Connected2Christ

Posts Tagged ‘Holiday Gift Guide’

It’s not everyday that you come by very special personalized gifts like those found over at Child to Cherish. I’ve been a fan of this company for awhile. Early this year, I reviewed their Tower of Time Hand print Kit and if you haven’t seen it, I encourage you to check it out.

This month I was given the opportunity to review one of the Child to Cherish Grandma’s Little Baker Suitcases.  These suits cases come in various unforgettably adorable designs perfect for both boys and girls!  I’m a huge fan of the illustrations of mice, bears, and bunnies which bring me to think of the fine works of Beatrix Potter whom played a big role in my own childhood.

Each suitcase is an 11.25 x 8 x 3.5-inch tin suitcase which is filled with everything your little baker will need such as an apron, wooden rolling pin and spoon, 3 cookie cutters and 5 delicious cookie recipes! The cookie recipes are easy to follow and feature those most loved by everyone, Sugar, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, Gingerbread and Snickerdoodles!

The Little Baker Suitcases are perfect for children from ages 2 and up and come in three different colors.  The boxes are perfect to take to and from Grandma’s for those special cookie baking days!

Once my daughter outgrows using this special suitcase (which won’t be for many many years), I can’t help but think with all the roominess, that I could store other special cookie cutters as well as secret family  cookie recipes to share with with my own Grandchildren when they visit.

Buy it: You can purchase  the Child to Cherish Grandma’s Little Baker Suitcases
online at ChildtoCherish.com for $42.99. They also have many other fantastic holiday products perfect for gift giving such as a decorative handprint kit ornament and Plant a Tree for Me gift, though not limited to just Holiday gifts, I encourage you to check them out for gifts you will cherish for a lifetime!

Personalized books for children are always a fantastic gift idea. You’ll be able to find many that will include your child’s name or perhaps a cartoon illustration of your child. But I’ve never come across one as unique as the selection I stumbled upon at Your Picture Book.com.

Your Picture Book.com, simply asks for a photo of your child sitting or standing and then incorporates the photo into one of three books available:

• Moon Dirt
• Can Count
• Noah’s Ark

My Thoughts…

I was given the opportunity to review my very own personalized book and went with the Noah’s Ark story. I was simply asked to send in a high resolution photo of my daughter sitting or standing because there are two choice of book layouts to choose from.  I was asked my daughter’s name so they could add it into the story. I then also included up to 4 lines of what I wanted to say in the dedication for the title page.

I received my personalized book a few days go and was going to save it and give it to my daughter for Christmas, but I just couldn’t wait! Her reaction to this book was priceless! She giggled and pointed to herself and kept wanting me to read it to her all day long!

This book is not only fun but reaps life lessons and educational value. It encourages one on one conversation with your child! The Noah and the Ark Adventure book teaches children a life lesson in how listening and waiting on God reaps wonderful benefits.  When we weren’t reading through the story, I pointed out the various animals to my daughter and taught her the names for each of them.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! My only hope is that in the future more customizable options such as adding more than one photo of your child into the book can be added.

Buy it… You can purchase your very own personalized book for $34.95 by visiting Your Picture Book.com. ?Note also that posters, coloring books, and DVDs are available to customize with a child’s photo too.

Win It: Your Picture Book.com has generously offered one of my readers their very own hardback personalized book of their choice! Sorry, USA only.

To Enter: Visit Your Picture Book.com and tell me which book you would like to have personalized and who it would be for!

Extras:

1. Add me to your blogroll or add my button.
2. Blog it, link back to this post. (2 extra)
3. Favorite my blog on Technorati
4. Subscribe by email/RSS. (2 extra)
6. Follow on Twitter @erinlowmaster & Tweet (daily entries available)
6. Email a friend about this giveaway. (Leave name of friend)

Tweet: (copy/paste)

RT: Win a Personalized book for your Child! 12/20 @erinlowmaster (add url)

This Giveaway is only open to U.S and Canada

Giveaway running till 12/20/09 . Winners will be notified shortly afterward by email. Please respond within 48 hours or you forfeit your prize to another participant.

Disclaimer: I was given a personalized book to review. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.

Whether you are a fan of The Sound of Music or not, I’m sure most would enjoy the Special 50th Anniversary Edition original cast recording CD and collectible companion pop up story book that was specially created by Masterworks Broadway and Simon & Schuster.

A Little History…

The Sound of Music is the last musical collaboration of composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. It made history when it opened at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theater years and years ago and has been celebrated ever since.

What’s New…

The Sound of Music has restored the original cast recording in a new edition that features three unusual bonus tracks, extensive liner notes about the show’s history by Bert Fink of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, and rarely seen photos of the recording sessions, held November 22, 1959, in Columbia Records’ celebrated 30th Street Studios.

My Thoughts…

Growing up watching classic movies and muscials, I very much appreciate the work that went into the Special 50th Anniversary Edition original cast recording cd of The Sound of Music and collectible companion pop up story book.  I know my family and I will treasure this heartfelt tale and memorable songs for years and years to come.

A special Sing-Along guide was put together for the book to encourage your child to follow the story along with you. I would encourage you to take advantage of it! I’ve included a video below of the pop-up book just so you can see how special it really is!

You can purchase both the book and cd  from Amazon.com by clicking the following links: CD at Amazon, Book at Amazon, and the Music at Itunes.

Disclaimer: I was given an oppurtunity to review this cd and book thank to the Sony Music Commercial Music Group. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.

