BlogginMomma.com

Wishing you and yours a happy new year and hope for all the best this year! We stayed at home and had a mellow evening, happy that the boys were snug in their beds.

Don’t forget to give back this holiday season! I heard about a great concept this morning from Nick. He read on CNN yesterday that at a Starbucks someone started the pay-it-back concept. They paid for the person’s drink behind them and they in turn paid for the next in line, etc. It lasted through 50 people! What a nice pick-me-up during this crazy holiday season. Think about it next time you are out and give someone a genuine smile or a merry christmas. You may make their day.

I found this site yesterday - mokugift.com that plants a tree for a $1. You can email it to anyone and a tree will be planted in a country you select (or they can do it for you too). I planted a few trees for us, and then sent some out to the kid’s friends and their new second cousins as christmas presents from them. What a great, eco-friendly way to spruce up our earth and someone’s holiday

I’m hoping they’ll get a little wiser and allow you to select an occassion-specific card to use instead of a rather generic email, that may get over looked. Either way, it’s a great present for someone that has everything or a co-worker, etc.

I came across this website today that has some of the cutest personalized gifts. In honor of all the holidays and seasons coming up (Mother’s Day, wedding season - June is still the “hot” month to get married in) I thought I’d share some of what I’d found.

They have a large selection for weddings, new babies (twins and triplet section t00), anniversaries, communions, baptism, etc. Shipping seems reasonable, as are their prices on everything I looked at. Of course, I had to do a quick browse through the Mother’s Day section since that is the closest holiday and found several adorable gifts I wouldn’t mind getting

Today begins the Mother’s Day Sale at Stroller Depot, which will run starting now all the way through Mother’s Day (May 11th). They are offering a 5% discount on all our products, some exclusions apply. The following is a list of manufacturers who are excluded from this sale: Phil & Teds, Britax, Bob, Orbit, Uppa, Valco Baby. To save 5% use coupon code mother05.

If you haven’t signed up already, we want to remind you about the Phil and Teds Sport Buggy give-away. This week is the last chance for you customers to get their name in the mix to win a free Sports Buggy with the double kit.  The winner will be randomly chosen next week, so this really is the final chance!

I recognize that not everyone has a lot of extra money to spend on holidays, whether it’s lack of funds or not wanting to join in on rampant commercialism of every known holiday or just somewhere in the middle. SO! Below is a list of inexpensive/cheap/free gift ideas for all the moms out there (these could be used for other holidays too of course).

• A photo frame of the kid’s that records their voices. How cute if they all said “We love you — (fill in person’s name here)” at the same time! You should be able to find those at Radio Shack. Walmart and Target may have them too.
• Join the Arbor Day Foundation, receive 10 trees and plant a tree in their honor. Especially touching if they have recently become a mom or for one that has passed away.
• A hand-print stepping stone can be bought for roughly $20 at your local craft’s store and some include letter stamps to make it easier to write your message. Or if you are really handy and have an old bucket and some concrete mix laying around create your own!
• Create a gift certificate book with options like “foot massage”, “I’ll cook dinner”, etc. Target it towards their likes/dislikes.
• Breakfast in bed is always nice but only if you clean up the mess too!
• Create a DVD of pictures of the kids and your family.
• A photo frame collage. You can pick up a small frame for around $5 at Walmart.
• A bouquet of wild flowers. Tying it with a ribbon or arranging it in a vase could even score you bonus points
• A colored picture or card from the kids

My brain is fried…What other ideas do you have?

Mother’s Day is fast approaching (it’s May 11th) and if you are anything like me you always try to find something cool for your mom (wife/SO, MIL, sister, grandma count too guys!). My mom is helpful some years and send me ideas along the way and other years I fly blind and come up with something. I figured I’d do my part and help y’all out with some ideas that you may not have thought of (I’ll include coupon codes if I can too).

• A nice bouquet of flowers. This works well if they are picky or have everything there is to have. Also great if you live far away and ordering at the last minute. 1800flowers.com or ftd.com are good places to start.
• Jewelry! You can’t go wrong with a nice necklace or ring, especially if it’s mother’s jewelry. I’ve used Bidz.com in the past with great success.
• Plants - if your mom is a gardening nut like mine this is a major hit. Last year I got her a set of 6 rose plants from Jackson & Perkins (use coupon code JAF to save 10%, exp 4/30/08). Other great places to order from are Wayside Gardens, Michigan Bulb Company and Parkseed (Save 10 % OFF orders $25+ with this link).
• Gift Baskets. I mean who can resist food, wine or chocolate! GourmetGiftBaskets.com has a nice selection, as does Gift Baskets.com (use coupon code ZK-8978 to save 10%).
• Pamper them with beauty supplies. Scented oils, lotions, perfume… Beauty.com offers free shipping on orders of $49+. Upurea is also a nice touch for natural/organic beauty.

Just when you thought a holiday was safe!

Recalled: Easter egg toys

Fri, Mar 21, 2008 (BabyCenter News) — Hobby Lobby has announced a recall of about 13,000 camouflage eggs and spinning egg tops in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Paint on the toy eggs contains excessive levels of lead, which violates the federal lead paint standard. Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause serious health effects.

The camouflage egg set includes eight eggs painted in white, brown, and green camouflage colors. Item #1031 is printed on the front of the packaging. The words “Made in China for Tony Development and Mfg Ltd; TST, Kin, HK” and UPC code 43078 01031 are printed on the back of the packaging.

Read more…

Enter your child’s drawing to be selected as a Pier 1 UNICEF Christmas card and win a trip to NYC. The contest is open to children 14 years old and younger, but only one entry per child. All entries must be received by April 12, 2008.

To learn more and find the entry form click here. Good luck everyone!

Get your picture taken with the Easter Bunny at Walmart for FREE! That’s right folks - free! Get there early or go to an out of the way Walmart because I bet the line will be long! They are doing it 2 weekends in a row but I just found out about it so we missed last weekend. This might be worth putting in your calendar for next year as a heads up to yourself…

Pictures will be taken May 15 & 16 and May 21 & 22, 10am - 2pm