Sunshine and Sippy Cups — Page 150 — Smart Solutions for Busy Moms!

Boon High Chair Give-it-Away #SuperEvent

I’m so excited to bring you another #SuperEvent Giveaway! This week is all about YaySave! where you can save big dollars on all your household needs. {And if your household is anything like mine, you have a LOT of needs, lol.} This event is hosted by Full Price? Never! with contributing bloggers CuzinLogic and MyCraftyLife.

About YaySave!: At YaySave, you can finally get all your household essentials at one place, rest assured that you’re always getting a great deal, and best of all, do it all within the comfort of your own home! YaySave! Offers some unique options to help you save time and money:

Certified Program: • All items with a YaySave Certified emblem are at least 25% less than any other Online Retailer. • We provide you with the prices and links to our competitor’s right there, so you can be sure that you’re getting the best price possible.
Referral Appreciation Program • We’ve created a referral program unlike anything you’ve seen before, where you can earn up to $100 in YaySave credit for each referral!
Premium Membership Program- Free shipping on any size order and 5% cash back on all orders along with access to Exclusive Weekly Deals for just for “Premium Members”!
Swagbucks Partnership: I’m such a big fan of Swagbucks, and have been using it for years. So the total selling point for me here at YaySave! was that you earn Swagbucks with your purchases – some special promotions get you TONS of them! Love that. {Join Swagbucks here before joining YaySave! if you want to – to double your rewards.}

Ready to shop now? Here’s am exclusive $3 coupon code:3b3c8e506a76fc1f68df578bd2857fdd

You can learn more about YaySave! on their Website, Twitter, and Facebook page. You’ll love them – YaySave! is revolutionizing the way moms shop by helping us to save money and time. Love that, right? Let’s Celebrate YaySave! with a chance to win an awesome Boon Highchair….

About the Awesome Prize

BOON Flair Pedestal Highchair in Coconut Seat / Tangerine Pad {srv $369} No cracks, and no crevices means that there are no places for crumbs to get stuck! This one-piece seat is the sleekest, smoothest thing going and it makes cleanup unbelievably easy. Its dishwasher-safe tray cover actually fits in a dishwasher. {That’s what sold me on it!} And the continuous height positioning with pneumatic lift is just a fancy way of saying you can pick the exact height you want to fit your table.

Super Sweet Savings

YaySave! has so many deals running right now, but my favorite one is get $30 back when you spend $100 – I mean, that’s a major savings, right? This deal is for new customers only and is only for a limited time… so shop now before it’s over.

Why YaySave! Rocks for Moms

Heather from Full Price? Never! spent some time researching some great deals on YaySave! Here are her thoughts “YaySave! is a great site and features some real money saving opportunities. I was happy to find Huggies diapers for $5.99 a pack. I really don’t like paying full price for diapers and it’s not easy {or fun} to drag 3 kids to the store to buy diapers… Thank goodness for YaySave! Knowing that I can just go online and order them at a really good price makes life a whole lot easier! With their certified prices I know I’m always getting rock bottom online prices too. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of their $5 flat rate shipping although I’ll probably end up purchasing a premium membership. At only $19.99, the Premium membership would get me free shipping for the whole year!”

Ready for the giveaway and a chance to win the awesome highchair above? Great! Enter on the Rafflecopter form below!

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on May 6, 2012 Filed Under: Shopping, Deals and Coupon Codes, Giveaways, Busy Mom Solution | 7 Comments

Sunny Day Spring Fashion Giveaway!

Welcome to the Sunny Day Giveaway!

I have teamed up with Sweet Silly Sara and a group of fantastic bloggers to bring you the chance to win a really stylish pair of Liz Claiborne Aviator Sunglasses valued at $49! These would be a sweet addition to your spring look – Love ’em!

This giveaway begins on May 5th and ends on May 19th at 11:59 PM EST

Please enter via the rafflecopter form below. You don’t have to do all of the entries – but the more you do, the more chances you have to WIN!

