RAZ 2011....Giving Back

I have always said that if you want to give yourself a truly awesome gift for Christmas, do something for someone else and that still holds true today. I personally feel that the best thing you can do for yourself is to help others because there is just no substitute for how you will feel at the end of the day!!!! Having said that, we are HUGE givers this time of year. We don't do it to toot our own horn or to get a pat on the back but we do it because it's the right thing to do. If we have extra, I feel it is our obligation to share what we have been blessed with. When I was asked to participate in the RAZ program, A.K.A. Random Acts of Zhu, I didn't know what to expect. All I knew is that last year, the program had donated thousands and thousands of toys around the country via 100 bloggers and we were so excited to be a part this year! Being that we have never participated, all I know is that we were told we were going to receive some Zhu Zhu pets from Cepia and we were to donate them as we saw fit. 

I was shocked when the Fed Ex guy brought more than 20 boxes to our house the 2nd week of December! He kept coming with more and more and when it was all unloaded, I just sat there in shock because I knew how many children these were going to be able to provide gifts for and it overjoyed my heart!!!!

We got right to work, opening up the boxes and sorting out the toys. It was a big job to get these boxes into the house and off the porch and we needed everybody's help, from the youngest to the oldest!!! I believe this is important because this is how we teach our children to be givers too!!! We involved our entire family and it was such a blessing for me to see our children working hard to make other children's Christmas a little happier!!!!  

When it was all said and done, we had about 100 Zhu Zhu pets and accessories that were able to be donated to over 30 children!!!! We had so much fun sorting them together and getting them ready to donate!!!  

After we got them all opened and sorted, it was time to box them up and get them to our local Angel Tree Program!!! I could not have done it without the help of my amazing husband! He worked so hard getting everything boxed up and ready to deliver!!!!

I want to thank Cepia, the maker of Zhu Zhu Pets  for this amazing opportunity. Not only were we able to donate the toys to 2 different programs in our community but we were also able to do a couple of  anonymous "Secret Santa" deliveries to some very special little girls and it seriously made me feel like a million bucks. I wish I could have seen all of the faces of those children on Christmas morning!!!

*This is not a paid post. All opinions are my own. All products were given to us free of charge from Cepia to donate as we saw fit*

Aerobie Megatop Giveaway Ends 1/15

Now that our children are getting bigger, it is becoming extremely difficult to find toys that they actually enjoy playing with, especially our 9 year old son. Companies have children so hooked on electronics that toys are almost a thing of the past but I still spend a lot of time looking for toys for our children because I think playtime is so important. Awhile back we reviewed the Aerobie Skylighter Flying Disc and I have to say....it is still among the top toy that is played with by our two older boys.  Recently we had lots of tears when it landed on a part of our roof that we can't really get to but it was all smiles when it came down in a storm a couple of days later.  So naturally I was really excited when I was asked if we would review the Aerobie Megatop!! 

The Aerobie Megatop is such a simple yet super fun toy that will keep your children occupied for hours! It can be used both indoors and outdoors and is recommended for ages 8 and up. The Megatop is a high-performance, precision-crafted spinning top that can achieve spin rates of over 3,000 rotations per minute. It also comes with a catching plate for tricks and a Spin-Booster to speed up and prolong spinning.  For less than $10, you can't go wrong here!!!  Our children love this toy and the boys have spent countless hours already playing with it!!! You can click HERE to see a video of the Megatop in action!!!! I love simplicity and anything that keeps my children occupied is a winner in my books!!!!

GIVEAWAY

One lucky winner is going to win their own Aerobie Megatop!!!!

Cashin in the New Year $190 Paypal Giveaway Ends 1/2

Hostessed by Home Grown Families and Mama to 4 Blessings with the help of several other fantastic group of bloggers we bring you Cashin' in the New Year! This giveaway runs from 12:01 AM on Friday 12/30 and will run until Monday, 1/2 at 11:59 PM (all Eastern times). One winner will receive $190 Cash into their paypal!

