Stuff Parents Need

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

Rock ‘N Learn Colors, Shapes & Counting DVD Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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We’ve got another really great DVD added to our collection that I think you guys are going to love. It’s from Rock ‘N Learn (a company whose products are REALLY impressing me) and it is called Colors,  Shapes & Counting.

Just like our other Rock ‘N Learn DVD, Darah isn’t quite old enough to watch the entire thing in one sitting, but she’ll watch about 15 minutes of it, and I know she likes it, because she requests it.

What I like about the DVD is that new colors and shapes are getting introduced. They don’t just stick with 5 or 6 colors, and they don’t just stick with squares, triangles and circles, either! Colors like turquoise are introduce, as are more complex shapes like members of the polygon family. I know I haven’t been as good about introducing these shapes, and I can see the little wheels in Darah’s mind spinning rapidly as she learns about them! We’ve even spent some time drawing the new shapes and looking for the new colors in her basket of crayons.

If your child is getting ready for pre-school or kindergarten, or is already enrolled in either and in need of a bit of reinforcement, Colors, Shapes & Counting is an excellent choice. It is available online for $19.99. Be sure to check out the other wonderful titles they offer for children of all ages. I think you’ll be impressed! Additionally, I have a coupon code for 25% off your entire purchase at www.RockNLearn.com! Use code JQ7711 and save a bundle!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will winn the DVD or CD of your choice from Rock ‘N Learn!

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MiYim: Organic Dolls and Plush Toys Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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As you know, my child LOVES dolls and stuffed animals. If it is soft and squishy, she’s all about it. If she REALLY loves it, she will put the animal or doll’s nose, arm, foot or ears in her mouth. A LOT. Strange? Yes. But that’s how she rolls. It is her greatest gesture of love to chew on her toys.

This is just one of the reasons why I am very drawn to chemical-free toys. Finding BPA-free plastic is becoming much easier, but I still struggle to find organic plush toys. But no longer! Today I’m featuring a company called miYim and they carry a FANTASTIC line of organic dolls and plush toys.

We received the ballerina doll a few weeks ago, and Darah was with me when I opened the package. I let her peek inside to see what was in the box, and when she saw what it was, she said, “Oh! It’s a dolly!” She handed me her bunny to hold so that she could use both hands to get her out of the package. Then she asked for help getting her out of the box.

One thing I immediately noticed was that there was NO plastic in the packaging. Not even to hold the doll in the box! Very impressive! The doll was tied into the box using ribbon. Because the doll box didn’t have a plastic face and because we didn’t have to tear into the box to get the doll out, it was left in perfect condition for play. The box was really beautiful, and fit the doll perfectly, so it is now being used as a doll bed by Darah (it was her idea, actually!).

We have named the doll Bonnie. Bonnie is now best friends with her other dolls and gets played with every single day. And yes, she also gets chewed on throughout the day. And I don’t break out into a sweat when I see her do it! 🙂 I know that Bonnie made with all natural cotton fabric, colored only with plants and minerals and has been certified as non-toxic and 100% chemical free. Chew away, my love!

Buy it!: miYim products are available online through various sites, or you can use the store locator to find your nearest retailer.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win the plush or doll or your choice from miYim!
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AMMO Books Modern Art Memory Game Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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Parents, have you had the experience yet where your child’s toys actually teach you something? I actually had that experience when Darah was just an infant, as she had these animal flashcards that had all the great facts on the back of them about each animal. I definitely picked up some knowledge with those!

Now I am be re-schooled about popular pieces of modern art, thanks to AMMO Books and their fantastic Modern Art Memory Game. It’s just what you think it is: the game of memory, but instead of having farm animals or something like that, the tiles have pieces of modern art on them. The set comes with information about each piece of work, so that as your child gets older, you can make the game more difficult by requiring that the person name a fact about the piece before earning the match. It is so fun to have a game in the house that actually look beautiful, even when it is strewn all over the living room!

In addition to checking out this great game, I was also sent two board books. I will tell you, without hesitation, that these are the two most visually stunning board books I have EVER seen (and I’ve seen my fair share!). First, we have Colors by Charley Harper. Page after page is filled with vibrant color and drawings that will certainly catch the eye of babies, toddlers, and really people of all ages. You simply don’t want to put the book down once you pick it up.

Second, we have Counting in the  Garden by Emily Hruby and this book is all about growing your own garden, and includes the numbers 1 through 12. It’s another book that draws you in with its beautiful imagery. Both books are WONDERFUL gift options for babies and toddlers. I can confidently say that these books will become instant favorites in any young child’s library.

