A Few of My Favorite Best Buy Things

When I think of what my family wants for Christmas, I know that most of it will be some kind of electronics or gaming devices. My boys always want DVDs (my oldest son keeps asking for 3D movies and we have no way to watch them in 3D…hellooooo!). He actually asked for 4 movies this year, one of them in 3D.

Since the boys and I are moving out to my parents in a month, I thought about getting an Xbox when lo and behold, it turns out that my little brother happens to already have one!! SCORE! The only thing I’m not sure about is if he has Kinect because if he doesn’t, this mama wants to get one! Hands free gaming is how I want to roll!

My youngest has the last couple of years of Madden NFL and man would he love this wrapped under the tree this year! I try to get each of my kids at least one big ticket item every year and this one, at $59.99 fits the bill!
I know that I’m not the easiest person to shop for and don’t always come up with the best ideas. That’s one reason why Best Buy’s list of hot holiday gifts – for her, for him, for teens, and for kids comes in handy! I don’t have any kind of a tablet, not even one to use for reading, like a Kindle. I just found out they have a Kindle Touch for $99.99. Sigh…a gal can hope, right?

I’m thinking that in the 5 Gifts Under $100 For Him my dad would probably love the Call of Duty game. I remember watching him play a computer game where dudes were shooting each other up in a war setting. When I was visiting there last month, he showed me a gorgeous new camera he bought himself. It had me drooling because my DSLR lens is shot and I could really use a new camera, especially for blogging! pssst hey dad, how about a Canon PowerShot A4000 for your favorite daughter? Just a suggestion!

There’s seriously something for everyone at Best Buy! The bonus for me is that they’ve extended their price match guarantee! I can shop from Best Buy and still get the best price! The standard price match policy is valid on any gift purchased between 11/4-12/24 and runs through 1/24.  Online Price Match must be done at time of purchase. Check out bestbuy.com for more information.

Logitech – Ultrathin iPad Keyboard Cover $99.99 GPS - Magellan 5110T-LM $99.99, Waring Pro Belgian Waffle Maker $69.99, Keurig B314 $99.99, LeapFrog – LeapPad2  Explorer $99.99, Star Wars – Complete Blu-Ray Set $99.99 (prices are subject to change)

And you don’t have to worry about shipping because guess what? It’s on them! BooYah! You can’t beat that and it’s cheaper than driving around from store to store. You can do your shopping online and BOOM it’s shipped to you for free through 1/2/13!

Best Buy will have a 10% off coupon that is good for Headphones, Speakers and Health & Fitness Products that is valid 12/2-12/29.


Buy any 3 tablet accessories and save (up to $75, save $10; up to $100 save $15; up to $150, save $30). No coupon is necessary for this offer.

*This review has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

Philips #HolidayLights Twitter Party 12/5, 2-3pm ET RSVP

I’m so excited to be able to co-host an upcoming Twitter party with The Motherhood! You know I love all things Twitter. We are going to be discussing holiday decorating tips and setting the mood for parties!

If you’re like me, you’re going to want to hang out with us next week! Here are the details:
What: Join us for a Twitter party with Philips, maker of energy efficient light bulbs and exterior LED holiday lights, to share tips about decorating your home for the holiday season and setting the mood for parties, whether festive and formal or comfy and casual. If you light your house for the holidays, we would love to see photos of your display, too!
When: Wednesday, December 5, 2-3 p.m. ET
Where: We’ll be on Twitter – follow the #HolidayLights hashtag to track the conversation.  You can see the details and RSVP via this Twtvite: http://twtvite.com/holidaylights
Hashtag: #HolidayLights
Prizes: Philips will give away five total prizes - one set of IMAGEO Table Lights, two Lumiware Table Platters and two sets of LED bulbs.  Winners will be chosen randomly from among participants who respond correctly to trivia questions.
Hosts: @theMotherhood, @CooperMunroe, @EmilyMcKhann
Other info: Visit the Philips website - http://www.usa.philips.com/c/learn-about-light/298387/cat
Co-hosts:
Amber, Parent Palace - @ParentPalace
Andrea, Mommy PR - @MommyPR
Annie, Mama Dweeb - @MamaDweeb
Connie, Misc Finds 4 u - @princesstimetoy (and/or @Miscfinds4u)
Jennifer, Redhead Ranting - @redheadranting
Kelly, Texas Type A Mom - @texastypeamom
Mickey, A Helicopter Mom - @ahelicoptermom
Piera, Jolly Mom - @JollyMom
Tiffany, Sweet Phenomena - @SweetPhenomena

North Star Games Wits & Wagers Family Edition Giveaway: Holiday Gift Guide

I vaguely remembered hearing about North Star Games over the summer, but couldn’t remember what games they were associated with. Then a few weeks ago, I found their website, watched one of their videos of the game being played and I absolutely HAD to have this game.

You know how sometimes you see a video of a game being played, but it doesn’t explain it entirely or you don’t really grasp the idea of the game? HA! Not true in this case. And for your amusement, you have GOT to go check them out on their website. You won’t be disappointed…plus, I think you’ll be amused to see who’s hosting the video and the games.

So, the game got here and the boys and I set up shop at the dining room table. I wasn’t sure how easy it was going to be keeping score and getting the boys to figure out how to play, but like the box shows, it takes about 2 minutes to learn and teach the game.

What’s awesome is, this game is for everyone and I kid you not, you’re all on the same level playing field! We started going through the questions (which require only number answers) and we’d look at each other after one person read the question and I could tell we all had the same thought, “are you KIDDING me?”

This game got absolutely hysterical. Once you get into it, you’re mind starts trying to figure out the answers rationally. You suddenly realize, there are a lot of things you really have no clue about. One of the things we did notice is that the questions are based on answers that are from 2009 and before. So, we had to keep that in perspective.

