Happy HallowGreen!

A couple of weeks ago I posted some tips for Going Green this Halloween, but since it's Halloween today I thought it would be worth sharing them again:1) Green the goodies: Think of all the candy wrappers that one little goblin throws in the trash – then multiply that number by the millions of trick-or-treaters who are happily gobbling up their stash....

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Bonggamom's Friday Finds -- The Bestest Giveaways Around the Blogosphere

As a giveaway blogger, I've found it's a great way to get more traffic to my giveaways. And as a person who loves entering giveaways, I've found it's a great way to find out where all the best giveaways are.So I've started a weekly giveaway roundup post that hopefully people will find useful. Feel free to leave links to your giveaways, everyone....

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Brandi Carlisle Give Up the Ghost

Today's review isn't just for Halloween -- you can enjoy Brandi Carlile's album year round -- but with a title like Give Up the Ghost, how could I not feature in on Bonggamom's Halloween Haunts?The BasicsI was treated to a free download of Brandi Carlile's new album, Give Up the Ghost, which was released on October 6. It became iTunes' #1 bestselling...

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Make Jammy a WinARRRR!

Hello dear readers! I've just entered J&O Fabrics' Halloween contest for best homemade costume. I've entered Jammy's homemade pirate costume because it's authentic looking, cute, and -- most important for the lazy or non crafty folk out there, which is, like, 99% of everyone -- it is SOO easy to make. Please vote for Jammy and send the message...

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Decorating for Halloween with PartyLite

Halloween is my favorite holiday, so every October I go all out with Halloween themed decor. I get out the orange-and-black storage bins on the first of the month (I'd do it sooner, but Alfie won't let me), do a little bit each day, and by the time Halloween night rolls around the house is decked from head to foot in spiders, cobwebs, bats, skeletons...

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Encyclopedia of Haunted Places

If you're looking to travel somewhere this Halloween week, why not head to a haunted house? I received a book to review that's perfect for Halloween: the Encyclopedia of Haunted Places, compiled and edited by Jeff Belanger. He's the founder of Ghostville.com and a noted paranormal investigator who has appeared as a paranormal expert on many television...

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Printies Halloween Contest

Here's a fun online Halloween contest that will bring out child's creative side. It's sponsored by Printies, whose craft product Printies Design Studio I'm reviewing (watch out for my review post in the next week or so). Just create a Halloween-themed Printie character, post it to their online gallery, and you get a chance to win one of 31 Printies...

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Halloween Magic at the Disneyland Resort

One of the things on my to-do list is to visit the Disneyland Resort during Halloween. Not only is every inch of Disneyland and Disney's California adventure decked out with pumpkins, even the attractions get a Halloween theme. and the fireworks show has Jack Skellington making a star appearance. Speaking of stars, even Space Mountain gets a Halloween...

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Winter's Tale children's essay contest

I recently ran a giveaway for a great children's book, Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again. The giveaway winner, Terry (hey Terry, don't forget to contact me with your mailing info!), is one lucky blogger, but guess what? The prizes keep coming! Scholastic books is holding a children's essay contest gets to meet Winter the...

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Bonggamom's Friday Finds -- The Bestest Giveaways Around the Blogosphere

As a giveaway blogger, I've found it's a great way to get more traffic to my giveaways. And as a person who loves entering giveaways, I've found it's a great way to find out where all the best giveaways are.So I've started a weekly giveaway roundup post that hopefully people will find useful. Feel free to leave links to your giveaways, everyone....

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Yo Gabba Gabba cd Review and Giveaway

Win this cd! To find out how, keep reading...Who would have thought that a skinny guy with orange hair and five funny-looking monsters would be so popular? Only all the kids in the US, that's who! A couple of weeks ago I received word that the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba! is going on their very first live US tour: Yo Gabba Gabba Live: There's a Party...

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Go HallowGreen this Halloween

Green is a staple Halloween color -- think of green pumpkin leaves, green slime and green monsters -- but it never really occurred to me that Halloween isn't a very green holiday. Green, as in, good for the environment. With all the plastic skeletons and fake spiderwebs and candy wrappers floating around this time of year, all this trick or treating can actually have quite a negative impact on the environment. (I'm guilty of buying lots of plastic decorations as well, but I do keep the decorations...

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Have a Roaring Good time with The Jungle Grapevine

Alex Beard is a marvelous artist whose intricately detailed work can be found in drawings, paintings and puzzles. He recently published a children's book that draws on his memories of his childhood in the African savannah. His new book, The Jungle Grapevine, features some of his artwork and continues his mission to make art more accessible to children...

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Do NOT enter this Sweepstakes. Because I want to win it.