I was pretty much blown away by the quality of AMMO Books products, and I think you will be, too, if you ever pick up any of their works! You can find an impressive array of products for purchase through the AMMO Books website. While you are there, be sure to pop over to the other categories of books!

 

Win it!: Here’s your chance to win the Modern Art Memory Game! Woo hoo! New to Rafflecopter? Click here for a quick tutorial on how to enter this and all future giveaways. You are going to love it! [Read more…]

How to use Rafflecopter

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I am very excited to announce that I will soon be working with Rafflecopter for giveaways! I think you will find that it makes the entry process much simpler. Let me quickly break it down for you so you will be ready to use it when it goes live!

The top of the form gives you the following information:

  • Prize up for grabs (i.e. Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVD).
  • Number of winners (on my site it is usually just one, but every so often I will have multiple winners).
  • Number of entries to date (this gives you an idea for your odds of winning!).
  • How much time is left to enter.

The middle of the form has a list of tasks that you can accomplish to earn entries into the giveaway.  It will show you which of the entries are mandatory and which are optional.  If the entry is mandatory, the “I Did This” button will be in green and the others will be grayed out until you perform the mandatory entry.

For some entry options, you can complete the task directly on the form, such as the Facebook Likes, by clicking the Do It: Click Here.  On others, such as “Follow Stuff Parents Need via GFC”, you will need to Click for Instructions to get the exact details of what you need to do for this entry.

At the bottom of the form, you’ll see the TERMS and CONDITIONS of the Giveaway. These are rarely changed for my giveaways, but it is always good to give them a quick glance.

If you run into any problems with Rafflecopter please don’t hesitate to let me know.  My goal is to make sure that entering giveaways is as easy as possible on Stuff Parents Need. If you are not finding that to be the case, I need to hear from you! Send me an email at stuffparentsneed@gmail.com with any questions or feedback.

Special thanks to Lindsey at So Easy Being Green for her Rafflecopter tutorial that inspired this one! 

Farm Rich snacks review and giveaway

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We are BIG on cheese in my house. So big, that we buy our cheese in monster-sized bags from Costco. We do stick it in the freezer to keep it fresh longer, but honestly, we eat it fast enough that it isn’t necessary!

One guilty pleasure that we have is cheese sticks. I think we all know that that this is an indulgence food, and not something to have on the menu three times each week. We usually get them on rare occasions when we go out to eat. But now we have some in our freezer that are actually good! I haven’t been impressed with the cheese sticks I’ve purchased in the past in the frozen food section, but these crisp quite nicely and taste absolutely sinful, just as cheese sticks should!

They are from Farm Rich and they are part of a great line of products that are great for occasional treats, though I wouldn’t suggest them as daily snacks. If you’d like to treat your family to something extra yummy, I do think the Farm Rich cheese sticks are a good choice. I’m also interested in trying their quesadillas, which would be so nice to accompany a soup. Preparing these foods is an absolute cinch. We use our toaster oven and get excellent results.

Buy it!: you can find Farm Rich products in the frozen food aisle of your favorite supermarket.

Win it!: Two lucky Stuff Parents Need readers will each receive a coupon for a free Farm Rich product! The contest will run until September 10th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

 Mandatory entry: Tell me which Farm Rich product looks the most appetizing to you!

Additional entries:

1. Sponsor love: Like Farm Rich on Facebook

2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Google Friend Connect (found on the sidebar)

Disclosure: I received a coupon for a free Farm Rich snack product in exchange for my honest opinions, which I have provided.

Why S’mores Create the Happiest Campers (GIVEAWAY!!!)

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Would you believe that I have never EVER been camping in all my years on this earth? And would you believe that I don’t feel sad about that, either?! Yeah, I’m not much of an outdoor girl. I think it is because I was raised in a part of the country where mosquitoes thrive and unbelievably large insects roam freely. Also, it’s hot most of the year, and muggy the entire year. So that’s not exactly the kind of conditions that most people dream of when thinking about spending the night outside!

Even so, I do have fond memories of going on hay rides and doing camp fires with my youth group (that’s about as close to camping out as I ever got!). And I can see where getting to do things like camp out in your backyard as a kid would be so much fun. I don’t want Darah to miss out on these kinds of adventures just because they aren’t my cup of tea. I will not discourage her from camping out (maybe her dad will even take her and leave me home!). And I’ll certainly make sure that she knows the most important lesson of all when it comes to camping…

HOW TO MAKE A S’MORE

Because really, everything else is just details, people!

