Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Win a Kindle Fire with Ronco!

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One of my very favorite brands of pasta is Ronco. I have two main reasons. The first one is because their products are excellent and reasonably priced (ok, I guess that’s two reasons right there!). But there is one more reason I love this company: they do AWESOME giveaways! If you were reading my blog last year, then you probably saw two big giveaways I did with them. Three winners each got a year’s supply of pasta (wow!) and in a separate giveaway, someone won a Cuisinart stainless steel 4 piece pasta/steamer set and 4 boxes of pasta. They have certainly shown Stuff Parents Need readers a lot of love!

And today is no different! I want you to be in the know about a most excellent contest happening over at the Ronco Pasta Facebook page. It’s called the Pasta Moments Photo Contest, and as part of it, Ronco wants to see your favorite pasta moments, as well as what “home” means to you. Break out your cameras and capture the spirit of home and comfort, and submit it to the contest to be entered to win some outstanding prizes!  

One grand prize winner is going to snag a Kindle Fire! OOOOOHHH!! There are weekly prizes for all 7 weeks that the contest is running (weekly winners get a 1 year supply of Ronco pasta!). Official rules can be found here.

You know you love pasta, and you are probably planning on having it for at least one meal this week. So capture those moments, submit them to Ronco, and see if you can snag pasta for the year or a Kindle Fire!

Disclosure: Ronco is providing me with a $25 gift card to Shutterfly as a thank you for the time I spent writing the post. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. 

 

Christmas in July: Chance to Win $200 with Things Remembered

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There’s nothing like a 95 degree afternoon to put you in the holiday spirit! It seems that whenever the weather reaches its extreme, I start to crave its polar opposite. All those snowstorms we had in December don’t sound so bad right about now!

Things Remembered is also getting in a festive mood by hosting a Things Remembered Facebook photo contest. Entrants have a chance to be in their holiday campaigns! All entrants who have a chosen photo will win $200! Woo hoo!

Here’s the cute picture I just submitted. This is Darah when she was just 4 months old. We were having our first family Christmas card photo shoot. Big smiles were still relatively new to her, so when she busted out with this “joy to the world” face, we were positively giddy! It remains one of my all-time favorite shots of her to this day.

I know you have some super cute holiday photos taking up space on your hard drive. Take a minute to go through them and pick out your favorite. It will help you not feel so darn hot, if nothing else! Then enter the contestand see if your holiday memory might make the Things Remembered Holiday Campaign! And that $200 will help with all the gifts you need to buy, too! 🙂

Disclosure: I am receiving a gift card as a thank you for blogging about this contest. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. Good luck!

Is Your Child The Cutest Kid?

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Naturally, I think I have an adorable child…every mom thinks that, right?! I have had people suggest to me that Darah get professional head shots so that she can be in a Baby Gap ad, be the next Gerber baby, or perhaps grace the cover of Parents magazine. I appreciate all the kind words, and sometimes I do wonder if maybe, just maybe, I could get her a few gigs and help fill up that (currently empty) college savings fund for her. But then I think about stage moms and I get grossed out and let the idea go.

But now I’m hearing about this website called The Cute Kid. They have a Cute Kid of the Year Photo Contest. Here’s how it works:

  • You submit a photo of your baby (no charge)
  • By signing up (for free) and submitting a photo, you get a free 8×10 canvas photo. Sweet!
  • A panel of judges (industry professionals) will judge photos. Those that are submitted free of charge don’t have a guarantee of being seen by talent scouts (though they might).
  • For a fee of $19.95, you can enter the contest. There are monthly prizes totaling over $5,000 and a grand prize each year of $25,000. Hello college fund! It is also worth noting that folks who enter the contest get a free subscription to Parents magazine and a free 11 x 14 canvas. I’m thinking that’s a pretty great deal. You get great stuff, and who knows? Your kid might actually be the cutest, in which case you will make some serious cash! 🙂

What I like about this competition is that it doesn’t require you to go anywhere and have your child actively compete against other children or have to “be on” for the judges. You just submit a photo of your beautiful child (and we all have beautiful children), enjoy your magazine and your canvas photo, and anything else is a bonus.

What do you think? Want to give it a try with me?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. The opinions are expressly my own. Yay cute kids and free stuff!