*The participating bloggers cannot be held responsible for shipment of this prize. The prize will be shipped to the winner via Sweet Silly Sara.*

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on May 5, 2012 Filed Under: Giveaways | 73 Comments

Real Food for Real Kids: Smart Snacking Guide

As I was saying yesterday in my post about my new favorite on-the-go snack bars, eating healthy does NOT have to mean sacrificing taste. When you’re at a grocery store, there are so darn many products marketed as “kids snacks” – covered in cartoon images, and packed full of sugar, coloring agents, and yucky additives that your kids sure don’t need. But there’s an easy solution – if you take just a little time each weekend to plan and prepare snacks for the week ahead, you can feed your kids REAL foods that they’ll love to eat, and you’ll love serving.

Exploring new tastes

I printed this out to go into my Meal Planning binder, so I can put together great snacks for Abby and the boys each week. I seriously love these ideas – there are a ton of traditional snacks that are fun for kids, like ants on a log, creative healthy alternatives to things like sugary fruit roll-ups, and new tastes that kids will love trying out like hummus and baby carrots. You would be surprised by how many great “real” foods kids will love – they don’t have to survive on just chicken nuggets and candy-like fruit snacks. They’ll love experiencing new tastes like edamame, or popcorn with lime juice, cumin, and garlic powder! The earlier you start giving them cool new things to try, the more adventurous eaters they’ll become as they get bigger! {Abby loves salmon, sugar snap peas and ranch, and eggplant!}

California Raisins’ Let’s Keep It Real Healthy Snack Challenge

California Raisins are an all-natural, no-added-sugar snack you can feel good about giving your family, and are a perfect fit for daily snacking. To help more moms discover what a great choice they are for kids snacks {and for you, too!} they’re running a super fun promotion: California Raisins is asking you & your family to pledge to enjoy all-natural, no-added-sugar snacks – like California Raisins – for one week.

Sign up for the Let’s Keep It Real Healthy Snack Challenge on Facebook and you’ll be automatically entered to win one of five prize packs that include $1,000 in cash and other goodies to get your healthy snacking on. How awesome is THAT?

How do you incorporate real foods into your snacks while still trying to save time and keep it simple?

I admit it, there are many times that I buy those big boxes of pre-packaged bags of chips for the kids, or other unhealthy junk. But I’m getting better all the time at stocking up on healthy stuff. Here are a few of my best tips on building better snacks:

Snack Ideas: Print out this great snack planning chart on the page, and get a fun book like Healthy Lunch Boxes and Snacks to inspire some really great daily snack ideas. You’ll also find loads of ideas on my Fun Kids Snacks board on Pinterest.
Perfect Portions: My absolute favorite containers are the EasyLunchboxes Bento Box Set! They’re BPA free, really sturdy, and make it so easy to build great snacks for the week. Instead of buying Lunchables that are packed full of sodium and fat – make your own little snack packs with California Raisins, cheese cut into fun shapes or cubes, and celery with peanut butter!
Choose Real: If the only options in the house are good, healthy, real foods – that’s what the kids’ll eat! Make a snack box in the fridge, and another box in a cupboard – buy a few Itzy Ritzy Baby Reusable Snack Bag, or some of the fun new Ziploc bags with cartoon characters, and fill ’em with healthy snacks. Then the kids can just grab a great snack each day when they need one – and you know that they’re getting the good vitamins and stuff that they need.

So – If you’re ready to take the California Raisins’ Let’s Keep It Real Healthy Snack Challenge on Facebook too – join today! And I’d love to hear your best snack tips too – share ’em in the comments!

{Disclosure: I participated in this campaign as a member of One2One Network and am eligible for a prize drawing. All opinions stated in the post are my own.}

Posted by Meagan Paullin on May 4, 2012 Filed Under: Busy Mom Solution | 5 Comments

Gettin’ Free Swag Like a Rockstar Giveaway!

Weekly Freebie Round-Up and Giveaway!

When I started this site, I used to share loads of great freebies and deals with you guys each week. Over the past few months, I’d cut back on that a bit – I figured, there were SO many blogs sharing that type of stuff, you didn’t really need my help to find them.

But… I’m back!

