Stuff Parents Need

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

$200 Amazon Gift Card GIVEAWAY!!!

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A brand new giveaway is now open for all our valued readers! Get a chance to win a $200 Amazon Gift Card. Only one lucky winner will be chosen on August 15, 2012.

This event would not become possible without the participation of these amazing co-hosts: I Heart Giveaways, Zoes Printable Coupons, My Charmed Mom, Keeping It Simple, Pinay Jade, Fashion In The Forest, Richly Middle Class, Go Momma Coupons, Celebrate Woman Today and More from Mom!

This giveaway is open worldwide. There are daily entries so keep on visiting this post to earn the bonuses for more chances of winning. Good luck.

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Washable Rugs from Ruggable: Review of the Best Idea Ever!

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Are you like pretty much the whole rest of the world and find yourself daydreaming on Pinterest? I know I do. I think it is an incredible way to organize ideas and to find inspiration.

When we moved a few months ago, I knew we would be giving Darah’s room a makeover, upgrading from that nursery feel to something slightly more mature.

I also wanted her room to have plenty of nice textures in the room, so even though her new space is carpeted, I wanted to put a rug down in the floor.

And I wanted a white shag rug.

They are so soft and fun and just absolutely perfect. I pinned a few examples on my little girl’s room ideas board.

But then I gave up on the idea. Shag rugs can be a bit pricey, but even more importantly, they are impractical in a toddler’s room. As cute as all those pinterest pictures are, at the end of the day, I’m simply not going to fork over my hard earned money for something that will be dingy looking in a few months’ time. That doesn’t make any sense!

Washable Rugs

And then I one day I was flipping through my All You magazine, and I saw a product that totally blew my mind: a WASHABLE rug. And one of the available options was WHITE SHAG!!!!!

Introducing the rug of every parent’s dreams: Ruggable. Check out my slide show video to see exactly how it works!

Here’s a video Ruggable made to show you how to apply your cover to your rug pad. It’s so easy!
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This is seriously one of my favorite products of the year. It gives me the freedom to put a beautiful rug in my daughter’s room without worrying that my investment will be ruined in just a matter of months. And the price point is attractive, too! The 3×5 white shag rug cover retails for $49.95 and the rug pad is $19.95. DISCOUNT OFFER: Stuff Parents Need readers are invited to try Ruggable at a 20% discount! Just enter code STUFF712 in the discount code section at checkout! Yay!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a 3×5 washable rug of your choice from Ruggable!

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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. 

Proud to Be an Earth’s Best Blogger

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Earth's Best Blogger Program

The very first solid food we put in Darah’s mouth was from Earth’s Best. It was rice cereal. Ever since that day (New Year’s Eve 2009), we’ve been big fans and loyal customers to this brand. When I was offered the opportunity to become an ambassador for the brand for the next 6 months, I knew the partnership made perfect sense. I already love and respect Earth’s Best, and now I get to share my thoughts and experiences with you, and along the way, offer up some wonderful prizes to you, my readers.

This is going to be so much fun!

Did you know that Earth’s Best has been around since way before organic became trendy and cool? It has 25 years under its belt, and in that time, has grown tremendously, now offering more than 100 products, including organic infant formula, a really impressive line of infant and toddler foods, and baby care products.

Earth’s Best works hard to be the company of choice for parents who are hoping to provide organic options for their babies and children, and who seek out companies that only use the purest ingredients.

Earth’s Best aims to help make your life a little less hectic. For example, we don’t all have time to go to our local farmer’s market each week and then come home and turn those ingredients into delicious purees and snacks. Earth’s Best is happy to take that chore off your hands without you having to sacrifice the standard you’d like to set for your child’s nutrition and overall health.

Over the next 6 months, I’ll be bringing you news about great new Earth’s Best products, information from Earth’s Best nutrition and health experts, and of course, wonderful giveaways. I hope this series will inspire some good conversations among my readers, not only about this particular brand, but also about how we can strategically make choices to provide products that are free from nasty chemicals to our children.

I’ll be posting for Earth’s Best twice each month, and one post each month will have a giveaway. Folks who comment on the non-giveaway post each month will get a bonus entry into that month’s Earth’s Best giveaway! So here’s your chance to earn a bonus entry!

