Many of you know that I had rotator cuff surgery two weeks ago. Right before I went into surgery, I received a set of Wrap Buddies to review. I am glad I have them as my third daughter’s birthday is this Thursday. I had to wrap her presents with basically one hand.

I have a cool shoulder cradle that does allow me to use my left hand a little, but I don’t have full function of that hand or arm. With the Wrap Buddies help. I was able to wrap her presents rather easily.

Here’s how it works:

Clip Wrap Buddies to any table or counter top. Place the roll in between the Wrap Buddies and adjust the spacing to fit the length. Unroll the paper, measure, and easily cut. The built in tape dispenser stays close by so everything you need is always within reach. 

What I liked best was how my wrapping paper stayed still and did not roll up on me. Without having a second hand to stabilize the paper, it was nice to not have to worry about the paper rolling up.

My dining roll table was not the perfect table as the Wrap Buddies only clipped about half way on because part of the table under the tabletop stopped it from clipping on the whole way. But it still did work. I also liked the way my regular tape dispenser with its steel serrated edge cuts tape better than the Wrap Buddies as it has plastic serrated edges. It did cut though, so it would be nice to have extra tape dispensers when wrapping a lot of presents.

I can see myself using these Wrap Buddies at Christmas. I wrap each child’s Christmas presents in a different roll of paper. I can put one roll of paper on the holder, roll out the paper, wrap all the presents for that child before I move onto the next roll of paper and the next child.

Enter to win a set of Wrap Buddies!

Winner must live in the United States. Creative K Kids is not responsible for the fulfillment of this prize. Winner will be contacted with by email and will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner will be chosen.

Here is 1 other giveaways you can enter:

Eat Like You Give a Fork: The Real Dish on Eating to Thrive Cookbook

I have two teenagers and one tween (technically two tweens), and there is one present that they all want:

Bluetooth headphones

We all know that today is an age where almost every American kid has at least one device. It may be a Kindle Fire — that is what my tweens have. It may be a phone — my teens each have a phone. My oldest helps pay for her phone and does not use data unless it is an emergency. My second daughter got an Android phone for her birthday, and she does not call or use data unless it is an emergency. She texts me and uses Skype to talk to her cousin and friend that live far away.

What they DO do with their devices is listen to music and listen to Adventure in Odyssey stories — even the teens! And they will play the games and sometimes watch something. To listen to the stories and music, they use headphones. So they have all been asking for Bluetooth headphones, especially my second teen, as she likes to bake and practice soccer in the gym. It is much easier to listen to a story or music if your headphones can be cord-free and not attached to the phone.

When I was approached by 1MORE USA Inc. to receive the Stylish Dual BT In-Ear Headphones to review, I knew this was a product that I wanted to try out for my kids. 1MORE INC. sent me the headphones for me to write up an honest review (with no additional monetary compensation), and my daughter loved them!

The color would have been exactly the color she would have chosen, and they were very comfortable to wear. They were also extremely easy to pair with her phone.

Karis tested these headphones out.

She was able to put her phone down and listen to music as she played with her siblings. She even jumped on the trampoline while wearing them! She was so glad that I was able to review the headphones and that she’ll be able to get something that has been on her wishlist for a long time!

Here are some features of the headphones:

• 4 color options to match your personal preference: rose pink, platinum gold, spearmint green and midnight black. The sound chamber, cable, and ear tips all feature the same color scheme.
• DUAL-DYNAMIC DRIVER
• LOSSLESS BLUETOOTH AUDIO- Bluetooth v4.2 with a wireless range of up to 30 feet!
• FAST CHARGE + 3C BATTERY- Fully charged, the Stylish BT Headphones are capable of 6 hours of use. Fast Charge capabilities give you 3 hours of use with only 10 minutes of charge time!
• PERFECTED ERGONOMICS- A soft and flexible neckband with a skin-like silicone material offers more comfort during prolonged use. A built-in memory steel wire allows the neckband to fold for easy storage in your pocket or travel case.

Here is what is included:

• Silicone Eartips (S,L,XL- 2 ea.)
• Micro USB Cable
• 1MORE Bear Sticker
• Instruction Manual
• Storage Bag
• Product Brochure

I loved the storage bag that will hold the headphones as well as the extra eartips, the cable, and the instruction manual. It’s attractive and functional!

You can buy these headphones and more styles that 1MORE USA Inc. offers HERE and on Amazon. Buy them for your teen — they’ll be ecstatic!

1MORE USA has sent me one more of these pairs of headphones to offer as a giveaway to my readers!

Winner must reside in the United States. Winner will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to respond with their contact information before a new winner is chosen. Creative K Kids is not responsible for the fulfillment of this prize.

