3/9/13: PAAS and Heinz Coloring Easter and Contributing to Make-A-Wish

One of our favorite activities to do at Easter is to color eggs and decorate them.  When I think of coloring eggs I automatically think of PAAS Egg Decorating Kits.  This year I was able to receive an assortment of them and wanted to share our creations with you and some exciting charitable work that Heinz and PAAS are doing together.

First off we received the PAAS color cups.  The cool thing is that they come with several cups to color eggs in, plus wire holders for eggs, egg dying tablets and a magic crayon.

Here is Evan using his favorite color blue.  For the brightest colors we followed the directions where you put 3 tablespoons of Heinz Distilled White Vinegar in the cup with the tablet.  Once the tablet dissolves you add 1/2 cup water.  I also learned that if you add 2 tablespoons of Heinz Distilled White Vinegar per quart of water before placing the eggs in the pot it will prevent them from cracking and will help with shells peeling off later.  You can learn other Egg Decorating Tips here.

 Lauren had fun coloring eggs too.

 Lauren made this heart with the magic crayon.  She used a stencil and colored in the heart and when you dye the egg the section that you use the magic crayon on will not turn the color.

Here is the full assortment of items I received.  PAAS has a lot of cool new sets and Heinz White Vinegar even has Easter Eggs on it's label.  What a perfect combination.

Until March 31st if you go to http://www.heinzpaaseaster.com/ and decorate a virtual Easter egg Heinz and PAAS will donate $1, up to $25,000 to Wake-A-Wish!  The app is also available in the iTunes App Store for iPad.  Here is the one we created and shared with our friends and family.

Tweet the following to have your friends do the same:   Dye, decorate and share digital PAAS® Easter eggs at their website, and they will donate to Make-A-Wish®. HeinzPAASEaster.com.

We also received PAAS Deggorating Doodles to decorate our eggs.  They also came with color tablets and a stencil.

 Both kids liked coloring on their eggs.

My favorite item was one that is new for 2013 which is the Touch of Velvet.  You use these small stickers that you place on to the egg.

You remove the white part and it leaves a sticky film that looks like the sticker.  You push the flocking powder on to the sticky party and it sticks to the design.

Look at how cool this comes out!

The kids had a great time decorating eggs, and so did I!

 

Here are all of our creations.  We also received Volcano Eggsplosion which is a kit that uses melted crayon shavings to provide instant color.  This is done with hot eggs.  We didn't try that one out yet but will be sure to before Easter comes.

Like PAAS on Facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/PAASeaster

Follow them on Pinterest to get great Egg Decorating ideas:  http://pinterest.com/paaseastereggs/

Disclosure:  I received all these products for review purposes.  No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

3/4/13: Monkeez Makes a Difference - Win One!

CONTEST CLOSED:  Congratulations to Jaque for winning!

My kids loved stuffed animals of all sorts.  I was excited when I saw Monkeez has an initiative called Monkeez Makes A Difference to teach children to help others.  Monkeez and their line of toys teach philanthropy to kids by providing a 10 percent donation on each child’s behalf to one of three nationally renowned charities of his or her choice, including Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, Samaritan’s Purse and Best Friends Animal Society.  How wonderful is that???  Read on to win one of your very own mini plush Monkeez!

Here is Lauren having fun with hers.  Of course she picked one that is purple as it is her favorite color.  Her Monkeez name is Lottie and Lauren loves that she has magnets in her hands so she can hang on to her or even hang on to the fridge.

It is so hard to have kids appreciate a sense of giving.  At a young age everything is about them and they have a hard time understanding others situation.  Monkeez Makes a Difference gives children the opportunity to learn and practice giving back while having fun. The Monkeez Makes a Difference tag is on specially marked designs and has an online game activation code on the tag.  With an adult’s help, children follow the instructions on the tag and visit www.monkeezandfriends.com.  They then get to enter the code, view videos about the charities and once they chose the charity they want to contribute to it unlocks and interactive and educational online world!!!  Our Monkeez decided to play Twister with Lauren!

Monkeez Makes a Difference has donated $67,000 total to the three charity partners!!!

It’s the gift that truly keeps on giving.”For more information or to order: Visit www.monkeezandfriends.com or the online store.

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway below to win a mini plush toy.

Disclosure:  I was provided with Lottie for review purposes.  No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

3/7/12: National Reading Month - Support Reading is Fundamental

I would like to let you know that March is National Reading Month.  What you may not know is that there is only 1 book for every 300 kids in poverty.  How sad to not have the opportunity to have books in your home.

 Have you ever heard of RIF? It stands for Reading is Fundamental.

In honor of National Reading Month blogger friends of mine at Stowed Stuff and Dollops of Diane teamed up to do some social good.  We can all make a difference in a child's life by providing ALL kids with more experiences with books. By raising money for RIF, we can narrow the gaps and give kids the foundation they need to succeed in school.

It's simple. All you have to do is click DONATE and enter the dollar amount you'd like to give to kids who really need it. This is also posted on my side bar. So please take action now and help us help all kids read.

1/18/12: Mom Bloggers for Social Good is Launched, Come Join Us!

I am lucky enough to be a founding member of Mom Bloggers for Social Good  and I wanted to tell you a bit more about them.  I feel like sometimes we take so many things for granted and this is a way to use Social Media and our voice for good.

Mom Bloggers for Social Good is a global coalition of mom bloggers who currently span eleven countries – United States, Canada, UK, India, Spain, Nigeria, Singapore, Netherlands, Malaysia, Jamaica, and the Philippines – who care about spreading the good news about the amazing work non-profit organizations and NGOs are doing around the world. When their partners need to reach the masses about new initiatives, advocacy campaigns, or fundraising efforts we work voluntarily and collectively to spread the word through social media and blogging.

One of their sponsors is More Than Me who gets little girls off the street and into school in one of the world’s most dangerous slums in the world in Liberia, West Africa. They work with community leaders to identify the girls who are at the highest risk of being sexually exploited to ensure that education and opportunity, not exploitation and poverty, defines their lives. They pay tuition, provide school lunch and we work with the school and community to make it impossible for her to fail. It's working, 10% of their girls are 1st in their class!  Isn't that amazing. 

In January 2012 Mom Bloggers for Social Good launched with 400 founding members who committed their social media and blogging platforms to share the messages of our partners. Their partners cover the following areas of concentration:

• Children
• Education
• Maternal Health
• Fair Trade
• Workers’ Rights
• Environment and Climate
• Communicable Disease
• Non-Communicable Disease
• Access to Clean Water and Sanitation
• Food Security
• Malaria and Tuberculosis
• HIV / AIDS
• Women and Girls

If you’d like to learn more about what they do, see their infographic on how Mom Bloggers for Social Good works.
If you would like to become a partner, please email them as they are always looking partners to help through blogging and social media.
If you would like to become a member, visit our Join Us page where you can sign up and become a pivotal part of Mom Bloggers for Social Good.
Follow them on Twitter at @socialgoodmoms and use the hashtag: #socialgoodmoms
Like them on Facebook here