Miss Piggy Has a Few Things to Say... - Wordless Wednesday!

It's a double Wordless Wednesday!  Well... kind of.  I'll let Miss Piggy do the talking!

Love the Muppets! 



Are you ready for the new Muppets movie coming to theaters November 23rd?

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How to See Movies for Free - a fantastic guest post!

The cost of movie tickets seems to be rising as fast as the cost of gas. The cost of an adult ticket can now cost $10-$15 dollars, depending on where you live, and tickets for children or a matinee don't cost much less. For a family of four, the cost of a single movie can be as much as $50 -- and that doesn't even count the cost of popcorn and drinks, which can add up to as much or more. Going out to see a movie in the theater can be a luxury that many families can't consider.

Fortunately, there are many ways to obtain movie tickets for free, which can cut the cost of these outings by half or more. Here are some of the best ways to obtain free movie tickets, often to see movies before they have even been released to the general public:

GoFoBo - This site offers free passes to movie screenings at various times. Simply sign up for a free account with the site and select your movie preferences. Like to see family movies? Comedies? You'll get priority for offers to these movies. GoFoBo notifies you when there is a movie that matches your preferences screening in your city, and you can choose to accept two free passes. You won't have a choice of times, and if you don't act quickly, you could miss out on the offer. Screenings are sporadic, and you won't be offered passes to every showing in your area. But you can expect to receive as many as a few offers per month.

Film Metro - Simply sign up for a free account and get notified when free movie screenings are available in your area. You don't need to choose preferences for genres, as you will be granted access to any screenings that become available. However, you may be targeted according to your demographic information (age, sex, and race). Screenings are for movies that have not yet been released. Securing a ticket does not necessarily guarantee your entrance to the screening, as the site routinely overbooks screenings. Plan to show up early to ensure a seat.

Volition - Sign up for the e-mail list or bookmark the site and check back regularly to learn about current movie promotions. Complimentary movie tickets are available in several U.S. cities, and movie prize packs are awarded through regular competitions for those cities for which free screenings are not available.

Nielsen MovieView - Here's another great service for being invited to free movie screenings in your area. Simply sign up for a free account, as with the others, and be notified when a screening is available. When you register, you will be required to provide extensive information, including your phone number, age, sex, race, level of education, and household income.

Other fantastic ways to secure free movie tickets include browsing your local newspaper for giveaways and special promotions. Often, promoters often patrol local theaters to sign people up as screeners. If someone with a clipboard approaches you outside a theater, don't just shrug them off -- they might be offering you free tickets!

About the author...
Tracy Sitchen is a veteran coupon clipper, stay at home Mom, and aspiring writer. While she loves shopping, she loves the chase of the deal even more! She’s recently been writing about Loon Mountain coupons along with Nicoderm coupons over at her blog where she shares deals and discounts to help every day people save money.

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African Cats is Almost Here!

It would be a total understatement to say we are SUPER excited to see the new Disneynature movie African Cats set to arrive in theaters April 22nd.  We LOVED "Oceans" and "Earth" and can't wait for the next move African Cats.

If you haven't heard about it yet, Disneynature is making a donation for ever ticket purchased during the opening week to protect the lions and cheetahs featured in the film (to the African Wildlife Foundation).  It's a fantastic way to tie in the movie going experience with a donation to charity.  I plan on using it as an education experience for my children reminding them that by caring about the cats featured in the movie, they will be taking a step in helping to protect them by seeing the movie.  I know they will love that!

African Cats will be playing in theaters across the country, but the El Capitan theatre here in LA will be taking it a step further, incorporating a presentation from the Wildlife Learning Center.  It will include a live presentations called Exotic Animals From Around the World.  Daily showtimes are: 10:00 am, 12:30 pm, 3:45 pm, 7:00 pm, and 9:35 pm.  Tickets are available at the El Capitan Theatre box office (6838 Hollywood Blvd.), online at www.elcapitantickets.com 

For more information about the movie African Cats you can go here.

Sounds like fun!  I can't wait to see the movie!!!

