reviews

Last Minute Holiday Gifts For Adults

- brandy3 1 Comment

1800 Flowers has the perfect last-minute gifts for your mom, dad, spouse and every one on your holiday list.  17% of shoppers have barely started their shopping for christmas. I am done and have been for a while, but while you struggle with those last few on your list here are some great Ideas from 1800 Flowers

Comfort and Joy Sweet Treats Gift Basket:

Filled with sweet treats, this basket is an affordable way to send holiday cheer.  Items include a Harry London White Chocolate Peppermint Pretzel, decadent toffees, candy canes and more. It’s only $24.99 at www.1800baskets.com

Holiday Mint Meltaways:

Celebrate the holidays with the perfect blending of creamy, cool mint and smooth chocolate. These special holiday edition Mint Meltaways, from Fannie May, feature a snowy white pastel coating and festive holiday sprinkles. They are only $22.99

Buttercream Frosted Club:

This holiday Give the gift that keeps giving with Cheryl’s cookie club membership and spread holiday cheer for an entire year. Buttercream frosted cookie club is $22.99-34.99 (Per delivery)

Holiday Poinsettia Popcorn:

Premium, flavor-infused 3-way treat includes all-natural Butter, robust Cheese and secret recipe Caramel corn, while a 4-way tin adds delicate white cheddar to the mix.  A 2 gallon tin is available for $24.99

All Wrapped Up:

I received this beautiful flower gift.  This bouquet features roses, carnations, mini carnations, green cedar, noble fir and seeded eucalyptus, topped off with sparkling silver ornaments, all put together in a sparkling red gift box.   I really like this set, its fun and goes very well with all my christmas decorations. The ornaments and Red gift box can be used every year around the holidays.  This is available in a small (pictured above) for $39.99, or a medium bouquet for $49.99, or large for $59.99.

Visit 1800 Flowers for any last minute Holiday Favorites. Get your Orders in by 11 Am Christmas Eve for  Christmas delivery

Disclosure: I received a Bouquet of flowers mentioned above , no other compensation was received. All thoughts are my own.

Holiday Gift Guide 2010: Leapfrog Alpha Pet

- brandy3

Product Description: Dig into phonics fun with the AlphaPet Explorer This portable learning toy features Scout the puppy as your child’s guide to learning letter names, letter sounds and more. Four learning modes extend the fun with letter and phonics games, music and help from Scout.

****My son is 3 and still doesn’t know his full alphabet, just part of it. The alpha pet is a great way for kids to learn their alphabet. This handheld toy has the alphabet displayed in dog bones and says every letter you push, the sound and even has a game. The game is to see how fast you can find a letter, I was even enjoying the game myself!  I think my son has more fun playing with this toy than actually learning from it.

A big thank you to Leapfrog for also sending batteries with this toy.

Retail: $19.99 but you can find for $14.99 on www.leapfrog.com

My rating:9

Disclosure: No compensation was received for this post, A product was provided by the company. Thoughts are 100% my own.

Holiday Gift Guide 2010: Leapfrog Scribble and Write

- brandy3 2 Comments

Product Description:

Children trace the lights to get practice drawing simple shapes and pictures, then graduate to learning upper- and lowercase letters with step-by-step guidance. Fun learning games help reinforce letter recognition and pencil control skills. Best of all, Scribble & Write uses a single retraceable surface for ease of use and portability.

****My daughter is 4 and she knows how to sing her ABC’s she still is having trouble getting the writing down. The scribble and write is perfect for kids around the preschool age. it breaks down letters by lines and even has a pad and pen for your child to trace the letter. My daughter was so excited to try this out and has really improved on her writing. Plus there is also letter and shape drawing to help children with shapes and so much more. I am so thrilled by this toy and have to say it really helps with preschool homeschooling.

Retail: $24.99 but you can find for $15.99 on www.leapfrog.com

My rating:10

Disclosure: No compensation was received for this post, a product was received. All opinions are my own.

Despicable Me DVD Review

- brandy3 3 Comments

Product Description: Vying for the title of “World’s Greatest Villain”, Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) – along with his hilarious crew of mischievous minions – plots to pull off the craziest crime of the century: steal the moon! But when Gru enlists the help of three little girls, they see something in him nobody else has ever seen: the perfect dad. From executive producer Chris Meledandri (Horton Hears a Who, Ice Age), and featuring the voices of an all-star comedic cast, including Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove and Julie Andrews, Despicable Me is “rousingly funny, heartfelt and imaginative”.

