The Day That is a company out of the United Kingdom that has just launched here in North America. They offer a very unique gifting opportunity – their photographers rise at dawn each day and capture an image of the dawn skies over the Chesapeakes, and the image is crafted into a work of authenticated art; mounted framed and hand-inscribed as a permanent reminder of a memorable day. A birth, christening, wedding…the list of possibilities is endless.

Being that we’re opinionated “parents” specifically, I am loving this as a baby gift. Their images go back to 2005 so it would also make an awesome birthday gift for the child who has everything (and who is five or under). The mat is inscribed with a personal message from the photographer saying whatever you like. “Juliette’s first day ~ May 1, 2010″

The images are beautiful and the gift captures all the emotions and significance of a truly special day. Being a practical mama, I was especially impressed with the beautiful, archival quality frame and the packaging/shipping. It arrived in just a few days, and was packed so securely that it would have taken a bomb to damage it.

Win it!The Day That is giving a T.O.P. reader one of their wonderful & unique framed images. To enter, simply comment on this post before noon mst on April 21, 2010.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Not me, that’s for sure. And I even have a few shops of my own, so that’s rather sad.

My favourite new items are their customized ornaments. Yes, I do realize it’s nearly Valentine’s Day, but that means you’re finally getting around to editing your Christmas photos, right? And now you’re ready to order (or win!) your special ornament to hang on the tree next year, right?

I thought so!

Actually, there’s Hannukah and even many ornaments that are generic enough to hang all year. You can also choose a full-bleed style with only a photo.

What I love about it is it’s simplicity. Choose your ornament, upload your photo, edit your text, click to order. That’s it. And being CafePress, you know it’s going to be delivered quickly and for very little money.

For fifteen bucks, this is a great ornament for your hard earned coin.

Win it! CafePress is giving one T.O.P. reader an ornament of their very own free-like-a-bird. To enter, check them out and choose yours. Comment below to enter. Due to technical issues, we’ve extended this contest to close at noon mst on FEB 24, 2010.

Am I allowed to say in this venue that many nurseries make me want to puke?

Nary a teddy bear, ark or duck will ever been seen on the wall of my kids’ rooms. When I decorate, I insist that everything be easily changeable and that it be able to grow with my child. Nothing like an eight year old stuck with ABC teddy bears because they’re either stuck to the wall or too expensive to replace. I am in love with our new Nouvelle Images Home Stickers. They’re an awesome, non-toxic & affordable way to decorate a kid’s room in a way that reflects their ever-changing personal tastes. They apply to the wall in seconds and are incredibly low tack. You actually have to rub rather aggressively to get them to stay on. Once they’re on, they won’t fall off but are very easy to remove if you want to (and easy for a toddler to remove too, which is rather annoying) leaving absolutely no residue behind. They’re perfect for the style conscious parent who doesn’t want to force their child to commit to one design for any length of time. At just $30, you can change them annually with barely a dent in the budget.

Headquarters in Paris, Nouvelle Images is a huge company with over 350 employees in seven countries worldwide. Big companies doing awesome things? That’s good.

Win it! The “cute monsters” pack pictured above is up for grabs. To enter, visit Nouvelle Images (via Amazon link for full selection) and browse the Nouvelle Images Home Stickers. Come back and comment with your faves before noon mst on Monday, April 27, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Let me preface this with a little grain of truth – I don’t particularly enjoy disembodied baby hands on a mantle.

There, I feel better now.

I’ve always found body part casting a little creepy so it was with a wee bit (heh) of trepidation that I agreed to review Wee Piggies & Paws. When I looked through their products, I noticed several that seemed much less disembodied than others. We went with a triple window shadow box holding casts of both of our childrens’ hands and an image of the two of them in the center. That’s mine pictured at right, and it’s much, much nicer in person. I knew it would be nice after seeing a sample, but I had no idea the emotion it would bring out in me when I looked at it each day. It’s truly stunning. The franchisee in my local area, as with all of them, was very well trained & supported by the company (Need a new business, mama? Check out Wee Piggies!). She welcomed us into her home and took care to ensure my children both felt comfortable putting their hands into the “goo” to make the mold. Being that neither of my children ever stay still for a moment, and really didn’t when she was casting them either, I thought for sure we’d have a few blurred & mushy fingers but the details are awesome. The hands look like, well…their hands. Exactly. I can see their fingerprints, and can even see where my son had recently chewed his fingernails. Gross habit – great memory.

