reviews

Anne Taintor: A Holiday Staple!

Melissa 2 Comments

Its completely normal in our house to have an Anne Taintor item or two in our Christmas stockings. My sisters and I all love Anne and find her hysterical! Accept no substitutes – Anne is the funniest!  Some pics for the stockings this year:

Her magnets are probably my favorites!We need this one in my office. Cause it is completely and totally true. And at $5 they are a perfect stocking stuffer!

Maybe this one for my sister who is expecting a baby 😉

And this for my sister-in-law. Hilarious!!

Another great stocking stuffer? Lip balm! Also $5. I have this one in my purse already 😉

Or minitrays! How cute are these? Perfect for appetizers or just to put on your desk as a decoration (and a giggle). Also $5. Disnwasher safe and so adorable!

I think my mom might find this cute vintage towel in her stocking!$10. These are so fun!

What is your favorite Anne Taintor gift?

disclosure: i received a few items to facilitate this review. but i’m a huge fan already and all opinions are my own.

 

Shutterfly for the Holidays

Melissa

Isn’t getting mail FUN this time of year??? I love opening my mail and getting lovely cards from people we love. Of course, picking out those cards is so fun – but hard because there are so many cute cards to choose from! We’ve used Shutterfly for years and our cards always look amazing.

I tend to go towards classic red and green. What can I say, I’m traditional!

We generally don’t have one big nice picture, so we go with a collage design.

Oh, I love this one!


But I think this is my favorite!

And don’t forget that Shutterfly has fabulous gifts for the holidays as well!! My sister-in-law I as given everyone a Shutterfly calendar for Christmas every year and its fabulous!

Oh and what about an iPhone case?

Right now, save 30% on select cards – and use code SHIP50 and get FREE SHIPPING on orders over $50 at Shutterfly!
And order by Dec 13 for delivery by Dec 24 with standard shipping!

 

corolle lila doll review

Melissa

Gracie is totally in love with the Corolle Lila Baby Doll!! This is the coolest, most realistic baby doll we’ve ever seen. She coos, she babbles, she giggles, she sucks her bottle, she cries and she’s adorable! Check her out:

Corolle’s Les Classiques Lila has a huggably soft body, especially for a doll with special features that require batteries, which usually results in a hard, plastic body. Her smooth skin that is delicately scented with vanilla — a Corolle signature. She comes with her own bib, feeding bottle, pacifier, and teddy bear, and she has four interactive features — she can giggle, coo, cry, and suck on her bottle!

Corolle Lila Baby Doll retails for around $100, but can be found on Amazon for about $80.

Disclosure: I’m a brand ambassador for Corolle this holiday season. These samples were provided to us to facilitate our reviews. As always, all thoughts and opinions are our own.

 

plantoys chalet dollhouse: great gift for the holidays

Melissa

We adore brands that are eco-friendly and uses sustainable materials in their products like PlanToys does. All of their toys are made out of from preservative-free rubberwood and they are one of the leading companies to create new material and process to minimize waste up to zero. For this review, I checked out the Chalet Dollhouse with Furniture.

Plus, who doesn’t love a toy that doesn’t make noise and doesn’t need batteries?? I just love simple toys that encourage imaginative play!

I love how you can customize the house for whatever your imagination can think up! There are several rooms with furniture for the kids to move around and hours can be
spent playing with this toy! The 5 rooms of furniture includes everything from a little flat-screen tv to bunk beds complete with pillows and blankets! It was a little tricky for me to put together (as I have a handyman skill level of ZERO) but I managed it all by myself in about 20 minutes!

Follow them on Twitter @PlanToys and on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/PlanToys.

disclosure: i received this product to facilitate this review. as always, all opinions are my own.

Carrie Underwood in Philadelphia – WIN TICKETS!

Melissa 31 Comments

**The winner has been notified and confirmed! Congrats, Paola! Enjoy the show!**

Don’t you just love Carrie Underwood? How can you not? She is so adorable! We just love her and were SO thrilled to hear that she is including Philly in her Blown Away Tour this year.

Wanna go to the show with us?

WIN IT!

Super excited to giveaway four tickets to Carrie Underwood’s Blown Away Tour at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA on November 28, 2012 thanks to the Wells Fargo Center! T0 enter, leave the name of your favorite Carrie Underwood song in the comments!