New Years Quick Food Ideas

Our participation in the Hormel Foods Extended Blogger Program is coming to an end but don't be sad because we have been asked to participate again so I will continue bringing you great recipes and ideas from Hormel Foods into the New Year. YAY!!! I have really enjoyed sharing the recipes and hope you have benefited from some of them!!!  If you missed any of them, please feel free to click the "Special Groups" link at the top of the page for a full listing!!!  This is one of our favorite programs to have participated in because it has really spiced things up for my family in the kitchen. We get so tired of the same old foods and this has been a great way to try new things!!!! For my final post of the year for the program, I thought I would share some of  our favorite Hormel Foods that are easy and ready to take to your New Years get togethers!!! Sometimes it's hard to find the time to make things so if you are short on time, these are great choices!!!!!

First of all, Lloyds Barbecue is an awesome choice!!!!  The selection is HUGE and most of the foods are ready to go within minutes!  You can click HERE to see a list of all of the choices they offer!  Our personal favorites are the Lloyds Woodfire Barbecue selections!!!  You can choose from Pulled Pork, Pulled Chicken (My fave!!!) or Beef Brisket!!!!  

Have you seen the Hormel Party Trays?!?! I love these because they are in a case as soon as I walk into our local Wal-Mart! I can run in, grab what I need and get out within minutes and best of all, they are ready to eat!!! Depending on what your grocery carries, you can choose from a huge variety depending on what your tastes are!!!!  

If you are entertaining children, Hormel Snac* Cups are the perfect choice! Kids love these because they are delicious and parents love them because they don't make a mess!!!! Filled with Hormel® pepperoni, Sargento cheese and Keebler crackers, this is the perfect choice for kids!!!

Don't forget the MegaMex line of Mexican foods! Our favorite has to be the Chi Chi's Snackers! They are really convenient and come in mild, medium and nacho cheese varieties! The Chi Chi's salsa is also super easy to use......just dump the jar into a dish and you have ready-to-eat salsa!  You can add cheese to the salsa and cook it in the microwave for a yummy warm mexican dip or you can keep it cold and add in a package of cream cheese for a delicious cold dip!!!  We absolutely LOVE their tortilla chips too, especially the Round Yellow Tostado Chips!!!!  These are so crisp and yummy, just like the one's you get in a restaurant!!!!

What is your favorite party dish for New Years?!?!?!?!

*I am a member of the Hormel Foods Extended Family Bloggers Program. No compensation was received, all opinions are my own*

Are you a Review Blogger?!

I know a lot of our readers are bloggers themselves so I wanted to pass along this information! Lovable Labels is looking for bloggers who are interested in doing a review and giveaway for their Friendship Pack! Each blogger will receive the Friendship pack which includes a variety of 120 personalized name labels PLUS the Friendship Sample Pack which includes 40 labels which you can personalize and gift to a friend or sibling! How awesome is that?! Just click HERE and fill out your info!! Priority will be given to the first 50 bloggers who sign up so hurry up and sign up if you are interested!

Not a blogger?! Well you are in luck! We will be hosting our own review/giveaway here at the Crazy House very soon! Keep an eye out!!!

What to do with Leftover Ham!

If you have hosted many parties this holiday season, you have probably been battling leftovers.  I recently shared with you how much ham we have been eating around here and shared a few new recipes with you in case you were looking for a new one to try. In addition to the great ham recipes we have tried though, we have also been trying to find some new ideas for leftovers. Rarely do we eat an entire ham so we always have the dilemma on what to do with the leftovers. I know for Thanksgiving my Mom made both a ham and a turkey and we had half of a ham leftover. She simply stuck it in the freezer and we recently reheated it for a quick and easy dinner of simple ham sandwiches.  It was really quick and the ham still tasted great!!! If you have an abundance of ham leftover, here are a couple easy recipes from Hormel Foods that you can try to help get rid of some of it!!!

