Christmas — Page 9

Elf Yourself! Check out my video – and get your own #FREE one too!

Elf Yourself – from Office Max and Jib Jab!!

Who doesn’t totally love Jib Jab, right?? So so so love that site. They’ve partnered with Office Max again this year to bring you totally FREE Elf Yourself Videos! Yep, that’s me, singing you some holiday tunes in the video above :) You know how much I love Christmas, right??

Get your own FREE Elf Yourself Video! Click here, scroll to two spots above the bottom to the Elf Yourself link, then set up your videos. {You’ll also see another fun free video offer from Jib Jab before you get to the Elf Yourself one – you’ll love that too!}

Also – make sure to enter all of my holiday giveaways! Find ’em right over there —-> in the new sidebar widget! You can see cute pic’s of each one, and it makes it easy peasy to enter them all! Good luck. And come share YOUR Elf Yourself videos on my wall on the Sunshine and Sippy Cups Facebook page!

Share the fun! Share this post with the easy peasy buttons – post this to YOUR Facebook and Twitter too – and ask your friends to share their videos with you too!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on November 11, 2011 Filed Under: Freebies | No Comments

Guerrilla Guide to the Holidays: 8 DIY Gifts that they Actually Want!

Frugal Holiday Gifts from LearnVest

LearnVest, as you know if you read my posts often, is one of my favorite sites. I love that they make financial news relevant to my life, and easy to understand. I love that they share some of the most helpful, totally do-able, frugal tips and tricks each week. And my favorite is the “fun” posts – with great information like how to save when building a wardrobe, which beauty products are worth a splurge, and today’s article – how to make DIY Christmas Gifts this year that as they say, “Don’t Suck.” Lol. This is part of their on-going series, Guerrilla Guide to the Holidays – which has been packed full of fun & frugal tips. Love it.

Get Daily Tips for Frugal Living! Packed with money-saving tips and financial how-tos to enrich your life. Click Here to join me in getting super cool weekly updates!

8 DIY Gifts:

I’ll give you an idea of what you’ll find over there – and you can head on over to get the instructions for each gift if you’re interested. Sign up for their email updates – I promise you’ll love ’em!

Biscotti: These delicious twice-baked cookies (biscotto is derived from the Latin for twice baked) keep for long periods of time, making them a sweet gift that will last past the season. Pack them in an airtight container, and wrap it with a bow. {Get recipes on LearnVest!}
Photobooks: If you’ve got a smartphone with the Instagram app and have taken some downright pretty photos, you can create a beautiful and very personalized gift. Using Printstagr.am—a site that prints and binds your Instagram photos—you can make a minibook of trip photos for a vacation buddy, or a “Tinybook” of oldie but goodie family photos for relatives. This teeny booklet even has a magnet, so it will stick to the fridge.
Infused Vodka: It’s colorful, festive and utterly customizable, so you can choose the perfect flavor for friends. Besides, infused vodka is one of the simplest flavored liquors you can DIY: It literally takes ten minutes to make, but you’ll have to start early since the flavors need a week or two to infuse. {Get the recipes on LearnVest!}
Handmade Bath Salts: Homemade bath salts are a simple luxury that anyone who likes at-home spa treatments will enjoy. And you can handpick an aroma you know your recipient will love. Also, the recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if you want to make a large batch. {Find instructions on how to make homemade Bath Salts on their site!}
Granola: This simple, not-too-sweet granola is delicious and keeps for months. People especially appreciate it because as long as it lasts, they always have a healthy breakfast on hand for those mornings that are too harried for cooking. Just be warned: It will also inspire them to request refills when their supply runs out! {Find the homemade Granola recipe on the site!}

There are more too!

Check out the LearnVest article, Guerrilla Guide to the Holidays: 8 DIY Holiday Gifts that Don’t Suck to read the rest of the ideas. Plus, if you sign up at their site, you get access to all of the forums, tools {like financial bootcamp!}, and more – so you can log-in to the Holiday Tips section, read the ideas other readers have submitted, and add your own too! If you’re not a member yet, join up. I get SO many great tips from them!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on November 10, 2011 Filed Under: Holidays | No Comments

Shutterfly Family Photo Days – Fun Tips & Free Holiday Cards!

Getting Perfect Family Photos…

Everyone has that one perfect family photo. The one where everyone is smiling, the lighting is perfect, no one has a weird lamp growing out of their head…. You know, perfect. And you try again every year to get it right again, with no luck. At the holidays, you’re often sending out cards to people you seldom see during the year, so you want to show your family in the best possible way – it’s a lot of pressure, right?

