Letters to Santa

It's that time of year, children are writing (or have already written) their letters to Santa.  As we all know, this time of year is meant to be about more than just presents, but this can be a challenging lesson for children to learn.  Even with my daughter's young age, I have sometimes struggled with how to balance her "wants" with her "needs" when it comes to Christmas gift buying.  

Don't worry, I'm not going to go on a huge rant on the commercialization of Christmas.  But, my daughter is still young, and I try to stay away from an overwhelming amount of toys.  When she does a list for Santa, we tell her she can pick 3 things to ask for, and one of them is usually an "experience", usually a family trip.

I've also started bringing my daughter to volunteer events to help emphasize the importance of giving back.  I organize a blood donor clinic a few times a year in memory of my dad, who passed away in 2013.  Although the concept of "blood donation" is difficult for a 5 year old to understand, my daughter gets the basic premise that people are there to help people who are sick or hurt.  She helps me organize the snack counter, and she often chats with donors as they come get a snack after their donation.  She enjoys it, and is exposed to a valuable learning experience.

How do you make the focus of Christmas about more than "just gifts" in your family?

Holiday Savings & Coupons Giveaway

It's the most wonderful time of the year, a time where we can all go shopping without guilt in the name of "holiday spirit" lol. The number one thing about the holidays in most people's mind is their family EVEN those family members that drive you crazy you enjoy them that much more . If you're anything like me you wait until there are AWESOME coupons, discounts and deals... so many holiday savings. We know that there are many last minute shoppers SO hurry over and check out all the savings AND get all those gifts for the family that you love! No need to wait for Black Friday or Cyber Monday, just check out the coupons and deals on Your Life After 25's coupons & discounts page. 

NOT only are we spreading the word about all of those amazing deals we are also giving you the chance to Win: Your Life After 25 Holiday Savings and Coupon Giveaway!

Whether you're shopping for a new mom or babies, looking for the right present for the kids or trying to find something for co-worker or in-laws, you're sure to find coupons and deals to help! And the savings isn't just for the holidays, we've all watched or seen those extreme couponers who save TONS of cash on groceries or every day items... you can do the same just start clipping coupons now :)

*Coupons open to USA, coupon codes open to USA/Can*

I love bargain shopping, I check flyers, websites, and social media to find the best sales, and use coupon codes when possible!

Sponsored by Your Life After 25

• 3 Prizes Available; Grand Prize: $100 Amazon e-gift card + $20 The Pocket Sous Chef e-gift

• 2nd Prize: $50 Amazon e-gift card + $20 The Pocket Sous Chef e-gift

• 3rd Prize: $50 Amazon e-gift card + $10 The Pocket Sous Chef e-gift

• Open to US & Canada. • Winners will be chosen at random through Giveaway Tools. • Giveaway ends December 18th at 11:59pm ET. • Winners will be notified via email or Twitter DM. • Mom Powered Media & associated bloggers are not responsible for prize fulfillment. • Each winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen. • Must be 18 years or older to enter. • Unlimited Entries • Void where prohibited. • Entering the giveaway means you agree to terms above. 

• Good Luck!

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Cash for Christmas Giveaway!

Tammy from My Life Abundant and Tammy from Creative K Kids have gotten together with a few of our bloggie friends to have a giveaway!

 

We are so excited to be giving away $250 in cash prizes for you to use starting Thanksgiving weekend.  Here are the prizes:

1 - $100 Amazon Gift Card
1 - $50 Target Gift Card
2 - $25 Walmart Gift Card
1 - $20 Kohls Gift Card

Amazing. Right? Well, whats a gift card and getting up early, early to shop if you can't focus on your shopping.   So how about we add a $5.00 Starbucks gift card to each one of the prizes above!!

But wait. There is one more prize.

1 - $5 Starbucks Gift Card

Now its time to meet our wonderful co-hosts who have made this giveaway possible.

Starting at the top row we have:

Kim of KidPep | Jody of Mom 'N Daughter Savings | Penny of Penny's Passion | Jeanne of Home Garden Joy | Leticia of Desafio In The City | Barb of A Life in Balance | Tricia of The Good Mamma | Mary of Your Designer Dog Blog | Alecia  of Detours in Life, Family Vacay, Family Time Travelers | Katie of The Ramblings of an Overtired Mama | Michelle of On A Wing and A Prayer | Lauren of Heart of Deborah | Christine of Your Strong Tower | Lindze  of Interior Fun | Michelle of The Happiness Blogger | Stacey of A Moment in our World | Nikki of MBA SAHM | Paula of Beauty Through Imperfection | Sarah of Mommy of Two | Scarlett of Scarlett's Excellent Adventures

Please stop by and say hi to these wonderful ladies and their blogs.

The giveaway will end midnight on Wednesday, November 26th, the night before Thanksgiving.  You will have 48 hours to respond to the email claiming the prize.  If you respond right away, we will get you the gift card promptly so that you can shop with it on Black Friday!  If we don't hear in 48 hours, we will choose another winner. 

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Planning our Florida Vacation - Part 1

There are lots of things I love to talk about, but one of my favourite things is to talk about Florida vacation planning!  I know, some people hate planning, but, for me, it helps build the excitement of the trip.  We are currently planning a trip to Florida in 2015, so I thought I would do a blog post series about the planning, as I often get lots of questions about what things I look at when planning our trip.

This year, we're travelling with my husband, my daughter, brother in-law, mother in-law and father in-law.  We all have different interests, but we always seem to come to agreement with most activities in Florida.

To begin the planning, we survey the group as to when we would like to go.  Typically, we have traveled in February in years past.  This year, my daughter is in school, so we are trying to plan around Spring Break.   We're tagging a couple extra days on the trip, but she'll only be out of school a couple days.

We've stayed in the same property the last couple of times we've traveled to Orlando, and it's fantastic!  It's called the "Disney Magic Villa" and the owners, Julie and Steve, are so easy to communicate with, and when we're there, they have a fabulous property management company that takes care of any issues you may be having at the house.    Check out the Disney Magic Villa for some pics and information: http://www.disneymagic-villa.com/.  I will share more about this fantastic property in my upcoming posts.

Once we had determined our travel dates, I checked the Disney Magic Villa site to see if the property was available, and it was!  Lucky us!  We were quick to get in touch and book our dates.

Our next step is narrowing down our activities during the vacation, but I will save that for my next post.

Planning a vacation to Florida?  Have questions?  Feel free to ask in the comments below and I'm happy to share the tips I have.