Archive for the ‘Giveaways’ Category

Strawberry Shortcake “Happily Ever After” - She’s Come a Long Way, Baby

Monday, February 16th, 2009

Strawberry Shortcake Happily Ever After DVDJudging from the blogger reviews of the Strawberry Shortcake “Happily Ever After” DVD, as well as the comments left on the campaign launch post, it seems many of us remember the little red-headed doll quite fondly: “I had several Strawberry Shortcake dolls and I am pretty sure my mom still has my Strawberry Shortcake sleeping bag somewhere in her attic.

This is the new and improved version of the classic character.  As one blogger commented: “Strawberry Shortcake is now back for our daughters’ generation. She’s been given a makeover - the frilly pinafore dress is gone and hip shirts and pants are in - but her attitude has not changed. She still stands for friendship and being pretty on the inside.

Without naming names, we parents can often find our children’s preferred cartoon characters to be quite irritating. But that’s not the case with Strawberry Shortcake.  “Strawberry Shortcake is one of those cartoon characters that reminds me of when I was a kid and she’s one of the few that doesn’t annoy me,” one mother enthused.  In fact, this reviewer admitted that the DVD was fun for both her and her kids: “As a parent that grew up with the berry crew, I also enjoyed it.

The DVD includes two stories, which are each a modern twist on a classic fairy tale.  “The first story, Sleeping Beauty, was my favorite, because it was about feeling left out and good communication in friendships, something I had a hard time with as a kid,” a blogger wrote.  Another agreed: “I appreciated that the movie had two main messages that were both very positive: the first about not jumping to conclusions and giving your friends a chance to explain, the second about being true to yourself even when others try to change you.

Strawberry Shortcake and her friends really do provide some good examples for kids to emulate.  “The characters are likeable and spunky, and both stories have a learning lessons in friendship and following one’s own interests and dreams.“  And while one mother wasn’t thrilled with the new pre-teen look, “I was happy to find that Strawberry’s makeover was only skin-deep…The stories are sweet, and the take-home lesson is pretty easy for a 3-year-old to understand.

The only other gripe aired by bloggers was the singing: “The one thing I didn’t like about this DVD was a faux rock tune in one of the two stories. Frankly, the singing is so bad that it made me want to stab myself in the ear.

On the other hand, this DVD is a great improvement over previous Strawberry Shortcake cartoons.  As one mother described: “The candy themes have been toned done since the good old days, as has the overuse of the word “berry” as verbal stand-in for “very,” and the animation was pretty good. And as always, Strawberry and her buddies hit hard on positive themes like friendship and caring.

Plus, another blogger noted that with DVDs, there’s no need to worry about the content of commercials in between episodes, or even whether a particular episode of a show itself is appropriate.  Given an initial screening, “with DVDs, I can watch it once and know what I’m getting. [My daughter] can watch it fifty times and still be satisfied. Strawberry Shortcake “Happily Ever After” is an example of a show we can both be okay with.

Strawberry Shortcake “Happily Ever After” was a hit with moms, daughters, and even a son or two: “My girls loved the story lines and my 2 year old son developed a wicked crush on Strawberry Shortcake (he’s been sleeping with the case every night).“  Yep, she is pretty cute, isn’t she?

Find Strawberry Shortcake “Happily Ever After” on DVD at Amazon.com!

Thanks to our generous sponsor, we now have five copies to give away!  Congratulations to our lucky randomly chosen winners:

  1. Janice
  2. Annmarie
  3. Calee
  4. Emily
  5. Sandy

Drop us an email at parentbloggers AT gmail DOT com to claim your copy!

Showing Some Love to Our Blog Blast Winner!

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Thanks so much to everyone who wrote such lovely posts for last weekend’s Blog Blast, sponsored by LIFE - the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education.  Our randomly drawn and very lucky winner of a Paloma Picasso pendant necklace from Tiffany & Co. is Kelly from Heathen Family Revival, with her post Love Defined.  Congratulations Kelly!

LIFE will also give Kelly $50 to donate to a charity of her choice - another great way to show love, even to someone you don’t know.

Even if yours wasn’t the randomly chosen post - or if you didn’t get a chance to write a post last weekend - there’s still time to check out LIFE’s Selfless Love contest.  But don’t delay - the contest ends on Valentine’s Day!