The holidays are getting closer every minute…

As you can see from my new little gadget in the sidebar, there are only 47 days, 3 hours, 14 minutes, and 22 seconds until Christmas! That might seem like a lot of time, but it’ll be here before you know it. And the very best tip to have a relaxing, peaceful, and enjoyable holiday season it to get things done early. One of the big reasons I hear from people for putting off creating amazing personalized holiday cards is that they don’t have a great photo to use. Well – I’m here, armed with some great tools from Shutterfly, to save the day!

Holiday {or any day!} Photo Tips:

Coordinate: You don’t have to dress everyone in matching holiday sweaters! But choose a theme, or color story, so everyone’s outfits work well together. Solid colors work better than a lot of pattern, layers work better than short sleeves, and a couple cute accessories can really pull things together! Choose one color that everyone pulls into their outfit somewhere – Example: If you chose red, then mom would wear a red top, dad might have a red shirt layered under a sweater, baby could have a red bow in her hair – you get the idea.
Shake it up: Don’t take stuffy, boring photos on the family couch. Get outside! Jump in fall leaves, play in the snow, run in the grass. Find an interesting landmark in your city to take photos with. The more unexpected the better!
Props: Some fun props can make a world of difference! I love, love, LOVE bringing big wooden letters into photos – have the kids hold letters that spell a word, like JOY or LOVE. Or have each kid hold a sign with a different word – spelling a phrase like Joy to the World. Have everyone wear hats and scarves – or big winter boots in the snow! Eat snowcones, shovel snow, throw the kids in the air, kick a soccer ball – trust me, when you’re having fun, it’ll show in your photos!

Have a Family Photo Day:

Shutterfly wants to help families across the country have an easier time capturing those perfect family moments to share in their Holiday Cards and Photo Books by helping you host Family Photo Days! What’s a Family Photo Day? Well, it’s a super smart idea, a total Busy Mom Solution – get a bunch of your friends together, set up some fun props to share, brainstorm fun ideas and silly settings, grab your cameras, and prepare to be delighted by some amazing holiday photos!

It’s not about the professional photographer or the dull photo shoot in front of the mantle. It’s something anyone can do. Get together with friends and brainstorm! Think about creative ways to show off your families’ personalities.

Online Tool Kit:

Check out Shutterfly Family Photo Day online for some super cool tools and features:

Learn more about Family Photo Day, and watch a really great video that will seriously give you some awesome ideas. So easy, and so fun!
Download the digital toolkit for a HUGE list of photo tips – including indoor shots, outdoor ideas, setting and prop ideas, wardrobe tips, and so much more. You’ll feel like a pro in no time!
Get FREE Holiday Cards! Enter your favorite family photo – and get 5 totally free cards just for entering! And the winner will get a full YEAR worth of free cards! Awesomesauce, I know.

Secret Trick for Holiday Photos:

If all else fails, and you just cannot get one picture where everyone looks good, use my secret trick – use an easy and free editing program like Picnik.com to crop your photos – take the best parts of a few of your favorites, make sure you’ve got everyone in at least one pic, and put them all together in a fun multiple-photo Christmas Card! No one will ever know that you had to crop out the brother pulling sisters hair. We’ve done this for many of our cards, and they turn out perfect.

More Holiday Fun:

Check out a few of my other Holiday Prep posts too! Learn my super easy peasy secret for amazing Bake Pop desserts, read my Top 10 Tips for Holiday Planning, learn how to get a great 25% off coupon for Melissa & Doug Toys, and get your business ready for the holidays too!

What do you think?

Did you watch the video? Does it make you more excited for great holiday photo shoots now too? What do you think of the idea to pull your family and friends together for a fun Family Photo Day? Share your thoughts, along with your best holiday photo tips, in the comments!

{Disclaimer: I received a complimentary set of holiday cards for sharing this amazingly cool promotion with you – but I would’ve shared it anyway, because I know you’ll love it. Fun tips and advice, creative inspiration, and free photo cards? That’s what I call super-cool.}

Posted by Meagan Paullin on November 7, 2011 Filed Under: Holidays, Busy Mom Solution | No Comments

Weekly Weekend Holiday Shopping Report! Coupon Codes, Cash Back, Deals, & More!

Ok, it’s time again for the Weekly “Weekend Holiday Shopping Report”!

