Plum Organics Sample Pack Review and Giveaway!

A fun box came to our door the other day.  Ecomom gave me the opportunity to review their Plum Organics line and I totally jumped on the opportunity.  We had tried Plum Organics baby food for the first time a few months ago and LOVED it, so I was really excited to see what else they offered. 

The box contained a variety of foods, geared towards everyone from 6 months to elementary age. 

The box contained two samples of Plum Organics baby food.  Full disclosure:  My 9 month old son HATES baby food purees.  So I gave one of each of these to my 2 year old and to my 4 year old.  Verdict?  Huge grins and pleas for more.  The flavors usually combine fruits and veggies such as Baby Spinach, Peas and Pears.  I love their pouch packaging as it totally gives me a great way to give my kids a healthy snack on the go with little to no messes.  (Also, if you do use it as baby food, it's a great way to eliminate wasted food as you can squeeze what you need and store the rest).

Since they loved the Plum Organics baby food, it totally made sense that they would like the PlumTots Organic Mish Mash pouch and the Revolution Foods Organic Mash-up pouch.  And they totally did.  These are a bit smaller and are designed for a snack or a side in a lunchbox rather than a meal. 

My only request would be that they would add veggies to these as well.  Why not? 

The last things we got to sample were the Revolution Foods Strawberry and Grape Jammy Sammies.  These are also organic, which is great.  My 4 year old looked at me and said, "Um, these are not my favorites."  Then again, she doesn't like PB&J sandwiches, so no surprises.  The 2 year old gobbled them up and then stole her sister's and ate that too.  Without thinking, I pulled a total doofus Mother move and handed one to my 9 month old son.  Apparently, he's not allergic to peanuts.  Good to know.  Oh, and he loves them  too. 

They're very sweet, so I think they'd be best served as a dessert or a treat... but at that, it's nice to know that it's an organic snack without preservatives, artificial colors or flavors, or high fructose corn syrup.  

We're now huge fans of both brands and I'm absolutely going to continue purchasing these in the future. And we'll definitely be purchasing through the EcoMom site.  Specializing in Eco-Friendly Baby Products, EcoMom offers products that run from food, toys, baby care products, clothing and more.  The site is certainly more than just a retail site. 

But on the retail side of things, they have two offers for you.  The first is their new EcoPass program.  For $99, you can purchase an annual membership which gives you 15% off of every order and free shipping with no minimum order requirement.  If you're going to purchase frequently, I can imagine this would pay for itself quickly.

Also, until May 31st, you can use the code SBBL296 to get 15% off of your first purchase from EcoMom. 

And now, the part you've been waiting for... the giveaway!  EcoMom has graciously offered to give away $20 worth of either PlumOrganics or Revolution Foods products to one lucky reader! 

To enter, comment on this post by May 16th at 10pm. 

For additional entries, you can do the following.  Please comment separately for each additional thing you do. 

• Become a fan of EcoMom on Facebook. 
• Follow EcoMom on Twitter. 
• Subscribe to their Newsletter.
• Visit the EcoMom page and pick out one non-food product that you'd be interested in buying.
• Visit my page on Twitter and retweet this giveaway.  (Post link of your retweet).

Good luck everyone!  This was totally a review and giveaway that I loved doing.  Thanks for the opportunity, EcoMom!

**The Nitty Gritty:  The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.  The sample above was provided by EcoMom.

Spring Spendervention: TJ Maxx and Marshalls

This past January, I was given the opportunity to enjoy some fun shopping experiences at TJ Maxx and Marshalls.  (As if I needed convincing).  Both stores are high on my list for discounted name brand clothing and accessories.  The TJ Maxx in our area is HUGE and definitely has far more clothing and shoes than some others that I've been to.  So they come in handy when we're searching for those particular things that we'd have a hard time paying retail prices to get. 

Let's start with a little story.  Once upon a time, long, long ago, Shaun had a pair of Ralph Lauren Polo khaki shorts that he loved.  He loved them so much that after about 5 years of wear, he wore several holes into them that rendered them quite unusable in any public situation.

I finally managed to relegate them into the trash and for several years after, every time it came time to get new shorts, Shaun would mournfully lament the fact that the beloved shorts were gone and that a new pair was well beyond our budget.  This year, he commandeered one of my gift cards and left on a mission.  When he came home, he waved his TJ Maxx bag in the air triumphantly.  A replacement pair of Polo shorts had been acquired.  He was quite pleased.  And at over 65% off retail price, The bargain hunter in me was pleased.