I’ve had a ton of emails lately, asking me to bring back more of that content. It seems that while there ARE lots of sites sharing this stuff, some of you guys prefer to get it Sunshine-Style, in one BIG freebie list each week. And, I’ve heard that you miss some of the unique finds that I come across too – So look forward to seeing a new one each Friday from now on – along with a little mini giveaway thrown in too! I’ll be giving away a couple of coupon bundles each week – just as a thank you for being so awesome! Just leave me a comment with your favorite freebie of the week, and I’ll draw a couple winners NEXT Friday! So get all these goodies, and watch your mailbox start filling up full of free swag every day, rockstar style – like the pics above of my daily mail! Good times.

Fun Kids Freebies

Free Sandwich Box: This is adorable – Visit Rudi’s Organic Bakery on Facebook, upload an image of your kiddo’s artwork, and they’ll make it into a customized sandwich holder! Totally free, and so fun.
Organic Valley: Sign up to receive Organic Valley’s Farm friends newsletter and receive a free Farm Friends welcome kit!
Kinect: This is a giveaway to win a Kinect from M&M’s – and I’ve heard that some people are getting a runner-up style prize of a code for a free year of XBox Live?? Let me know if YOU get it!

Baby Essentials Freebies

Old Navy: Sign up for their email updates, to learn about awesome stuff like the major baby sale going on now. AND – I just got a $10 off coupon in my email, since this month is my birthday! Sign up so you can get one too.
Plum District: Register for Plum District today and get great deals for Moms, by Moms. They are one of my faves, and you can earn free credits to get tons of great kids toys and clothes, totally free. Click Here to check it out.
Printable Diaper Coupons: There are tons of other free samples and tools available on Everyday Family, but I use it most for the printable diaper coupons. Such a helpful resource!
Mommy Page: Another similar site – subscribe to get a daily email filled up with samples, coupons, and giveaways just for new moms.
Free Baby Book: This is an online baby book, and you can let your friends and family join in on creating it too – so everyone can add their fave photos and memories. Very cool.

Food & Household Freebies

Mrs. Dash: Free spice giveaway! Each day on Facebook, 30,000 fans will get sample products – Get yours before their gone!
Free TV: Enter for your chance to win a $5,000 Home Theater Package from P&G. This would be SOO awesome. The form is a little weird – fill out your info, click the button if you want to get promotion updates from P&G {good stuff} – then click that blue box that says, “Click her to open, read, and accept the rules.” I couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t submit, then realized I had to open that and click accept!
Mio: Free bottle of MiO(r) Blueberry Lemonade Click Here to request yours. This stuff is SO great to throw in your bag and take with you for the kids. Love it.
Craft Warehouse: They’re celebrating National Scrapbook Day this weekend with a ton of fun freebies, giveaways, and cool activities. Get your pass here.
Remodeling: Get up to 30 FREE Samples from Smith+Noble. Hundreds to choose from. Order now for FREE! Click Here to see what they’ve got.
Treats Guide: Sign up for the Diabetic Health newsletter, and get a cool Sweets & Treats Guide book to help you make healthy choices!
UPS: Sign up for My Choice – it’s totally free, and is one of the my FAVORITE tools of all time. You can tell them where to put your packages, change them to your work location if needed, electronically sign for them in advance if you won’t be home – and even get alerts sent to your phone before things arrive. Awesome, seriously.
Glade: Get a free spring scents package – {And if you haven’t tried them, you MUST smell the Polka-Dot Petal! Love it.} – SC Johnson is giving 5,000 gift packs away – good luck!
TFS: Stands for That Freebie Site – you can browse here each day, and find new updated samples almost every hour.

Pet Freebies

Meox Mix: Get a free sample of Meow Mix for your furry friends, plus a $1.00 coupon in the mail. Awesome.
PetCo: Print out this coupon for a totally free pouch of Natural Balance Cat Food, so you can try before you buy and make sure your furry buddy will like it.
Purina: Learn how to love your puppy with Purina’s FREE Puppy Care eBook! It’s got some really helpful tips in it.

