Candy Cane Peppermint Sugar Scrub - Homemade

It's that time of year... you know, the one where you become overwhelmed by the amount of candy canes that have over taken your life!  Just about everyone I know is looking for ways to cut corners but not feel like they are cutting corners.  Try this delicious (smelling, but don't eat it!) Peppermint Sugar Scrub as a great gift for friends and neighbors.  Be sure to leave yourself a jar for those moments when you decompress and have a little you time this holiday season!

Peppermint Sugar Scrub
Ingredients:

• An empty jar with a lid (or you can use these cute little tins pictured above)
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 6 candy canes/peppermint candy (approx ¼ cup), finely crushed into a powder
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 6 drops peppermint essential oil (optional)

Pour the granulated white sugar and crushed peppermint into the jar. Put the lid on the jar and shake it to mix thoroughly until the ingredients are well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients into sugar mix. Put the lid on the jar and shake it to mix thoroughly until the ingredients are well blended. Label the jar as desired.
Note this post original posted in 2010 here on this site.

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HEXBUG Halloween Party Fun!

HEXBUGS were the life of the party.  With tracks going in every which direction and countless kids crowded around the table it was an afternoon full of fun.

Kyle methodically put together elaborate tracks for the HEXBUGS to run through before the party started, creating his version of a HEXBUG haunted house.

The new larvae HEXBUGS are really cool.  They have have sensors and cameras.  It's pretty cool to watch them wriggle and weave around avoiding objects put in their path, they seem so lifelike - yet not (which is good!).


The kids squealed with joy when I told them they each got to each take home a HEXBUG Nano Halloween Zombie bug and a limited edition HEXBUG Galileo collection. 

We even had a round of musical chairs to decide who got to take home parts of the sets and exclusive new HEXBUG larvae!  It was a ruthless battle for those seats as the kids were determined to win parts of the set!

Looking for an educational and fun gift for the kid who has everything?  You can't go wrong with HEXBUGS because even if it is a part the kid has... it never hurts to have more than one!

For more information and ideas for HEXBUG Nano parties read here.

*The HEXBUG Nano Party sponsored by Innovation First Labs and product samples were supplies to facilitate the review/party.  The opinions expressed were 100% my own and we were HUGE fans of HEXBUGS long before (hence the dozens of tracks and HEXBUGS up in my sons room...) #HEXBUGHalloween

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Inexpensive and Gorgeous Homemade Gift Kids Can Make

Finding a good gift for family members from the kids without breaking the bank (especially if you have a long list to buy for) is always tough.  A couple of years ago we started making our own ornaments to give as gifts. 

Here's a super simple and even toddler friendly way to make elegant ornament gifts:

At this time of year Michael's sells the clear glass packs of ornaments in a number of different sizes.  If you don't have any on hand, buy a variety of colors of paint (most paint works fine for this project).

Have the kids pick two colors and drizzle a small amount of paint in the ornament and have your child swirl the ornament until all or most of the clear has been covered.

Allow several days to dry, then you can also write with gold or silver pen a special message on the ornament, year, etc.  And Voila!  A fantastic gift that will be cherished forever.

These also make fantastic craft projects for room mothers to do with classes (we've also done this!).

(The above picture is actually of two ornaments made by my boys)

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Great Hostess Gifts for the Holidays!

Ack.  The holidays are here!  I still can't figure out where the time has gone!  Holiday parties are already filling up my calendar and I'm quickly realizing I need to get my hostess gifts organized.  I nice bottle of wine is almost always an appropriate gift during the holidays, but unfortunately for many of us, the sheer number of choices at the store is daunting.  I find that when I find a good wine I become very loyal to that and very rarely will buy a bottle (especially one as a gift) that I haven't at least tried somewhere first. 