Additional entries:
(please leave an additional comment for each entry completed)

2. Follow Melissa on Twitter and tweet:

I entered to win 4 tickets to the Carrie Underwood concert in #Philly on 11/18 from @MelissaAngert #giveaway http://girlymama.com/?p=5563

3. Like Girlymama on Facebook.

One winner will be selected at random using the WordPress plug-in And The Winner Is… and will be notified by email. For other contest rules, see my giveaway policies page. NOTE: Due to the timing of this giveaway and the actual concert, I’ll notify a winner on Monday November 26th and will need to receive confirmation they can attend that day.  If I do not hear from winner within 12 hours, I will be drawing a new name.

 

Disclosure: We were provided with these tickets to facilitate a giveaway, as well as tickets for us to experience the concert.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Wells Fargo Center.


hickory farms for the holidays

Melissa 29 Comments

For more than 60 years Hickory Farms gifts have been a classic holiday tradition that brings family and friends together. I know in our house, there is almost always a Hickory Farms item or two as part of the celebration. Hickory Farm sis so well known for products that not only present beautifully, but also taste delicious. In fact, when my cousin was deployed with the Marines, he specifically requested that we send him Hickory Farms products for Christmas!

Hickory Farms’ gifts provide a wide selection of signature sausages and savory cheeses in beautifully packaged boxes and baskets. Most of us can remember receiving Hickory Farms at some point in our lives, and the fun of carefully opening and incorporating the delicious items into our holiday traditions. Whether that means serving the high quality foods to guests or enjoying them with your family, Hickory Farms believes that traditions matter, making these products a long-standing classic gift. These are my go-to gift for those difficult people in my life to buy for, since I know yummy food is always appreciated!

I recently received this adorable Pack & Go Picnic Tote ($60) to review and it was a HUGE hit with the family! We brought it with us to a hotel (along with a nice bottle of wine) and had a wonderful appetizer before heading out on the town!

This set includes: Hickory Farms’ savory beef and turkey sausages pair perfectly with their Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese and crackers. Top it all off with the sweet indulgences of peppermint cookies and peanut brittle and you’ll have a picnic they won’t soon forget.

It was so yummy! The adults loved the crackers with cheese and sausages (actually, the kids did too!) and, sadly, I can’t say that I got to try one of those yummy looking peppermint cookies. Certain children, who shall remain nameless, devoured them before I had the chance! Word is they were excellent! This would make such as lovely gift, as the extra-large insulated tote is something I can use for years to come, long after the food is eaten.

Do you want to  give this gift basket a try?

WIN IT!

I’m giving away a Hickory Farms Pack and Go Picnic Tote to one lucky winner. To enter, simply tell me who you would gift this to for the holidays! (Yes, gifting it to yourself is a totally valid answer!)

Additional entries:
(please leave an additional comment for each entry completed)

2. Follow Melissa on Twitter and tweet:

I entered to win a @HickoryFarms Pack and Go Picnic Tote from @MelissaAngert #giveaway http://girlymama.com/?p=5554

One winner will be selected at random using the WordPress plug-in And The Winner Is… and will be notified by email. Please have a U.S. Mailing address. For other contest rules, see my giveaway policies page.

 

Disclosure: Compensation and products for review were provided by Hickory Farms via MomTrends. I received a free sample of the product for the purpose of this review and to facilitate a giveaway.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Hickory Farms.

 

holiday shopping with kohl’s

Melissa 47 Comments

I don’t know about your house, but my kids are already making extensive lists for Christmas! But the lists they make are not quite the list I send out. (Shhhh. Don’t tell!)  They often pick things that are, well… annoying. Or not the right age for them. (Like Colin’s request for a Logo Death Star with a million zillion pieces that my engineer husband probably wouldn’t be able to put together!)

Luckily, Kohl’s recently launched a tool in their toys department which allows shoppers to browse toys based on age. It makes shopping for age appropriate gifts for your kids, cousins, nieces, nephews and grandchildren a whole lot easier! Its so helpful! Especially when I’m looking for new toys that are perfect for a certain age. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve gotten toys for our kids that are WAY off age-wise. Most of them ended up in the attic or the donate box because they just ended up frustrating our kids. Its so important to get toys in the proper age range developmentally for kids. Its not about what is most popular or whatever. If its not the right age, its not the right toy.