Tim recently made an indoor camp for Darah (ok, really for all of us) to play in. We had the BEST time, and it was all bug-free, thank you very much!

Since I wanted to make sure we covered the essentials of camping right away, I brought out the plate of S’mores supplies. On a whim, I bought the chocolate graham crackers at the store…they totally rock as the S’mores foundation!


My little one wasted NO time sampling the ingredients! While she’s still a bit too young for the full melted S’more experience, she already totally gets that when you put together marshmallows, Hershey’s chocolate and graham crackers, something really magical happens. It certainly brought back fun memories for me, and got me so very excited about all the new memories that await my family on all our future camping trips…even if they all take place in our living room!

I want to encourage you to pop over to Hershey’s Facebook page because they are having a great giveaway! Just capture your favorite S’mores moments and submit your photos for a chance to win S’mores-themed prizes. The grand prize is a Canon Rebel Camera, slate marble outdoor firebowl, $250 SnapFish gift card, roasting skewers and all of the ingredients needed to make S’mores!

Win it!: Thanks to Hershey’s, I’ve got an opportunity for you to make fun memories with your family through your own special camp out! One Stuff Parents Need reader will win a S’mores pack, which contains Hershey’s chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows. The giveaway will run until September 7th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.


Mandatory entry:Tell me about your experience camping out? Do you love it? Have any tips for someone like me who has never been? Anything relevant to the topic works for me.

Additional entries:

1. Sponsor love:  Like Hershey’s on Facebook

2. Blogger love: Like Stuff Parents Need on Facebook

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

Disclosure: This post is part of my participation in the Hershey’s “Say S’mores” Promotion. All opinions expressed are mine.

Crane Air Purifier Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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Darah will be back in school in 2 short weeks. In 2 1/2 short weeks, I predict she will get her first case of the crud for the school year. I know, I’m not very optimistic. But if you have kids in school, then you know I speak the truth. When that crud crosses the threshold of Darah’s room, we’ll be ready, though. We are armed with the most fierce secret weapon out there.

And it’s a penguin. air purifier for kids

Crane, the makers of the cutest humidifiers in the history of life (including the pig humidifer, which we own), also has air purifiers specially designed for children’s rooms. Our penguin is named Aaron (since he cleans the air). He may look adorable, but he is a death sentence to germs, dust and dander.

Here are the features of the Crane Personal Air Purifiers:

  • Five level filtration helps remove airborne allergens, bacteria, viruses and germs.
  • Germicidal UV light kills viruses and bacteria to deliver germ-free fresh air.
  • True HEPA filter captures up to 99.97% of airborne dust as well as pollen as small as 0.3 microns from air passing through the filter.
  • HEPA filter also helps reduce smoke, mold spores and pet dander.
  • Active carbon filter captures large particles as well as common household odors caused from tobacco, pets, garbage and cooking by absorbing them in the active carbon filter.
  • Photocatalyst filter works in conjunction with the internal UV light to create advanced oxidation that eliminates airborne odors and neutralizes odors and harmful fumes.
  • Washable particle filter uses a foam filter to help capture larger airborne particles and helps extend the life of the HEPA filter.
  • Three-speed control as a low noise setting for continuous quiet operation
  • Easy-to-change filters
  • Tip-over switch with auto-shut-off function.

In addition to all of these great features, we find that the penguin is great at providing white noise. We have a fan that we run in Darah’s room at night for that purpose, but I think that we can now replace it with the penguin. And the penguin is doing a lot more for the air quality than that fan was!

The filter in the air purifier does need to be replaced, roughly every 2-3 months, just depending on use (we run the purifier overnight as our standard practice). The instructions for replacing them couldn’t be easier, and are located on the inside of the penguin (hooray for not having to go find the instruction manual!).

We are extremely pleased with the Crane Personal Air Purifier. It is a comfort to me to know that Darah’s room has the cleanest air in the house and that when she comes home with all those germs, she only needs to go play in her room to have the airborne ones be eliminated! Love it! Darah’s bathroom also houses the cat litter box, and I have noticed a SIGNIFICANT improvement in the air quality there, as well.

 

Click here to check out a list of national stores where Crane products are sold.

Edit: this giveaway is closed.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a Crane Personal Air Purifier in your choice of penguin or shark (SRP $79.99)!! The contest will run until September 4th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via And the Winner Is. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me which product, specifically, Crane makes that you would love to have in your home.