Here are the best deals I’ve found this morning, to help you start knocking out your holiday shopping early! Start now, and when December hits, you can just relax and enjoy the season. I’ve matched up some great cash back, coupon codes, and deal sites – and remember, many of the deal sites will reward you with FREE bonuses for sharing with YOUR friends too. That can be a great way to get your holiday shopping done for FREE! Plus, cash back dollars really start adding up over the holidays, so make sure to check your favorite sites like zuuzs.com, ShopAtHome, Inbox Dollars, or Ebates whenever you shop, to get your rewards! Then you can go do some fun FREE shopping for you after the holidays!

Weekly Weekend Holiday Shopping Report

Victoria’s Secret: Get a FREE Victoria’s Secret PINK tote with any PINK purchase! Add it to your cart, then use code PINKTOTE11 at check out to get it totally free, until November 17th! Plus, use coupon code SHIP50VS to get FREE shipping on all orders over $50 bucks. Make this an even SWEETER deal by starting your shopping at ShopAtHome.com and get FREE cash back on your purchase too! If you’re not earning with ShopAtHome yet, no prob – it’s super easy peasy to sign up. Make sure to check their WILD DEAL each day to find stuff that’s sometimes almost free with cash back! Love that.

Mini Social: HUGE Toy and Book Warehouse Sale on now, until Wednesday, on Mini Social. There is SO much cute stuff here – Choose from some of the very best kids toys from brands like Melissa and Doug, ImagiPlay, Shure Toys and Random House Books. Hurry – quantities are limited! Plus, invite your friends to Mini Social, and get $10 when they join! They’ve also got some really great sale events on kids clothing too. You will love the selection on this site – stuff goes really fast, but if you get there in time, you’ll find really affordable, really adorable, kids stuff!

NoMoreRack: Get a FREE Clear Black iPhone Cover Case for the iPhone4. Very cool. You pay $2 bucks to ship it – that’s it. Awesome, right? Every day NoMoreRack has eight super deep discount items, in limited quantities. Sign up for their email updates, so you can check first thing in the morning, and grab one if you want it. They do lots of freebies like this too. Plus, get points for each friend you refer – that you can use towards amazing free stuff like baking accessories, or even tech stuff like an iPad!

HomeSav Event: Stupell Kids Wall Art over 50% off! Stupell Industries, Inc. is one of America’s premier suppliers of handcrafted decorative accessories for upscale homes. All of their products are hand-crafted And they use only original art work, which is very cool. They’re now taking their super amazing quality, and creating kids art too! These pieces are each only $19 on sale – over 50% off! Plus, invite a friend – they get $10 bucks off, you get $15 in free credit! Great way to share the savings, right?

Totsy: Check out the super cute Angelina Ballerina Sale Event! Ohmyheck – who doesn’t totally love this stuff, right? And with prices starting as low as $3.90 {wow!} you can buy a TON of great stuff! I bought some books, a little toy set, and a matching outfit for Abby, for Christmas! Plus, with Totsy, you can get $15 in credit when you invite your friends to join you there. Check out the deal for 60% off kids shoes, and 66% off Little Divas Hair Accessories too – great time to start pulling together great holiday outfits for parties.

Zulily: Starts today – Disney Sale Event up to 65% off! So many super cute plush character toys – for only $7.99! I had to snag this adorable Cheshire cat for Abby – and of course the Alice Doll too, to go with the movie I got her for free on Amazon with Swagbucks. That’s less than $16 bucks for 2 big plush dolls and a movie. Sweet gift shopping, right? Plus, invite your friends to Zulily by email or Facebook post, and get $15 in credit each time one of them joins you there! They have great deals that are super easy to share.

Bath & Body Works: It’s back – the super duper Buy 3, Get 3 FREE event! Get any 3 of the classic products, including new holiday scents – and get an additional 3 for free. Plus use code SHIP50 at check out to get free shipping on all purchases over $50! To sweeten up this deal, start at ShopAtHome to get 3.5% cash back on your purchase! There are also a ton of great clearance deals going on now – From 50% off accessory items, to 75% off the Pocket Bac’s {great for diaper bags, by the way!} so get shopping before their gone!

Grand Finale: Save 90% off {WOW!!!!} on this cooking deal from Moolala!! Pay only $10, and get: $20 in Organic, Fair-Trade Spices. PLUS get Preferred Spice Club Membership, AND Gourmet Cookbook {$103 Value!!!!} Here’s what that membership gets you: Preferred Spice Club, offering the tantalizing aromas of monthly deals with 50% discounts, a 30% discount on orders of $25 or more, a 20% discount on all orders, free shipping on select orders, and selected, members-only cooking videos. Holy heck! If you do a lot of cooking – this is a serious savings. You can bet I snatched this up super quick!

Ladies – grab your debit cards!