Beauty Freebies

Fragrance: Get a free sample of the new Lady Million Fragrance – a fresh, fruity type of scent. Just fill out the quick form to claim it.
Woman Freebies: They send out a newsletter once each day, with new fashion and beauty samples, and great giveaways. They’ll often include really high-value cosmetic coupons too. Great resource that I use a lot!
Clinique: Get a free 14-day sample of Clinique City Block Sunscreen. Visit the Facebook link to learn more on how to get it – you’ll love it!
Garnier: Get a free sample of their new Sleek n’ Shine products from Walmart.
Bath & Body Works: This is AWESOME – send a friend a free Facebook card for Mother’s Day, and they’ll throw in a coupon for a free product! Love that.
Color Care: FREE Fekkai Glossing or Technician Color Care Collection Sample for Costco members.

Enter to WIN!

Use the easy peasy Rafflecopter form below to enter to win – First, tell me which freebie on this page is your very favorite! Then do as many – or as few! – of the additional entries as you want. The more you complete, the more chances you have to win! And if you’re feelin’ lucky, check out the rest of the sweet swag that I’m giving away this month too, and enter to win them all – listed in the sidebar!

Love free swag? So do I! Grab a bunch of cool stuff off of this huge list- and then tell me your favorite, for a chance to win a little MORE free swag from me! :)

{This post contains sponsored content & affiliate links. Some of these offers earn me a few cents when you sign up, which helps keep this site running. But – I ONLY share and endorse companies I trust. So no spam, promise!}

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on May 4, 2012 Filed Under: Giveaways, Freebies | 22 Comments

Crazy Dog Tshirts Gift Card Giveaway!

Crazy Dog Tshirts Giveaway!

I’ve partnered with The Deals and More to bring you this fun giveaway – so I’m sharing their awesome review here with you too. The post was written by The Deals and More – and the giveaway is brought to you by a bunch of my bloggy buddies! Read on, and enter to win…

Why these shirts Rock

Recently I had the opportunity to review a couple of shirts from Crazy Dog Tshirts. I spend hours trying to find the perfect shirts for my husband. I looked at all the movie ones and found a couple that he would like but then decided to see all the other wonderful shirts they have. It finally took me a couple of days to decide on which ones to get for sure. There were so many to choose from and I finally narrowed it down to just a couple.

First Shirt – Paddle Faster, I hear Banjos

Paddle Faster I hear banjos t-shirt. The movie Deliverance bring us the classics. This hilarious t-shirt is screen printed on one of our super soft tees. The deliverance t-shirt is one of our newest additions to our funny t-shirt line! One of our famous movie t shirts. Navy with white lettering, one of our best sellers, funny t shirt, cool t shirt.

My husband thought this shirt would be funny since we moved from to the south a few years ago. The first thing I noticed about this shirt when it arrived was that it was super soft. It’s a nice dark blue color with that faded white logo. After washing this shirt it still kept its softness. This shirt is washed at least once a week and has held up perfectly. The one thing my husband loves about this shirt besides the softness is that the collar has kept its shape. Normally he notices that the collars in most of his shirts start to stretch after just a couple wears but this one has stayed soft and kept its shape.

Second shirt – Sorry folks, parks closed.

Wally World t shirt. Paying tribute to the famous Wally World in National Lampoons Vacation movie. The Wally World shirt we offer is screened on our super soft tees and has the classic saying “Sorry Folks, Park’s Closed!”. Don’t you think that Moose outside should have told you? Wait until you try on this awesome shirt!

This is far my favorite shirt that I have reviewed. This shirt came from their sister site Nacho Mamas Tees. Every time I see Marty Moose it reminds me of John Candy (Lasky the security guard) being taken “hostage” and riding the rides. This is one of those movies that you can’t help but laugh at. There is always something that goes wrong in a National Lampoons movie. Out of the many times my husband has worn this shirt, only one person has known exactly where this shirt comes from. This movie along with National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation are two of those movies that are a must see. If you have never seen it, please do. It’s great.

There was a little problem with the Parks Closed shirt. When I got it, I washed it inside out on cold and the color’s bleed. I immediately contacted the company letting them know what had happened. They apologized about this and said that they had never seen this happen before. They immediately sent me out a replacement shirt which was the exact same one and I had no problems with this one. Later on, I had received an email back letting me know that they pulled the lot of shirts that the first one sent to me came from. They didn’t want that to happen to anyone else and that they thought the problem was that they didn’t get a chance to cure long enough in the dryer. Finding this out makes me appreciate a company even more. Not only did they handle the situation fast and effective BUT they made sure that the problem was taken care of. Because of the way they handled this in a professional manner I would highly recommend them to anyone. Not only do they sell quality shirts BUT they stand behind each and everyone they sell.

