Category Archives: Holiday

Easy Valentine’s Day Craft: Valentine’s Day Heart Clasp Box

Crafts, Holiday, ,

Valentine's Heart Clasp Box - valentine craft

My 5 year old daughter is not a procrastinator.   As soon as she finds out that she’s been assigned to do something at school, she does it.  Getting ready for Valentine’s Day has been no exception.  She is in Kindergarten and has never shared Valentine’s that she made before so she’s very excited about Valentine’s Day and couldn’t wait to get to crafting when we had a few extra hours yesterday.

We have an HP Photosmart Premium Touchscreen printer that allows us to print activities, coloring pages, writing paper, and craft templates right from the printer.  My kids love to go to the printer and browse the latest activity pages and coloring pages.  My Mom has the same printer and actually found the Valentine’s Day icon on the touchscreen and printed a few Valentine’s Heart Clasp Box templates out for my daughter and I to try out.  I spent the next hour cutting the box templates out after printing them on cardstock.  We settled on making seven boxes.  One for each of her teachers and an extra in case one of us messed up.

Here’s the Valentine’s Day Heart Clasp Box template:

Valentine Box - HP Printable craft idea

You can print the Valentine’s Box template here.

Supplies needed:

  • A printer
  • Paper – white cardstock is best but not required
  • Scissors
  • Double sided tape or glue stick
  • Candy

Steps:

  • I cut the template out.
  • My daughter folded along the dotted lines
  • My daughter put double sided tape on the box where the instructions call for glue.
  • We folded the box together.
  • Each box took about 10 minutes from print to fold.

Valentine's Heart Clasp Box - craft idea

After putting the boxes together, we dropped a few Hershey’s Kisses and SweetTarts in them.

I hope you enjoy this Valentine’s Day craft as much as my daughter and I did!  These make great gifts for teachers and friends!

Alicia Hagan, Editor

Join me Monday 12/19 (8-9:30pm EST) at the #SearsChat ‘Last Minute Shopping’ Chat and #Giveaway

Gifts, Holiday, New posts, Twitter Parties, , , ,

Christmas is less than a week away! Are you still looking for gifts? Have no fear, we have dedicated a #SearsChat & a Sweepstakes to help you out.

I thought I was going to have all of my holiday gift shopping done by now, but I thought wrong. I think it’s nearly impossible to ever be finished with holiday shopping.  There’s always someone to buy for, something to exchange, or something that you or a loved one really wants goes on sale at the last minute, so rightly so.. you have to go by it.

Sears Twitter party

Christmas is less than a week away! Are you still looking for gifts? Have no fear, we have dedicated a #SearsChat to help you out.

Sears has all of your last minute gifting needs- great deals on great gifts. Our hosts @Sears, @StacieInAtlanta, @Crissy, @JollyMom and @MommyInsider will give you the scoop on how to make last minute shopping a little less stressful.

Follow @Sears and @SearsDeals and tweet with us from 7pm-8:30pm CT using the hashtag #SearsChat to participate. We will be giving away the following prizes:

  • 1 Forever Lazy
  • Remington Foil Shaver
  • 1 Smart Planet Mini Cupcake Makers
  • Oster Electric Wine Opener
  • Oster MyBlend Blender
  • Hamilton Beach hand stand mixer

To Enter for a Chance to Win you MUST do the following:

  • Have an active Twitter account.
  • Follow the official @Sears and @SearsDeals Twitter accounts
  • Tweet “Join me @Sears & @SearsDeals for #SearsChat – Mon 12/19 from 7-8:30pm CT talking about Last Min Gifting- Details/Prizes: http://bit.ly/tMnbmG
  • Post the link to your tweet in the comments on this Sears post.
  • During the Twitter Party, send a Tweet (containing only appropriate, family-friendly content as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion) that includes the #SearsChat hashtag.


A few important rules:

You must follow @sears and @SearsDeals in order to be eligible to win

Winners must accept their prizes within 15 minutes of the announcement that they won.

You must accept your prize by tweeting something like this: “Thank you, I accept my prize @Sears @SearsDeals #SearsChat”

Read the official Sears Last Minute GiftIng Twitter Chat SWEEPSTAKES rules and RSVP here.

See you there!

Alicia Hagan, Editor

Liven Up Your Holiday Menu With Ragu and Win a $200 AmEx Gift Card! #Giveaway

Brand Ambassador, Contests, Food and Drink, Giveaways, Holiday, ,

RaguThe holiday season is often the busiest time of the year, and when friends and family come to visit, the last thing I wants is to be stuck in the kitchen preparing time-consuming holiday meals. By having a couple of quick and easy recipes in my recipe book, I can have festive holiday meals on the table and join the party too.

RECIPE IDEA: An easy recipe that requires only a few minutes of preparation is a pasta bake. It’s also a sneaky way to get the kids to eat their vegetables, since Old World Style Traditional Ragu Sauce packs in 2 servings of vegetables in every 1/2 cup of pasta sauce.

HOW TO: Just cook a favorite pasta, such as rotini or fusilli, layer it in with sauce and generously top with Parmesan, and bake, it’s that simple!

RECIPE IDEA: Another fun holiday pasta recipe is Penne Pasta with Sausage.

HOW TO: Brown spicy Italian sausage in light oil with onion, add the sausage to the pasta sauce, and toss them together with the cooked penne. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan and enjoy. You can even please your picky child with a homemade pizza with Ragu Homemade Style Pizza Sauce, (my very picky 5 year old loves these!) allowing your child to top their own section with their favorite toppings.

