the exercise in. I liked this very practical approach

Another part of this particular issue that I liked is the kids'day section. (Big surprise there huh?) There are short little interesting facts…such as the fact that the average American will eat 1,500 PB&J sandwiches by the time they graduate high school. Did you know that April 2 is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day? Neither did I, but I'll be sure my daycare has that little delicacy to celebrate. I was also pleased to see several You Can Make It crafts that include pictures. They happen to be simple Easter projects that I can adapt to my daycare, making them especially valuable to me.

In the wd cookbook area there are recipes for such cute things as a Peach of a Chickie Salad and other delicious looking things to fix for a great holiday meal. Included are pictures of the foods that they've prepared, plus the recipes themselves. I always appreciate when there are photos, so I have a better idea of what something is supposed to turn out like.

Included in this area of the magazine are also four card recipes for a Skillet Supper. These cards can be removed from the magazine and added to your recipe box. They have the picture on one side and the recipe on the other. In this issue there are recipes for sausage and potato frittata, asian noodles with shrimp, two-bean sloppy joes and lazy lasagna. They all look so good and can be made with common ingredients and under about 30 minutes total prep time.

There is also a page with a month's worth of menus where you can pick a meal and fix it for your family. While I do think that menus are great to work from, I would be more inclined to make my own and use it for my family (in fact I do that weekly for my daycare) perhaps using just a couple of ideas from the menu in the magazine.

All of these sections are regulars in the magazine, so I know each month I can look for different tips on cooking, recipes, exercise, health, kids, aging etc.


The Ads

There are, of course, more ads in this magazine than I would like there to be, but I know that is part of what pays the bills to make the magazine.

My biggest complaint would be the firmer card stock cards that are in all magazines. Of course, this does make the magazine open to that page and that is what they are hoping for. I usually go through and remove all of them, so that they don't bug me each time I look at the magazine. I don't think WD has any more or less than most magazines do.

Some of the ads are full page color ads for things like health screen kits and furniture and some are half to quarter page for things like Nexium and children's movies. The ads are varied and most are done well…for an ad.


My Feelings

I loved the realistic look at what walking can do for you and was happy to see that this magazine didn't try to make women feel that if they would just make a simple change then the rest would easily happen. The magazine showed the realistic side of diet and exercise. Although not all of their articles on this subject are handled in this down to earth manner, I appreciated this article.

There are a lot of photographs in most issues of Woman's Day and that is something that I definitely like about it. I am someone who is very visual and need a good picture or drawings in order to begin to understand how something would work. For example, I had recently read on an online website several different craft ideas, but there were no pictures so I couldn't figure out exactly how the finished product would look. I was happily surprised when in the April issue of WD there were photos of two projects I was trying to figure out. I can clearly see now exactly what we need to do and how to do it. One that we've already done of a painted plate bunny turned out so cute that my daughters ooohhhed and awwwed all over them. The kids loved making them and the parents will be proud to display them in their homes this Easter.

Most of the articles in this magazine are geared toward the woman reader. I'm not sure that men would have an interest in the articles or the topics that they usually cover.

I remember this magazine being around the house when I was young…so yes; it has been around that long. I was surprised to see that it has been around for 68 years! Wow, it is much older than me, well a little bit anyway.

I do feel this is an easy magazine to pick up and put down and a bonus for me is it is great for the daycare kids to cut pictures from and make collages.

WD is a magazine that I enjoy reading or just leafing through and I'll definitely renew my subscription when the time comes. Thanks to my granddaughter, Savannah, her Gramma has a magazine in her home each month that brings informative and interesting reading.