Do you have any questions for Earth’s Best, either about their products or about ways to cut out unhealthy chemicals in your home and in your child’s diet? I’d love to take your questions and comments back to the company! 

Carter’s Shopping Spree! $200 Gift Card GIVEAWAY!!!

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Welcome to the Carter’s Watch the Wear giveaway brought to you by Blog it Forward Media.

Carter’s Watch the Wear was started by Henry Wood Carter. Under the name H.W. Carter & Sons (1890), Carter’s Overalls were sold and were very popular. The company expanded to market boy’s overalls, as well as railroad overalls, painter pants, coats, jumpers and shirts, eventually putting everything under the simple trademark “Carter’s”. They quickly evolved into a company that you see now. They specialize in clothing for newborns, infants and toddlers. and Guess what? Their collection is entirely affordable for the family.

Well, Carter’s Watch the Wear has paired up with the bloggers of Blog it Forward to offer one lucky winner a $200 gift card to their website! That’s right, you can enter for a chance to win $200 worth of clothes for your little one. Just fill out the form below to enter.
You can sign up for Carter’s Watch the Wear e-mails! Do you want to be an affiliate? You can check out the details and sign up.

Just use the simple form below to enter! This giveaway is open to US and Canada. Must be 18+ to enter. Giveaway closes on July 31 at 11:59pm est. Only one person per household/IP address may enter. You only need to enter the giveaway on one of our blogs. Good luck!

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How to Make Iced Coffee at Home

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I am absolutely bonkers about iced coffee. BONKERS, I tell you! I happily drink it all year, but in the summer months, there’s just nothing better.

I usually make my own iced coffee at home to save some money, but my final product is always a bit too watery. The reason is because I lack the patience to let my coffee cool down to room temperature before adding ice to it. When I smell that delicious coffee smell, I start salivating like Pavlov’s dog and want my coffee NOW.

Do you have the same problem?

Godiva has just added a line of coffees that are great for iced coffee, in particular. They provide instructions on how to make iced coffee, and let me tell you, they have perfected the art and now I know how to make delicious iced coffee FAST without having it get all watered down!

How to Make Iced Coffee at Home:

1. Measure out 1/2 cup of Godiva coffee (and yeah, you are going to want to make sure it is Godiva, because if you use their flavors, you are in for one heck of a treat!). Put it into your coffee maker.

2. Measure out 2 1/2 cups of water and add to coffee maker. Turn your coffee maker on.

When I was making my first batch of coffee, at this point I was like, “Woah! That’s some seriously concentrated coffee…hope this isn’t gross!” But I pressed on.

3. When you coffee is brewed, turn off your coffee maker. Add 2 1/2 cups of ice directly to your coffee pot. Stir with a spoon until all the ice melts. (I also added sugar to my coffee at this point so that it would dissolve easily).

See the genius of this? This not only cools down your coffee, but it also gets it to the proper concentration.

4. Pour your coffee over a glass filled with ice and enjoy.

how to make iced coffee

And enjoy I most certainly did. I brewed White Chocolate Coconut and it was out of this world! I’ve also been enjoying the Berry Creme Brulee. Words fail me when trying to describe its awesomeness. You just need to get some and experience it for yourself!

Both of these flavors are outstanding and I would highly recommend them for your iced coffee. But you can also use this same brewing method for any flavor of Godiva coffee. Chocolate Truffle will be the flavor I go for once I use all of my other flavors. And at the rate I’m going, it won’t be long!

Buy it!: You can purchase Godiva coffee at a store near you (here’s the store locator). It can also be purchased on Amazon.com! The retail price for a 12 ounce bag is $9.99.

Edit: this giveaway is now closed. 

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a gift bag (pictured above) filled with treats from Godiva!

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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This post contains an affiliate link. 

Oxylent Prenatal Vitamins: The Perfect Option for Nauseous/Pill-Averse Ladies!

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Raise your hand if you experienced/are experiencing some pretty serious morning sickness.