The shadow boxes start at $150 and range to over $250 for the triple window. It may seem extravagant at the time, and I likely wouldn’t have paid it in the past, but now that I’ve seen what is possible I’ll be contacting Wee Piggies without hesitation if I have more children. If you’re hesitating, know that you will never regret the investment in memories, though I do personally recommend the shadowboxes over the statues, simply because it’s nice to have them enclosed & hanging on the wall as opposed to collecting dust on the mantle or bookshelf.

They also offer baby shoe bronzing and a gorgeous selection of ornaments.

If you’re in to disembodied, though, they sell for $130. Don’t worry – I won’t judge.

Seriously – if you’ve got a little one or a bun in the oven, think about contacting your local Wee Piggies rep. There are over 50 locations across Canada. You’ll love what they can do for you.

Having a portable record of your child’s growth over their young years is priceless. I am amazed when I look at the growth chart on my son’s bedroom wall, and he’s only two and a half. As we continue to mark it over the years, we’re creating memories. Memories that don’t include taking a piece of door moulding with us when we move.

I’ve been looking for one for my daughter but unfortunately the awesome one we have for my son has been discontinued. I left it alone for nearly a year because I just couldn’t find what I was looking for. Now she’s the proud owner of a growth chart from Sugarplum Dreams and it’s a great addition to the decor of her room…and to our memory making.

We’ve got the “My Japanese Garden” one, pictured at right, and it’s gorgeous. It sells for $54, but you’re going to want to splurge the extra $10 to get it personalized unless you’re sure you can make a beautiful match on your own. My daughter’s name is printed in a beautiful blue matching the blue flower on the chart and it looks perfect.

The charts feel like a laminated canvas – heavy enough to be sturdy but light enough to hang on just one nail. There are holes in all four corners so you can choose to hang it from a ribbon (as pictured, but the ribbon is not included), on nails or tacks, or with any other hanging device you can dream up.

Let me share this bit of wisdom with you if you’re on your first child: No matter how much you think you will, you will NOT remember how small they were. Get a growth chart like this and you’ll have a tangible memory when your own fades.

Save 15% on any purchase over $50 with the code TOP15.

Win it! We’ve got a growth chart of your choice inscribed with the name of your choice to give away! To enter, let us know the style & name for inscription. Contest closes at noon mst on December 30, 2008

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

With fall (too quickly) approaching, it’s time to start searching out some great personalized items for the kids to take back to school. We’re die hard Olive Kids lovers around here, and preschoolers and school aged kiddos alike will love all of the great personalized items from OK.

My son is an early reader and is loving his personalized bookmark ($9.99). It’s high quality and thick enough that even my dogs couldn’t completely destroy it (and believe me – they tried). My teething baby’s slobber didn’t penetrate it at all so the laminate is obviously well sealed! (Are you seeing a theme here? I live in a zoo, apparently.)

The Olive Kids placemats ($9.99) are a hit at our house too. These aren’t any old disposable placemats. They’re the same high quality as the bookmark and if they can make my crazy kid want to sit still and eat at the table they’ve got my vote!

When your kids head to school, off to daycare or just to a playdate with their backpack in tow, a personalized name tag ($7.99) is not only adorable but can help you get those packs home when they’re abandoned in favour of a good game of tag.

No matter how you feel about personalized goods, kids love them. When they’re high quality like these ones are, they’re sure to be a hit for a long, long time.

Win it! OK is giving away a prize pack valued at $28 including a personalized summer placemat of your choice, a personalized, bookmark of your choice and a name tag of your choice. To enter, visit OK and leave a comment letting us know the patterns you’d choose for each of your three items. Contest closes at 11:59 mst on August 15/08.

Additional entries available – up to four per person. See contest entry information and rules.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Although there are many great reasons to have children, I have to admit one reason for me was having the opportunity to decorate a creative childrens’ space! My inner artist looked forward to painting beautiful murals that my children would gaze upon in awe and wonder.

I have moved four times since my not quite four year old was born. No beautiful paintings on the walls, no murals – just the basics that could be easily moved as we traveled the world. Add another kid into the mix and my days of painting murals have long passed – at least for now.