Deluxe Baked Potato with Ham

Ingredients:

1 large russet potato

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup Hormel® Cure 81® Sliced Ham, diced

2 tablespoons sour cream

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Pierce potato with fork; wrap in paper towel. Microwave on HIGH (100%) 6 minutes or until softened.

In shallow dish, place potato; split lengthwise. Mash butter into hot potato pulp. Sprinkle with ham; top with sour cream. Season with salt and pepper.

Ham Scramble

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter or margarine

2 cups Cure 81® Boneless Ham, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped green onions

8 large eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

3 English muffins, split, toasted and buttered

Directions

In large skillet, melt butter. Add ham and onions. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until onions are tender.

In bowl, beat together eggs, sour cream, cheese, salt and pepper. Add to ham mixture. Cook, without stirring, until mixture begins to set on bottom.

Draw spatula across bottom of skillet to form large curds. Cook, stirring occasionally, until eggs are set, but still moist and glossy. Serve immediately over English muffin halves.

You can also chop ham up and put into omelets and soups, heat it up and serve on buns for a quick sandwich or re-freeze it to use later. What do you do with leftover ham????

*I am a member of the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger Program. No compensation was received. All opinions are my own*

Not Another Ham!!!

This time of year is typically reserved for certain foods and Ham is a big one right now!  I have prepared several hams in the past several weeks so when my husband's work gave him yet another for Christmas, I thought it was super funny when the kids said, "not another ham!!!!" So I knew I had my work cut out for me to find a new recipe because the usual just wasn't going to cut it this time!!!  I already made the Ale and Apple Glazed Ham from the Hormel Foods website but I also knew there were TONS of ham recipes on the site so I searched until I found another recipe that I thought my family would love!! I found the Apricot Glazed Ham recipe and figured this would be a great recipe because it only requires a few ingredients and it looked super yummy! I made it for our Christmas Day brunch for my family and it was a HUGE hit!!!!

Apricot Glazed Ham

Ingredients:

5 pounds Cure 81® Boneless Ham

1 (12-ounce) jar apricot or peach preserves

2 tablespoons Di Lusso® Dijon Mustard

2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar

Directions

Bake ham according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in bowl, combine preserves, mustard and brown sugar; mix well.

Remove ham from oven 30 minutes before end of baking; drain any liquid. Spoon or brush preserve mixture over ham. Return to oven; bake 30 minutes longer. Place ham on serving platter; thinly slice.

Heat any remaining preserve mixture; serve alongside ham as dipping sauce, if desired

This recipe is super easy and it was definitely a winner in our house! If you are looking for a new recipe for baked ham, definitely try this one out!!!

*I am a member of the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger Program. No compensation was received and all opinions are my own*

Pamper Yourself in 2012 with EdenFantasys!

*Please Note: This is a G rated post but some of the links contain adult material*

If you remember back several weeks ago, I wrote about EdenFantasys new product line. Most people think of EdenFantasys as just another adult store but when I found out that they were going to start carrying other products, I am not going to lie.....I was super excited!!  I am always on the lookout for new health and beauty products not to mention my favorite, makeup, so I was stoked to place an order and try some of their new products out!!!!

I purchased 2 of their new makeup sets including the Bronzed Goddess and the Lounging Poolside face palettes!!  I kept one for myself and gifted one to my daughter.......I figured this would be motivation to keep her out of my makeup! LOL This makeup is great! It goes on so easily and it stays on, which is one of the biggest things I look for in a good palette. I also love the colors, as I am a more neutral kind of girl.  These palettes include eye shadow, blush and tinted lip glosses!!!

I also purchased the mineral beauty bronzer and was definitely impressed with this product! It blends together easily and goes on so perfectly. I love the soft glow it gives the skin and for just over $20, it's a steal!!!

My daughter and I are both obsessed with lip gloss so I also purchased the winter wonder lip gloss trio set! I stuck this in my daughters stocking and she was so excited when she opened it for Christmas. And lucky for me, she offered me one of them since she got three and this stuff is awesome! It looks great and I'm not going to lie......it tastes pretty good too!!!! The gold shimmer is my favorite but my daughter really loved the pink icicle and vanilla frost!!!

