Win it! We’re giving away four rolls of Hallmark Adhesive Gift Wrap, two rolls to each of two winners. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon MST on July 29/08.
Additional entries available - up to four per person. See contest entry information and rules.
CONTEST CLOSED - WINNERS EMAILED
Living in one of the windier regions of Canada, I find I need to have several blankets on hand because they’re always blowing off and landing in the dirt.
For that reason and many more, I am loving my new Blanket Clipz from 3 Kids Designs. A simple but sturdy ribbon with clips at each end, Blanket Clipz keep my baby’s blanket on the stroller, car seat, swing, bouncy chair and shopping cart.
We’re all about multi-functional around here, and Blanket Clipz don’t disappoint. In addition to keeping blankets in place, they’re also great for clipping keys to my diaper bag so they won’t fall to the black hole, making a bib from any napkin or cloth and clipping a blanket to my shoulder for nursing privacy.
I’m sure there are more uses - I just haven’t discovered them yet!
Win it! We’ve got a pink camo set of Blanket Clips with your name on it. Well, maybe. If you win. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post by noon MST on July 24/08.
Additional entries available - up to four per person. See contest entry information and rules.
CONTEST CLOSED - WINNER EMAILED
Since having children I, like many parents, have drastically reduced my usage of chemicals of all kinds. For me, that includes sunscreen. I do use it on every family member but I prefer to limit the amount of skin it’s on whenever I can and bathe or shower it off as soon as possible once we’re out of the sun’s rays.
Unprotected exposure to the sun in the first 15 years of life more than doubles the chances of getting skin cancer as an adult. Thanks to some fantastic products we’ve been using from Protect-A-Bub, we’ve been able to protect our little people from the risks of sun exposure a lot more naturally this year.
My two year old is perpetually outside (screaming wildly in his “outside boice,” but that’s beside the point) and is often sporting his UPF 50+ swim suit and hat. At less than $30, the Protect-A-Bub suits are comfortable and breathable and have the highest rating available for sun protection products. Available in sizes from 5 months to 5T and in a wide variety of one and two colour designs, there’s something there for everyone. The coordinating hat isn’t just a fashion statement. It looks adorable with the suit and alone and protects the vulnerable skin of the scalp to the same high degree that the suit does.
One often neglected area of little (and big) bodies are the lips. Our usual facial sunscreen applications do nothing for our vulnerable lip skin and non-SPF lip-stuff simply absorbs the sun and makes the problem worse. Now that my son is sporting his SPF 15 Lip Moisturizer we are a little more lenient about the time spent playing with the sun. It comes in three flavours and is only $2.25.
In addition to our enthusiastic un-sun-kissed two year old we’ve also got an amazing little five month old who is never left behind on our outdoor adventures. Being too young to wear any sunscreen at all, she can usually be found under one of the Protect-A-Bub sunshades. We absolutely love the inexpensive compact shade, but rarely use it on our stroller. (Though when we have, it works great as an extension of the canopy that’s already there.) We use the convenient ties to attach it to her bouncy chair on our deck and in our back yard every day. The shade rests on the toy bar and the ties keep it taut - it’s perfect and allows her to join us outside even in the hottest hours of the day.
With the increased awareness of both skin cancer and chemical exposure on the part of (we hope) all parents nowadays, we’re sure that Protect-A-Bub will be a welcome and awesome resource for parents who, you know, want to leave the house this summer.
Win it! Protect-A-Bub is giving away a compact stroller sunshade just like the one we love so much. To enter, visit the Protect-A-Bub site and browse their great selection. Come back and leave a comment on this post mentioning a product you think would be useful in your life before noon MST on July 1/08.
Additional entries available - up to four per person. See contest entry information and rules.
CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED - Congrats Lori!
My friends are wonderful and I don’t get to visit them nearly as often as I’d like. When I do, I love to leave a hostess gift in the room I slept in. For the person who has everything, I love the adorable handmade felt conversation birds from Gifts Define.