Strawberry Shortcake “Happily Ever After” - Campaign Launch

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Strawberry Shortcake Happily Ever After DVDI may pick and choose carefully among the licensed characters designed to woo my children into submission, but I have to admit that I’ve got a soft spot for characters that I remember from my own childhood.  Strawberry Shortcake is one of those characters.

Really, there’s a lot to love about Strawberry.  She’s sweet and kind, and she represents for the redheads, who don’t get nearly enough airtime.

In her new DVD, “Happily Ever After”, Strawberry Shortcake and her friends give us their twist on two classic fairy tales.  These wholesome tales teach little girls about friendship and being an individual.  There’s a lot of pink, but there’s also a lot of good lessons.

Ten of our parent bloggers with little girls at home received a copy of “Happily Ever After” to view together.  Check out what they have to say!

WIN IT!  We’ve got two copies of “Happily Ever After” to give away.  Just leave us a comment and tell us your memories of Strawberry Shortcake (and no, we don’t mean the dessert!) from when you were young.  We’ll draw two winners at random from among all the commenters on this post (US and Canada only, please).

Monday, 2/9 - A Parent in Silver Spring Reviews, Reviewin’ It Up!
Tuesday, 2/10 - 24/7, Taste Like Crazy
Wednesday, 2/11 - Cool Zebras, Mommy’s Must Haves
Thursday, 2/12 - Esmon, The Full Mommy
Friday, 2/13 - Little Bird Reviews, Ovolina

Show Us Some Love and Win a Tiffany Necklace!

Friday, February 6th, 2009

Maybe you grew up in a touchy-feely sort of family, where hugs and kisses and “I love you’s” abounded. Or maybe your family didn’t show much physical affection, but you always knew you were safe and loved. Different families show their love in different ways.

This week, we want to know how you and your family demonstrate your love for each other - on Valentine’s Day and all year long.

LIFE - Insure Your LoveWe’re collaborating with LIFE - the non-profit Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education - to bring some important resources to you. Maybe life insurance doesn’t sound like a romantic gift, but it provides financial protection and peace of mind to you and your family. It’s certainly better for you than a box of chocolates that will go straight to your hips, right?

With their Selfless Love contest, LIFE wants you to describe how a close family member or friend exhibited selfless love. Write an essay nominating someone you love! But hurry - the contest ends on Valentine’s Day.

Here’s how to participate:

Write a post on your blog about how you and your family show how much you love each other. Post anytime this weekend - today, February 6 to Sunday, February 8 - and include links to:

1) http://www.insureyourlove.org
2) http://blog.parentbloggers.com

Make sure to send your blog post link to parentbloggers@gmail.com and we’ll round them up right here - so give your post a creative title!

What can you win?

We’ve got a gorgeous Paloma Picasso Loving Heart pendant necklace from Tiffany & Co. to award at random! Plus, our winner will receive $50 to donate to the charity of their choice.

Check out all the posts below!

4 Simple Ways to Say I Love You

A Many Splendored Thing

A Showing of Love

Don’t Touch Me!  I’m English!

I Can’t Post About That

I Guess Something Is Wrong with Me Because I Don’t Need Things

The Family That Laughs Together…Is Happy

How Do We Show Our Love?

Labors of Love

Love Defined

Love Inheritance

Love Is…a Dishwasher Transplant

Love Language

Love: Reality or Myth?

Making Out In Public

Mommy, You Don’t Love Me

Pumping Gasoline…Little Acts of Love

Show a Little Love

Show the Love!

Sibling Shuttle Diplomacy

Snugglefests and Seth Sandwiches

Sticky Love

What Is Love?

What’s So Special About February 14?

This Week’s PBN Blog Blast - Show Us Some Love!

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Maybe you grew up in a touchy-feely sort of family, where hugs and kisses and “I love you’s” abounded.  Or maybe your family didn’t show much physical affection, but you always knew you were safe and loved.  Different families show their love in different ways.

This week, we want to know how you and your family demonstrate your love for each other - on Valentine’s Day and all year long.

LIFE - Insure Your LoveWe’re collaborating with LIFE - the non-profit Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education - to bring some important resources to you.  Maybe life insurance doesn’t sound like a romantic gift, but it provides financial protection and peace of mind to you and your family.  It’s certainly better for you than a box of chocolates that will go straight to your hips, right?

