I've been flummoxed by the challenge of buying vitamins - for myself and for Z - for a long time. However many brands I tried, I always either ended up with horse pills or got home and discovered that I have to take eight pills to get the levels of vitamins on the label. Things get even more complicated when you're a vegetarian household - we aren't interested in fish oils or gelatin or other sorts of animal byproducts. After months of trial and error, however, I recently found not one but two brands of kids' vitamins that make it easy for Z. Now we just have to choose which one to stick with!

New Chapter Organics' Everykid vitamins are organic and don't contain any dyes, artificial ingredients, or refined sugars. They come in individually wrapped packets and, at least psychologically speaking, are the whole-food equivalent of Pixie Sticks. Just rip open a packet and let your kid pour it in their mouth - Z loves it and thinks it's a treat. I love it because it's easy to dispense and it's all vegetarian.

Emergen-C just released a new line of kids' multivitamins for kids ages four and up (two- and three-year-olds can use a 1/2 packet). They do not use GMO ingredients or contain artificial dyes. These are easy to take, too, but different - you mix them with water.

We are big fans of Emergen-C Vitamin C packets when we feel colds coming on and were excited to try out their kids' mutlivitamin formula.

Z calls their kids' vitamins "fizzy drinks" and likes to pretend that they are soda. Her preference would be to have several of these a day but we limit her to one!

The prices can vary, so it's nice to buy this stuff when and where it's on sale. We find good prices on Amazon - Emergen-C's kids' multivitamins list at $18 for 36 (50 cents a day) but are on sale on Amazon now (and often) for $13 a package. EveryKid mutivitamins run a bit more - they list for around $33 for 28 packets, and are on sale for $20. The big difference in price stems from the fact that Everykid's multivitamins are organic.

There is a lot of debate about whether vitamins in liquid or powdered form are more easily absorbed by the body. There's also the legitimate question of whether you or your child needs a daily vitamin at all if your diet is healthful and balanced enough. We don't worry much about the former and use vitamins semi-regularly to give us peace of mind, despite the fact that we are healthy eaters. Sometimes Z will refuse to eat anything but beans and rice for days, so this is one way we know that she's still getting a baseline level of the nutrients we know she needs, especially as vegetarians. For us, it's definitely worth it - and since Z already takes pills and liquid medicines on a daily basis for breathing issues, it's valuable to us to have this "fun" option instead of another pill.

The only shortcoming I see in each of these options different vitamins is the single-serving packaging. I wish there were a way to buy a bulk package with a scoop or something so I didn't have to throw out packaging every day. (I believe that the powder makes them prone to absorbtion which would make bulk packaging near to impossible but still, a girl can hope.)

Now all I need is for one of these companies to make a vitamin pack like this for adults.