Oh yeah. I had it bad with both my girls. It let up around 14 weeks with Darah, and around 18 weeks with Layah. I had to be put on the prescription medicine so that I could get out of bed and face the day. And I had to be EXTREMELY strategic about when I would take my daily prenatal vitamin so that I wouldn’t throw it up. There were many days when I timed it wrong, and absorbed precious little of that vitamin before it was right back out of me.

This always bothered the heck out of me, but I didn’t know there was anything I could do about it. It turns out that there’s a really great prenatal vitamin that isn’t a pill at all! It’s called Oxylent Prenatal Vitamins and it is a powder that can be added to water or juice. It even gives your drink a sparkling, fizzy taste!

I have been taking these packets for a few weeks now (remember, if you are breastfeeding you should still be taking prenatals!). In my experience, the powder doesn’t taste the very best in water. I never could get it to fully dissolve in it. But it tastes REALLY good in apple juice and dissolved much easier (not sure if the citric acid in there had something to do with it?). I highly recommend it in apple juice, and have found it to be a tasty treat I look forward during the day. Here’s a snapshot of my daily vitamin!

While this product isn’t necessary for me at this point, I really wish I had known about it while I was battling nausea during my pregnancy. I remember sometimes gagging just over trying to swallow a pill. That wouldn’t be a problem with this product! Because you add it to a liquid, it can also help keep you hydrated, which is SO important during pregnancy.

Oxylent Prenatal Vitamins have been tested by a third party and have been found to contain NO environmental contaminants. They are also free of artificial flavors, colors, gluten, lactose and caffeine.

I also like the convenient individual packets, which make them easy to throw in your purse and take with you to the office or wherever you need to go during the day.

 

Buy it!: Oxylent Prenatal Vitamins are available for $36.95 for a 30 day supply. The promo code TOPOXYLENT will get you 20% of your purchase. Yay! If you purchase 2 boxes or more, shipping is also free. 

Oxylent is also pleased to announce that it is a sponsor for the Healthy Baby Belly Blog Party! This is a huge giveaway event that will feature informative topics on healthy pregnancy and breastfeeding. There will be new topics each week, and of course, giveaways!!!

Disclosure: I received this product free of charge. All opinions are my own. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, cure or treat diseases.

Who Wants a Kindle Fire? Sit Tight…Giveaway Coming Up!

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You may have noticed that big group giveaways are all the rage on blogs these days. They make sense…bigger prizes for contestants and more followers for bloggers. That’s win-win!

With that said, I try not to overload you with them, especially since participating in them often requires a post advertising the upcoming giveaway in addition to the actual giveaway post. My critera for joining a group giveaway is if it is something that I would be totally thrilled to win, myself.

And I would be totally thrilled to win a Kindle Fire, so this giveaway made the cut!

Bay Area Mommy is celebrating her 1st year anniversary on July 27th, and is giving away a Kindle Fire AND a Diamond Candle! There will be 2 winners.

Giveaway Dates: July 25 – August 15
Signup Fee for participating bloggers: FREE for 1st link,
$3 for each additional link
Open worldwide. If the winner is not from the US, he/she will get the cash equivalent.

Get signup details here

 If you decide to sign up as a blogger, please list Stuff Parents Need as your referral!

 

Magic Tap Review: Self-Service Straight From the Fridge

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As a parent, do you sometimes feel like a short order cook? Tim and I certainly do! We limit the number of options Darah has at meal time, but we do give her a few options for her food, as well as her drink.

For a beverage, she has a choice between juice, milk and water. We try to make sure she has at least one of each throughout the day. Sometimes she’ll request two different beverages at the same time during a meal. Admittedly this is my fault because once, about 2 months ago, she saw me with a glass of tea and a glass of water. As soon as she realized that it was possible to have more than one drink at a time, she made a mental note and NEVER FORGOT.

Darah isn’t quite old enough to be able to get the gallon of milk out of the fridge to pour it herself. But with the Magic Tap, she can still get her own milk, which is cool because it helps her be more self-sufficient.

magic tap

The Magic Tap is a handy dandy little device that you add to a container of milk, water, juice or similar beverage and it creates a dispenser that is similar to what you’d see at a fast food soda stand. It is battery operated and very adaptable. It has a universal lid that fits most beverage containers. I also like that the drink comes out quickly. Before I received it, I feared that it would be really slow; this is not the case at all!

