Kids stuff — Page 3

Rock Star Hoodies that Transform into Animated Animals

Mouth Man, The Original in Animated Apparel – Have you seen Mouth Man hoodies yet? These are seriously the funniest idea, and I’m surprised that more brands haven’t done something like this. Mouth Man hoodies call themselves “Animated Apparel” because when you place your arms together in the right position, you turn a plain printed shirt into a ton of fun. Seriously.

Mouth Man was Founded by Ross Valory – Founder of the rock band Journey

How awesome is this, right? Here’s something else awesome – “Mouth Man hoodies are patented, custom designed, and printed in full color with sharp detailed graphics. Printed with eco-friendly inks on recycled fabric, 100% Polyester Sport Fabric.” Love that they take the care to use materials that are safer and better for the environment. {The fabric is actually made from plastic bottles. I would NEVER have been able to tell that!} Here are a few other reasons why these hoodies rock:

Rock Star Designed: Invented by rock band Journey founding members Ross Valory and Prairie Prince. Watch the Youtube video here to see the story for Valory’s inspiration.
Fabric is UPF 50: These hoodies are super lightweight, and it’s a moisture-wicking type of fabric. This makes it a great option for a cover-up by the pool, or for outdoor athletes. {What is UPF? It’s similar to how SPF measures the protection factor for sunscreen, but UPF measures it for fabrics. And 50 is the best you can get.}
Made in the USA: You don’t see that very often anymore, right? These hoodies are created in two California locations, and include Ross’ in-factory recording studio—you never know when the mood to jam may strike you! Cool place to work….

Sounds just about as awesome as you can get, I know. Made by a rock star, right here in the USA, from recycled materials, with safety and durability built right in. And – they look cool too. Want to see it in action? Here’s a clip {it’s just a few seconds long – I accidentally deleted the longer one, and my nephew left the hoodie at his moms….} but you can get a quick idea of why these shirts are so entertaining…

“There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million.” – Walt Streightiff

Can you tell that he looooooves this thing? The minute he put it on he figured out what it was all about, and started chasing everyone around rawr-ing. He loved it so much, that when it was time for him to go see his mom, he INSISTED that he wear it and show her – {even though I wanted more pics? Auntie Blogger here is never done taking pics! Lol.} And he’s been wearing it non-stop ever since. If you have a kiddo in your life – you have GOT to get one of these too. They will love you for it.

“What is a home without children? Quiet.” – Henny Youngman

There are so many other designs to choose from – T-Rex, Sock Monkey, Cobra, Frog, Tiger, Dragon… But one of my favorites for summer has got to be this Shark style hoodie. How fun would this be out by the pool? I can see the kids having a TON of fun with this one – and will have to get both of the boys one of these asap. What’s also super cool is that you can get Mouth Man hoodies in sizes for the whole family – they start at a 2T for little ones, a full range of kids sizes, and adult hoodies for men or women up to a 2XL.

Want a Mouth Man Hoodie Too?

You can find all of their awesome styles on their website – MouthMan.com . You can also check them out on Amazon too, if you’re the type who racks up a lot of free Amazon Gift Cards like I do. You can see this style – Kids Raptor Hooded Shirt, or scroll through all of the other styles on the page too, to find your fave. These are sure to be a hit – and make awesome gifts for birthdays and holidays!

Memorial Day Kids Sale Event

OpenSky has a pretty amazing sale event going on this weekend – a huge shop filled with unique designer goods for babies and kiddos – all at up to 75% off. There are pieces picked by my favorite designers over at Project Nursery, celebs like Joy Behar. {Remember the super cool toddler dining solution she loves that I shared the other day? She has fabulous taste in kids products!}

Shop Memorial Day Kids Sale Event today on OpenSky!

There are a ton of cool picks to choose from – from Mod Diaper bags and printed onesies, to fun things for the home like cool placemats for toddlers and multi-photo frames for memories. Here are a few more of my favorites that you’ll find in the Memorial Day Kids Sale event…

SweetSeat Booster Seat Memorial Day Sale

Seriously – are these the coolest booster seats that you’ve ever seen? All four prints in this Booster Seat by SweetSeat are still available – I had to get that polka dot one for Abby – so cute.

Aden + Anais Boutique Memorial Day Sale

Everyone’s favorite baby blankets – you’ll find this set from Aden + Anais Boutique, with Muslin 4-packs – plus a couple of other great products from them too, including an adorable little snuggly sleeper.

Shop Memorial Day Kids Sale Event today on OpenSky!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on May 25, 2012 Filed Under: Shopping | No Comments

Kilt: Are you Brave Enough to Wear One?

