Valentine's Day Giveaway - Make Sure to Enter Today!

I have a fun Valentine's giveaway going on right now that you might just LOVE!💕 Pop over to my Instagram page and be sure to enter today.

This giveaway package includes: 

• A box of double chocolate mocha bars and a jar of chocolate seed butter from 88 acres
• Lip balm, body butter, and sugar scrub from Kiss Freely
• Two tins of chocolate hearts from Free2B

Umm, can you say ooh, ahh and yum!?

I'm so glad that I get to do this with two of my favorite food allergy friendly bloggers too, Sharon Wong of Nut Free Wok and Kelly from The Pretty Bee Blog!

Oh, and if you're looking for Valentine's Day ideas for school parties, or just something to make for your family or little ones, check out my Valentine's Pinterest Board. I'm always searching for and pinning new ideas!

This year I'm bringing these SunButter Chocolate Heart cookies to Little Guy's Valentine's school party (along with popcorn and fruit salad). I've made these for the past 3 years and everyone just LOVES them. They don't even know they're vegan and nut free (they do taste like chocolate peanut butter cookies!).

I may also make these heart-shaped pancakes for the fam. And don't forget about these fun printable Valentines that go well with any allergy-friendly lollipop or sweet!

Hope you have a joyful and loving Valentine's Day next week. That's what it's all about, right?

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Valentine's Lollipops Giveaway and Free Printable Valentines!

Every year around Valentine's Day, I walk down store aisles stuffed with pink and red candy, hoping to find something safe, new and fun for my Little Guy with food allergies. But every year I'm disappointed at the variety of choices for him since he's allergic to dairy, eggs, sesame, tree nuts and peanuts. 

I would still like to be able to give my Little Guy a unique and fun treat to celebrate this day of love. I know he would also love to give something new and fun to his friends - so everyone can enjoy the same treat.

That's why I'm so excited to tell you about allergy friendly TruJoy Sweets Organic Lollipops. Can you believe that they are nutfree, glutenfree, dairyfree, eggfree, soyfree and wheatfree? 

I know my food allergy friends and parents will want to know all the details about the ingredients on the label and the manufacturing practices, so here you go:

*Ingredients as of January 2017: Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Citric Acid, Natural Cherry Flavor, Color Added (Organic Fruit Juice).

*Allergen statement as of January 2017: Produced on dedicated nut-free and gluten-free equipment in a segregated area of a facility that also processes dairy, eggs, soy and wheat.

Also, I asked TruJoy Sweets directly about the allergen statement since it could be confusing to some, and they confirmed that the lollipops are made on dedicated equipment free of nuts, gluten, wheat, dairy, eggs and soy.

*If you live with food allergies, you know that manufacturing practices and labels may change over time for any company, so always be sure to check every label and call the company if you have any questions.

Have you seen these awesome allergy-friendly lollipops in stores yet? I've seen them in our local Wegmans and Whole Foods. They're of course also available to buy online.

Other than just EAT these lollipops all yourself (YUM), you can also use them to make homemade Valentines for school and friends. I made free printable Valentines sheets in case you'd like to try! 

Link to the free printable Valentines!

Just print them out and have fun pasting them on sparkly paper (I got this paper at Walmart). You could decorate them with even more hearts and sparkles if you'd like. Just don't forget that lollipop!

I of course HAD to try one, and I have to say, they're a perfectly wonderful sweet cherry flavor. I know my kiddos and their friends will love them. I also feel good knowing these lollipops DON'T contain artificial flavors or ingredients that we can't even read. 

Ready to try them out for yourself? 

Please enter this giveaway today - 2 lucky winners will get one bag of 30 lollipops!  

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I hope you have a fun, safe and loving Valentine's Day!

Thank you to TruJoy for sponsoring this post. We appreciate allergy friendly companies like TruJoy who make quality products that are safe for our family!

Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips Snack Packs ***Giveaway***

Have you heard the exciting news?  There's a new allergy-friendly treat in town, and although it's small in size, it's a BIG deal. 

Enjoy Life has just introduced their new single-serving snack packs of dairy free and nut free chocolate chips (actually free of the top 8 allergens)! These cute snack packs are perfect sizes to pop in lunchboxes, in special snack boxes for school, or in backpacks and purses. They're also a wonderful allergy-friendly option for HALLOWEEN!  

We are SO excited to hand out chocolate chip snack packs as part of our allergy-friendly treats this Halloween. Of course we are also going to display our teal pumpkins and offer non-food treats! I mentioned on Instagram that painting teal pumpkins has become an annual tradition in our house now. I hope you've found some fun with the Teal Pumpkin Project too.

How can you use these fun snack packs in other ways?

Well, I am also Homeroom Mom at Little Guy's school (which means I get to plan their class celebrations - so helpful for food allergy reasons!). I plan to use the snack packs as class treats to fill up these mini pumpkins...along with festive pencils and notebooks for each kiddo too.

