My Punchbowl makes me look good - Giveaway!

After being approached by the folks at My Punchbowl to write a review of their party planning website, I knew that my trip back to the Hoosier state would now be smooth sailing. Now you may be asking yourself,"How does this chick connect party planning and traveling to Indiana (yes, the Hoosier state)?". Well, the last time we sojourned to family and friends I was pretty nonchalant about the whole visit. Let me tell you, that didn't go over so well. A couple blog posts later about how much fun we had and the pictures to prove it, created hurt feelings by those friends and family who hadn't. I was determined not to let that happen this time. And My Punchbowl was going to be my partner in perfect planning.

The Process

Signing up was a breeze and it's free(you know I like that)! I was like a kid in a candy shop because creating My Punchbowl invitations is like digital scrapbooking. I decided what needed to happen was to warn remind my peeps that the Clinton posse was heading into town. I needed a "Save the Date" card to virtually send everyone in Central Indiana who cared about our visit. So I named my "event" Indiana Bound and started the creative process. The thing I dreaded was transferring all those e-mail addresses. No problem! My Punchbowl is living in the 21st century and has a handy dandy way to import those puppies and organize them beautifully.

What fun I had! I got to pick from all sorts of "paper", fonts, colors, even virtual ribbons if I wanted. I ended up playing with the "Save the Date" form to create a schedule of where we would be when and contact information so no one could complain say they didn't know we were in town. Now, one of my computers is an old man, which made creating my card a very slow process. But once I moved to my computer that is a middle aged woman everything moved at a normal rate of speed and I was able to get it done before we actually left! Plus, I was able to fit in everything in the card that people needed to know to see us (if they wanted to) and avoid us (if they didn't want to). Here's what I came up with:

Party planning for my daughter's birthday in June is going to be a breeze thanks to My Punchbowl.com.

You Can Win a Premium Membership

So My Punchbowl is generously offering a one year premium membership to one of my lucky readers. With a premium membership you get not only award winning features and hundreds of design options, you also get priority tech support, premium designs, more fonts, papers, and ribbons and exclusive partner offers. All of this plus advertising free creations comes with the premium membership. So, are you curious enough now to check out the perfect party planning website? Are you asking, "What do I need to do to win this membership? Tell me now!".

Well, to get a chance to win a premium membership leave a comment by midnight est April 22 , 2009 with the following info: (and please leave a comment & e-mail addy for each entry):

• Visit My Punchbowl and leave a comment about the site that I didn't share

For addition entries into the giveaway this is what you can do:

1. Subscribe to My Punchbowl leaving user name and what event you'll be planning in the comment.
   
2. Follow me at Twitter and tweet about this giveaway with RT@LaterBetty included in your tweet.
3. Follow either one of my blogs or subscribe to a feed of either one of Betty's blogs

I'll announce the winner on April 23rd and contact them by e-mail as well. Now get out there and start commenting!

Be Green with Freepeats Giveaway

In my little house I have lots of baby and kid stuff taking up space. Space I could be using for more preschooler and kid stuff...groan. Then I discovered Freepeats and my frustration came to an end. This is a website that speaks to my inner green cheapskate because it's all about sharing what your little ones don't use anymore and getting things they do need. Angie Wynne, founder of the popular frugal parenting website, Baby Cheapskate, recently announced the expansion of Freepeats.org. This online forum allows parents to pass on gently-used baby, kid, and maternity items they've finished with and pick up similar items for free from other nearby parents.

Freepeats groups are up and running in 47 major U.S. cities with dozens more openings planned for 2009. I was happy to see that a major city close to my little town was represented. There are over 17,500 members now registered at Freepeats. Offerings have included bouncers, swings, cribs, infant formula, baby and toddler clothing, zoo tickets, diapers, strollers, high chairs, baby gyms, parenting books, toys, and more. It took little convincing that this was worth the minuscule one time membership of $4.95 for me to have the opportunity to acquire items I would have paid, over my kids' lifetime, thousands of dollars. Plus, I love finding a good home for my children's clothes, toys and equipment. I would rather give it to someone in need than get a few dollars for it at a yard sale or consignment shop where I have had to put in so much energy for so little.

Freepeats is growing by leaps and bounds. The site has been featured at Discovery.com's Planet Green website, Apartment Therapy.com, Nickelodeon's Parents Connect website, Green Deals Daily, and in the pages of Readers Digest, Parenting magazine, and several local publications. Here's your chance to participate to in a green movement that connects you to other families and if needed, provides you with things you need for your growing family plus let's you give back to other's all with a simple click.

Win it!