Since I have now tried the makeup, next I am looking forward to trying out some products from EdenFantasys bath and body line!!!  They carry a shaving cream for just $3.99 and they carry the Vanilla Snow Woman Glistening Trio that includes a body wash, body mousse and a lip gloss!!!! I know I would LOVE this set so it's going on my wish list!!!

I would also love to get a couple of gifts for my hubby because EdenFantasys carries tons of products for men too!  I am thinking I might get him the Yes! cologne for men! It's only $13.99 which really sweetens the deal!!!

I am super excited to place an order for some of these new products!!  Don't forget you get a free gift with every order and right now you can get free shipping on orders over $25!!! Score!!

*I am a part of the EdenFantasys Blogger Program and receive gift cards to try out new products. All opinions are my own*

Personalized iPhone Case from Zazzle Giveaway Ends 1/8

I love Zazzle for so many reasons but mostly because they offer high-quality, personalized gifts for just about every occasion.  I recently received a personalized ornament from Zazzle and I loved it so much! It is my favorite ornament on my tree and I have gotten so many compliments from family members on what a great idea it was!  Zazzle carries so many more great gift ideas though, among my favorite are their personalized covers!!  We have so many friends and family members who have recently purchased iPhones and everyone in our house owns an iPod so these cases were right up our alley!!!

Our 8 year old has been wanting a personalized case for awhile now so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to get her one!! The website was super easy to use and within minutes, we had placed our order for this awesome case for her!!!! We just took a photo off of our computer and turned it into the perfect gift for her!!!!

The iPhone cases come where you can completely personalize them from start to finish by adding photos, text  and logos of your choice!! Because you can personalize them yourself, the possibilities really are endless!!!  I must have played around with the site and made over a dozen different cases just because it's so neat to see your photos come alive!!! We love personalized gifts and this is definitely one that any loved one would find special and practical!!!!

If you are still looking for that perfect gift for someone special, definitely check out Zazzle!!!

GIVEAWAY

One lucky winner is going to win their own personalized Case Mate case!!!!

I'm Baaaaaaaaa-ack!

Hey beautiful fans and friends! I just wanted to let you know that I am back from my bloggy vacation and I have some great stuff coming up for you in the coming weeks so thanks for sticking around and I look forward to hearing from you all sooooooon! It's been a crazy week with the kids all home from school and my husband home from work (I'm not used to cooking 3 meals a day, LoL) so I am definitely ready to get back to this Crazy House and get a break from my real one!!!!!! 

Hope you all had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!



What do you Give?

This is the most special time of  year for me because I love to give. Not just to my friends and family members but I just love to give to anyone and everyone that I can.  We don't have a ton of extra money to give. My husband works but we sacrifice so that I can stay home with the kids. But still, we give what we can, when we can and I think that's an important lesson to teach our children. I am very overwhelmed this time of year because I can't stand the thought of children going without. Even now as I type this, my mind is going a mile a minute trying to figure out how we can find donations for 2 boys who will not have anything for Christmas without our help. I couldn't sleep last night because I know I have to find a way to help this family. Being so close to Christmas, most places are tapped out for donations and we have personally already bought for half a dozen kids in our community this year so we just can't buy for anymore.  We also participated in the RAZ program (more to come on that later) but that only provided gifts to girls so we were left with a lot of boys to buy for as well. 

I recently heard an elderly lady talking about how hard she had it the past year. Her health was failing and her money supply was depleting. She said she was thrown deep into poverty yet she made the decision to "adopt" a child for Christmas. She told the story of how she kept telling herself she was crazy, there was no way to afford buying gifts for a child but she said something in her heart just told her she needed to. And after she gave the child the gifts, she made the statement that "Even in my state of deep deep poverty, it was a heart-changing moment when I gave those gifts to that family. Giving to someone who was even poorer than me made me feel rich."