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Special Showings of The Nightmare Before Christmas Just in Time for Halloween

Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" has been a favorite of our family for a long time (you can frequently find my youngest wearing his black hoodie with Jack Skellington's face on it that we purchased at Disneyland).  I'm very excited to announce "The Nightmare Before Christmas" will be returning for a special engagement this Halloween season at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood and it will be in 4-D!

It will be an experience like none other!  The film will be in 3-D but in addition there will be wind, snow, fog and more.  It's an absolute must for all Jack Skellington fans!

"The Nightmare Before Christmas" will be showing October 21st through October 31, 2010 with special opening night festivities including special ghoulish frights and delights and will be hosted by Disney Producer Don Hahn (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Who Framed Roger Rabbit).

The film screens daily at 10:00 am, 12:15 pm, 2:30 pm, 4:45 pm, 7:00 pm, and 9:15 pm. Special late night Halloween weekend shows will be given at 11:15 pm Fridays and Saturdays only.

Tickets can be purchased at the El Capitan box office (6838 Hollywood Blvd.), online at www.elcapitantickets.com, or by calling 1-800-DISNEY6.  Special group rate tickets for parties of 20 or more are available by calling 1-818-845-3110.

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Alpha and Omega in 3D [Giveaway!]

My boys are very excited to see Alpha & Omega (in 3D) when it gets to theaters next week - September 17th, 2010.  The video clips we've seen look pretty funny and tell the tale of two wolves named Kate (Alpha) and Humphrey (Omega).  Kate and Humphrey are taken by park rangers halfway across the county and the movie is about their quest to find their way home.  The movie stars Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Dennis Hopper and , Danny Glover and Christina Ricci.  You can also head over here for fun activities, downloads, games, galleries and videos about the movie.

To celebrate the release of the movie we're giving away an Alpha & Omega Activity set to one luck reader!  (The prize pack will include an Activity & Coloring Book, Alpha Ears, Bookmark, Poster and Alpha & Omega DS games.)  This giveaway will end at 12 noon on September 17th, 2010.  Please be sure I have a way to contact you, and if I'm not able to reach you within a reasonable amount of time I reserve the right to give the prize to someone else.

• Let me know why you are excited to see Alpha and Omega in theaters.
• Subscribe to email feed or other feed subscription for OCMomActivities.com (or if you already are, just say that) 
• Become a Fan of OCMomActivities on Facebook or Alpha and Omega or say so if you already are (1 extra recommendation for each friend you recommend OCMomActivities)
• Follow OCMomActivities on Twitter (1 extra entry)
• Mention/link this giveaway in a blog post or tweet about it (1 extra entry each allowed once per day until the giveaway ends) 
• Go comment on another post on OCMomActivities.com then come back and comment on this one saying you did it (this is an unlimited number of extra entries as long as you do the extra commenting!)

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I'm loving streaming Netflix!

Do you have a Netflix account?  We've had an account for awhile but had recently been frustrated because we never seemed to have the movie on hand we really wanted to watch.  About a month ago we decided to try out the streaming movies through the (built-in) Wi-Fi on our Nintendo Wii, then we also tried using the built-in WiFi on the PS3.  For those who just have the older versions of the Xbox 360, you can buy the wireless WiFi card, it's just not built in the same way as with the Wii and the PS3.  The brand new Xbox does have built-in WiFi.  And yup, you guessed it, you can even stream on to the Apple iPad!

It was super easy to set up, we just had to order the special DVD from Netflix (at least a couple days before you plan on using it so that it has time to arrive in your mail).  The disk itself is free and only takes a couple minutes to set up, you certainly don't have to be tech-savvy to do it.  The menus are easy to navigate and the only drawback that I see is that there aren't nearly as many movies available to stream as watch by mail, but the selection is still impressive and the video quality is fantastic.

But we've certainly been enjoying it and I get a good laugh in every time I log in to the Netflix account and all my recommendations are filled with old school Super Mario cartoons (the kids love watching them on streaming Netflix).  