With their Selfless Love contest, LIFE wants you to describe how a close family member or friend exhibited selfless love.  Write an essay nominating someone you love!  But hurry - the contest ends on Valentine’s Day.

Here’s how to participate:

Write a post on your blog about how you and your family show how much you love each other.  Post anytime this weekend - Friday, February 6 to Sunday, February 8 - and include links to:

1) http://www.insureyourlove.org
2) http://blog.parentbloggers.com

Make sure to send your blog post link to parentbloggers@gmail.com and we’ll round them up here at PBN - so give your post a creative title!

What can you win?

We’ve got a gorgeous Paloma Picasso Loving Heart pendant necklace from Tiffany & Co. to award at random!  Plus, our winner will receive $50 to donate to the charity of their choice.

We’re looking forward to your posts!

And you thought we were finished announcing winners…

Saturday, December 20th, 2008

First, we’ve got the winners of the All Hallow’s Eve, Winter’s Eve, and Christmas Eve books - the charming series featuring the fairy named Eve.  We have three copies of each title to give away - congratulations to our lucky winners:

All Hallow’s Eve - Eryn, Heather, and Kristinia

Winter’s Eve - Janelle, Liz, and Louise

Christmas Eve - Amy, Caryn, and Cat

Enjoy your books!

Then we’ve got the winners from this past week’s holiday overload extravaganza!  It was refreshing to see how many of us are adjusting our priorities and cutting back on the traveling and spending.  We all deserve a little more in our savings accounts and a lot more R&R.

Fortunately, we’re able to offer five randomly drawn winners a little extra boost to their budgets - each of these lucky participants will receive a $100 Amazon GC (check your email!):

A Parent in Silver Spring - How I’m Keeping the Holiday Shopping Cheap, Chic and Easy

Circle of Life - Only 6 More Sleeps…YIKES!

I’m No Supermom - Busy. Busy. Busy.

Ordinary Miracles - Kicking My Feet Up This Christmas

Rambling Thoughts of Everything and Nothing - Wrapping Up My Holiday

Thanks again to everyone for all of the fantastic posts!

Let’s Read About Your Holiday Overload

Friday, December 19th, 2008

With presents to buy, family visits to plan, and a zillion other things we all want to accomplish, it’s easy to go from eager anticipation to total overload at holiday time. And with 2008 being a tough year for almost everyone, it’s no wonder we’re all a little more stressed out than usual this holiday season.

So when it comes to dealing with the never-ending holiday to-do list, we’d love to know how you’re adapting. Are you buying less and saving more? Reaching out or keeping close quarters? What changes have you made in your holiday preparations this year to help you cope with shrinking budgets and spiraling stress?

We’re teaming up with FFDA, a non-profit organization that offers support and assistance for folks who are feeling overwhelmed, both at the holidays and all year long. Their free support groups for moms, as well as a plethora of other helpful services, might just be the helping hand some folks need to get them through the holidays so that they can enjoy a completely healthy and happy new year.

Here’s how to participate:

Write a post on your blog about how you’re adapting your holiday preparations this year to keep from being completely overwhelmed.

Since this isn’t a traditional Blog Blast - and we want to help ease your stress, not increase it! - the posting timeframe has been much wider. We’ve been gathering posts since December 15 and will continue through today, December 19, so you still have time to join in! Just write a post including links to:

1) http://www.familyaware.org
2) http://blog.parentbloggers.com

Make sure to send your blog post link to parentbloggers@gmail.com and we’ll round them up right here below - so give your post a creative title!

What can you win?

This may not be a traditional Blog Blast, but we know that a chance some great prizes might help ease your stress too. We’ve got five $100 Amazon gift cards to award at random among all participants, which means you’ll get the credit at Amazon right away and can spend it on last minute holiday gifts if you like!

Check out all the posts below!

6 Shopping Days Till Christmas

10 Holiday Survival Tips

12 Last Minute Gift Ideas for Christmas

A Cranberry Limeade and a Deep Cleansing Breath

A Little Bit Nuts

And It’s Not Even Friday the 13th

A Peaceful Holiday

Bah Humbug?

Busy. Busy. Busy.