****I never saw this movie in theatres, so watching it for the first time was exciting.  We’ve seen all the commercials and my kids have been begging to see it.  The movie started out kind of boring, but as soon as the minions came on everything got exciting and funny. Now there aren’t to many funny parts , but there are a few and they had my kids on the floor.  An evil villan is set out to steal the moon, but is distracted by the children he adopted for his evil plan. When he decides to give them back and go through with his plan, they are kidnapped and he tries to rescue them.  He does and they live happily together as a family. my favorite part would have to be when he kisses the girls goodnight and then the minions say can we have some kissy Kissy! Or at the  end when they all dance. I have to warn you though there are some words in this movie that may be disgusting, such as fart, poop, butt among a couple of others.   We really enjoyed this movie.

Retail: $29.98 but you can get on Amazon for $14.99

Release date: December 14, 2010

Running Time: 95 minutes

My rating:9

Disclosure: No compensation was received, a product was received for my review.

Dinosaur Train Game

- brandy3

Product Description:  Dinosaur Train All Aboard game. Follow the path through the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Be the first player to reach the nest to win. For 2 to 6 players.

****My kids saw this game and were so excited to play it. While they are still young and don;t really understand directions, they followed the game rules for about 5 minutes and then they decided to play it their own way. This game is very easy to understand and fun. Just spin the spinner and move, first one to the end wins.

Retail:#13.95

Disclosure: No compensation was received, a product was received but I donated it after my review.

Holiday Gift Guide 2010: LeapFrogs Fix and Learn Speedy

- brandy3

 

Product Description: Get little gears turning for fun play and learning! Children can learn about shapes counting and more as they play with a car that will tune up their motor skills and fire up their imaginations! Parents can connect to the online LeapFrog Learning Path for customized learning insights and ideas to expand the learning. Appropriate for children ages 18-36 months.

 

***** My son doesn’t really like toys that tell him what to do. Yes! He is that stubborn. He really loves Speedy though. He is a car that breaks down and you have to fix him by pressing or turning his buttons. He comes with a wrench and screwdriver to crank his tires, and when his license plate is pressed he sings the ABC’s and counts to ten. This is a really fun toy for young girls and boys, plus it’s educational.  The only thing I don’t  is that the hood pops off very easily.

Retail: $24.99  but you can get for $15.99 at www.leapfrog.com

My rating: 9

Disclosure: No compensation was received for this post, a product was received by the company, all opinions are my own.

Holiday Gift Guide: Fantasia/ Fantasia 2000 Blu-ray combo pack review

- brandy3 1 Comment

Product Description: Walt Disney’s animated musical masterpiece is an extravaganza of sight and sound-now brilliantly restored for the first time ever in high definition! Blu-ray technology finally  allows you to experience Fantasia-and Fantasia 2000, the triumphant classic it inspired-the way Walt envisioned! Plus, for the first time ever on Blu-ray, experience the 2003 Academy Award nominated animated short Destino-the extraordinary collaboration between Walt Disney and legendary artist Salvador Dali.

Bonus Features for Fantasia:

  • digital Restoration
  • DisneyView
  • Disney Family Museum
  • The Schultheis Notebook (movie secrets)
  • Art gallery
  • Audio Commentaries

Fantasia 2000 Bonus features:

  • Destino (Short film)
  • Dali and Disney (Destino Documentary)
  • Musicana (Walt’s inspiration for a Fantasia sequel
  • Disney’s Viral Vault
  • Audi commentaries

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYupouS-I7Q]

****I love being able to share movies I grew up watching with my children. When I first played this movie a few years ago on VHS, my kids were not interested at all. Now that they are a little older they can actually sit through it, although I don’t think my kids really understand what Fantasia is all about, but they loved the colors and music. There favorite part was Mickey playing with the wizards magic.  Watching the bonus features made me appreciate this movie more, hearing the commentaries and Walt’s inspiration. This movie truly is inspirational and I think one of Disney’s best movies ever.

Retail: $45.99 but you can find on Amazon for $28.99

Release date: November 30, 2010

Running Time: 200 minutes

My rating:10

Disclosure: No compensation was received for this post, a product was provided by Disney.