So yes, we like our TJ Maxx.  We're also Marshalls fans.  Marshalls tends to have things beyond clothes and shoes, such as housewares, toys, etc.  Recently, we "redid" our upstairs bathroom.  We didn't have it in the budget to replace the vanity or lighting fixture, but with a little paint, the room was well on its way to a needed update.  To complete the redecoration, we got an adorable curtain and two pretty matching towels from Marshalls for far less than what it would have cost at a department store.  And now my bathroom has transcended from outdated to cute in a few easy steps.  (I'll have pictures soon, I promise!)

I have a million happy stories of how we end up saving money at these stores.  The long and short is that in this economy?  Who has the cash to pay full price for anything?  Yeah, neither do I.  So do yourself a favor and if you're going to spend some money, at least save as much as you can and head to Marshalls and TJ Maxx first.

Review and Giveaway: Personalized Fruit-Roll-Ups

We were given the opportunity to test out the new personalized fruit roll ups.  For $30, you can customize a box of (30) Fruit Roll-Ups to have a preset theme, your own pictures, your own words, or any combination of the three. 

We decided to create party favors for Bean's birthday. 

So she snuggled on my lap and the two of us hopped over to My Fruit Roll-Ups' website and got started.  The website interface was incredibly easy to use and navigate.  The process was super quick and we had a lot of fun experimenting with different pictures and sayings. 

In the end we had Bean's picture in two sections and a thank you message in the other two. 

The shipping was INCREDIBLY fast and we got them on a frigid morning on our way out for the day. 

(Which brings me to my first lesson learned:  do NOT try to unwrap and eat these while they're frozen.  They crumble.  Despite being totally tasty, they're a mess to clean up.  I was a kid once... I should know these things).  :)

Anyway, Bean was tickled to see her face on the Roll-Up and even though we never got a party together, we've been handing them out to her friends anyway and they have gotten a lot of praise for being so fun.

Enter for a chance to win your own box of 30!  Comment on this post by next Thursday (February 26th) and I'll chose a winner randomly after that date. 

For now, if you don't win and chose to buy, they're also offering free shipping for a limited time.

Registries and Baby Gear

You would not believe how many people I know that are pregnant.  It's. In. Sane.  But really exciting!  A lot of those people are having their first child. 

And generally, most of them are swimming in the sea of trying to get a baby registry together. 

I remember how exciting it was to do our registry, but I also remember how crazy it was to try to figure out what we needed to put on there and what we could leave off.  Also, later, there were several things that I wish someone would have told me to forget completely.

So, here's the beginning of my tips.  I'll be continuing this for about a week, once a day, until I get all my tips out there.  (Because trying to get it all in one entry?  WHO AM I KIDDING?!)

Ahem.  Here we go:


1.  Every baby needs a carseat.  Consider this a true MUST-HAVE on your registry.  But there's more variety out there than not.  First you have to consider whether you want a convertible car seat that can go from the time the baby is born until they're well into their toddler years, a bucket car  seat that will serve you well from birth until close to one, or both. 

Convertible Car Seat Pros
*  You only have to buy one carseat for the duration of your child's early years.  (Obviously, there are some exceptions... a second car, an exceptionally tall and skinny or short and round child, etc.).
*  They're bigger and generally sturdier than a traditional bucket.

Convertible Car Seat Cons
*  You have to transport a sleeping baby out of the carseat into the stroller, instead of taking the whole carseat.
*  They're generally much bigger than a bucket seat, so for smaller cars, it can seem a bit daunting to have your tiny baby swallowed by a huge seat.  (Though the ones that are made for use from birth are absolutely safe for newborns). 

Bucket Car Seat Pros
*  It's awesome to be able to transport a delicately sleeping baby into the house without disrupting a nap.
*  The bucket is a nice place for a baby to sit that is much less germy than a shopping cart, etc.
*  They're great for babies with reflux to nap in because they allow them to be upright.  

Bucket Car Seat Cons
*  They are ridiculously heavy and cumbersome.  And that only gets worse as your baby grows.
*  Your child is likely to outgrow the seat before they turn one, which forces you to buy another seat that can face backwards AND forwards that is the right size. 
*  The convenience of the seat often takes away from time where you could be holding your baby. 

My opinion?
I like the option of having the bucket seat along with the convertible.  Although I hate the bucket seat's cumbersome and ridiculously heavy presence at times, I do love that C has a safe place to sit at the grocery store and that when she falls asleep in the car, I don't have to disturb her when we reach our destination.  I'm careful to take her out as often as she wishes when we're out and generally will wear her at that point.  But I love having the option. 

Tomorrow I'll chat a bit about strollers.  We bucked the trend of traditional travel systems and I would never go back.  Tune in tomorrow for the why.  :)