Last week Fresh & Easy sent out three bottles to a few of us to try out on an online (Twitter) wine tasting party (you can read the dialogues here including my confession about my favorite red wine pairing).  I have to be completely honest, I'm not a white wine drinker or a fan of sparkling wine.  I always choose a glass of red, regardless of whether it paris well with the meal.  So I figured I'd have one glass of the Hilltown Chardonnay and the La Gioosa Prosecco Spumante and end up pouring the rest out.  Boy was I wrong.  Both were wonderful and are now on my list of wines for hostess gifts and to have around for the occasional glass.  Both are priced at less than $8 a bottle and are guaranteed to taste like a much much more expensive bottle of wine.  I really did enjoy the Castillo Rioja Crianza (also priced at under $7).  The flavors were amazing and also one I've already purchased another bottle of (I've actually added all three to my shopping list this week to have on hand).

All of these are exclusively available at Fresh & Easy.

La Gioiosa Prosecco Spumante is priced at under $7 (sparkling white)

Hilltown Chardonnay priced under $8

Castillo Rioja Crianza priced under $7 (Red wine)

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LulyBoo Baby Lounge Now at Target.com!

I fell in love with the LulyBoo the very first time I saw it!  I recently found out that they have now started selling them on Target.com in fun new fabrics, you can check them out here.   You can also check out my post about the LulyBoo baby lounger here to see why I think it's the perfect baby shower gift!

Be sure to also check out their line of baby blankets.  What is unique about the blankets is that they are the all-in-one (a texture for every preference).  They are extremely versatile and also make a great gift for any newborn.  Love them!

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Baby Shower Gift Idea

It sure seems like everyone around me is having babies!  The downside to that is I'm getting a real feel for what my "gift" style is!  Since I can't pull out gorgeous clothes out of my collection (*ahem* just a little envious here of Momfluential!), I'm not really the type to give baby clothes at baby showers unless the Mom to be specifically mentions it (which I have seen a couple times this season). I tend to be the item giving type and I like to make it something that borders on unique (to get the cool/memorable factor in) yet highly functional.  In the past I've given baby wearing slings because both my boys practically lived in them for their first year.  

Recently I met the creators of Lulyboo and instantly knew that was going to become my standard new mom gift!  Talk about versatile!  It's an easily portable (folds up in to a little backpack) infant lounge.  It is FANTASTIC for the busy mom on the go.  It gives the baby its own familiar and safe place to take naps whether you are at a hotel, at the park, at daycare, at the beach, at grandparents house or just over at a friends house (trying to maintain a social life with a new baby!). If I have a third child I could definitely see this being one of my most treasured baby items, right up there with the baby sling.  

You can buy the LulyBoo here at ToysRus or at Bergstroms if you are in SoCal. Or become a fan on Facebook for specials (including more unique & fun pattern).  You can also find out more about LulyBoo and their other products here.

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Baby Shower Ideas: Center Pieces & Favors in One!

Last weekend I threw a baby shower for one of my BFF's - Jen (aka Jen0r.com).  As you may or may not know she is pregnant with her third baby, but this time it's a girl!!!  Being a mom of two boys, I was more than excited to go pink themed everything.  I'm going break this in to several different posts over the next few days to share some of the fun aspects of the shower.

Let's start with the center pieces (& conveniently the take-home gift!)...

One of the fabulous moms from my sons' school has a company by the name of Pop Cakes.  When she brought a box of them for our teachers baby shower earlier this year - I knew I needed to have them for Jen's shower.  In addition to being absolutely delicious, they are an elegant, unique and just plain fun addition to any baby shower.

Flowers and Spring-time were the themes for the shower so it just made sense to create a flower pot centerpiece with the cake pops as the "flowers". It was super easy to put together and was definitely a conversation piece for any event.   Totally customizable and delicious, I promise they'll be something you will quickly become a huge fan of.  The red velvet ones are simply amazing!

Want to know more?  Head over to their website here or become a Facebook Fan here.

Next up... must have gifts for the new mom!

(Disclosure: Popcakes provided them at no cost for the shower, but I was more than ready to purchase them and will be ordering from them many times in the future again!).

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Chocolate Martinis - A Giveaway!

