Send Your Love with ProFlowers & Shari’s Berries (Giveaway)

Receiving flowers or a surprise gift can really make a person’s day. Just imagine the doorbell ringing and you open it expecting a salesperson or a neighborhood kid. What a wonderful surprise it would be to see someone standing there with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. And with Valentine’s Day upon us, sending flowers would be the perfect way to say “I love you.”

ProFlowers helps you plan a successful celebration with a wide selection of Valentine’s Day flowers, gourmet foods, and gifts that will arrive at exactly the right time, anywhere in the U.S. And all flower arrangements come with a seven day freshness guarantee to ensure they receive the best looking arrangement around.

Look at some of their amazing selections:

I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t mind receiving any of these gifts .  .  . especially those chocolate covered strawberries! Yum! And speaking of strawberries, if you prefer to send something edible then stop by Shari’s Berries for some delicious sweet treats including candies, cake pops, pretzels, and of course . . . strawberries . . . all made with chocolate!

So hurry! Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. And to help you along, ProFlowers is offering a 20% off for some great Valentine’s deals. Get 20% off your Shari’s Berries order as well.

For more information, check out ProFlower’s Facebook page.

WIN IT!

Read more

Cootie Catchers by Peaceable Kingdom

When I was younger they were called “fortune tellers”. I remember getting blank square pieces of paper, folding them, and writing down words – names of colors on the outside, numbers on the inside, and finally silly fortunes nestled on the bottom. “You will get an A on your test.” or “You have a secret admirer.”

Now companies like Peaceable Kingdom have adopted this popular kids game and taken it a step further with colorful images, cool fonts, and hilarious sayings.

Peaceable Kingdom was founded in 1983 with a single product – a poster featuring the beloved art from the classic children’s book Goodnight Moon. Twenty-eight years and more than 5,000 items later, the company has grown to be a leader in juvenile stickers, greeting cards, and games.

We received the Cootie Catcher Super Valentine Fun Pack ($13.00) to review and found it to be perfect for Valentine’s Day. My daughter’s school has recently adopted a “healthy snack” policy which means giving candy and other treats is no longer allowed. So coming up with other alternatives has been difficult. And since I’m not the crafty-type I was trilled to find out about Cootie Catcher.

The box contained 28 Valentine’s Day themed Cootie Catchers in 4 different designs – monkeys, outer space, sweet treats, and animals. I really like that there’s a variety of designs in one box so we can accommodate boys and girls without having to purchase separate sets. I also like that there are 28 Cootie Catchers. I noticed that a lot of  Valentine’s Day cards come in sets of 12 or 14 which doesn’t make sense for us since our class sizes are usually larger.

What we also like is how colorful they are! They used pretty much every single color you can think of which makes it very appealing to kids. All the images have a happy theme with lots of hearts and smiles. The font used is also really cute and adds even more fun to the design.

When you get to the very inside your child can personalize the Cootie Catcher with names and little messages.

However, what the kids liked the best are the fortunes. Here are some examples:

• A monkey will kiss your big toe
• You will fall in love with an alien
• You will fly to distant lands
• Your candy hearts will talk to you

With envelopes already included, these Cootie Catchers are perfect for handing out to friends on Valentine’s Day!

For more information about this and other Peaceable Kingdom products, stop by their website or Facebook.

This post was written for Peaceable Kingdom who provided the complimentary item in exchange for my honest review.

 

The Waikiki Aquarium

Have you ever looked into the eye of a zebra shark? Seen an octopus opening a jar? Or met the real-life versions of Dori and Nemo? Located next to a living coral reef, the award winning Waikiki Aquarium brings guests face-to-fin with colorful tropical fish, reef sharks, living corals, endangered Hawaiian monk seals, sea jellies, squid, octopus and more!

We took the girls to The Waikiki Aquarium to check out their sea life exhibits and to see Ho‘ailona, the newest resident Hawaiian monk seal who was found on the Island of Kaua‘i more than 3-years ago after he was abandoned by his mother.

The Waikiki Aquarium is a small area which includes indoor and outdoor exhibits including a Coral Farm and Giant Clams:

The Edge of the Reef where you can get up close and personal with some of the local animals that can be found in tide pools:

Beautiful indoor fish tanks:

Educational boards:

And my favorite exhibit . . . the jellyfish. I could just sit and watch these graceful creatures all day long.

There’s also a big grassy area where the kids can run around and play. This was great for us since Kaila decided to be very uncooperative during this outing. She didn’t want to sit in her stroller. She didn’t want to walk and hold hands. All she wanted to do was scream at the poor fishies. *sigh*

We were able to get through the entire aquarium in little over an hour which is the perfect time span if you have younger kids with you. There’s also a cute little gift shop and drink vending machines throughout the property. However, there are no food concessions so make sure you pack a snack for your kids. In fact, I wished I had packed a picnic lunch since the aquarium is right across Kapiolani Park.

It was a great way to spend a little time outdoors and gain some valuable information about the ocean life that surrounds the Hawaiian Islands.

The Waikiki Aquarium
9:00am – 4:30pm, daily
Admission Prices

• General Admission: $9 (Kama’aina/Military/Students/Seniors: $6)
• Youth ages 13-17: $4
• Junior ages 5-12: $2
• Children under 4: FREE

Fill In The Blankie

One of my favorite things about having little ones are those adorable baby blankets. The only thing is that once the girls outgrew them I ended up donating them to charity or giving them away to family and friends. However, after seeing how luxurious and gorgeous the personalized blankets from Fill In The Blankie are, I know I’ll be keeping mine in hopes that one day I can pass it on to my daughter.

Fill In The Blankie provides the solution to presenting a thoughtful, customized baby shower gift, even if the name and sex have not been revealed. Offering a wide array of high-end, luxury fabric and color choices for the blanket, satin edge and thread, as well as a variety of fonts for up to a 200-character embroidered message around all four edges, allows the giver unlimited customization options.

We had the opportunity to review a blanket of our choice and after viewing the various options we decided on “Natalie’s on Cloud 9″ ($109) because not only did it come in pink but it also had a cuddle factor of 10 – the softest blanket on their website.

Then it was time to decide on what type of personalization we wanted. At first I thought about using Kaila’s name but decided on something more generic so that the older girls wouldn’t wonder why they didn’t get a blanket like this as well. There is a maximum of 50 characters per side so I really need to think about what I wanted embroidered. I finally decided on for words -  Dream, Imagine, Hope, Love.  If you have any trouble the site has wording suggestions for various occasions like holidays, adoption, encouragement and more.

Next I had to make even more decisions like font, thread color, icon embroidery, gift wrapping, if I wanted an additional stuffed toy. All these options ensured that I ended up with a blanket that’s truly one-of-a-kind.

When my blanket arrived in the mail I couldn’t believe how great it turned out.

Now, I have no idea what a “cuddle factor” is but this blanket has to be one of the softest one I’ve ever felt. I’ve heard people use the term “buttery” when describing softness but I never understood what that meant until now.

The embroidery was of excellent quality with no stray threads or skipped stitches.

The satin border was sewn on with straight seams and the corners perfectly angled.

And the color of the blanket was the perfect shade of baby pink . . . just right for Kaila. It measures 30″ x 30″ which can cover Kaila when she’s sleeping or watching television on a cold morning. I just wished it was bigger so I could use it, too!

The blankets at Fill In The Blankie make great gifts for the parents who have everything. And since it’s personalized you know it will become a treasured keepsake. I know I will be keeping mine until the day one of my girls have a blessed daughter of their own.

This post was written for Fill In The Blankie who provided the complimentary product in exchange for my honest review.