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Here are 2 other giveaways you can enter:

1 Set of Wrap Buddies
Eat Like You Give a Fork: The Real Dish on Eating to Thrive Cookbook

I like to participate in a group giveaway two times a year: Christmas and Mothers Day.

I do Christmas because Christmas is fun — and we all need extra help at Christmas time!

I do Mothers Day because mothers should be honored. I am a mom, and I get tired out at times. It’s nice to have someone validate your hard work and give you a little bit of honor one day a year!

Here are some quotes I like concerning mothers:

Children are successful often because of their mothers!

I pray you all have a wonderful Mothers Day!

Now on to the giveaway!

We are so excited to be giving away $410 in gift cards for Mother’s Day to three lucky readers. The giveaway will run from April 26th – May 10th.

The prizes are:

• 1 – $200 gift card
• 1 – $105 gift card
• 1 – $105 gift card

Each winner will choose the gift card you want. Please choose a gift card which comes from an online store and can be paid by US dollars. EX: Amazon, Target, Walmart, Macy’s, Kohls, etc. You may ask for more than one gift card but must add up to your prize amount.

Please stop by and say hi to these wonderful co-hosts and their blogs.

The giveaway will end midnight on Friday, May 1oth, a few days before Mother’s Day. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email claiming their prize. If we don’t hear in 48 hours, we will choose another winner. The giveaway is open to anyone over 18 years of age and able to receive e-gift cards from the U.S.
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Summer is coming! Do you have a plan for your kids? Or do you at least have an alternative for your children besides devices and videos?

When I was a kid, my family did not have a television, and of course, we did not have any devices. I read voraciously, went on bike rides, swam, and played board games (by myself.) It’s a different age for my kids, and I am not great at keeping my kids off their devices. My youngest has just discovered Minecraft. Even though that might be considered a good app, I still don’t want her playing it all day.

Of course, I want her to read. I have bought the third grade Sonlight Language and Reading program for her next year. She has already started reading some of the books and really enjoys them, especially The Third-Grade Detective series. Although she enjoys reading, she is not going to read all day either. I want her to do at least 5 minutes of math flashcards a day and I will probably use Singapore math as a review some days.

One thing I have also done is buy a 3 months subscription to I Create Art Kit. I bought a three month subscription for a birthday present for Kiley, and we really enjoyed it. The other kids are going to a week of camp or have a cousin coming to stay with them, so this will be like art camp spread out over the summer at our own pace. If you want to try it out, there is supposedly a loyalty program that I am part of where I can get rewards for referring a new member, but I can’t figure out how it works. If you see a place where you can say who referred you, write my name in! But if not, that’s okay. You’ll have fun doing this with your younger kids (around 6 – 8), and 9 and up can probably do it by themselves. I feel like they get good art materials that they can continue to use for other projects plus detailed directions for two projects in each kit.

And after we have exhausted reading books, math work, art kits, swimming, piano practice, and games (right now, Kiley loves playing Golf using Skip-Bo cards), it will be nice to have these activity books on hand. I received all of these book from Quarto Press, and they will be a nice addition to our summer activities, especially when we do our 42 hour round-trip drive to go see our family.

Here are the activity books I received:

This book has coloring pages, activity books, and 4 stories that you can read to your child. If you were reading the books to your child, it would be good for children that are 3-5 years old. The activities would be more for a 1st -2nd grader. The colors were bright and it was a nice, thick book that would last for a while.

I love these sticker, shape, draw books. For kids that don’t love to color, they will love to make the shapes with the stickers at the back of the book. They have to follow the sequencing directions to make the animal shapes, and the shapes get progressively harder as they do the book. Then they can embellish the shapes with crayons, pencils, or markers if they wish. It’s an easy book to bring on a trip, and it’s different than regular coloring books.

This book has activities that go with actually being on a plane. I wish we would have had it when we went on our long trip to South Africa. From the meals you get, to knowing the rules, to different mazes and puzzles, tic tac toe, and more, this book has more plane games than I thought possible. At the end of the book, there are all the answers in case your child can’t figure out a page!

This book is just like the On the Farm book, except it’s all about different kinds of vehicles. 21 different kinds to be exact. So if you have someone who loves cars and planes and trains, then this is the book for you.

This book is another travel activity book, but you could use it in a car or a plane — or a train! There is Sudoku puzzles, word searches, crossword puzzles, and more. This book also has the answers in the back of the book.

One of my readers has the opportunity to win all 5 books from Quarto Knows!

Winner must reside in the United States. Creative K Kids is not responsible for the fulfillment of this prize.

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Also enter this giveaway for a Char-Broil Grilling for the Family Cookbook!