So how does this sound to you? Are you curious? Well, Freepeats would love to have you as a member and so would I if you live in my area (wink, wink). They have generously donated ten, yes, I said ten, free lifetime memberships. If this kind of eco-friendly and economic-friendly forum appeals to you then go to Freepeats and see if there is a group close to where you live. To get a chance to win one of ten lifetime memberships leave a comment by midnight est March 15, 2009 with the following info:

• The Freepeats group you'd like to join.
• One item you'd giveaway
• An e-mail where we can reach you if you win

For more chances to win choose one of the following ways to earn an extra entry or combine all three to get three extra entries!
(each extra entry needs a comment and way to contact you)

1. Follow my blog or subscribe to it
2. Twitter about it and follow me on Twitter.
   
3. Mention this giveaway on your blog with a link back here and to Freepeat. If you are not a blogger, forward this post to 2 of your friends and cc us on the email (laterbetty[@]gmail[dot]com)
   

A random winner will be selected on March 16, 2009 and notified by e-mail. Good luck!

Asheville Vacation

Dreaming about a getaway but short on cash? Do you love Asheville, North Carolina and all it has to offer? Well, there is a way to possibly make your dreams come true. One of my favorite Hoosier Mommy Bloggers, Bargain Briana, is having a giveaway that could turn your dream into a reality. The giveaway includes a "Go Blue Ridge Card". It is like an admission ticket for multiple venues. For one low price you get to see top attractions like:
* Biltmore Estates
* Whitewater Rafting
* Smoky Mountain Jet Boats
* Grandfather Mountain
* Chimney Rock Park
* Linville Caverns
* Tweetsie Railroad
* Gray Line Trolley Tours of Asheville
* Wine Tasting

The Blue Ridge card also comes with a FREE full color guidebook, VIP savings on shopping & dining. You can purchase 2, 3, or 5 day passes depending on how long you are visiting. To enter to win a Blue Ridge Card and a piece of Appalachian pottery from the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau go to the website, Explore Asheville and sign up for their newsletter and leave a comment back at Bargain Briana about what you'd like to do most while you are in Asheville. See you in Asheville!

PBS KIDS Island

Covert learning, I find, is always more effective for my reluctant reader than the obvious, "let's sit down and read a book" kind of learning. The effectiveness grows if there is the possibility of winning something...even a virtual "something". PBS KIDS Island offers free reading games and activities for children ages 2-5 years but I have found my 8 year old reluctant reader actively using it along with my 3 year old. New features will soon be added, including a Word of the Day and games for older children (ages 6-8). Until then, my little man seems to be satisfied in "helping" his little sister win lots of tickets. PBS KIDS Island gives children the tools to create an online island carnival one ride at a time by playing reading games with PBS KIDS® characters. There are eight different literacy-building levels:

• phonological awareness,
  
• letter recognition,
  
• letter sequencing,
  
• phonemic awareness,
  
• word families,
  
• phonics-decoding,
  
• text comprehension
  
• vocabulary

It isn’t easy for anyone to make sense of all this new information, parents or kids. But reading doesn’t – and shouldn’t – have to be an frightening process that turns off all but the most gifted students. With PBS KIDS Island, children are introduced to new skills in a playful, silly way, allowing them to learn at their own pace and remain interested. Hey, uh, that's how I like to learn too! Everything from the alphabet to phonemes can be fun. Honest. The 32 games hit on these different skills, each an important piece to reading successfully. As your child plays the games she is learning these skills in order of literacy development. As her skills develop she is given the opportunity to build more rides on the Island while secretly (shhh, don't tell them they're learning) gaining the skills she needs to become a great reader.

The games are fun in-and-of themselves, but a ticket and prize reward system is included to encourage kids to achieve even more. Kids earn tickets by completing games (multiple tickets for the first completion and one for each completion of the same game thereafter) and can trade in their tickets for prizes like virtual toys and coloring pages you can print. The prizes live in each kid's customizable treehouse, another feature to help children feel like their PBS KIDS Island is theirs.

But the best part is that parents can be a part of the child’s learning process, since all child accounts are in the adult's account. The site requires an email account and multiple kids can play under one email address. As the account holder, I can track my kids progress and do reading activities with them related to what they are learning on the Island. Oh, and did I mention that it’s free? Yeah, now that's my kind of bargain. And I don't even have to leave my house to buy some expensive reading program to help my kids learn to read; just the click of the mouse and I get one more notch on my super mommy belt.

Now, I'd like to hear from you! How do you make reading fun for your kids? What online resources do you use, if any? If you’ve used PBS KIDS Island, what did you – and your kids – think? Happy Reading!