Since ancient times, stories of epic battles and mystical legends have been passed through the generations across the rugged and mysterious Highlands of Scotland. From Disney and Pixar, a new tale joins the lore when the courageous Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) confronts tradition and challenges destiny to change her fate….

Brave Premiers June 22, 2012

Seriously, how funny was that, right?? – “Brave” follows the heroic journey of Merida – she’s the kings daughter, a skilled archer, and totally independent princess. She’s determined to carve her own path in life – as all bright young ladies should! – and so she totally defies customs and traditions, which of course make some of the ruling powers quite angry. Merida’s actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric Witch (voice of Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. {Isn’t that case with all wishes?? Lol.} The ensuing peril means that Merida has to muster all of her skills and resources, enlist the help of her triplet brothers, {who are clever, yet mischievous, as all brothers are..} and find out just how brave she really is. I love that this story features a girl fighting battles and being brave – awesome role model for little girls to see!

Can’t Wait for the Movie?

If you’re as excited as I am about a new film featuring a strong and independent little girl doing battle with the powers that be – then you’re in luck! I found a few cool things you can get now, and get a taste of the movie before it’s released next month:

You can get Brave for the Wii, XBox, Playstation, or Nintendo DS. I ordered this for our Wii – I can’t wait to check it out! Abby likes to try to play with the boys, and I love having a GIRL hero for her to see on the screen!
Grab The Brave Soundtrack – you know the songs will be good. Anything from Disney and Pixar is always pretty awesome, and I expect to find a few songs on here that become our new dinner-time dance party favorites. {What? Doesn’t everyone have dinner-time dance parties?}
Get some of the kids books – Big Bear, Little Bear is only $3.99, and is perfect for beginning readers. Or get Merida’s Wish for girls 6-9. Or you could even pre-order a copy of The Art of Brave, filled with gorgeous film scenes, for you to enjoy!

Description: 1 NEW Official Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Logo

Opens June 22, 2012, in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theaters.

Posted by Meagan Paullin on May 9, 2012 Filed Under: Fun Stuff | 1 Comment

Six Movies. One Epic Day. $40 Ticket: #TheAvengers Movie Marathon Event & Giveaway!

Six Movies. One Epic Day. $40 Ticket.

How cool is THAT, right?? If you’re an action movie fan, or have kiddo’s who love Marvel movies – then you cannot miss this event. Starting at 11:30 a.m. on May 3, AMC Theatres will show the Ultimate Marvel® Movie Marathon: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger —followed by the midnight premiere of Marvel’s The Avengers!

Marvel’s The Avengers Official Movie Trailer

I am super excited to see this when it comes out, and the boys in our house are going crazy for it already. I’m sure there are a ton of you moms out there who know what I’m talking about, lol. So, if you’re big Marvel fans, here’s some info for ya:

Find participating theater locations: AMC Theaters showing the Ultimate Marvel Movie Marathon. Scroll down towards the bottom to find your closest theater, and click to see if tickets are still available.
Win a Red Carpet Trip: Enter to win a trip for 4 to the Marvel Movie Premier in 2013, $2,000 spending money, a signed movie poster, and 1 Million Wyndham Rewards points to use towards hotel and transportation! {If you’re not a rewards member yet, you can quickly sign up for free to enter!}

Super cool stuff, right? This movie event is going to be pretty darn epic! We don’t have ANY theaters in Washington where I can go and see this – but I had to share with you guys when I heard about it this morning, because I know some of you will be able to go. If you buy tickets, let me know how it was!!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on April 29, 2012 Filed Under: Fun Stuff | No Comments

Touring the Nike HQ – Young Athletes Innovation Summit #NikeKids

Remember when I told you that we’d be heading out soon to the Nike Young Athletes Innovation Summit at the Nike World Headquarters, in Beaverton, Oregon? Well – We’re HEEEEEERE!!!! The campus here at the Nike is over-the-top amazing. They call it a campus, and I can see why – It’s set up just like a college campus, with lots of separate buildings set around some beautiful open outdoor spaces. It is absolutely GORGEOUS, and must be just an amazing site to go to work at each day. This place is over 190 acres of pure awesomeness.