Have you had both kinds of Enjoy Life chocolate chips in these snack packs? The dark chocolate are a little bigger and have more of a pure chocolate/cacao taste (less sweet).  The semi-sweet mini chips are just that...sweet and mini! My kids like both, but slightly prefer the semi-sweet mini chips. I prefer both :)

Now that I have you drooling, are you ready to enter the giveaway? Enjoy Life is kindly offering to give 5 winners each one BAG of mini chips (with 12 snack packs inside each bag!). The giveaway ends on Sunday, October 23 at midnight, so be sure to enter ASAP now!

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Thank you to Enjoy Life for sponsoring this post and sending us some yummy snack packs!

Win 4 Tickets to The Academy of Natural Sciences

Have you been to The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University yet?  If not, it's time that you go! It's one of our family's top picks for kids' activities in Philadelphia. We find it to be a perfectly sized museum for our two kids under 6. 

AND if you're interested in going to this fun museum, it's your lucky day!  The Academy of Natural Sciences is graciously giving away 4 free tickets to one lucky winner! It's easy to enter at the bottom of the post!

The museum regularly has fun special events for kids and adults alike. In fact, two fun events are coming up in the next few months:

• Totally Turtles Weekend sounds like it would be great for Ninja Turtle loving little ones. I know my Little Guy would love it!

• We also can't wait for the Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibit with life-sized animatronic dinosaurs and brand new interactive dinosaur activities!

If you'd like a closer look at the fun the museum offers, here are some photos from our family's trip there. We had a GREAT time!

So many fun dinosaurs - and yes, one of these dinosaurs moves!

We spent a LONG time here at this activity because the kids loved it so much. Can you spot the kiddos walking with dinosaurs!? They LOVED seeing themselves on screen and pretending to run away every time a new dino walked up!

And how cute is this? They completely enjoyed digging for dinosaur bones and exploring at The Big Dig.

There are also many exotic animals to see at the museum too which the kids fully enjoyed!

And the butterfly room was great too! We especially liked watching the butterflies land on and eat oranges and bananas!

The kids area is so spacious and has so many great things to play with, explore and even read!

There are also fun opportunities to see live animals in action - like this turtle!

Or this crazy reptile that's NOT a snake amazingly! Little Gal was VERY brave to touch it!

Thanks to The Academy of Natural Sciences for offering tickets for our family visit and tickets for this giveaway! What an awesome museum.

Enter this giveaway today for 4 free tickets to The Academy of Natural Sciences and HAVE FUN!

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Holiday Giveaway for a Little Gal in Your Life

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with food, family and FUN! We actually cancelled Thanksgiving at our house this year due to ongoing colds and coughs. So we're now really looking forward to the upcoming holiday season. We hope it will be happy and HEALTHY!!

Speaking of the holidays, are you ready for a fun holiday giveaway? If you have a little gal in your life, she's going to love this one.

CVS and CHARM-IT! were so kind to take part in this fun holiday giveaway.

I don't know about you, but my kids are STILL into Frozen. My Little Gal would watch it every day if she could. CVS has a bunch of fun Frozen themed gifts perfect for Christmas and the holidays. They kindly sent Little Gal these two fun Frozen toys, and we can't wait to give them to her on Christmas!

CVS is kindly offering the Color N' Style purse at the top of the photo as a giveaway for a little gal in YOUR life!

Next time you shop at CVS, make sure to stop by the ExtraCare Coupon Center when you first visit your local CVS to get deals you can use that day. 

And what do you think of this fun bracelet? It's full of cute and playful charms with inspirational messages too!

CHARM-IT! is now offering its detachable charm jewelry bracelet collection at GapKids. You can win this fun bracelet by just entering this holiday giveaway.

CHARM IT! is a favorite among celebrity moms, including Sarah Jessica Parker and Heidi Klum.You can find CHARM IT! products at independent specialty retailers and premium department stores including GapKids. 

Please enter this fun holiday giveaway today!!

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Thanks to CVS and CHARM-IT! for the holiday giveaway items shown in this post. All opinions are my own.

Back to School Giveaway with CVS

The smell of new notebooks and freshly sharpened pencils is in the air.

That's right, it's BACK TO SCHOOL season!

This is Little Guy's first year of pre-school. We're ALL excited about it and we know he's going to have so much fun. We've been playing school more frequently in the past few weeks with his backpack and some awesome new school supplies from CVS!

And guess what? CVS has kindly offered to giveaway another set of these supplies for one lucky winner!!

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Little Guy just LOVED putting these supplies in his backpack. He's had so much fun practicing writing his name with the markers and pens and playing with all the supplies!

Since Little Guy has food allergies, we've had to do some additional planning and preparing.

What have we done to prepare for pre-school?

1. Teacher meeting before school started
We met with his teacher (who is also the school's director) and the teacher's aide. I gave them a folder of information including his emergency action plan from the allergist, potential food allergens in preschool activities, symptoms of an allergic reaction and how a child might describe a reaction, EpiPen information, and food label reading information. 

As you can see in the below photo, I also brought two expired epipens and two oranges so the teachers could practice using them. 

2.  Box of safe snacks and extra treats for the school's freezer
I brought in a huge box of safe snacks for Little Guy. I also brought in a few cupcakes that already have icing and sprinkles on them to put in the freezer at school. In case parents bring in unplanned treats for birthdays or special events, Little Guy will always have safe and special treats from which to choose too.

