giveaways Archives - Page 3 of 11

Be a brilliant gift-giver with Brilliant Sky Toys & Books

Are you as overwhelmed with toy shopping as I am? You’d think I would be good at it by this point considering I hear about toys even before they hit the market. But, sometimes even I have a child on my list that I have a really hard time buying for. Those times I’m very grateful for neighborhood toy stores with a diverse and eclectic mix of high quality toys that won’t be abandoned in just days for the next new fad.

Stores like Brilliant Sky Toys & Books offer that and more at their 17 locations {and counting}. By offering amazing and personalized service, and more than 10,000 high-quality specialty products, it allows you to “discover, experience, explore, interact, and enjoy” in a fun and relaxed environment.
But wait, before you get overwhelmed with the idea of 10,000 different products to choose from, you should know that Brilliant Sky understands how you feel. That’s why they announce their annual Brilliance Awards every year before the holiday season to make shopping that much easier for their guests.

The 5th annual Brilliance Awards were just announced and again I’m wowed by the amazing collection of toys and more that they have chosen to highlight. In fact, we own many of their top picks this year, and they are the ones we return to over and over again.

This year's 2014 award list features 12 products with price tags from $9.99 to $129.99 with most toys running about $24.99 to $29.99. And, with the exception of the Sphero 2.0, these picks are surprisingly low-tech and classic, which I know I appreciate. By using this brilliant list as a guide for all your holiday shopping you can be a brilliant gift-giver and do all your shopping quickly and easily.

Huggies Snug & Dry Plus is at Costco now

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Huggies® Brand. I received product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

Did you order your Huggies® Snug & Dry Plus Diapers and Huggies Natural Care® Plus Wipes free sample from Costco I posted about earlier this month? If you did, then you are likely as thrilled as I am with the new line and can't wait to order up a box or two from Costco.I've been a huge fans of Huggies Natural Care wipes for both of my kiddos with their tendencies toward sensitive skin, and I was really excited to try the Huggies Natural Care® Plus Wipes these past few weeks for all our little messes. The wipes proved to be as awesome as I was expecting and we are now very big fans of the thick and soft wipes, especially because they don't have added perfumes to cause skin irritation.

AT&T helps you get fit with the Jawbone UP24 activity tracker

Earlier this month we attended an event hosted by AT&T at David Barton Gym in Bellevue, WA. Along with Seattle area tech, parenting and lifestyle bloggers and reporters, we got to test the newest wearable technology from Jawbone during a workout with one of the gym’s fitness trainers.

As excited as we were for the event, I must admit we spent a crazy amount of time right here in the entrance to the gym with its gorgeous wood detailing.

Fairy tales come to life with the Princess Rosalina Play Tent {review}

Look at these happy faces. These are the faces of kids who have their very own play house to make believe in, snuggle in, and play in. Introducing the beautiful Princess Rosalina play tent from HABA, which is the perfect way to make any playroom {or living room, as my case may be} truly awesome.

ROCK a mini Jambox from AT&T this Spring

Unlike most households that keep the TV on during family time, our family bonds over music. And, our dance parties have been pretty epic these past few months thanks to this little bad boy.

AT&T sent us the MINI JAMBOX from Jawbone for Valentine's Day and since then it has gotten a ton of use all throughout our house, and even on the road with us. At a mere 6.61in x 1.65in x 5.43in and just over 9oz, the aluminum body Mini Jambox is small enough to fit in your pocket, purse or briefcase, but powerful enough that it can create full and beautiful sound wherever you go.

With spring break vacations happening for many of you this week, I bet you'd love to have one of these little speakers to make anywhere a dance party, right?

Build a fort as big as your imagination with Fort Magic

You may remember how much I adore Fort Magic fort building kits that make it easy to create amazing forts for the kiddos without an engineering degree, but now that the kids are older, I love it even more. Since our last post we’ve made huge forts in our living room, our family room, and even took the Fort Magic kit with us while on vacation so the kids could build an outdoor hideout for cousins only, complete with added satellite dish.

Haven’t heard of Fort Magic before? The Fort Magic fort building kit contains everything you need to create your own fort as big as your imagination. The 382 piece kit contains all different shapes and sizes of rods, connectors and accessories that allow you to build a fort – anywhere, anytime.

VTech Premium Kid Connect lets you connect with your kids anywhere {InnoTab 3S}

My kids love to text and call their dad throughout the day while he’s at work, but I hate to leave them unattended with my cell phone. This means I’m constantly guarding my phone and making sure it’s locked down, and the kids try their best to convince me to take their pictures and send it to daddy all day long.

The solution? The awesome Premium Kid Connect available on the VTech InnoTab 3S that helps parents stay connected to their kids when apart. You may remember how much I adore the InnoTab learning tablet for kids and how it saved our Chicago-to-Seattle train trip, got us ready for school, and now offers supplemental learning we can do at home, but it’s way more than that when you connect it to VTech Premium Kid Connect and any Wi-Fi connection.

With the Premium Kid Connect on the InnoTab 3S, your kids can send voice, text, and picture messages right to loved ones' phones in real time. All by themselves.

VTech Switch & Go Dinos

My son is crazy about dinosaurs and about vehicles of all kinds, so I knew he would think that the Switch & Go Dinos were basically the coolest thing ever. Whenever he sees the brightly colored dino covered boxes when we’re out shopping, he can’t help but hug them all. Of course I couldn't say no when offered a set of Switch & Go Dinos to review right before his birthday.

If you haven’t seen them in stores yet, Switch & Go Dinos are robotic dinosaurs that transform into various vehicles with just a few motions. When in dino mode, they roar like prehistoric animals, and when in car/truck/flying object mode, their engines rev and they make vrooming noises. Pretty much the best toy ever, in a little boy’s eyes.

I already knew that my son would think it was pretty awesome if a few Switch & Go Dinos came to live with us, so I was sure they would be the perfect birthday present for him this September. My daughter recognized this as well and decided that of all the other toys on the market, she really wanted to buy him one of these dinos for his birthday.

Seattle style for the great outdoors from Kaidel Sportswear

As our header would have you believe; we are big into biking as a family. I’ve posted before about how Spandex-free biking is the way that I roll, typically with skirts, dresses, cute little flats, and other items you wouldn’t expect to see on someone pedaling past you. But, what you don’t know is that my husband secretly wants to be a real biker. You know, the kind that doesn’t wear flip flops.

The past few years have been a slow upgrade process; first with the fancy new street bike, then with quick clip pedals, and then the biking shoes to fit the pedals. The next step was getting him to look more like a biker, with appropriate clothing and gear so he could go out on all day rides comfortably.

So, naturally when Kaidel Sportswear, a Seattle company, contacted us with the chance to try out their family cycling and running jerseys, we said yes. And, as excited as I was to find some fun Seattle-themed biking gear for hubby, I also loved that they carried childrens bicycle jerseys as well so I could get father/daughter cycling jerseys.

Music anywhere with the HMDX Jam Bluetooth wireless speaker

In my family we love music. Music while we craft, music while we cook, and even music while we clean. But, while we have wired our house for sound, the fun unfortunately ends at our doorstep. We’ve been known to turn the music up and keep all the doors and windows open so we can still hear it outside while we garden, bounce on the trampoline, or play in the yard, but that unfortunately doesn’t work for when we’re at the park or beach.

And, really, what’s a beach party, cookout or camping trip without good music? Recently, we got to review the HMDX Jam Bluetooth Wireless Speaker courtesy of AT&T and it's now our go-to music source for whenever we're not indoors {and even sometimes when we are}.