Leapfrog has an awesome Star Wars sweepstakes going on for the next several months. They're giving a total of seven first prize winners will receive a Tag, Leapster2 or Didj system and a Star Wars game or book. That would be a great sweepstakes in itself, but Leapfrog has gone All Out and come up with a Grand Prize worth over $3000! It's a...

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Bonggamom's Friday Finds -- The Bestest Giveaways Around the Blogosphere

As a giveaway blogger, I've found it's a great way to get more traffic to my giveaways. And as a person who loves entering giveaways, I've found it's a great way to find out where all the best giveaways are.So I've started a weekly giveaway roundup post that hopefully people will find useful. Feel free to leave links to your giveaways, everyone. And don't forget to get cracking and enter all those giveawa...

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Wow! Wow! Wubzy DVD Review and Giveaway

Who loves Wubbzy? We do! My kids love watching the antics of Wubbzy, Waldo, Widget and all their friends on the TV show Wow! Wow! Wubbzy. Earlier this year we saw tv ads promoting the Wubb Idol episodes featuring Beyonce in her first ever children's project. We never got around to watching it, but fortunately for us, the new Wubb Idol DVD just...

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Disney on Ice: Princess Classics

Last night, MomSelect treated me and my family to tickets to the opening night of Disney on Ice presents Princess Classics at Oakland's ORACLE Arena. We've watched a couple of Disney on Ice productions before --Finding Nemo 3 years ago, and Princess Classics (the exact same production!) 6 years ago -- so we knew we would be getting a real treat....

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Getting ready to fight the flu

Today was a wet, wet day; after months of dry, hot weather, a storm hit the Bay Area and it was like the floodgates had opened (I probably shouldn't joke about floods given that half of Metro Manila was under water just a couple of weeks ago). It was a sobering reminder that there's more where that came from, and the cold and flu season is on its way. Just a couple of days ago, I received an invitation from Boiron, a manufacturer of homeopathic products, to discuss the things I do to keep my...

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It's Halloween on Jumpstart!

My kids have had a resurgence of interest in the Jumpstart website ever since they logged on and saw that the Jumpstart world is all dressed up for Halloween! There are jack-o-lanterns everywhere, there are spooky spiderwebs on the ground, you can hear crickets chirping, and the whole place is dark like it's twilight and everyone's about to go trick-or-treating....

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Near East Pearled Couscous

I first tried Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food about fifteen years ago, when I first came to the US.  I have no idea how I survived so long without it!   Now I adore hummus, tabouleh salad, gyros wraps, lamb with couscous and more.  We usually buy this kind of food at restaurants, but I always have boxes of Near East's couscous...

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Joshua Bell "At Home With Friends"

I recently received a copy of violinist Joshua Bell's new cd, At Home With Friends.   He's the artist who performed the music in the movie The Red Violin, so I was quite excited to check it out!  Here's what I thought: The Basics From the producers of the album: At Home With Friends represents the Grammy Award-winning violinist's...

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Think Pink with Label Daddy

I think this is a great idea: you know you need those labels anyway, so why not do something worthwhile while you're buying them? October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month (thank goodness there's lots of pink stuff on Bonggamom Finds!) and every dollar donated to raise awareness or search for a cure helps.I did not receive a product sample or monetary...

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Bonggamom's Friday Finds -- The Bestest Giveaways Around the Blogosphere

As a giveaway blogger, I've found it's a great way to get more traffic to my giveaways. And as a person who loves entering giveaways, I've found it's a great way to find out where all the best giveaways are.So I've started a weekly giveaway roundup post that hopefully people will find useful. Feel free to leave links to your giveaways, everyone....

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Coupon for AllAmericanDirect.com

I just received a coupon code for AllAmericanDirect.com that I wanted to share with everyone. From today until October 18, you can save $10 on a $50 purchase by using the codesavebigThey sell everything online from electronics to Halloween costumes, so if you're stocking up on anything from home decor to holiday items, that coupon is gonna come in handy.I did not receive a product sample or monetary compensation to review this site or for this post. The views and opinions expressed here are my...

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The New Family Portrait, by ErinLeigh Photography

It has been 4 years since we last had a good family portrait session, and I've been meaning to schedule one before the kids grow up even more and become completely unrecognizeable. Picking a portrait photographer isn't an easy task. I'm done with the unnatural "tilt your head this way and place your hand on his shoulder" style of Sears and The Picture...

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Learning to Read in Leaps and Bounds

We've just had our initial parent-teacher conferences, and I'm happy to note that 3Po and Jammy couldn't be doing better. Their teachers are very pleased with their progress in reading, and I'm giving credit to all the reading Alfie did with them over the summer, and to the reading they did on their own with the Leapfrog Tag. Now Leapfrog has come...

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