And I guess that's kind of how I feel. We have been blessed to the point where we have never went without. Our children have always had the things that they need and we have somehow always found a way to give them the extra things that they want too.  But we know what it's like to not have a lot and being able to help others who are in desperate need is very heart-warming and rewarding. When I see my kids gathering up gifts to provide to children who would otherwise have nothing, I feel extra blessed to know that my kids would give up their own things to help other kids in need.  In all of the parenting screw-ups that I have found myself in, I look at them and figure I must have done something right! 

What do you give? Is there anything special you do this time of year to reach out and help others??

Happy Birthday Honey!!!

This has been the craziest week already...........and it's only Tuesday! *LOL* I am just sitting in shock that Christmas is just a few days away. Where did December go?!?!?!  It seems like we just had Thankgiving yesterday and now all of a sudden it's Christmas. Craziness! And I don't know about you but I always sit here the week of Christmas and think of all of these things I need to get. Even though I have been done Christmas shopping forever now, I keep thinking of all of these small things that I need to pick up this week. I am so happy that the kids will be on vacation from school sooooooooon! (Ask me if I feel the same way next week after they have been home for a week!) lol

Today is also my hubby's birthday which I am really excited about. I cannot imagine having a birthday this close to Christmas and according to my husband, it's definitely stinky. He said he has went his whole life with his birthday just blending in with the holidays and that makes me so sad.  We celebrate birthdays BIG in my family and each of our children have a special day that is all about them. I cannot imagine not making a HUGE deal about my kids birthday, no matter when it was....I mean seriously, even as an adult, I love my birthday because that's MY day. I think everybody should have at least one day out of the year where they feel especially loved and appreciated so today is that day for my wonderful husband....plus, I get to brag that he is one number higher than me in age until my birthday next September. LOL But I always try to make his birthday special because he basically said he feels like he has gotten the short end of the stick his entire life and I hate that for him. Nobody's birthday should be forgotten so I will be busy busy busy today while he is at work, making sure that his day is special even if he is stuck at work for 12 hours!!!

Do you have any family members who have birthdays close to the holidays? What do you do to make sure their day is special?

PartyLite

This post brought to you by PartyLite Simple Pleasures Holiday Sweepstakes. All opinions are 100% mine.

PartyLite has been around for as long as I can remember and is the world's #1 direct seller of premium candles and home-fragrance products. Sold through home parties and on-line in the U.S. and in 17 other countries, there is a PartyLite party going on somewhere in the world every 18 seconds.....I thought that was pretty cool!!!  PartyLite has close to 60,000 sellers worldwide and more than 12 million people attend PartyLite parties every single year.  That's a lot of partying!!!  And PartyLites aren't just parties, they are FUN parties that can bring friends and associates together for one reason....to buy PartyLite candles! People love the way that PartyLite candles look, smell and burn so it's no wonder they are so popular!!

If you host a PartyLite party, you can earn a slew of Free products which is a major perk. I love to have parties just because I love to entertain and to have my friends and family members over for good company and good food and PartyLite seems to be a good reason to host a party!  Hosting a party also helps you redecorate your own home at little or no cost by earning you scented candles, candle warmers, home decor accessories, reed diffusers and more!  !! PartyLite also tends to have a lot of sweepstakes too like their PartyLite Simple Pleasures Holiday Sweepstakes where they just gave away lots of cool prizes! Check out the PartyLite Facebook page to keep up with the latest and greatest in PartyLite products and to find out about special monthly offers online for party hosts and guests!!! You can also check out their albums to view the newly released PartyLite Winter/Spring 2012 Catalog!!!

Vintage Couture Giveaway Ends 1/1

Cute kids clothes are always in my radar and when I find a company that carries cute clothes for boys and girls, I am there!  Vintage Couture (Formerly My Vintage Baby)  is one of those companies!!!  I have been a fan of Vintage Couture for several years now and if you go through my kids closets, you are bound to find several items from their various lines. Last year we got our daughter's Easter dress from Vintage Couture and it was a HUGE hit! We had so many people stop us and ask us where we got it...it was definitely a winner.  But they don't just make cute girl clothes.......their boy clothes are so over-the-top cute that I can't stand it. Our little guy has several outfits from Vintage Couture and we love them so much that when given the opportunity to choose something to review, we decided to get him another outfit! We were going to our daughter's Christmas program at school and thought this was the perfect outfit for him to wear!  He even has a jacket from a different VC outfit that was perfect since it was pretty chilly out!!!