In addition to the any occasion birds, they are also available adorned with ribbon and a gift card announcing a pregnancy, welcoming a baby, saying thank you, I love you or any number of other sentiments. If (and I do mean if I have a third child, I’m thinking I’ll leave a conversation bird hanging on a doorknob in various people’s homes to make the announcement.
Then they’ll be able to say truthfully “A little birdie told me!”
Another amazing product from Gifts Define are their handmade felt tooth guardian angels. As a teacher of 6 year old children, I have seen first hand the excitement that accompanies losing a tooth. I make it as special as I can for the children in my classroom but nothing is as awesome as the memories created around those normal childhood experiences at home.
When your child loses a tooth, they can put it in the pocket of the tooth guardian angel and hang it on their door. It’s much easier to get to once they’re asleep than if it were under their pillow, and seeing it on the door drastically reduces the chance of the Tooth Fairy forgetting to come. The tooth can be replaced with a coin or other special item to commemorate the lost tooth for the child to discover when they wake in the morning. I’m saving mine and can hardly wait until we get to use it. I’m assuming my son’s molars will actually come in and he’ll sleep through the night once or twice before he loses a tooth?
Both products are incredibly well made with fabulous detailing and are gifted in a simple yet elegant organza bag. Keep in mind, these are not toys and many contain small pieces not suitable for young children. (Who, generally, are not losing teeth.)
Save 10% at Gifts Define with the code em>GDOPINI10 only until until June 13/08.
Now that my son is solely feeding himself “real” food, we have far less dropped food and a lot more launched food accompanied by the declaration that he’s “Sharing the puppies!” I don’t know that anything but time and patience will solve that issue, but I do know I would have LOVED to have a Wupzey high chair food catcher a year ago. I asked a friend with a newly self-feeding almost-toddler to check one out and let us know what she thought.
Jen says:
Available in ten colours, the Wupzey attaches quickly and easily to my standard high chair. It’s made of 100% Rip-stop Nylon and retails for under $20. I’m here to tell you that’s a small price to pay for the drastic reduction in cheerios that I now clean up! I used to sweep five to eight times a day and that’s been reduced to one good sweep before bed thanks to the Wupzey. This product belongs in the category “things you didn’t know you needed but love” along with many other of my favourite items. Thanks, Johanna, for a great product that reduces my daily workload!
Save 20% on any order from the site with the code TOP
Win it! We’re giving away a Wupzey in your choice of colour. To enter, leave a comment on this post stating which of the ten colours you’d choose if you win. Contest closes at noon MST on June 3, 2008.
Additional entries available. See contest entry information and rules.
CONTEST CLOSED
When I bought (okay, my mother in law bought…) my first stroller, I was very concerned about the cup holders. Little did I know that no matter how many and how deep they were, they’d still spill their contents everywhere when we hit bumps and would fall off and even break when they were stuck in the back of my vehicle. I suppose it’s akin to buying a car for the great mirrors and lipstick holder. You do it once and learn your lesson.
Now that my stroller is adorned with the fabulous (reader recommended - thanks Katja!) Think King Soft Buggy Cup designed by King-Yee Man, I’ll never worry about cup holders again. It’s made of squishable but sturdy mesh and nylon and is large enough to hold both a drink and your keys/wallet/cell phone but small enough to be totally unobtrusive. It’s flat bottom and drawstring top keep the contents level and secure. I stick my necessities at the bottom and my drink on top and I’m ready to rock and roll.
The Think King Soft Buggy Cup is truly the first cup holder I’ve found that really works and is multi-purpose. It attaches easily with Velcro to almost anything (strollers, car seats, scooters, bikes…), is easy to clean and pulls of in seconds if you want to move it to another stroller or location.
Get 15% off on your purchase of 2 or more with the code buggycup-top for the next two weeks only! (Ends May 16/08.)