I'm very excited to introduce this amazing woman - Kim Sprague.  She is a mother of three, who loves doing Chocolate Parties.  She is a psychotherapist who gave up the business world to take care of her kids.  Her experience with her sons' four year battle with Cancer prompted her to become actively involved in raising funds for Pediatric Cancer and to combat their own large medical bills.  Contact her to schedule a home Chocolate Party or if you are interested in becoming a Chocolatier!

Kim writes...

Valentine’s Day is all about love and romance …well at least that’s what we’ve been told. Marketers have pushed puffy pink hearts, sassy red negligees, and candy printed up with provocative phrases for weeks now, reminding us of that perfect love, that we either have, or don’t.


Let’s face it, for many Valentine’s Day doesn’t always end up the way Cupid might have hoped.


If you are a lonely-heart, don’t fret. I can help you make the most of St. Valentine’s special day.


Maybe you have found the special someone that sets your heart aflutter, but diaper changes and bedtime stories have you too pooped out to celebrate. No worries….I can help you light that fire of love again!

Dove has packaged love in a bottle; Dove Chocolate Martini Mix. Imagine decadent, creamy chocolate that can be shaken with your favorite vodka….berry flavors for the wild at heart, espresso or hazelnut for the romantic in you. There are a variety of ways to make a chocolate martini that will reflect your own personality of love.

Recently, Dove did an event where they sampled a variety of flavored vodkas with their Chocolate Martini Mix, and hundreds of participants chose pear vodka and pepper vodka as their favorites. Really. What flavors do you think would taste best? I’ll give you a chance to find out!


Whether you are planning to gather all your single friends together for a fun night, or you have a certain someone you want to cuddle up with, I have the perfect give-a-way to make the night a success.


I’ll ship a, “Girl’s Night Out” kit to a lucky winner. The GNO kit includes a 32 oz bottle of Dove Chocolate Martini Mix, a stainless steel martini shaker etched with the Dove Chocolate Discoveries logo, and 4 martini glasses.

Your Valentine’s Day relief will arrive direct to you, by February 14th.  The giveaway is only open to residents of the contiguous 48 states.  Be sure to list each entry you make in a separate comment.  Here's how to enter:

Mandatory first entry: Go here then come back and tell us what you'd want to buy!

• Simply follow, “The Chocolate Lady Blog” - 1 extra entry
• Become a fan on Facebook “Dove Chocolate Discoveries, Independant Chocolatier Kim Sprague”, - 1 extra entry
• Subscribe to email or rss feed for OCMomActivities - 1 extra entry each
• Follow OCMomActivities on Twitter - 1 extra entry
• Tweet about this giveaway - 1 extra entry

This giveaway will close on Saturday, January 30, 2010 at midnight PST. A winner will be announced Sunday January 31st. If you don't include your email address in your comment, please email it to OCMomActivities at gmail dot com so that you can be contacted if you win. Note that we will need your mailing address on Sunday January 31st to ensure you recieve your Chocolate Martini's before Valentine's Day!


If you don’t win, you can still enjoy Dove Chocolate Martini Mix and other luscious chocolate goodies. Check out my website and let me know what you’d like.  You can also watch more about Kim Sprague on this YouTube video:

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Last Minute Gift for a Cause...

I admit it - I love it when companies find a way to support charities through the sale of their products... but when you mix in a charity that is working to see that no child goes hungry... I'm sold!

If you haven't bought that special someone (mother, sister, aunt or yourself) a gift for and would love to make that gift something even more special/meaningful, head on over here to make a $30 donation to Share our Strength and Honora will send you (shipping paid for by Honora) this black leather and mother-of-pearl woman's watch (valued at $100 MSRP!!!) for the first 1,000 people to make the donation.  As long as you make your donation before Friday, you will receive your gift in time to put under the tree delivered via UPS.  Absolutely amazing deal (wives... hurry and email this post to your husband to drop that not so subtle hint...)

Honora has set lofty goals to raise $30,000 through this campaign using Social Media, blogs and emails.  Let's show them just how powerful the internet and Web 2.0 marketing can be for a good cause! 


*and nope, absolutely zero compensation for writing this post.

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