The best gift I ever gave

SWAGG is a free mobile app (download here) that lets you shop smarter using your mobile phone. Buy, send or swap SWAGG GIFTS and organize your old school plastic gift cards.

For every download of the app between now and Dec. 31, 2010, SWAGG will donate $1 to Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) , up to $125,000.

Clever Girls Collective and SWAGG are sending a pair of movie fans to the Sundance Film Festival!Download the SWAGG app and then visit the Ultimate SWAGG Getaway Sweepstakes site to enter to win a trip for two to the Sundance Film Festival. Entry deadline is January 3, 2011, 11:59pm, PST.

Alfie and I don't really buy each other holiday presents. We don't believe in getting all stressed out about hunting for the perfect present and spending tons of money just because it's Christmas -- then pretending to be overjoyed about receiving something we didn't really want, when we really wanted to spend our hard-earned money on something else. Our Christmas presents to each other tend to be purchases we've discussed beforehand, like a flat screen tv or a new fence for the back yard. Our "presents" this year are my new Kitchen Aid mixer and Alfie's new BMW motorcycle, both purchased after months of deliberation and years of desire.

I know. How practical. And how boring. But we're not total Scrooges: there have been years when we've surprised each other with something we know the other really needs or wants, like the time I lost my iPod and Alfie gave me a new one. Or the time he broke his toolbox and I gave him a new toolbox. Or the time I spent some of the first money I ever made from blogging on an Amazon gift card for him. Or the time he gave me a pair of diamond earrings (I know you're thinking I've totally got the better deal from the surprise presents, but hey, he got a BMW motorcycle this year!).

So as with most things in life, the best gift I ever gave Alfie for Christmas wasn't anything I bought. Like most of the presents we give each other, he knew this one was coming; in fact, we knew it was coming around 6 months beforehand. It took quite a lot of effort on my part; I had to work on it day and night for 9 months. To tell you the truth, we had so many mixed feelings about this present, especially when we found out that we were getting more than we had bargained for. My present arrived a few days after Christmas Day:

We didn't know I was carrying twins until my 20th week of pregnancy, and right after we found out, they told us Baby A and Baby B had ventriculomegaly and were at risk of developing hydrocephalus. The news was such a shock that you'd think our world had ended. Now 3Po and Jammy are almost 7, healthy and happy, and they are our world.

They are truly the best holiday gift I've ever given -- and the best holiday gift I've ever received.



Download the SWAGG app and donate $1 to Stand Up To Cancer
SWAGG has partnered with non-profit Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C). For every download of the app between now and Dec. 31, 2010, SWAGG will donate $1 to SU2C up to $125,000. Awesome, right?! Visit the SU2C site for more info http://www.standup2cancer.org/


Win a trip to the Sundance Film Festival
Clever Girls Collective and SWAGG are sending a lucky pair of movie fans to the Sundance Film Festival! The sweepstakes is offered exclusively through the Clever 1000, and it has a pretty kick butt prize, including:

* 2 night/3 day stay at Yarrow Hotel in Park City Utah (Jan 21 - Jan 23, 2011)
* Ground transportation to and from hotel to airport in Park City, Utah
* Dinner for two at Tao Lounge, including 2 nightclub passes
* All access to The House of SWAGG Gifting Suite and to a SWAGG demo for a special "celebrity
* guest" - guest tbd
* 2 tickets to a movie premiere on Saturday, January 22nd -- movie tbd
* $4,000 value

Click here for more info about the Ultimate SWAGG Getaway Sweepstakes

Learn more about the coolest new app that revolutionizes the whole shopping, gifting, and gift card-organizing experience and Download the SWAGG app to your iPhone or Droid.

Disclosure: I was selected for this sponsorship by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity. Sweepstakes and charitable giving program information has been provided by the Clever Girls Collective. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.