Trust me when I tell you that you’ll want to keep both for yourself. I’m ordering even more - one for each child to keep on the stroller, one for my regular dose of caffeine and necessities, two for hanging in the van so I can ditch those blasted carseat cup holders, four to live on our bikes…
Hmmm, get yours fast before I put them out of stock!
I’m a labeling freak. There are labels everywhere in my house - even the bin that holds the labels is labeled!
Lovable Labels is a Canadian mom-run company that carries a large selection of customized labels as well as some cool stuff to help a mom around the house. Goodness knows I need all the help I can get.
My kids especially love their unique fun stickies that are shaped like butterflies and dinosaurs and are available in lots more cool shapes (pictured at right). Believe it or not, they’re less likely to leave their things lying around the park when they have their own special label on them. And for those days when they do, I’ve got a better chance of getting them back eventually!
Have a child with allergies or medical issues? Check out these cool vital ID wristbands. The kids I know would be much more comfortable wearing those than a metal bracelet. And while you’re looking for things that make your kids ecstatically happy? Personalized notecards and way cool books would be fantastic gifts. Is it too early to shop for stocking stuffers? I think not.
Mention that you heard about Lovable Labels through the The Opinionated Parent during the checkout process and receive 15 FREE Red Regular Sticker Bonus Labels with your purchase. One per family. Expires May 30, 2008.
Now that I’ve got two children with tentative plans for more (did I just say that?) I have had to find ways to make this baby a lot more portable. While I’m a devoted baby wearer, it’s not always comfortable or convenient and sometimes my two year old just wants to have his mama all to himself. For those times, I am in love with the baby zabu™ from wagamama baby.
Whassa wagamama? (That’s exactly what my husband and my son both asked. Genetics much?) It means “spoiled rotten” in Japanese.
My own spoiled rotten baby now gets to enjoy the great outdoors and the living room floor alike in the zabu, a luxuriously soft mat with tie-up soft bumper walls that’s a playpen alternative for babies of the non-mobile variety and a playpen insert for when you need a little more security with added padding and cleanliness. Leave it untied for a great playmat too.
When you’re done, the baby zabu™ rolls up like a way cushy yoga mat and comes with a coordinating shoulder strap for travel or storage.
The baby zabu™ is currently available in two sizes and nine styles which include two eco-friendly bamboo options and range from $88 - $135.
Save 15% with the code TOP15 until 5/31/08.
Merry Christmas Eve! Between waiting for a baby to arrive and entertaining both side of my family (with a lot of help) I’m hoping to be able to continue to pump out a few reviews and contests over the holidays so be sure to check your RSS readers or pop in each day to see what great things we’ve got to share with you!
If you get something great over the holidays, be sure to send us your guest reviews so we can help make you famous. Or not, but we’ll definitely do our best!
Merry Christmas, from all of us to all of you. Enjoy the most precious people in your life this holidays season!
Silikids is a company run by two moms that specializes in cool silicone products for kids. So far there are four products in their line up, each of which are equally cool.
Whether you put breastmilk or a substitute in to a bottle, you’ve got to be concerned about all of the chemicals from plastic that we now know without a doubt leach into the liquid and are linked to all kids of horrible illnesses. We know that glass bottles are the best if you choose to use a bottle but, though they’re thick and safer in many ways than plastics, it’s still a little scary to put glass in the hands of a child. Especially once they learn to throw.
Siliskins, pictures at right, come in 4oz. & 8 oz. sizes and are translucent silicone ‘bottle condoms,’ for lack of a better term, that are microwave safe, hypo-allergenic and dishwasher friendly. They allow you to easily see how much is in the bottle, make it easy & safe to hold and also protect it if it should fall. As a test, we dropped one from a height of 5 feet onto both a carpeted and a linoleum floor and there was absolutely no damage to the bottle or the skin.