A little about Vintage Couture:

Vintage Couture is a unique children's clothing company with clothing for infants, girls (up to size 14) and boys (up to size 16) and even Moms!!! They also carry coordinating 18" doll clothing, headbands, hairbows and diaper bags!! They are a direct sales company, which means women all over the US join their team and sell their product; thus creating their "own business" and earning an income while having fun!

Currently, our Fall/Holiday and Winter collections are for sale- and their fall/holiday collections are buy one get one free!  Trista Sutter from ABC's the Bachelorette is one of their designers- a part of the profits from her collection goes to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation!! .  I love this as I have a brother-in-law who suffers from Juvenile Diabetes so we especially love to support companies that contribute to JDRF!!!  

There is just so much to love about Vintage Couture!!!  You don't want to pass them up and you definitely don't want to miss out on their Buy One Get One Free deal! Check out their website to check out their full lines!!!!

GIVEAWAY

One lucky reader is going to win their own outfit from Vintage Couture!!! 

Merry Christmas To You Giveaway Ends 12/25

Welcome to The Merry Christmas To You Giveaway! I am thrilled to be a part of this fun giveaway!

What is the prize you ask?

• 1 winner will win a $500 gift card to Morgann Hill Designs Etsy store, Braggingbags {US ONLY}
• 1 winner will win $50 Paypal cash! {Open worldwide, must have a Paypal account to win}

I have been newly introduced to this awesome shop and I am in LOVE! Here are some of my favorite things!

Personalized Family Tree

We could really use one of these awesome dry erase boards in our Crazy House and I LOVE the rustic look!

Or how about one of these Love of my life personalized rings?!

It's safe to say that I would have no problem at all spending $500 at this shop!!!!

How can you win?

• Enter the Rafflecopter form below!

About the Sponsor:

• Morgann Hill Designs offers you their signature rustic chic collection. A clever blend of California chic with delightful hints of Southern influences ~ our designs are the perfect compliment to numerous styled home decor and weddings including Rustic, Country, Shabby, Vintage Inspired, Woodland, Garden, Barn, Farm, DIY, Backyard Chic, Eco Friendly, Natural, Elegant, Enchanted Whimsy, just about any eclectic style!

Coupon Code Alert:

• Can't wait till the giveaway ends to buy one of their beautiful creations? No problem, here's a coupon code worth 15% off!!! Simply enter fullpricenever upon checkout and receive 15% off your order. This is the biggest coupon code ever offered to their shop!

GOOD LUCK!

Party!!!

Well we survived our Christmas party today that we hosted and I have to say, it was a hit!! All of the planning and work was well worth it when I got to see my family all together, having a fun time, laughing and enjoying being together!!!  My parents kept all 4 kids overnight last night so hubby and I could get some last minute shopping done. We went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Red Lobster, and boy was it good! After we ate, we headed out to pick up the things that we still needed to get for the party and then we came home and enjoyed the peace and quiet........we don't get that very often!!!

We got up early this morning and got to work! There were things we could have done ahead of time (that we didn't!) so we had a lot do. My husband hasn't had a day off in so long it's not funny but he helped me so much today and didn't complain a bit! He helped me cut and clean veggies for our vegetable tray and helped me decorate too!  I am so thankful that I have a great husband that helps me!!!

We kept things so simple!!! We ended up making a simple vegetable tray, sliced oranges and a cheese tray!  We also ordered 8 pizzas from our favorite pizza place and then everybody brought a dessert!

My sister also made this awesome pasta salad from Hormel Foods! The guys loved it so I thought I would post the recipe for you all!