Christmas, Christmas

Christmas Fail

Christmas Is My Job - and Here’s How It’s Gonna Go

Christmas Lite

Christmas Past

Confession: I Didn’t Send Christmas Cards

The Day That Wasn’t

Dealing With the Holiday and Still Smiling!

Deck the Halls With Brazilian-Shaved Cats

Do Like Santa

Haiku Friday: One Less Task

Ho-Ho-Chanukah

Holiday Blues

Holiday Overload Can Be Overkill

Holiday Stress

Holiday Stress - How Do You Cope

Holiday Stress?  I Cast You Aside!

How I’m Keeping the Holiday Shopping Cheap, Chic and Easy

If It Is Not Fun, Then Don’t Do It

I’m Married to Mr. Scrooge

In a Word, Yes

Is the Stress Just Too Much?

Keeping the Holidays Simple

Kickin’ the Grinch to the Curb

Kicking My Feet Up This Christmas

Ladies, It’s Time for Your Holiday De-Stressor

Less Stress this Holiday Season

Make That Three Weeks of Christmas Vacation

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year? Ha!

Only 6 More Sleeps…YIKES!

Screw All the Lists. Save Yrself People! Follow Yr Bliss!

Simple Holidays

So Much to Do I’m Getting Scatterbrained

So the Grinch Said

Stressed? Me? Did the Eye Twitch Give It Away?

We’re Going to Have the Hap, Hap, Happiest Christmas Since Bing Crosby Tap-Danced with Danny F-ing Kaye!

We’re Trying to Make the Holidays Less Stressful, but the Plague Is Bringing Us Down

We Wish You a Simple(r) Christmas

When in Doubt, Lower Your Expectations

When Is Christmas?

Wrapping Up My Holiday

Winners, winners and more winners!

Monday, December 15th, 2008

Thank you so much to everyone who has participated in our Blog Blasts this year!  We’ve had a fantastic time with them, and we hope you have too - whether you’ve been a lucky winner or not.  This past weekend was our last Blog Blast of 2008 - cheers to BigTent for closing out the year with a bang! - but we’ve already got several on the calendar for next year, so check back then!

And now for our lucky winners!  First, from the Boogie and Littlest Pet Shop Blog Blast - “It’s a Family Tradition”, big congratulations goes out One in 36 Million for her post, Life Around the Cribbage Board - she’s our grand prize winner!  She’ll receive ALL of these fabulous games from Electronic Arts:

Boogie SuperStar
Boom Blox
Brain Quest
Hasbro Family Game Night
Littlest Pet Shop
Monopoly
Nerf N-Strike
Travel Games for Dummies

Our two runners-up are The Mummy Chronicles (with her post, Grandma Scares Me) and Momstart (with her post, Let’s Play Together).  They’ll each receive their choice of one of the games above.  Congratulations ladies!

Then, from the BigTent Blog Blast - “Get Your [Circus] Act Together”, congratulations to Musings of a Housewife with her post, Let the Circus Begin! She’s got a $250 Target gift card headed her way - whoo!

Finally, as you may have noticed from the emails you receive from us (which are hopefully not too numerous and always full of good info!), we work on other outreach efforts, such as our collaboration with FFDA, the Sprout sleep webcast, and the Medicare Part D conference call.  We’ll continue to bring you such opportunities in the coming year, and we hope that when a topic interests you, you’ll feel free to jump right in!

As part of the Medicare Part D outreach, we offered up two iPhones - one for a randomly chosen blogger, and one for his/her parent(s).  Our lucky winner was CLTGrace for her post summarizing what she learned on the call - which was helpful to her both in her professional and personal life: Good to Know.

Congratulations again to all the winners, and another big THANK YOU to everyone who has participated over the year!

It’s the Most Overwhelming Time of the Year

Monday, December 15th, 2008

Thanks to all who participated in our My Life is a Circus BigTent Blog Blast this past weekend. If you missed it - no fear - for we’ve got another opportunity for you in 2008. We didn’t mention it earlier because we didn’t want to overwhelm you, naturally.

With presents to buy, family visits to plan, and a zillion other things we all want to accomplish, it’s easy to go from eager anticipation to total overload at holiday time.  And with 2008 being a tough year for almost everyone, it’s no wonder we’re all a little more stressed out than usual this holiday season.