Some bottle covers can only be used with a proprietary bottle but Siliskins are designed to fit the Evenflo glass nurser which is easy to find across the continent. The 8 oz. retails for $12 and the 4 oz. for $10, and both include one bottle.
If you’ve got a little crawler, check out these awesome Silipads - silicone knee pads. If you’ve tried it with your kids, you are well aware that crawling can hurt! Silipads are super cute and available in four hip & bright colour combos (seen at left), easy to get on and off and machine washable. Now that’s what I’m talking about! 
Last but not least in the Silikids lineup is the Silibib - a food grade silicone bib that lies completely flat against the chest and didn’t even stain when we used it at a spaghetti dinner. Miraculous? I’d say. It wipes clean easily with a wet cloth or you can just toss it in with the dishes for a thorough cleaning.
I think I’m in love with silicone and, therefore, with Silikids.
We’ve got one 4 oz. and one 8 oz. bottle in Siliskins to give to one lucky reader. To enter the random draw, email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with Silikids in the subject line by midnight MST on 12/31/07 and tell us one good reason to use silicone (from the website, please). Congratulations Lucinda!
Please include your full name and mailing address with your entry, and a blog link if applicable so we can link you up if you win. Entries without a mailing address are invalid. (Please note that these are deleted after the draws and are never sold or given to anyone.)
If you have a toddler and you haven’t got a KABOOST, you don’t know what you’re missing.
At about 17 months my son began to occasionally refuse his booster because, quite frankly, he got my control freak streak and hates to be strapped in if he’s “in one of those moods” and/or not absolutely famished. We’ve tried letting him sit right at the table without his tray many times but his booster seat didn’t allow him to be pulled close enough and he was eye level with the table without it.
With KABOOST, we’ve found our answer.
It’s a lightweight chair booster that fits under the legs of any 4 legged seat and lifts the whole thing closer to the table. There are two different heights (4.5” and 3.75”) adjusted simply by flipping it over. The height adjustment feature is great for growing kids and also for different table styles. My son could probably use the higher seat height right now at 19.5 months but his legs would be crushed by the edge of the table and the shorter one is certainly good enough to make him happy and comfortable at the table.
The KABOOST folds up small for portability and each of the four legs is tightly spring loaded to grip the legs of your chair safely, whether they’re round or square, fat or skinny. Since it increases the base measurement of the chair, it actually increases the stability slightly. A nice touch for a monkey like my son!
The KABOOST retails for $40 and is available in three colours.
If only they made these for short moms.
(Wait. They hold up to 300 pounds! What do you think the wait staff would say if I brought my own KABOOST for my bar stool?)
Save 20% on your KABOOST order until January 31, 2008
with the code kaboostday
One randomly selected lucky T.O.P. reader will win a KABOOST in their choice of colour. To enter, email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with KABOOST in the subject line and list the three available colour choices before midnight MST on 12/19/07. Please include your complete mailing address and blog link if you’d like us to link you up if you win. Congratulations Betty!
I was excited to hear about Lily On The Fly because, though I consider myself a good cook, I rarely remember to plan meals in advance and am often throwing something together at the last minute or eating appetizers for supper.
When the starter kit arrived in the mail it was even better than I thought it would be. It’s not just recipe cards - it really is a complete family meal planning kit that includes a deck of 36 meal cards and a 7 slot magnetic organizer so your whole week of meals is easily accessible on your fridge. The cards are colour coded into main dishes, side dishes and treats for easy planning, and each card has easy to follow instructions for day-before/morning prep as well as the last minute toss-together instructions. Turn the magnetic holder over and the back of each card becomes your shopping list for the week.
Brilliant, isn’t it? It really is the total package.
There are recipes that take a little bit of prep and recipes that take hardly any so you can plan your weekly according to your schedule and always have something yummy to eat. My favourite recipe so far? Cheesy potato soup. Perfect for a cold Canadian winter! There are currently two 36 card expansion packs available for $10.95 each in addition to the starter kit which sells for $15.95.