We have seen some cute wall decorations but when I saw WallaBabies, I squealed with delight! The designs are so retro adorable and NOT a licensed character from a television show! Just looking at the designs makes me (oh, and my kids) so happy. My daughter adores the bugs and my one year old keeps pointing at the bees … b…b…b. The designs are totally a hit!

Putting the wall graphics up was a snap, and took no time at all. In fact I did it myself. No need for my husband this time! The website has a great How To, that walks you through each step with no room for error. We have the Secret Garden Pack which consists of five 13″ x 14″ decal sheets. The perfect amount to decorate one wall beautifully or spread a little more sparsely throughout a whole room.

Now as my kids fall to sleep they are surrounded by clouds, flowers, insects and mushrooms and I can feel guilt-free for not painting them a mural! -Chelle

Win it! We’re giving away the same Secret Garden set that Chelle used and loved. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon MST on June 19/08.

Additional entries available – up to four per person. See contest entry information and rules.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Wooden letters are all the rage nowadays in children’s rooms. They’re in all of the magazines and you can buy them pretty much everywhere. I’ve looked around a little bit and everything I’ve found I either have to paint myself (no thanks) or is a flat (and therefore generic) paint colour that doesn’t quite match my kids’ rooms. So I’ve kept looking and until recently hadn’t found quite what I wanted.

The decorated letters from So Called Mommy’s Etsy shop fit the bill perfectly. At only $7 per letter maximum and super cheap shipping, they’re not only less than half the price of most I’ve seen but they’re far more beautiful and each one is personalized exactly the way you want it.

So Called Mommy Stephanie Paxman made my newborn daughter the letters of her name to match her new room and her taste is fantastic. They’re crafty but not country and are adorned with scrapbooking accessories like bows & buttons. Unless you like a simpler look. She aims to please! They match our nursery perfectly and have been complimented by everyone who has seen them. As an added bonus, my 22 month old son can now read his sister’s name and recognizes it in other places because he’s read it so many times on her wall!

I love everything about Etsy, and it’s because of people like Stephanie that it’s such a success. At these prices, I’m not only supporting another mom but am saving myself hours of work and getting something even nicer than I could have made and more personalized than I’d ever get from a larger store. What a lovely gift it would be to have these letters made for a baby’s shower to match his or her nursery!

When you place your order, mention The Opinionated Parent to get 10% off.

Be the first reader to place an order from So Called Mommy and mention The Opinionated Parent and you get one free wooden letter in addition to the discount on your order!

By CPA Mom

Wee Gallery uses animals made up of high contrast repeating patterns to stimulate your baby’s visual development. They have recently introduced a new line of products for your baby’s room: Wrapped Canvases. Each 9×12” (some 12×12″ available) canvas print is printed on high-quality canvas with UV-resistant inks, so they’ll last for years! Bonus? No glass means you don’t have to worry about cuts from broken glass should your rambunctious preschooler manage to get them off the wall. They all come in themed sets of three and there’s something to match most every decor. Each set of 3 retails for $60 USD. We fell in love with the simple, yet ingenious art. Designed for babies, my pre-schoolers enjoy them as well.

A stripey zebra, dotty giraffe, and a curly elephant on a green savannah scene make up the Savannah Collection.

A spotty stingray, stripey seahorse and fat turtle on a sea blue undersea scene, pictured below, make up the Undersea Collection.

A sunny lion, patterned parrot and silly monkey on a leaf green jungle scene make up the Jungle Collection.

A stripey dragonfly, swirly squirrel and fat bird on a rose-colored garden scene make up the Garden Collection.

A curly sheep, flowery pig and speckled cow on a corn-yellow farm scene make up the Farmyard Collection.

Like what you see? Wee Gallery also carries flash cards, a mobile, wall graphics and more! Wee Gallery products are highly regarded the world over. All products are available for purchase online and in stores around the world.

We love these classic black and white designs because they’re visible to baby from birth but on these great coloured canvas backgrounds they’re perfect for the big kids who have graduated to colour. We’ve got a 3 pack of UnderSea Wall Canvases for one lucky reader. To enter, email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with Canvas in the subject line by midnight tonight and name one Wee Gallery product not mentioned in this review. Congratulations Cori!