“We strive to improve day-to-day food preparation kitchen products through technology and innovation by integrating multifunctional features and giving our customers the added value advantage for their investment.

I’ve reviewed many products on my blog and I must say Foldtuk Kitchenware is one of my absolute favorite products that I was given to opportunity to review!

Fold Tuk offers innovative bake ware that literally makes life so much easier! I was sent a 4 cup rectangular baking dish in red to try out. Note that there are many other colors and sizes available.

What so special about FoldTuk Bakeware? Well, these handy dishes can be used to cook, serve, reheat, freeze, and store. When I told my husband, he literally almost couldn’t believe it. We were baking chicken in the oven with our dish and he kept asking me if it was okay to place the dish directly onto the oven wrack. I told him FoldTuk bakeware can be used to cook up to 500 degrees but my  husband still looked over the directions twice to make sure it was alright.

I love how FoldTuk Bakeware collapses! The 4 cup rectangular dish I am reviewing only measure 1 inch in height fully collapsed!  I live in an apartment with not much space so I really have to appreciate this aspect as my cupboards are already over following with other bake ware.  These pieces stack so nicely on top of each other!

I was so impressed with the dish I was sent  that I with no doubt have to invest in a whole collection! Foldtuk products are available directly from Foldtuk and at Amazon and other retailers.

*Special Promo Code*

Use code connected2christ to recieve a 20% off discount on any order! Code expires Jan. 1st 2010!

Win it: One extremtly lucky reader is going to be able to win a 4-cup size, Red color, Rectangular shape bake ware just like the one I’ve reviewed!

To Enter: Visit Foldtuk and tell me another product you’d love to own!

Extras:

1. Add me to your blogroll or add my button.
2. Blog it, link back to this post. (2 extra)
3. Favorite my blog on Technorati
4. Friend/Fan @ Facebook
5. Subscribe by email/RSS. (2 extra)
6. Follow on Twitter @erinlowmaster & Tweet (daily entries available)
7. Email a friend about this giveaway. (Leave name of friend)

Tweet: (copy/paste)

RT: Win a baking dish from FoldTuk! 12/18 @erinlowmaster (add url)

This Giveaway is only open to U.S and Canada
Giveaway running till 12/18/09 . Winners will be notified shortly afterward by email. Please respond within 48 hours or you forfeit your prize to another participant.

Personal Thoughts by my husband Justin Lowmaster…

When I first heard about Boom Blox Bash Party, I was very excited. I’m a big fan of the original Boom Blox game. We bought the original the day before my daughter was born and played it for hours and hours that day. It helped us relax.

Boom Blox Bash Party has all the same things that made Boom Blox great, and so much more. The main game play modes all revolve around blocks of some sort. In some levels you must carefully deconstruct towers (ala Jenga), while in others you win by throwing balls to knock down towers. Bash Party adds stacks of new modes and ways to interact with the blocks. New modes include paint levels where you color blocks to match them, space levels where the goal is to explode blocks outside an area floating in the void, and undersea levels where you have to toss blocks up to the surface without letting them touch the ground. New interaction ‘toys’ as they are called include a cannon you light and aim, a slingshot where you grab blocks (or the block animals) and fling them, and a new kind of ball, the Virus Ball.

In Bash Party there are also a few new block types aside from the standard bomb blocks (explode when hit) and chemical blocks (explode when two or more of these touch). The new blocks include Book Bux which add in-game money to your total (more on this later), Change Blox which morph from one block type to another, and the new Virus Blox. Virus infect other surrounding blox when exploded or when they are hit a Virus Ball (or touch another virus block). Infected blocks can spread like zombies in a crowded city under the right conditions. Activated virus blocks go poof and chaos ensues as whatever they were supporting collapses (like modern society when zombies run around biting people).

The Boom Bux allow you to unlock various items in the level building mode as well as unlocking levels. One of my complaints in Boom Blox was if you couldn’t beat a level, you were stuck (in that area at least) until you managed to get past it somehow. This happened and until a friend visited and we managed to beat a certain level. Before that, whole sections were unplayed. With Boom Bux you can unlock the next level in any given section after the currently unlocked level. No longer will you spend hours cursing at the skeletons attacking the kitties that you just can’t quite defeat. You can skip that level and move on, and take on the challenging level later.

The multiplayer levels are just as solid as the single player ones, but you get to have fun with your friends. Knock down each others towers, remove blocks hoping that the tower stays up just a little longer and crashes down on the next player, or work together to get a gold medal on all types of levels. Whether single player or multi-player, there are a lot of levels shipped with this game.

Now, the most important part of any game is: Is it fun? Just like Boom Blox, Bash Party is hours and hours of fun that anyone can enjoy. In fact, Bach Party, with the addition of connecting to Nintendo Wi-Fi, can provide a nearly unlimited number of levels. Played all the levels that came with the game? Just click the button and choose from the highest rated, newest, or random levels other players have created. Once you finish that level, you are given a chance to rate the level. This lets the best levels rise up, while still giving the new ones a chance to see the light of day.

I think Boom Blox Bash Party is a fantastic game for anyone. It’s easy to grasp the controls and concepts of the levels and I’ve never played any Boom Blox game with a single person who has said they disliked the game (and yes, everyone I played with had the ability to speak). There’s no need to play Boom Blox before playing Bash Party, but they are both great games. If you get one, get Bash Party because of the new features, but you’ll get the benefit of lots more levels if you get both.

Boom Blox Bash Party retails for 29.99 and is rated E for everyone.

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of Boom Blox Bash Party for review from Electronic Arts . This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.