I will say that I found the cleaning steps to be a bit cumbersome. This is a device for people who want to shave a few seconds of work off their day, so we value anything that is quick, including clean up. But other than that, I really do like this product and will continue using it. My favorite thing about it is that it gives Darah a way to practice caring for herself, and it empowers her because if she is ever thirsty, she can solve that problem on her own without having to wait for an adult to help her.

It is important to note that this is not recommended for soda, just so all you fizzy drink lovers don’t see this as a way to actually have one of those soda stands in your house!

Buy it!: The Magic Tap is available online for $19.99 plus shipping and handling.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a Magic Tap!

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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. 

 

A Healthier Alternative to Sports Drinks (and a HUGE Discount!)

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Please enjoy this post brought to you by Drink Chia. I have personally experienced the benefits of chia seeds in my diet, and high recommend them! I also love that this company is co-founded by a mom! Read on to hear about a HUGE bonus offer for Stuff Parents Need readers! 

Finally, a Family-Focused Sports Drink…Drink Chia!

When it comes to the vast majority of sports drinks on the market today, perception is quite different from reality. Sure, their multi-million dollar ad campaigns featuring über-fit athletes paint the picture of health, but the fact of the matter is, there’s alot of marketing trickery at play. It turns out, that neon-purple concoction might not be all it’s cracked up to be!

Excessive sugar, caffeine, artificial chemicals, and dyes are just some of the evils lurking within many of those sporty bottles. As if that’s not bad enough, a recent HuffingtonPost article sheds light on one of the less thought-about health risks that common sports drinks pose – tooth decay.

Sugary sports drinks have fast-acting, irreversible, damaging effects on your child’s teeth. The study in Dentistry Digest tested several leading brands of sports drinks and concluded that significant damage to tooth enamel can occur in just five days!

It’s time to ask—is there a healthy alternative out there? Is there a sports drink that isn’t full of empty promises (and sugar)? Isn’t there something other than water that I can actually feel good about giving my children?

Well, it turns out there is – and it’s called DrinkChia!  The omega-3 superfood drink tastes delicious and works with you to keep your children healthy and safe.

Drink Chia! is infused with organic chia seeds, a superfood rich in omega-3 fatty acids that naturally maintains hydration.  The drink is free of stimulants and contains only 4 grams of sugar, and here’s the bonus—no other drink offers the same dose of vitamins, antioxidants and omega-3 found in just one, 8oz bottle of Drink Chia.

Chandra Davis, Drink Chia co-founder and marathon-running mom of two, developed a family gem—serendipitously. She originally set out to create a healthy sports drink for her fellow runners and discovered an unexpected benefit.

“When I was developing our recipe from homemade concoctions in my kitchen, I focused on enhancing my performance as an athlete,” said Davis. “When my sons started to ask me for it, I realized we had developed something our whole family could benefit from.”

Apart from being healthy, it’s also practical. The small packaging is ideal not only for packing in lunch boxes and backpacks, it’s also a realistic serving. Davis said, “The giant bottles that leading brands sell are sugar-saturated, oversized portions. It’s no wonder they contribute to tooth decay. Our recipe only calls for 4 grams of sugar per serving and that’s all the sweetness you need!”

Drink Chia! is an easy way to get your kids the nutrition they need without the harmful effects of excessive sugar.  So, kick the common sports drink to the curb and make Drink Chia! the smart decision for your family.

Drink Chia! is available in finer health food stores, on Amazon.com, and various other websites.  Visit their website for more information or for purchasing options. You can also follow Drink Chia! on Facebook.

SPECIAL: If you order from any of the listed online retailers and put SPN at the end of your name at checkout, Drink Chia! will see this and will reward you with a free case of Drink Chia! in addition to your order! That’s a $35 gift to you! Awesome!!!

Edit: The free case is just added at the time of fulfillment and won’t show up on your invoice. However, if you order from Amazon, you will need to notify Drink Chia (info@drinkchia.com) and include your order confirmation number so they know to send you a free case.