Be sure to check out Kohl’s 25 top toys of the season! Its a terrific list! My kids want you to know that they want two of everything 🙂

WIN IT!

I’m giving away a $50 gift card to Kohl’s to one lucky winner. To enter, simply tell me what kids you’re shopping for this year!

Additional entries:
(please leave an additional comment for each entry completed)

2. Follow Melissa on Twitter and tweet:

I entered to win a $50 @Kohls giftcard from @MelissaAngert #giveaway http://girlymama.com/?p=5518

One winner will be selected at random using the WordPress plug-in And The Winner Is… and will be notified by email. Please have a U.S. Mailing address. For other contest rules, see my giveaway policies page.

Disclosure: Kohl’s provided a gift card for my readers. Opinions remain my own.

neighborhood toy store day

Melissa

We LOVE our neighborhood toy store. We can hardly drive by without our kids begging to go in and look around. We lived here for 3 years before we even knew it existed! Its actually on the second floor of a hardware store…. Big Smile Toys. I still remember the first time we went and being blown away at the amazing toys they have there.

They have all my favorite brands – like Corolle and Plan Toys – and I’m constantly discovering new ones. This is where my kids fell in love with Calico Critters and we finally found that slingshot my son has been asking for ever since he discovered Angry Birds. And its so much more than a typical chain toy store. They offer everything from birthday parties to kids craft days. We just love it!

But its not just an awesome store – being able to support our local businesses is a huge plus. In addition to fostering a sense of community, shopping locally provides a number of economic benefits to a neighborhood.  According to the 3/50 Project, for every $100 spent in local, independently-owned stores, $68 returns to the community in the form of taxes, salaries, charitable contributions and more— in contrast with only $43 when consumers spend their money at a national chain.  The American Specialty Toy and Retailing Association (ASTRA) established Neighborhood Toy Store Day to introduce families to the fun of shopping at local toy stores and to celebrate each retailer’s commitment to the community.


Participating toy stores will organize customized community events to help launch the holiday shopping season and celebrate Neighborhood Toy Store Day.  For a calendar listing of local events, families can visit YourNeighborhoodToyStore.org.

We’ll be shopping on Saturday at our local toy store. Hope to see you there!!

potty training made easier? yes!

Melissa 1 Comment

I potty trained all of my kids in about a day. Yes. Really.
Its a method presented in the book Toilet Training in Less Than a Day and it actually works!

One of the best ways to learn something is to teach someone else to do it. And this applies to potty training as well! This method has kids train a doll to use the potty. By training the doll to go potty, children are learning themselves. Meet Emma:
What makes the Emma and Paul (male version of the Corolle potty dolls) truly unique is the fact they are anatomically correct. Truly, these Corolle Potty Training dolls really do show a realistic rendering of the private parts for both little girls and little boys along with being able to drink a bottle of water and then pee pee on the potty. To make your doll go pee-pee on the potty, just feed your doll about 1/2 a bottle of water by squirting the bottle into the doll’s mouth while she or he is laying on their side. Then, turn the doll upright, pull down the panties and squeeze the dolls belly while they are sitting over the toilet.

These Corolle Potty Training Dolls make a great gift for any potty training toddler or preschooler and are highly recommended by Potty Training experts at Potty Training in Less than a Day too. Priced at about $45 these are fun to play with far after the potty training stage is over, given how fascinated kids are with everything potty, and its perfect for bringing in the bath and they fit perfectly into the 14-inch Corolle doll clothes!

Disclosure: I’m a brand ambassador for Corolle this holiday season. These samples were provided to us to facilitate our reviews. As always, all thoughts and opinions are our own.

international day of the girl

Melissa

Imagine not being able to go to school… just because you’re a girl. That happens all over the world, every day.

Imagine being a 14-year-old girl, shot for her beliefs and for speaking out against the Taliban. Imagine having your school bombed by militants because girls are being educated there. Watching your young daughter being forced into marriage or forced into prostitution. Having that young daughter die in childbirth soon after.

This is the reality facing girls – and their mothers – all over the world. WE are so so blessed in this country that so highly values its women.

These girls deserve better. To help, click on the image below, and you’ll find information written by Jennifer James, founder of Mom Bloggers for Social Good. She has listed the three organizations that are organizing events for today. Follow the hashtag #DayOfTheGirl on Twitter.

 

Click to learn more.