Holiday Gift Guide 2010: Nerf All Weather Blitz Flyer Flying Disc

- brandy3

Description:  Play at peak level no matter what the weather’s like with this awesome official tournament size WEATHER BLITZ Flyer disc! Special technology gives this disc the perfect balance of grip and slip in any weather, so you can execute your perfect throws, no matter what the weather throws at you. And, with its outstanding durability, this disc will stand up to the most rugged conditions and rough games, again and again and again!

****This frisbee is so cool, we had a cheap one from the dollar store, but it started cracking when it got cold. My kids would take it to the beach and the designs would come off. The nerf all weather is durable and makes playtime fun even in the cold. My daughter was so thrilled to be able to play with this. She loves the game of frisbee and is begging me to go to the beach.   The flying disk even has padding on it for a firm grip. This is a great gift for a girl or boy.

Retail: $9.99

My rating:8

Disclosure: No compensation was received, a product was provided.

Holiday Gift Guide 2010: George Foreman Evolve Grill

- brandy3

Product Description: Enjoy total countertop versatility plus healthy cooking with the most versatile grill ever from George Foreman. The Evolve Grill is specially designed to be as versatile as you need with up to 10 plates available for purchase. You start with a 4-plate starter set, then build your collection with as many plates as you need for 24/7 cooking versatility. The grill features our adjustable slope that lets you lay the surface flat for even cooking or use the patented slope to help knock out the fat as you grill. Our George Tough nonstick coating lets you cook without oil or butter, even on delicate foods. The 84 square inch cooking surface is perfect to feed your family of 4 all their favorites. With digital time and temperature control, you can get precise results on everything from omelets and sandwiches to grilled steak and poultry. All this, plus dishwasher-safe removable plates and accessories for easy cleaning.

**** I was told I would receive the Evolve grill with muffin pan, but i received the mini burger instead. I was a little disappointed, because I wanted baking to be a little easier.  We use the evolve grill everyday. It only takes half the time to cook anything than a regular grill. The first thing I made was Meatloaf in the deep dish bake pan. It came out very good! Since there is no drain in the pan, i had to take it off and drain the fat in the middle of cooking.  Since then I have cooked pork, and chicken and I never really get much fat in the drip pan. The only downside is it takes up a lot of counter space.

Retail:149.99 but you can buy on Amazon for $114.17

My rating: 9

Disclosure:No compensation was received, a product was provided by the company.

Mickey’s Number Roundup and Handy Manny Big Construction Job With Mickey Mote

- brandy3

Product Description:  Rustle Up Some Fun! Howdy Mousekeroos! It’s time to put on your cowboy hats, grab your lassos and help Mickey, Goofy and all your Clubhouse pals wrangle a boisterous herd of wild numbers into Mickey Corral. Laugh it up as you count ‘em down from 10 to 1, and rustle up the right Mouseketools to catch those rascally numbers! Then search for Daisy Bo Peep’s lost sheep, decode a secret message, and solve more super fun puzzles. For big surprises and rootin’, tootin’ fun from sun up to sundown, count on Mickey’s Numbers Round-Up!

Bonus Features:

  • never before seen episode

Description:  Put on your hard hats and team up with Handy Manny on an awesome full-length adventure!  Join Manny and his Tools as they head out of town to work on an exciting construction project in Concrete Falls. Meanwhile, back in Sheet Rock Hills, Mr. Lopart tries to fill in for Manny – with hilarious results! Can Kelly convince Manny to come home and save the day? Introducing new Power Tools, new songs, and a wonderful message about the rewards of taking on new challenges, Big Construction Job is fully loaded with tons of fun for everyone!

Bonus:

  • never before seen episode (Good Fences/Butterflies)

**** This is so much fun according to my kids. My son is almost 3 and even he can participate in this.  The Mickey Mote gets the kids up, more learning and fun.  My son really enjoyed Mickey’s number roundup and even learned a few numbers I don’t think he knew before.  The only downside is I have 3 kids and 1 mote. they share but not enough. LOL! This is a great learning tool and what i love is it actually has the thinking instead of just sitting in from of the TV.

Retail:$23.99

Release date: November 16, 2010

My rating:8

Disclosure: No compensation was received, a product was received for this review.

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