3. Cooking for MY freezer
I've been cooking safe snacks to store in MY freezer. The school provides the kids with snacks (things like pretzels and crackers). Instead of checking snacks every day, we decided that Little Guy would bring in his own snacks every day. Even though it's a little more work for me, I'm happy to provide him with healthy and safe snacks like homemade nut free granola bars, no bake granola bars, nut free snack mix, or pumpkin baked oatmeal bites.

4. Extra EpiPens for school
I asked the allergist for an extra EpiPen prescription so we could store a 2-pack of epipens at school. I used the $0 co-pay card. BOY do we appreciate this card!

I included the epipens and Benadryl in a clear Tupperware container as requested by the teacher. This way, she can easily put them in her bag that goes out to the playground with them every day.

5. Prepping Little Guy
We've been prepping Little Guy by reminding him to always ask "is this safe for me?" if someone offers him food at school. I also always remind him that he will be eating snacks that I give him from home, and he will be eating something different than the other kids. However, it will always be TASTY, HEALTHY and a great snack that he likes!

What have you done to prepare for back to school?  

Please enter this great CVS giveaway today!!

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Thanks to CVS for the great back-to-school supplies shown in this post. Make sure to stop by the ExtraCare Coupon Center when you first visit your local CVS to get deals you can use that day!

All opinions are my own.

CHARM-IT! Giveaway for Girls

Happy Labor Day!

I have a fun Labor Day giveaway for you this week. 

CHARM IT! is the original, detachable charm jewelry brand for girls ages 5 - 14. They've graciously offered to give one winner a charm bracelet and 5 charms of their choice!

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Check-out the cute CHARM-IT! bracelet I received for Little Gal. I can't wait until she's old enough to appreciate wearing it (not quite yet as an almost 2 year old!). I chose these 5 charms for various reasons to kind of "mark" her life as a 2 year old right now. It will be fun to talk about them when she's older!

The details on these charms are so cool. One of my favorite charms is the locket. What girl doesn't love a locket? This heart locket charm is beautiful outside....

And perfect inside for photos of loved ones!

These charms are perfect for a daughter, granddaughter, niece or any special little girl in your life.

Hey, even my 4 year old Little Guy thought this bracelet was cool and wanted to help Little Gal put it on!


How cute...

CHARM-IT would be great as:

• A special back-to-school present

• A present for a friend at an upcoming birthday party (you know your kids will get many party invites this school year!)

• A gift for any occasion - lost tooth, recital or sports event

• An early start on your holiday gift list. Save it for a special holiday gift!

Now get going and enter this fun giveaway! Remember, if you win you'll receive a charm bracelet and 5 charms of your choice!

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Standard Terms and Conditions:

Giveaway ends September 7, 2014 at 11:59 PM EST. Open to Legal Residents (18 years of age or older) of the 48 contiguous US states only. Winner will be selected by Giveawaytools.com and be notified by an email from Mamacado. Winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. Please note that Mamacado is not responsible for sponsors that do not fulfill their prizes. I have represented the sponsor with the expectation they will fulfill their prize and in a timely manner. I will contact the sponsor regarding your prize(s). The sponsor, in most cases, is shipping the item(s) to you directly. I will make every effort to assist you in obtaining your prize. The product offered for the giveaway is free of charge, no purchase necessary. My opinions are my own and were not influenced by any form of compensation. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+ are in no way associated with this giveaway. By providing your information in this form, you are providing your information to me and me alone. 

The Circus Came to Town and Tommee Tippee Giveaway!

The Circus Came to Town and Tommee Tippee Giveaway!

We went to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus this weekend in Philadelphia. It was an awesome experience and the show was full of everything you'd expect. Acrobats performing amazing physical feats, trapeze artists swinging and flipping in the air, shiny costumes, funny clowns, elephants, and lions, tigers and kangaroos...oh my!

Actually, one of our favorite kids' books includes a drawing of a "classic" circus. We saw just about all of the things pictured in the book!

Little Guy loved the show, even though I got a tongue sticking out instead of a smile in this photo. We figured out that age 3 is perfect for a little one's first circus.

Little Gal also loved the circus, but she only saw the first half of it (and hardly the first half). She fell asleep on Daddy at intermission and slept through the rest of the circus. Naptime is precious, you know?  I was glad we didn't have to pay for a ticket for her (kids under age 2 are free!).

If your house is a 3 Ring Circus like mine, then you might enjoy this giveaway from Tommee Tippee! 

We tried out Tommee Tippee's new 3 ring circus cups, and we love their fun colors and designs. I now have a few different versions of Tommee Tippee's sippy cups, and I love how all of the lids are interchangeable. Whether it's a straw or a spout cup, everything matches to each other.

Tommee Tippee has graciously offered to give away a toddler meal set including plates, utensils and their new circus cups.  Enter below for your chance to win!!

Emily G. is the winner! CONGRATULATIONS!  I will email you with more information.

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Although Tommee Tippee did send me toddler cups to try out with my little ones, Tommee Tippee did not sponsor this post. My views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own.