Serving pizza and pasta dishes are quick and easy ways to feed a crowd, and satisfy even the pickiest or heartiest appetites. By adding these festive dishes to the holiday table, the host and hostess can save time and toil in the kitchen and enjoy the holidays with the family.

$200 AmEx Gift Card Giveaway!

We are giving a lucky reader a $200 AmEx gift card thanks to Ragu!

Mandatory entry:
To enter to win, tell us in the comments below how you would liven up your holiday menu with Ragu sauces or in general.

Get extra entries for doing each or all of the following:
Leave a comment for each thing you do so we can count all of your entries. 

Entries accepted through 11:59pm December 26th.  Open to U.S. residents, 18+.  No P.O. Boxes.

Connect with Ragu

Read my previous Ragu “Moms The Word on Dinner” posts here:

Disclosure: This is part of a campaign for which I am an Ambassador for the Ragú® Mom’s the Word on Dinner Program. Visit www.facebook.com/ragusauce to join the conversation.

Alicia Hagan, Editor

Holiday Road Trips in the Nissan Quest – #HolidayQuest

Car Reviews, Holiday, Nissan HolidayQuest,

Nissan Quest - #HolidayQuest

Searching for a minivan with a sporty look, the best in entertainment and great fuel mileage? Look no further!  The Nissan Quest is the perfect vehicle for holiday travel and family road trips.  This stylish minivan is Edmunds.com 2011 Consumers’ Top Rated® Minivan and your family will enjoy taking a road trip in this luxury minivan. Treating your family to a Quest for the holidays will provide plenty of joy all year long.

Nissan has done its level best to build the perfect minivan. The vehicle features a 3.5 V6 engine, giving it plenty of power, a 4-wheel ABS system for safety and front and rear independent stabilization for the smoothest ride possible. Dual sliding rear doors allow quick access for rear seat passengers.

Nissan Quest DVD

The entertainment features on the vehicle make a long road trip fun for the whole family. With DVD players, wireless headphones, headphone jacks, Bluetooth streaming audio and a CD player featuring MP3 playback capability, tech-savvy passengers will hardly notice the miles flying by. Three rows of seating means there is enough room to bring along the whole family on your HolidayQuest, and the ample cargo space makes packing for your Christmas vacation a breeze!

With up to 24 miles per gallon highway fuel economy, getting over the river and through the woods has never been cheaper.  Two sunroofs, blind spot assist and a rear view camera make the Nissan Quest both sporty and safe. Kids will clamor to hit the road for winter travel, and with dual heating and AC vents, reading lights, sunshades and cup holders, there will be no more arguing over the “best” seat.

Plan your own fun and fantastic HolidayQuest with a Nissan Quest!  With great fuel economy, top safety features and plenty of entertainment for the whole family, hitting the road this holiday season has never been more fun!

Join me on my Holiday Quest with the Nissan Quest!

Nissan has some fun things planned during the Holiday Quest campaign I’m participating in including a Twitter party December 20th during which myself and seven other great bloggers will be participating in and giving away prizes!  It gets better!   Nissan is allowing me to make a charitable contribution to a local charity of my choice!  Follow me during my Holiday Quest on twitter at @mommyinsider and @atlantamoms by following the hashtag #HolidayQuest.

Join me at the #HolidayQuest Twitter Party on Tuesday, December 20th from 8-9pm CT/9-10pm EST. We’ll be giving away some great prizes!

Connect with Nissan Quest:

Disclosure: Nissan provided a loan of the Nissan Quest for this program, a gift card for my family as we use the vehicle, and a contribution to a charity of my choice in my community.  

Alicia Hagan, Editor

Lindor Truffles – A Great Stocking Stuffer.. and a #Giveaway! {Ends 12/21}

Contests, Food and Drink, Gifts, Giveaways, Holiday, New posts, , ,

Lindor TrufflesWhat do you think of when the holidays get near?  Gifts, shopping, cooking, AND sweets and treats right?  We are here for you then!  Lindt offers a wide range of Lindor Truffles products, including a whole holiday collection that you can put out for holiday guests to enjoy, take to work with you, or just keep in a special place for you and your husband to enjoy!

It all started in a small pastry shop on Marktgasse in Zurich’s old town in 1845. Confectioner David Sprüngli-Schwarz and his 29 year old son Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann, who also trained to be a confectioner, dared to do something new: they decided to make chocolate. In particular and in keeping with the new fashion that came from Italy –solid bars – just like François-Louis Cailler in Vevey and Philippe Suchard in Neuchâtel had already done.

You can even build your own holiday themed bag of Lindor Truffles!  Mix and match five flavors for a total of about 100 pieces in your bag. You can’t resist that can you?

Connect with Lindt

GIVEAWAY!

One winner will receive a bag of:

  • Lindor Dark Peppermint truffles and
  • Lindor Milk Chocolate truffles
To enter to win, tell us what your most fond memory involving chocolate and Christmas is, in the comments below.

Earn extra giveaway entries:

Entries accepted through 11:59pm ET December 21st.

Open to U.S. residents only. No P.O. Boxes.

The winner will be contacted on 12/22 and must respond by 2pm 12/22 in order to claim their prize.  If we do not receive a response by then, we will have to choose an alternate winner.  While we’d love to think that the winners will receive their prize before Christmas we can not guarantee it.    Prize fulfillment is handled by the PR company.

Disclosure: I received Lindor Truffle samples for purposes of this review.  All opinions are 100% my own and were not influenced in any way.

Alicia Hagan, Editor