Crazy Dogs Tshirts has a great selection of movie tshirts to vintage tshirts and everything in between. They even have kids shirts. If you are wanting a great quality shirt that is a great price, this is the place to go.

Now that you have read the review, here comes the best part – Your chance to win a gift card! Enter below and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*disclaimer: I received the above products in exchange for writing this review. I was not provided additional compensation to write this review and all opinions are my own.

Posted by Meagan Paullin on May 4, 2012 Filed Under: Giveaways | 5 Comments

Baby Essentials Giveaway!

Super Excited to bring you baby essentials giveaway!

I’ve teamed up with a great group of awesome, and hosts Little Inspiration & Money Saving Parent, to bring you a chance to win FOUR baby essentials items – Which means Four Lucky Winners!

Prizes that are up for grabs:

The First Years Sure Comfort Baby Bath Tub (Blue or Pink)
Pourty Potty – You can see the review HERE.
A box of Stage 1 Baby Gourmet Food-Organic and BPAFree.
Zoobies Blanket Pal – You can see the review HERE and a 20% Discount Code!

To enter, just follow directions on the rafflecopter form below. You don’t have to do all of the entries – but the more you complete, the more chances you have to WIN! And, if you’re feelin’ lucky, make sure to enter to win all of the fun prizes I’m giving away this month – they’re all listed over in the sidebar! Giveaway will end Wednesday May 10 at 12:01am ET.

Have Fun & Good Luck!

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on May 3, 2012 Filed Under: Giveaways | 56 Comments

Why this is the perfect snack

Convenient doesn’t have to mean unhealthy. And healthy doesn’t have to mean sacrificing taste. So – If you’re looking for a super simple snack, that’s healthy enough that you feel like a great mom when you feed it to the kids, while being tasty enough that YOU enjoy eating it too – You’re totally in luck. I have another great Busy Mom Solution product for you – PROBAR Fruitrition snack bars. Sooooo good.

“The greatest wealth is health.” – Virgil

I used to rely on granola bars for the kids snacks – But then I realized that honestly, they’re just not much better than a candy bar. They’re so packed full of sugar and corn syrup and chocolate chips – They are not a real great choice. But they’re yummy, and they’re simple to grab and go. Then I went looking for some good Gluten Free snacks to have in the house, since during the summer we have a TON of kids here all the time using the pool – and I wanted to make sure we have snacks to fit all of their different dietary needs, you know? When I tried these great Fruitrition bars, I knew we’d found a winner! Seriously – this chocolate orange flavor tastes like a gourmet chocolate from my favorite candy shop. Uh-MAY-zing. Best part? They have a full serving of fruit in each bar, and are only 160 calories – meaning they can fit into my Nutrisystem diet too!

“If I’d known I was going to live so long, I’d have taken better care of myself.” – Leon Eldred

If you want to upgrade your snack foods too – You totally have to check out these bars. You should be able to find them at some of your favorite local stores – but if not, you can order online too, AND I’ve got a sweet savings discount code you can use too:

Visit theprobar.com, and enter code “BLOGGER” at checkout to save 40% off your order! Awesome, right?

My favorite is by FAR the Chocolate Orange – but there’s also a ton of other goodies to choose from – strawberry bar, but you can’t go wrong with peach, cherry, lemon, blueberry, strawberry and cran-raspberry. So whether you’re buying these as a healthier alternative for the kiddos, or for a way better snack choice for yourself, you’ll find a perfect flavor. And hey – It’s not just me saying that they rock, they just won an award from Prevention Magazine too – check it out, and have another reason why these are a total must-have in any snack cupboard this spring!

Wanna try ’em for FREE?

Of course you do! So use the easy peasy Rafflecopter form below to enter to WIN a case filled with ALL of the new PROBAR Fruitrition bars – this is an almost $40 value, which is a LOT of snacks. So cool. Then when you’re done, check out the list of other sweet prizes that I’m giving away this month too, over in the sidebar. The more you enter, the more chances you have to win!