2010 July 11

Giveaway: First Impressions Baby Apparel Gift Sets {4 Winners!}

July 11, 2010 By Marybeth Hamilton

Giveaway has ended. Congrats to Andrea, Stella, Justine and Tina!

My mother-in-law has been a longtime Macy’s fan, so I’m quite familiar with the First Impressions baby apparel line that’s only available at Macy’s. When First Impressions contacted me and asked if they could sponsor a giveaway, I didn’t hesitate to say, “Yes, Please!”

First Impressions was nice enough to send a few sets of baby clothes for my review as well. Unfortunately, my camera was out of town when we first took them off the hangers for the test drive, so I didn’t get any personalized photographs of Haiden and Piper in their new duds. I can say, however, that I love this brand! I live in the land of Macy’s, and I’ve done quite a bit of shopping for my babies there over the past two years, and we also receive gifts from there. The apparel is high-quality and adorable, and I love pretty much everything about it.

My favorite thing about the First Impressions brand is that the styles aren’t too grown up. I like to dress my little ones in very age-approprate clothing (think cute and babyish) and First Impressions fits the bill. At the same time, the styles are definitely classy and well put-together. I usually find myself shopping the brand when I’m looking for clothing for a special occasion!

I honestly don’t see a need for improvement in the quality or style or even price of anything sold by First Impressions. The only thing I’d love to see changed is availability. I hoping that some day the brand will be offered in other stores outside of Macy’s!

First Impressions has generously offered up 4 First Impressions gift sets! Each Gift set includes an outfit, a five-piece layette set, and an adorable plush animal (the winner can even choose if they want a girl or boy gift set!).

Want to Win? Leave a comment on this post letting me know if you’d like a boy or girl gift set.

The above entry is mandatory. If you’d like additional entries, you may do the following:

Subscribe to the Baby GoodBuys feed either in a reader or by email. You can do this by clicking here and adding this site to your reader, or you can enter your email address in the box near the top of the page on the right. You must click the confirmation link in your email if you choose to be an email subscriber. (Leave a comment letting me know you’re a subscriber to get your extra entry for this option)
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Sign up for Ebates by clicking here. (Your email address will be verified by Ebates, so leave a comment letting me know you signed up and I’ll validate with your email address that’s not publicly displayed in your comment)

Contest Details: Contest ends on 7/25/2010. United States residents only. Valid email address is required. All entries without a valid email address will be disqualified. Duplicate, fraudulent and/or invalid entries will be disqualified. Winning email notification must be responded to within 48 hours or that winner will forfeit the prize and a new winner will be selected. Winner will be selected with the random integer generator at random.org. Screen print of Random.org selection will be saved and provided upon request. Winner’s first name will be posted on this giveaway/contest All questions should be directed to babygoodbuys(at) gmail(dot)com.

FTC Disclosure: This was not a paid post and honest opinions were expressed. Many thanks to First Impressions for providing the items to review and the prize for the winner.

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77Kids Do Good Day, Minnesota Mom Bloggers Doing Good in Our Neighborhood!

July 11, 2010 By Marybeth Hamilton

A few weeks ago, The Motherhood contacted me and asked me to be involved in a very special project: Do Good Day on July 14th. To celebrate 11 stores across the United States, 77Kids (American Eagle’s new kids store) is organizing seven mommy bloggers in each of those cities to “Do Good” for kids in their neighborhoods!

I’ve been fortunate to work with other fantastically creative Minnesota Mommy Bloggers to brainstorm and come up with our own ideas to help empower kids to spread goodwill throughout the community. Thanks to the Science Museum of Minnesota, we’ll be setting up a great event on July 14th at the Science Museum in St. Paul, Minnesota, from 10:00 – 1:00 to help teach kids to care for and beautify our great state of Minnesota! We’ll have lots of great activities, handouts, and a few great freebies for the Science Museum visitors who stop by and see what we’re up to.

I’m also thrilled that the event organizers are truly making this a family affair, and they’re welcoming Haiden and Piper to the Do Good Day with open arms. I’m excited to do the activites with them, and have them help with the handouts and anything else I can find to occupy them! If you stop by, I’ll be the crazy mom blogger with a baby on my hip, chasing a toddler and trying to hand out coupons and crayons at the same time! Please find me and say “Hi” if you’re around! You’ll also be able to meet these other great blog owners:

Minnesota Mom Blogs Participating in Do Good Day:

Baby GoodBuys (of course!)

Minnesota Mama’s Must Haves

That One Mom

The Girl Next Door Grows Up

All of the Above

Anti-SuperMom

Marvelous Mom Reviews

Empowering Mommy

If you’re not in Minnesota, there are Do Good Day events happening in 10 other cities! The Motherhood has a great “Circle” set up where you can find out more about Do Good Day! I would also love to hear about you doing something good on July 14th. It can be as simple as a random act of kindness, because the little things are what build strong community foundations. If you do something good, please leave a comment on this post or write on my Facebook wall. I’m so looking forward to hearing about your day!

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Eat Dinner Together and Help Meals on Wheels with Barilla

July 11, 2010 By Marybeth Hamilton

I keep hearing this: Eating dinner together, as a family, is so important for providing a strong social foundation for kids as they move into the teenage years. Since Haiden and Piper are so little, I’m not quite as concerned for any social effects our dining habits have on them, but I still think it’s great to emphasize that dinner time is family time. At the same time, I totally understand how difficult it can be to get dinner on the table for everyone at the same time! There are things to do outside the home, work delays, childrens’ needs and so much more that can draw one or more of us away from that family time that is honestly so delightful! The easiest way I make it possible for the four of us to sit down together together is to make sure a good, easy dinner is ready to go right around 5 or 5:15. That way I know we’re on schedule for the rest of the night and there’s no need to rush.

Barilla sent me a lovely little gift set to help get the word out about their Share the Table site. This site provides information on how to capture the key time of dinnertime with your family, and how to make it as powerful as possible. They also include recipes from celebrity chef Mario Batali and tips from other celebrities on how to make the most of dinnertime. One of the absolute best things about the site is that you can click here, then click the button to have Barilla donate a$1 to Meals on Wheels. It’s easy and free for you, so it’s a great way to help the cause!

I was able to use my gift set to make a few nice Italian meals for my family. I did one that was a simple fettucini alfredo with chicken, and another by chef Mario Batali. While most of his recipes are pretty complex to accomodate my toddler’s simple tastes, his fusilli with asparagus and ricotta cheese pasta recipe was absolutely wonderful! A nice selection of recipes crafted by Batali can be downloaded when you visit this page.

If you’re looking for a little inspiration to get the family together for dinner, I highly recommend you visit the Share the Table site!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Barilla and received products necessary to facilitate my candid review.