There were questions here and there that I knew the boys wouldn’t have an answer to like, “How many movies has Will Smith been in since 2004 (or something like that)?” Then again, I wasn’t sure of the answer either. We did come across one question that they show in the video and I was all “BOOM, I know this one punks.” Did I tell them I remembered the number was high because of the video? Heck no, do you think I’m crazy?

We played a couple of rounds and then I had to go back to blogging, but my boys kept playing. I’m going to be pulling this game out for New Years Eve and we’re going to play teams!! THAT I can’t wait for!!

Update (not that you’d know it’s an update), but we played another round after dinner and it was hysterical! Let me just say, I was exactly right on one question and somewhat in the ball park for other ones.

So, here’s what you do. You ask a question on the card. Everyone answers on their wipe off cards, what number they think is the right answer. Everyone flips their cards over and you line them up from the smallest number to highest. Then you take your meeple and put them where you think the right answer will be. You can put them on the same card or split them up. Then the person who asked the question reads the answer. Not only does it give you the correct answer, it gives an explanation, too.

As you can see, we are seriously loving this game!!! I’m not sure how long it will take for us to get through the cards, but I sure hope there are replacement ones once we finish these!

If you have a gamer in your family, a board game gamer, you will NOT want to miss giving them this game. They will seriously love it! But, here’s you chance to win the game as well!

*I received this game for review. The opinions expressed are my own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hammacher Schlemmer The Spark Emitting Electric Scooter Review: Holiday Gift Guide

My oldest son actually put a motorized Razor on his Christmas list this year…along with several other “big ticket” items like a Clay Mathews Jersey and an iPod. lol

We live on a dirt road. We have a dirt driveway. Where we live isn’t conducive to wheeled toys like skateboards, rollerblades, or scooters. They have their bikes and that’s it. Now with the impending move, the boys have all kinds of ideas for things they can do on paved roads and a driveway.

When I started searching for an electric scooter, the first one I came across was from Hammacher Schlemmer! As soon as I saw it I shook my head and realized on the first try I had found what my son wanted only better! His only specification was that he wanted a red one. Ooooook, this one is close enough!

What sold me on it, other than the amazing price ($99) was that it allows the rider to create a spark as they’re going along?! I have to admit, I was pretty excited to see this in action.

Since this will be a gift to my son, I couldn’t bring it home for him to use so I brought it over to Karen’s house. She’s been awesome about letting me go over there with my crazy blogging opportunities. Last time I went, we were shooting a bb gun! Her son is raising money for his class trip so I paid into the coffer for him to be my “demonstrator”!

I brought the Scooter to their house, unpacked it and let it charge overnight. We started out by blowing up the tire so that it was ready to ride. It was a bit hard trying to get the nozzle attached because of the way the peg sits on the tire. I’m glad there were two of us doing this!

To ride safe, I asked Noah to wear a helmet. I didn’t expect a motorcycle helmet, but hey, whatever floats your boat. Come to think of it, they don’t even have a motorcycle. hmmmm

Reading the manual, it states that the rider needs to have the scooter going about 3 mph before they use the motor. He got it going and off he went! It was pretty awesome to watch. He immediately started using the sparker and it was COOL! All I could think of when I was watching him ride the Razor was that my boys were going to love this!

It went up and down the driveway with no problem. I actually think we didn’t charge it long enough because it kept slowing down. =/ Then again, I’m not 100% sure he was twisting the handle right to keep it moving. There’s always a learning curve with new gadgets like this.

The whole time we were watching this, Karen kept saying that her kids were going to want this. You could tell that the kids were loving it and were in line to try it out themselves. Hearing their responses had me thrilled to death knowing that this would be under the tree for Christmas.

Now, I have to tell you, this thing was super heavy. lol Not a bad thing, I was just surprised when it showed up at my doorstep and I could barely lift the box. I’ve only lifted non-motorized scooters before. What a difference with a motor attached!

When I first visited the Hammacher Schlemmer site, I felt like a kid in a playground. Trying to find something unique and different for someone, go to this site. I guarantee you, you will NOT be disappointed.

Here’s a truth. I wrote to my mom and told her to wipe everything off of my list because I found the ONE thing I wanted for Christmas and told her to have everyone pitch in for me. You might think I’m crazy, but I absolutely want this:

It’s a Caramel Apple Maker! You could really do all kinds of things with it, but I love how big it is and the separate sections! I hope my mom listened to me and this is what will be under the tree for me for Christmas because I’ll be breaking this bad boy in for New Years Eve! =)

Are you looking for holiday decorations, maybe a new Christmas tree? Some blogging friends just debated whether or not an artificial or live Christmas tree is the best. I’ve always had live, but after last year, I’m thinking an artificial tree is the way to go. This World’s Best Prelit Noble Fir is at the top of my list for “must have” when I have a home of my own again!

I’m not kidding you, Hammacher Schlemmer literally has something for everyone! They have electronics (things you won’t find most places you shop), apparel, toys, you name it, they’ve probably got something right up your alley!

Whatever the reason is, start your shopping at their site and I guarantee, you’ll come back and thank me! Be sure to follow them on Twitter to keep up with all of their ideas and suggestions. P.S. If you check out their Facebook page and scroll to November 16th, you’ll see some seriously cool cuff links that Buddy would love…when he’s older. And you’ll have to check out their “Unexpected” Board on Pinterest. You’ll be astonished at what they carry!

*I received the scooter for review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Keurig Platinum B70 Brewer Giveaway

It's that time! It's the 4th week of the 4 week Keurig giveaway! Your ready for your next chance to win because here it is!