Ingredients:

1 (7.75-ounce) package Classic pasta salad mix

1/2 (8-ounce) package Hormel® Pepperoni

1 cup chopped Roma tomatoes

1 (2.25-ounce) can sliced ripe olives, drained

Directions

1.Prepare pasta salad according to package directions. Stir in pepperoni, tomatoes and olives; toss to mix well. Cover; refrigerate.

This was a big hit at the party! Our husband's LOVE pasta salad..... this stuff definitely got eaten up fast! If you are looking for an easy recipe to use as a side dish, pasta salad is a great choice!!

After we got done eating, we hung out and the girls did crafts. The boys all went outside and played Nerf Flag Football in the mud! They thought that was awesome and they made my mud room a really muddy room! LOL But that's ok....I am just glad they had so much fun! The craft kits came from my mother-in-law...she ordered them from Oriental Trading and the girls had a lot of fun!!!! I have to say though...they made a big mess. Crafts are good. Unsupervised crafts is really messy. LOL

After the kids got done playing, it was time for presents. I don't know if you all have seen the video floating around Facebook but I was really inspired by Jimmy Kimmels challenge of giving your kids a gift that they really wouldn't want. I have been watching the videos on YouTube and thought they were hysterical so we set it up for all of the kids at the party today. I hid their real presents and gave them the funniest stuff! We gave all 3 of the girls acne products. It's funny because all 3 of them are 8 years old and they were definitely not happy with getting acne medicine for Christmas!!!  We gave Drew a bag of clementines and Josh got a stack of Barney DVD's.  My oldest nephew is 13 and always talks about wanting to be a chef so we gave him some old spatulas and some half-filled bottles of spices. My 11 year old nephew is big into sports so we gave him some old soccer shin-guards and a pair of dirty old baseball pants. It wasn't as funny as some of them that I have watched on the Jimmy Kimmel show but nevertheless, it was pretty funny and the kids were really relieved when they got their real gifts!!!

What an awesome weekend. I soooooooo love this time of year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*I am a member of the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger Program. I do not receive any compensation for posting and all opinions are my own*

 



Unique Gifts for Everyone!

I am always on the lookout for unique gifts for my friends and family.  I am not a fan of gift cards because most of the time I find them to be very impersonal and it's as if you are saying, "I didn't want to take the time to find something you really like so here's a gift card, find something yourself." I know that's really not always the case because I do enjoy getting a gift card from time to time but not all of the time. My mother in law got us a gift card to our favorite restaurant for Christmas and that was awesome because we LOVE to eat there and she also bought me one to my favorite clothing store as well. This was ok with me because she took the time to get the gift cards to places that we really like but sometimes I think we overuse gift cards and it's unfortunate because there are places like Zazzle where you can get personalized gifts for everybody you need to buy for!!!

I think Teachers are extremely hard to buy for because we don't know them on a personal level so I love Zazzles selection of teacher gifts!!  They offer everything from totes to mugs and even t-shirts.  Nearly everything they offer can be personalized so you are giving your childs teacher a unique gift that they will actually use!  I remember when my daughter was in 1st grade, she came home and says to me, "Mom! Every single kid in the class got our teacher a candle for Christmas!!!" LOL How unfortunate but honestly, sometimes when you don't really know someone, it's hard to guess what they would enjoy receiving as a gift!!!

Our children are really into gadgets these days as well so I was super impressed with their selection of accessories!  We got all 3 of the older kids iPods for Christmas and Zazzle has an awesome selection of iPod Touch Cases!!  You can choose one for anybody on your list or if you don't find one that you like, you can create your own!!!!!

Grandparents are another group of people who we find it hard to buy for!!!  What do you buy people who already have everything?! Photo Gifts are an awesome alternative to another tie or ornament! This year we bought my mother-in-law a personalized necklace and a canvas portrait of the children. I thought this was so much more personal and I know these are things she will enjoy much more than our typical gifts!!!!

Who do you find it most hard to shop for?!?!

*This is not a paid post. All opinions are my own*