“The only one who can tell you ‘you can’t ‘ is you. And you don’t have to listen.” – Nike

We have had a total blast today touring the Nike World Headquarters, meeting some totally amazing people, and getting to join in on some super fun stuff. The kids got along great – and some really good new friends were made – I think that Cade has a total new best friend!! And it wasn’t JUST the kids making new friends – I LOVED finally getting a chance to meet some of my favorite online bloggy buddies in real life, like Mickey from A Helicopter Mom, Jeannette from The Adventures of J-Man and MillerBug, Linette from Kids Fun Review, Daisy from The It Mom, Angela from About a Mom – and I met some totally amazing new people too. Seriously, I could not have asked for a better bunch of ladies to spend the weekend with!

He Just DID It…. Designed his own one-of-a-kind Nike shoes!

There were so, so, SO very many amazing things that we saw, heard, and learned about during the day. And there were so, so, SO very many amazing activities that the kids got to do. But – since I’m super limited on time today – Here are just a few highlights from our adventures at Nike:

The kids got to climb rock walls, go swimming in the Lance Armstrong Center pool, create their own, totally customized shoes with the Nike design team – and they even got to go into some Top Secret areas where the athletes help test out new products!
The moms – and the 2 dads! – got to tour the campus, learn about some super-cool upcoming products Nike will be launching later this year, had a Q & A Skype session with Mia Hamm, and got to do some serious shopping at the Nike Company Store. LOVE it!
They even set up two separate lounge areas – one for the kids, that had a Wii, an XBox, AND a Playstation – and loads of snacks. And another for the adults, with some of the best cookies and pastries I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. Seriously.

I know that you guys have been waiting for some updates on our trip – but since I don’t have a laptop, I’m using the business center computer here at The Nines hotel to give you this quick update – which means I don’t have a way to load up any cool new pics to share! Our flight leaves soon – so I’m going to have to make this post short and sweet. But – I’ve been posting updates on social media like crazy all weekend, and you can check out more of the pics and cool info here:

Instagram: You can find me on Instagram at sunandsipcups, or if you want to check out my pics on the web, you can see them here – web.stagram.
Facebook: You KNOW I’m on Facebook all darn day, right? Lol. So watch for fun photos, updates, and cool stuff from the trip posted on my Facebook wall too! Have questions for Nike? Post ’em to my wall and I’ll try to get you some answers while I’m there!
Twitter: You can follow me at @sunandsipcups, and see all of the fun tweets, pics, and posts from the event by following hashtag #NikeKids!

I have SOOO much more amazing stuff to share with you guys – From info about the new Nike Free shoes, tips on how to keep your own little athletes safe when training for their favorite sports, to some cool behind-the-scenes info about the Nike campus – I can’t wait to get home and write a longer post, with more of my pics! so, I’ll give you a better update tomorrow – and once I get some of the photos that Nike took of the kids, {we all felt like we were on a reality show, with all the camera crew following us around all day! The kids looooved it!} – I’ll have even more to share with you guys next week – So totally stay tuned. And if you have any questions about the Nike campus, leave me some comments, and I’ll answer them in the next post – Promise :)

Kids Nike FREE Run: If your feet flex, shouldn’t your shoes flex too? Must-have flexibility for young feet.

HUGE thank you’s to the Nike team, and to the great people from Glam – for setting up such an amazing experience for our kids! Every detail was planned and thought of, we were all treated to some amazing gear, meals, and good times, and both the adults and the kiddo’s made some really wonderful new friends that will last long after this event. I know I speak for all of us when we say – Nike Kids Rocks!!!!

{Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Nike via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Nike.}

Posted by Meagan Paullin on April 28, 2012 Filed Under: Fun Stuff | 20 Comments

Nike Young Athletes Innovation Summit – Coming Soon! #NikeKids

After just returning from an amazing conference in Texas earlier this month – we’re off on another adventure again this week! I’ve been invited to attend the first ever Nike Young Athletes Innovation Summit, at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. Since this event is all about young athletes, I’m bringing my nephew with me too. This is such an amazing opportunity for him, and I can’t wait to meet the Nike crew and see what they have in store for us.

“The only one who can tell you ‘you can’t’ is you. And you don’t have to listen.” – Nike Running Ad

Nike is such an amazingly powerful brand. Not only are they known worldwide as the best in athletic gear, they’re also such a motivating and inspiring company. From the great products, to the ads that encourage you to strive for success – when you think Nike, you think awesome. To be hand-selected by Nike to attend this event is a pretty big honor.

“Just Do It.” – Nike

This is a preview of what we will be seeing soon – We head to this amazing Nike HQ on Thursday morning. It’s my nephew’s first time flying, and he’s excited about it… But not even close to the level of excitement he has about checking out the Nike campus! A few of the things he has to look forward to – and Innovation session with the Nike design team, a meet and greet with an Olympic athlete, some sports sessions, and a dip in the Lance Armstrong Center Pool with the other kids. Um, can you say “Dream come true??” He is going to have a total blast.