Additional entries:

1. Sponsor love: Like Crane USA on Facebook

2. Blogger love: Subscribe to Stuff Parents Need by RSS or email

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

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This post contains affiliate links. 

Conair You Style, You Lift and You Curl Brushes Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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Does anyone else out there have a brush thief in their house? I totally do. Darah loves to play with my brush. And when I say play with, I mean take it to random places in the house. I don’t want to talk about how many times I have searched the house in vain only to pull my hair back in a ponytail because brushing it was literally not an option.

But now I have a whole new collection of brushes. Darah can go ahead and run off with one of them. In fact, when she does that, she can just help me decide how I want to style my hair based on which brushes she leaves me with!

Conair has a super cool new line of brushes that are designed to help you create a variety of looks with ease. My very favorite brush is the You  Style. It is a 2-in-1 brush, which really means that it is a brush version of a Transformer. In its open, flat position you can use it for everyday brushes or for blow-drying your hair straight. But you can also push a button on the brush, and the sides collapse into a rounded shape, which is great for adding lift and soft, sexy waves (yes, I said sexy! It can happen, I promise!).

The second brush is called You Lift. T his brush doesn’t collapse, but can help you achieve a straight look without sacrificing volume. Yay! The edges of the barrel are able to get closer to the scalp for extra lift while the flat sides of the brush help straighten the hair. You can also use it like a round brush for smooth waves or curls.

Finally, we have You Curl. This brush is designed to create a very natural looking wave or tousled curl that is narrow at the hairline and wider at the bottom.

Each brush retails for $9.99 and can be found at retailers nationwide. They ,all work great, with just a bit of practice on your end (I got overzealous the first time I used the You Lift and got my hair just a tiny bit stuck…but I only made that mistake once!).

I cannot wait to get my hair cut this week (after 5 1/2 months…there, I admitted it). It is so long and heavy. I will be making most excellent use of these brushes with my new ‘do! Thanks, Conair, for creating such excellent brushes that help folks like me step away from the ponytail and embrace the fabulous hair that they really can have!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win the same Conair brushes featured here! The contest will run until September 4th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me one other product made by Conair that you already own and love, or that you would like to own!

My answer: I would love to have this makeup mirror. Whenever I stay in a hotel with these, I always do a great job with my makeup because I can be more precise.

Additional entries:

1. Sponsor love: Like Conair on Facebook

2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter

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

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

Green Toys Fire Truck Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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When we were expecting Darah, I had many parents warn us that our home was about to become a plastic jungle, at least for the next 10 years. Tim and I REALLY didn’t want to see that happen. We didn’t want our house to be overrun with toys at all (um, yeah, totally FAILED that one), and we also didn’t want plastic junk everywhere made with questionable chemicals and that would easily break and have to be pitched.

 

So it may seem a little strange that I’m featuring a plastic fire trucktoday as an excellent toy of choice for your little. But this isn’t just any old plastic fire truck! It’s from Green Toys, and it is made entirely out of recycled plastic! milk containers! Even the packaging it comes in is made entirely of recycled and recyclable materials. It is the world’s greenest emergency vehicle!

It’s also SO much fun! Darah is a HUGE fan of fire trucks, always on the lookout for them when she takes a ride in the car, and always listening out for their sirens. We live a few blocks away from a big fire station, so she gets to hear those sirens at least once a day, much to her delight. Her Green Toys fire truck rarely even gets put away. It seems to now live in our hallway, which is the best place for “driving.” Her smaller stuffed animals and figurines are also getting extra play time, as they will fit on top of the fire truck, much to Darah’s delight.

I have given the truck a thorough inspection, and I am very impressed with the quality. It really looks as though it was built to endure many hours of play from children who love their toys, but aren’t necessarily the best at taking care of them, yet. I expect that our fire truck will endure quite a bit of rough-housing with Darah, but will still be in fine shape for the next child, or even for Darah’s kids later on. It’s definitely a winner!

Green Toys has an excellent line of eco-friendly toys, all made from recycled materials, and also all free from lights, batteries and other annoying things that play for your child, instead of encouraging imaginative play. The price points for the toys are a bit higher than their non-recycled plastic counterparts from other brands, but these are toys that are built to last generations, instead of having planned obsolescence, so I think they are worth it! The fire truck I reviewed retails for $27.99

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a Green Toys Fire Truck! The contest will run until September 4th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me one other Green Toys product that would be welcome in your home!

My answer: The school bus!

Additional entries:

1. Sponsor love: Like Green Toys on Facebook

2. Blogger love: Like Stuff Parents Need on Facebook

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

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