I'm a fan of
nonstop holiday music from Thanksgiving on,
especially when I can get it for free! Here are some of the resources I'm using this year. Enjoy it for the rest of the season, and then rest easy in the knowledge that you'll have a sizable stash for next year as well!
Amazon MP3s
Amazon is once more sponsoring its
25 Days of Free,
for a new free holiday mp3 every day in December through Christmas. They vary in style and quality, so read reviews if you're a beggar who's also a chooser. When it's free, I tend to download first and ask questions later.
You can also run a search for
"free Christmas music"
and come across
whole downloadable sampler albums as well as individual tracks. Here are a few with decent reviews:
If you like the sound of a free album or track, look down under "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" for other ideas. Some of them aren't holiday-specific, but that doesn't matter in the long run.
iTunes Store MP3s
If you're an
iTunes user, the
iTunes Store
also regularly has free downloads available. Not all of them are holiday-themed, but some are right now. Scroll to the bottom where it says "
Free On iTunes."
Got some
last-minute holiday gifts to buy? If you want your presents to arrive by Christmas, you can still
order at Amazon.com — but
hurry!
Shipping deadlines:
Monday, December 19:
FREE Super Saver Shipping (on $25 or more, restrictions apply): Last day to order
Standard Shipping: Last full day to order
Wednesday, December 21:
Two-Day Shipping (FREE with Amazon Prime): Order as late as 8 p.m. PST (varies by item)
One-Day Shipping: Last full day to order
Thursday, December 22:
One-Day Shipping: Order as late as 4:30 p.m. PST (varies by item)
Saturday, December 24:
Local Express Delivery: While available (select cities, varies by item)
Sunday, December 25:
Christmas Day: E-mail and printable gift cards can be sent immediately, at any time
Gift ideas:
Newborn:
Baby:
Toddler:
Preschooler:
Child:
Tween/Teen:
New Mama:
Parents:
Remember, at Amazon you can
ship directly to your recipient. You can even include
gift wrapping on many items for an additional charge. And the familiar box will be gift wrap in itself!
This is a giveaway of an incredible set of mama care products by LuSa Organics:
Mama Massage Oil ($8.75),
Belly Balm ($9.75),
Cranky Pants Essential Oil Blend ($9.10),
Lullaby Soap ($5.50), and
Herbal Lip Balm ($3.35). One lucky reader will receive all five products, making this giveaway's total value $36.45!
From our reviewer, Dionna at Code Name: Mama:
Simply put, I am in love with every single product Rachel sent to me for review. And an added bonus? The 49 products available for review at the EWG Skin Deep Cosmetics Database all score in the 0-2 range. That's a good thing.
Read more and enter to win at Natural Parents Network!
This is a joint giveaway with Hobo Mama and Natural Parents Network. I'm cross-posting it here at Hobo Mama Reviews as well. You may enter at one site only. Please find the section marked "Win it!" for the mandatory main entry and optional bonus entries.
Tea Collection is offering our readers a giveaway of a
$100 Gift Certificate.
Tea Collection offers high-quality,
modern children's clothes that are
internationally inspired, wearable, and unique.
I'm a little bit drooly when it comes to Tea Collection children's clothing. I admired them from afar for a couple years before finally getting my greedy paws on some pieces. I entered giveaways like this (but didn't win, sigh). I was nearly giddy when Tea offered to let me do a review and giveaway of their precious
boys' clothing. (Clothes for girls, women, and babies are also available.)
Tea Collection: The Story
Tea Collection picks a particular
global region to inspire the clothing line each year: from Japan to West Africa to Hungary. Right now it's
Modern Mexico, and I love the south-of-the-border details. The inspiration often turns toward the graphic and the colorful, lending a stylistic and unique touch to your kids' clothes you don't usually find.
The tagline for Tea is "for little citizens of the world." I admire the "fusion of worldwide cultures and modern design," as the
About page puts it.
Decorate the Kids: Get Colorful
Let me admit that I'm not a little green when I look at the
girls' clothing that Tea offers. As with most children's clothing, it's even
cuter. But, I have two boys, and fortunately, Tea has got them covered with delectable options as well.
One thing that often depresses me about boys' clothing is how drab it can be.
Tea says no way to boring and came through with not one but
two purple shirts for my four-year-old! Mikko loves purple, and it's incredibly hard to find boys' shirts in that color. Yea for Tea!
Matchy Matchy: Range of Children's Sizes
Even better? Mikko loves to match clothing with his new little brother, Alrik, who's six months old. I figure that agreeableness won't last forever, so I try to indulge it as I can. Unfortunately, Mikko wears a size 6 or 7 now, and Alrik is still in baby sizes, of course. This makes finding coordinating clothing very challenging.
Tea to the rescue!
Nearly all of the clothing options at Tea Collection start at baby sizes (a Small is 6-12 months) and go up through children's sizes, most up to a size 12. Yup, you could get a baby a romper, big sister a coordinating shirt, and even bigger sister the same one! I can't tell you how excited this makes me.
(They also have newborn size clothing for smaller babies, beginning at 0-3 months up through 6-9 months.)
This is a joint giveaway with Hobo Mama and Natural Parents Network. I am cross-posting it also at Hobo Mama Reviews. You may enter at one site only. Please find the section marked "Win it!" for the mandatory main entry and optional bonus entries.
EasyLunchboxes is offering our readers a giveaway of a
Bento Lunch Box System: a container set and one cooler lunch bag (winner chooses color), a value of $21.90.
This system is a
sustainable and eco-friendly way to carry meals and snacks on the go! EasyLunchboxes are the perfect solution for
packing lunches and snacks for school, preschool, daycare, work, playdates, family outings, or any time you need to bring your own healthy meal — without a lot of waste.
Get a jump on your New Year's resolution to stop brown bagging it or paying too much for lunch out, and enter to win one of these fun and environmentally conscious
bento lunch box sets!
We actually won a set of EasyLunchboxes in a giveaway (so I'm here to tell you it can be done!), and Mikko was excited to immediately put them to use for
picnics and snacks out. Since Mikko was three at the time and in only a half-day preschool twice a week, and since Sam and I worked exclusively from home, we didn't need them for traditional purposes perhaps, but they still came in handy, and do even more so now.
Sam now works
part of the time from an outside office and has to bring his own sustenance since there's no other possibility within walking distance. We also take turns bringing our (now) two boys
out for excursions, and it works well to
bring along healthy and kid-approved food to eat.
I can see EasyLunchboxes being ideal for whenever you or someone in your family
would otherwise pack a meal or eat out:
- School lunches
- Preschool or daycare snacks and meals
- Allergy-friendly foods
- Playdates
- Running errands
- Working in an office
The containers are
so much better quality than those disposable brands (
read bento bloggers' unsolicited opinions here!) – a very sturdy polypropylene. Each is
subdivided into three compartments, so you can get your bento on.
We don't get all that fancy — here are some crackers, hummus to dip, and some yummy cheese slices.
But other people have gotten
way creative, as seen from
fan bento lunch pics on the EasyLunchboxes site:
I like that the compartments
separate the meal or snack components, giving you options for making fun combinations (and forgoing gross ones!).
No matter what you put in them, you'll know you're giving your family the benefit of
your healthy, homemade meals — and
saving money to boot! You're also
creating less waste by opting for a reusable lunch container over plastic baggies, and portioning out your own family-size foods and leftovers over store-bought single-serve items.
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