This would make an awesome gift for anyone, but especially a family with a new baby looking to do something that I find very challenging for the first several months of newborn life. Eating warm food at least once a day. Is that just me?
Use the discount code OP to save 10% until 1/15/08!
Lily on the Fly is giving a Complete Hearty Meals Collection to one T.O.P. reader. To enter the random draw, email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com before midnight MST on 12/10/07 with Lily on the Fly in the subject line and tell us the three ‘on the fly’ steps to creating great hearty meals! Congratulations Katalin!
My first child never once drank from a bottle. To be honest, it never concerned me at all because I nursed until he self-weaned onto a cup and I was never away from him for more than a couple of hours anyway. I was just going for a back up plan should anything have happened to me so that my child wouldn’t starve. I really didn’t want him to eat out of anything plastic anyway.
However…for the next one soon to arrive, I’m hoping for slightly more success on that front to allow me to spend some 1-1 time with my oldest that doesn’t revolve around the hourly nursing sessions that are bound to happen. However, being the *ahem* …persnickety…mother that I am I will not be putting my ‘liquid gold’ into a plastic bottle that leaches carcinogens. I’ve looked for glass bottle and they’re rather hard to come by in Hickville, Canada. When I have found them they were not very attractive (granted, not the most important factor) and didn’t look all that safe to me past the point of feeding a baby that literally doesn’t move in your arms.
And that’s why I was giddy to find the newest bottle on the scene from BabyLife - the Wee Go bottle. It’s your typical (recyclable) glass bottle with a non-toxic, non-plastic silicone sleeve that not only helps babies and parents keep a solid grip but also protects the bottle from breakage in all but fairly extreme drops. The bottle, sleeve and new French nipple can both be boiled or can go through the dishwasher together or alone. (If you have an old sample like the one we’re giving away below, the non-toxic silicone nipple needs to be hand-washed.) The ring, plug and cap are plastic, but are food grade, polycarbonate-free and also recyclable. At $18 for each bottle they’re not for everyone (or not several days worth anyway, but one or two might be do-able) but they’re certainly the best option I’ve seen for older bottle-lovers and out-of-the-house bottle feedings. And persnickety moms like me.
WeeGo bottles will be available in early November.
We’re giving one away in “sky” along with a white 3-6 month onesie from BabyLife. To enter, email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with WeeGo in the subject line before midnight tonight and tell us the name of one other sleeve colour that’s available. Congratulations Shaila!
My newest summer love…
We’re popsicle folks around here (with +37 C temps for a month, you would be too…) but we’re constantly doing laundry and resorting to ludicrous stain removal techniques to remove the remains of the icy treat from the kids’ clothing.
We used to, that is.
From now on we’ll be serving popsicles in the Dripstik.
It’s an ingenious little piece of plastic that holds a popsicle (or any other treat on a stick) in one end and an ice cream cone in the other and catches all of the drips in a little cup surrounding the icy treat. Our product testers all reported that the Dripstik really did catch ALL of the drips! Another feature that was very well received is the thick handle which was easy to hold even for the teeniest of toddlers.
At only $4.99 each, they make the perfect party favour for a summer party. (And only $4.05 shipping no matter where you live for any amount except a case of 24. Gotta love it!)
Get 10% off your orders with the code 0707. Go on - you know you want to!
You can find the Dripstik in our TOP Shops where we post permanent and exclusive online shopping discounts just for T.O.P. readers!
Price Products LLC. is giving away a Dripstik gift set valued at $19.99 USD (pictured at left) to one lucky T.O.P. reader. The gift set includes 4 Dripstiks, 1 plastic ice cream scoop, and a recipe book in a gift box. To be entered in the random draw, email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with DRIPSTIK in the subject line and tell us the name of the couple behind Price Products and the Dripstik. Contest closes Friday night, 7/27/07, at midnight MST. Congratulations Jenny B!