Make sure to start at a site like like zuuzs.com, ShopAtHome, Inbox Dollars, or Ebates when you shop, so you can get FREE cash back on shopping you’re going to do anyway. Even when the percentages are small, it’s still FREE. And it does add up. Plus – during the holidays, all of these sites start ramping up, and giving BIG cash back deals, like up to 25% on some sites! So you’ll want to subscribe now, so you get updates when these types of deals start. I mean, imagine you’re doing to buy $100 worth of gifts online – and you can get $25 in cash back?? On TOP OF the coupon codes and great deals you’ve already found? That’s what I call smart shopping sister :)

Don’t forget – Sign up for UPS MY CHOICE – so you can schedule your deliveries, sign for packages online, and more!

And if you need holiday cards to go with all of these great gifts, get 20 FREE holiday cards with photos, matching address labels, and a super-cute photo pen too, for less than $5 bucks. Have a great weekend! And if you have deal lovin’ momma friends who would appreciate this list – please share it to your own Facebook and Twitter! Friends don’t let friends pay full price!!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on November 5, 2011 Filed Under: Shopping, Deals and Coupon Codes | No Comments

Limited Time Event – Melissa & Doug Wooden Toys up to 70% off!

Melissa & Doug Toys and Play Sets – HUGE DISCOUNTS!!

Limited time sale on everyone’s favorite toys from Melissa & Doug, ends on November 8th. You can find these amazing prices until then on HomeSav – one of my favorites for discount shopping on brands you actually want to buy!

Check out the Melissa & Doug event on HomeSave today and get some sweet deals on Christmas gifts!

Melissa & Doug started their company twenty years ago, in the garage of the home where Doug grew up! Now they are one of the leading designers and manufacturers of education toys and children’s products. Their philosophy has remained the same over the years – to make each and every customer a happy and permanent member of the Melissa & Doug family, while offering products with tremendous quality, value and design.

Get these award winners for YOUR children!

They’ve won numerous awards from many noteworthy award givers, like Today’s Parent, Disney Family Fun, and The Wall Street Journal. Buy a toy today and see what all the buzz is about!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on November 3, 2011 Filed Under: Shopping, Deals and Coupon Codes | 1 Comment

Busy Mom Solution: Holiday Card Survival Kit – $4.99!!

Get your kit today!

Get a head start on sending out holiday cards this year! Choose from over a thousand super-fun holiday designs and personalize them with your families names and message. Then, make a set of custom return address labels too, to make sending out cards easy peasy! Writing handwritten messages in your cards? {Of course you are!} So you also get a really sweet engraved and customized pen – and you’ll love using these, they write so smooth! They’re totally my favorite pens now. This is a huge savings – a value of around $30 bucks for only $4.99!!! And – if decide to add more cards, or any of the other great holiday items like photo ornaments or calendars, you’ll get FREE shipping over $25 bucks!

This is what you get:

20 Customized Holiday Cards!
140 Personalized Labels – {if you already have address labels, make these to use as gift tags!}
And 1 Engraved Pen… Get it ALL for only $4.99!

Visit Vistaprint and get your FREE Holiday Card Survival Kit today!!

When you click the link, you’ll see the selection of card styles at the regular and sale prices – but look for this logo:

Get 20 Holiday Cards, 140 Labels and 1 Engraved Pen for $4.99!
Bonus: New Customers Enjoy FREE Shipping on Orders Over $25!

– at the top – that shows you that you’re not even paying sale prices, you’re getting an AMAZING deal!

Check it out today, and start getting ready for the holidays! – and stay tuned for more great frugal Christmas ideas every day!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on November 3, 2011 Filed Under: Busy Mom Solution | No Comments

LaMomba Bring in the Holidays $1000 Cash Giveaway! {Rafflecopter}

HUGE CASH GIVEAWAY!!

To celebrate the beginning of the holiday season, I’ve teamed up with a great group of 50 of my best online friends to bring you a super fun cash giveaway!

One lucky winner will get a head start on their holiday shopping (or splurge on yourself at a spa!!) – they’ll get $1,000 deposited directly into their Paypal account!! How does that sound to you?? Sounds pretty darn amazing to me!! Image an extra $1,000 bucks for YOUR holidays!!

This giveaway is sponsored by 50 incredible businesses and blogs – and you’ll love getting the chance to check them out. To enter, simply follow each of the steps using the Rafflecopter form below! Also, go check out the fabulous business owners and bloggers involved in this event, say hi, and show some love! Giveaway starts 10/31 at 12:01 am EST and ends 11/12 at 12:01 pm EST. Good Luck!