“My better is better than your better.” – My Favorite Nike Ad Quote

My two nephews live with me part time – this is the older little guy. He’s 8, and a total sports super star. Me? I was NEVER good at sports. Ever. I don’t just have two left feet – I might even have three! Lol. I was always in awe of people who had the ability to jump into a sport and rock it – and I’ve been so proud to see the drive, determination, and excitement that my nephew shows as part of his many competitive teams. He’s awesome.

“There is no finish line.” – Nike Ad Quote

I love that Nike has planned this event to focus on innovation in kids sports. There is so much focus on adults in sports – developing the perfect gear to optimize performance – but not always as much attention paid to what kids need. And a kids body is not just a smaller version of an adult – they can have very different needs, and those needs change quickly as they grow. {Ever tried keeping a growing boy in pants that fit? Yep. They change overnight sometimes!} I’m really excited to learn what Nike is doing, and what cool products they have on the horizon!

Kids Nike FREE Run: If your feet flex, shouldn’t your shoes flex too? Must-have flexibility for young feet.

We head out on our trip this Thursday, April 26th – and spend a fun day relaxing and meeting the other families at The Nines, in Downtown Portland. Then we spend the whole day Friday at the Nike HQ! And while you can’t come with me – I’m still going to include you in all of the fun! I’ll be tweeting from @sunandsipcups about the event – you can follow everyone’s tweets with #NikeKids. And I’ll be posting TONS of photos and updates to Facebook and Instagram too!! {Find me on Instagram at @sunandsipcups.}

{Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Nike via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Nike.}

Posted by Meagan Paullin on April 24, 2012 Filed Under: Fun Stuff | 6 Comments

Are Your Kids Old Enough for a Motorcycle?

We’re a motorcycle family…

Does that surprise you? Do you picture people who ride Harley’s to be the rough ‘n tough type? Fueled by drugs and alcohol, chased by the law and their own bad reputations? Well think again – most motorcycle riders are the law abiding type, with families and good jobs – who just love to have a little bit of fun! This is me at an event we go to every year – it’s a big celebration, full of motorcycle lovers, and totally family-friendly. Good times.

Kids and motorcycles – safety first

This is my nephew – going for a super slow, and totally safe, ride around the park with a friend of mine, who’s one of the best riders that I know. {Yes, this was just a pose for the camera – they both put helmets on to ride!} My nephews LOVE motorcycles, and are always so excited to check them all out. They’re always super impressed during the “bike games” – where the riders show off their skills in some fun challenges. And of course, being little boys – they want motorcycles too, just like their daddy has! So…. What do you do when the kids in your life want a motorcycle, but are still too young to ride their own?

The Kool Rider – Makes your bike sound like a motorcycle!

Remember when we were kids, {you know, back in the old days…. with dinosaurs…} and we would use playing cards in the spokes of our bikes to make them sound louder? Well, the Kool Rider builds on that idea – but totally takes it up a notch!! It is incredibly simple to install, and they are seriously cool. My nephews are ages 5 and 8, and the older one can be hard to impress. We put this on his bike – and one of the neighbor kids came over to the fence, and told him that it sounded almost like his dad’s motorcycle. Oh man, was that a priceless moment!

Kool Riders in Action!

Isn’t this such a fun idea? They are incredibly simple to put on – my 8 year old nephew did it all by himself. The package comes with a piece of velcro that you attach around the bike’s fork, and then there’s the body of the Kool Rider that just attaches right onto that. Kids get to customize it with their choice of stickers, then pop it on and go! They’re super durable, super fun, and super affordable at only $9.95 each. {They recommend using two Kool Riders per bike – which does TOTALLY upgrade the noise level, to the total delight of the boys in our house.} This is such an awesome way to get kids up off of the couch, and into the outdoors for some active play and exercise this summer. Love it, right?

Buy the Kool Rider today on KoolRider.com! And make sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter, to stay updated on cool new products and promotions – included a Kool Rider version for toddler and beginner bikes coming soon!

Love it? Share it!

Love @HarleyDavidson, but your kids aren’t old enough yet for a bike? Try this fun alternative – sunshineandsippycups.com/2012/04/are-yo… #HarleyWomen

— SunandSipCups (@SunandSipCups) May 22, 2012

{Disclaimer: I received two complimentary Kool Riders to try out with my family, so that I could give you some honest feedback. All pictures, opinions, and thoughts are my own. We love this – and know your family will too!}