Have you tried streaming Netflix?

*This is a totally uncompensated/unrequested/un-pitched review.  Just me raving about things I think are awesome...

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Free Planet Earth Episode Download on iTunes!

I'll never forget when the BBC documentary - Planet Earth first came out on tv.  We actually upgraded to HD tv to specifically watch Planet Earth.  I'd heard it was amazing and it did not disappoint!  We as a family spent many many hours mesmerized watching the series.  The kids loved learning about the different animals all over the world.  My husband and I loved watching the breathtaking views of different places all over the world.

To celebrate Earth Day (April 22, 2010) and the release of the Planet Earth Series on iTunes, they are offering the first episode as a free download April 12- 26, 2010!  Additional episodes can be purchased for as little as $1.99 each. Click here to download the episodes.

Here's more information about how they created the series:

"This jaw-dropping, 11-part series from the BBC’s Natural History Unit presents the epic story of life on Earth. Series producer Alastair Fothergill and his team spent four years in production, over 2000 days in the field, using 71 cameramen filming across 204 locations in 62 countries to capture the ultimate portrait of our planet. It has garnered legions of fans and universal critical acclaim with Oprah Magazine saying “It is the most beautiful, wondrous and truly majestic series - the best thing I’ve ever seen on TV.” Using a budget of unprecedented proportions and captured on HD cameras, Planet Earth is among the highest rated and best selling HD programs ever made. It offers stunning visuals perfect for any HD television or HD handheld device like the Apple iPad which launched on April 3rd."

So be sure to log in here to iTunes to take advantage of this opportunity to dowload a free episode of one of the most amazing shows ever made (just my opinion, yes I got the dvd pack a couple years ago and still love watching it).  Having a few episodes handy on your iTouch, iPad or iPhone is a great and educational activity to have at your finger tips to entertain the kids when you need it!

NOTE: All images and video © BBC.

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Mickey's Magical Christmas

I was so excited when my husband brought home the newest Mickey's Christmas DVD... Mickey's Magical Christmas. It's the most recent in a long line of our household favorites... Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas & Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas. Just a fun little tradition around our house that helps build the Christmas spirit since we don't get snow here in Southern California!


We'll be watching it this weekend during our family movie night!


Have you seen it yet? Love it? Don't have it yet? Click here:Mickey's Magical Christmas



.

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S'more Minus the Campfire!

Since we aren't big in to camping (haven't had the chance is more like it) and I'm a huge fan of S'mores, I knew it was time to introduce my boys to how yummy they are! Improvisation was necessary since I knew we wouldn't be near a campfire anytime soon.

I've come up with two alternatives...

1) Use bamboo skewers to roast the marshmallows over the flame of a barbeque (pretty funny to watch, but makes for authentic tasting S'mores!). Then squish the marshmellow in between Hershey's chocolate and graham crackers.

2) Place one graham cracker, chocolate and one large marshmallow on a plate and microwave for 10 seconds (be careful not to cook more because of the heat expansion of the marshmallow!) Then squish the last graham cracker on the top and enjoy.

These have made for great movie night accompaniment at our house! Enjoy!

Stay tuned because we have some big adventures in the next couple of days that I am very excited to share! Disneyland (again!) and the San Diego Zoo!

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Family Movie Night- "Night at the Museum"

If you had asked me during the first 15 minutes of the movie, I would have told you it was another dud that kids loved, but really wasn't entertaining for the parents. I was pleasantly surprised to see the movie take a different turn and truly become entertaining for the whole family! When the characters started coming to life during the movie, there were some great one liners that had our entire family laughing. We'd definitely recommend this one for a family movie night.

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Movie Night!

So it's movie night at our house... one of our favorite things to do as a family!

Up on the agenda:

Yummy Chinese Chicken Salad for dinner ----------->

For dessert we bought candy snacks (strawberry twizzlers and swedish fish) and are making homemade popcorn with my hot oil popper. Yum!

Entertainment for the evening is Night at the Museum on Blu-ray. :) Stay tuned for a review!

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