So when it comes to dealing with the never-ending holiday to-do list, we’d love to know how you’re adapting. Are you buying less and saving more? Reaching out or keeping close quarters? What changes have you made in your holiday preparations this year to help you cope with shrinking budgets and spiraling stress?

We’re teaming up with FFDA, a non-profit organization that offers support and assistance for folks who are feeling overwhelmed, both at the holidays and all year long. Their free support groups for moms, as well as a plethora of other helpful services, might just be the helping hand some folks need to get them through the holidays so that they can enjoy a completely healthy and happy new year.

Here’s how to participate:

Write a post on your blog about how you’re adapting your holiday preparations this year to keep from being completely overwhelmed.

Since this isn’t a traditional Blog Blast - and we want to help ease your stress, not increase it! - the posting timeframe is much wider.  Post anytime between today, December 15 and Friday, December 19 and include links to:

1) http://www.familyaware.org
2) http://blog.parentbloggers.com

Make sure to send your blog post link to parentbloggers@gmail.com and we’ll round them up here at PBN on Friday, December 19 - so give your post a creative title!

What can you win?

This may not be a traditional Blog Blast, but we know that a chance some great prizes might help ease your stress too.  We’ve got five $100 Amazon gift cards to award at random among all participants, which means you’ll get the credit at Amazon right away and can spend it on last minute holiday gifts if you like!

We’re looking forward to your posts!

Tell Us About Your Reindeer Games - Blog and Win!

Friday, December 5th, 2008

Boogie SuperStar‘Tis the season for family holiday gatherings! For some of us, it’s a relaxing and joyous time to get together with beloved family members both near and far. But for many of us, holiday gatherings try our patience and put our coping skills to the test, especially when it comes to the ultimate family tradition: the games people play.

Whether your family loves a friendly game of Charades, a competitive round of Pictionary, or plain old Texas Hold ‘em, there’s always the cheating brother-in-law, the overly sensitive sister, and the dad who just has to win.

So tell us about those games you play - who wins, who loses, and who sits in the corner and pouts. Hopefully that’s not you!

This week, we’ve teamed up with Electronic Arts, who recently released an array of fun, family-focused video games just in time for those family holiday gatherings - including Littlest Pet Shop, Boogie SuperStar, Boom Blox, and Hasbro Family Game Night (a collection of six classic board games), just to name a few! Whether you join in the fun or sneak off to take an overdue nap while others are playing, there is something for everyone from the kids to the grandparents!

Littlest Pet ShopHere’s how to participate:

Write a post on your blog about the games you play at family holiday gatherings. Post anytime this weekend -
Today, December 5 to Sunday, December 7 and include links to:

1) http://www.ea.com
2) http://blog.parentbloggers.com

Make sure to send your blog post link to parentbloggers@gmail.com and we’ll round them up right here - so give your post a creative title!

What can you win?

We’ve got one grand prize to award at random - a huge array of Electronic Arts video games:

Boogie SuperStar
Boom Blox
Brain Quest
Hasbro Family Game Night
Littlest Pet Shop
Monopoly
Nerf N-Strike
Travel Games for Dummies

That’s right - one lucky winner will get all of those awesome games!

We’ve also got three first prizes to award at random - each first prize winner can choose one of the grand prize games for themselves!

Check out all the games these families play:

An Unhealthy Love

Bomberman Blue Christmas

Competitive Much?

Families Gone Wild - Monopoly Edition

Friday Night Pizza and Halo Night

The Fun Is in Playing, Not Winning, Right?

Games Families Play

Grandma Scares Me

Holiday Fun

I’m in Trouble

Let the Games Begin

Let’s Play Together

Life Around the Cribbage Board

Not That We Are at ALL Competitive…

Oh It’s On

Oh The Games They Play

OK, Games You Play at Family Holiday Get Togethers

Our Old School Style Traditional Holiday Family Game

Paging Pearl E. White DDS

Pictionary or Charades?

Premature Eblogulation

Present Snatching

Scrabble-icious

Shame on You Grandma

The Games We Play

Wanna Play Again?

We Play Nandy Land?

What’s a Family Gathering Without Gambling and Tears?

Who Can Win at That?

Who Knew Monopoly Was a Long Game?

You Can Be a Winner at the Game of Life

You Will Not Monopolize Me