I’m pretty sure most parents are a lot like me in my enjoyment of any toy that cleans itself up or encourages kids to do it. Zip Bins are a fantastic products for both kids and adults. They were recommended to us by a dedicated T.O.P. reader and once we checked out the website we knew they’d be a great fit!

They’re essentially just bins, available in four sizes, that unzip into a playmat and back into a bin when you’re done, but after we actually tried them we realized they’re so much more than that and I’m finding that the coolness factor is actually rather hard to describe! They also fold into small flat packets for storage when not in use.

The dinosaur mini ZipBin, my son’s favourite, is like all the others in that the four corners of the box fold & zip up & down from a storage bin for all those loose dino toys to a decorative playscape. Most homes with little boys (and often girls, too!) will have these plastic prehistoric creatures underfoot. That is until the ZipBin enters your house. They’ll still be there, but they’ll no longer be underfoot once the kids learn to zip them back into their bin when they’re done playing! And, being mini, it’s perfect for travel in cars & planes or for taking to daycare or to Grandma’s house.

Some of them, like the Small Town ZipBin, come with some accompanying toys. The Small Town also features a cool “parking garage” under the lid! (Yet it still folds flat – even with the cars inside. Like magic.

They don’t all zip into a flat sided box. For the pony lovers, the Country Stable set folds up into a barn for the ponies to sleep peacefully until their next play time.

For the family? A brilliant picnic basket turned placemat. For the hunter or fisherman? Camo. For the home? How about satin or one of the holiday options?

You can find retailers of the ZipBin here.

After you buy yours and see how much you love it, you can enter their Zip-Lify Your Life! ™ contest ~ check out some of the winners’ fabulous ideas (that I know I’ll be borrowing. These people are creative!)

We’re giving away the Unicorn Playscape! To be entered in the random draw, email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com before midnight on 7/17 with ZipBin in the subject line and include the answer to the question: What’s the name of the company behind the ZipBin products? Congratulations Thea!

When Lullabeds sent us a story blanket to review, we all thought it looked pretty cool but we had no idea just how cool it really was until we turned it on. It’s amazing!

Story Blankets are childrens comforters/duvet covers which each have 133 mini LED’s and entertain your children (and you!) with a show of lights & sounds at bedtime. In story mode, the blanket gives you two minutes of rhythmically moving lights accompanied by a musical soundtrack. The blanket then goes into sleep mode consisting of one minute of gently fading lights that slowly dissolve to end the story.

The Space Story Blanket from Lullabeds (click to listen to the soundtrack) is just about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen on a kid’s bed. From 6 months of age into upper elementary school, children are endlessly fascinated by it. Just don’t expect them to go to sleep after just one “story.” They’ll restart it a few times before they’re tired enough to go to sleep – and you’ll sit there with them because you won’t be able to help it!

The Story Blanket is also available in Kitty, Heroes & Princess. They come in twin and full sizes and are available from the Lullabeds online store. Matching bed skirts & pillows are available for all patterns, but this blanket won’t just stay in bed. It’s in the car, on the couch, at pre-school and more!

Also check out Bed Effects from Lullabeds. I want one for my room!

Several months ago, I ordered a couple of mobiles from Wee Gallery to display our son’s pictures. We have gotten more compliments on our photo mobile than on any of our more costly art and recommend them to anyone who asks.

We’ve been reviewing the Wee Gallery art cards for the last month and, though they don’t get as much love from the adults as the cute pictures of our kid, our son and his friends from newborn to three years old have all loved them. The newborns are captured by the stark black and white images and the older toddlers are enthralled with the detail of the images. For adults, the fact that they’re not cartoons means they’re more than tolerable to have hanging or sitting around your house on a semi-permanent basis.

Each set consists of six 5×7 cards which are laminated and rounded for safe & sturdy baby-play. Whether you have the mobile or not (but it’s only $11, so go for it!) the cards will be a popular (and non-plastic, non-battery operated!) addition to your home for less than $13.

Turn the crib into a “wee gallery” for your baby!

We’re giving away a garden set of art cards! To be entered in the random draw, email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with WEE GALLERY in the subject line and name another art card set that’s available from the Wee Gallery site. Contest closes Friday at midnight MST. Congratulations Ava!