League of Little Laughers Play Date

Thanks to Bright Starts for such a fun party pack! They sent a giant box of toys for me to host a “League of Little Laughers” Play Date with friends. We had a blast!

Because this was around the holidays and I hosted Thanksgiving at my house this year, I ended up hosting two smaller playdates because I just didn’t have the time for a giant playdate.

Bright Starts sent some truly awesome toys for the kids to play with.

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This little guy is called a “Giggable” and he’s so cute. My 2yr old just loves him, because he loves dogs. It’s so cute it rolls, wobbles, and barks. Really it’s the perfect toy for 2 or more toddlers to roll back and forth to each other.

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This Learn & Giggle Fish was very popular at both parties. Everyone had to play with it! As far as noise level goes, for a toy that plays music constantly, it’s really not bad. The buttons light up and the kids loved trying to see if they could get all the buttons to light up at the same time!

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I think this Spin & Giggle Puppy is so adorable! The purple bowl spins and the puppy wobbles, tossing all the balls onto the floor. Luckily it’s a gentle toss because the kids were putting every little toy they could find in there just to see what would happen.

Oh, and see that extra pack of balls? It’s a good thing they sent extras because balls disappear at my house. I think we’ve lost half of them already!

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And last but not least, the Learn & Giggle Activity Station. This is so much fun for all ages. My 2yr old just picks it up and carries it to whatever room he wants to play in. Even the babies loved this one. It’s perfect for a new sitter because they can put their feet under the toy and be close enough to the toy to reach everything.

Every page in the book provides for different songs and such from the four squares on the station so there really is 65+ sounds and activities.

These toys were so much fun at our playdates and kept babies and toddlers of all ages well entertained.

I received free products in order to host the Bright Starts sponsored Play Date. The opinions expressed here are my own.

If you Give a Pig a Party

Hopefully everyone is familiar with the children’s book “If you Give a Pig a Party“. If not, you’ve probably heard of  “If you Give a Pig a Pancake“, it’s by the same author and has the same basic story. We acquired it in a Chick-fil-a kid’s meal one day and I can now quote the book (and probably draw you all the pictures) by memory. Basically, the premise is if you give a pig one thing, he wants something else, if you give him something else, he was something else again, and on and on.

There are just some things in life that I do that remind me so much of this book. And it’s frustrating and amusing all at the same time.

For example, my 5yr old had been asking for a pet for ages, and my husband kept talking about getting fish or a bird, so, one day at a yard sale I picked up a 10 gallon fish tank for $5. It had colored pebbles and lots of little rocks and accessories. My husband is all excited, we clean it, and he sets it up. About $100 later we have all the right filters, lights, etc. and my 5 yr old dutifully feeds the fish every morning.

We have 3 guppies, two males and one female. So…the female has babies, at least 30 babies. That’s a LOT of babies for a 10 gallon tank.

So, we get a 55 gallon tank and my husband and his brother build a cabinet (which still doesn’t have doors – so the baby gets into it all the time) for the fishtank. So, we fill up the fishtank and $200 later we have mostly the right lights, filters, bubbles, plants, and fish.

We let the tank sit for a few days then my husband starts moving fish from the small tank to the big one, the small fish tank was supposed to be put away before our Christmas party (which was a week and a half before Christmas). Well…both fish tanks are still up. The larger tank has an algae problem so he can’t move all the fish just in case they start dying. Which, we’ve lost a few fish, but we have over 10 guppies still so I’m really not at all worried about them. They’ll probably be having more babies soon… The moral of a story, don’t buy a fishtank!

Or, once my kids discovered their first barbies and polly pockets it just snowballed from there. They also discovered that said toys can be easily acquired at yard sales and Goodwill. Now, they have a room full of them! To be fair, they do play with them every day so it’s not a huge deal, but I am beginning to think that I should get rid of all the rest of their toys so they have more room for their dolls. Never buy that first barbie for a girl who loves pink, dresses, and lace unless you really want your house to be overrun by them!

Oh! and, my husband has recently discovered the fun of purchasing items on Craigslist. He purchased a copy of Rocksmith and decided he needed a guitar. He purchased 3 guitars on Craigslist (sold one of them so we’re down to two). How does Craigslist work at my house? I sell things and he buys things. I think we come out even in the end. Actually, hopefully, one of these days I’ll get around to trying out the game myself!

None of this stuff is bad, I’m glad the kids have their toys and my husband has his hobbies, just some days, I wish it all took up less space in my house!

Free SnapFish 5X7 Photo Book

I hosted a Pull-Ups House party over the weekend. If you haven’t checked out house party you should. Basically, you get a bunch of products (for the pull-ups party, I received 24 pull-ups plus a few other fun things) to try and share with friends. And it’s just what it sounds like, you host a party at your house, featuring the party item. I’m always looking for excuses to throw parties!

I have a bunch of extra codes for SnapFish 5X7 Soft Cover Photo Books. You get a free 20 pages, and the code expires 12/31/2013. You do have to pay shipping and handling which is about $1.99 but this is still pretty cheap for a photo book.

I’m posting one code below, if you try to use it and it’s already been claimed just comment and let me know and I’ll post another code for you.

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