Thing I Love Most – A Deal!

 

Nothing makes a new dress cuter than knowing it was purchased on sale.  A new ball is bouncier when it is 20% off.  Jump ropes are jumpier.  Games are more fun.  Swimsuits are splashier.  You get the idea.  I think it is an interesting peek into a mom’s psyche to consider such things.  And a smart retailer would take note.  It is not about the price.  It is about the deal.  It is about getting something a higher perceived value for far less.

For instance let’s say the above noted Dress A has a price of $25.  It’s a fair price for a girl’s dress.  In the same store, however, there is a Dress B that has an original price tag of $35 that has been marked down to $25.  Two dresses, sided by side.  Same price.  Which one do you want to get?  Do you even have to see them to know which one you think you would like better?  Be honest.  I know if I am being honest, it is hard for me to let Dress B go, even if I really like Dress A better.  I’m not judging – I am just observing!

With that being said, the pop-up of the daily deals everywhere is pure heaven for me.  I am the perfect customer because I am buying things solely because they are a deal.  Things that I would not buy today. Things that I wasn’t looking for today.  But things that are a discounted today – and I am loving it!  I have many different sites that I will share over time.  I am starting today with the mini social because in addition to being a deal, they are featuring a couple of my favorite items.

Currently listed for the next couple of days is the Scholastic sale with a couple of my favorite Scholastic items, being the Bob Books set and the I Spy Books.  I used the Bob Books to help both of my kids learn to read.   They are fantastic at building phonics as well as confidence.  The books build upon each other so once a sound is mastered it is incorporated into the next book with the next sound that is being taught.  And kids can move along at their own pace, sometimes moving quickly, other times taking it a little slower.  The I Spy Books I love because they can be enjoyed alone in the car on a long trip, or together in bed with parent and child playing together.  The photographic artwork engages children for a very long time.

The other line that interests me today is the National Geographic Maps.  The mini social is highlighting quite a few beautiful themed maps including the world, the heavens, the United States, dinosaurs, and The Civil War.  Lots of information to pour over while laying in bed at the end of a busy day.

What’s not to love – it’s a deal!

Carpet Skates! – Why didn’t I think of that?

 

 

Do you remember when you were a kid and you and your friends would find your most slippery socks to “skate” on a nice polished floor?  Twirls, leaps, moves that would have impress Dorothy Hamill, no doubt.  That was back in the day when we had to make our own fun – it didn’t come packaged in a box with directions.  Remember?

I relived all of my triple toeloop highlights the first time I walked past the exhibit of Fun Slides at a toy trade show several years back.  So simple.  So genius.  Made by Simtec, the same company that created EZ Moves Furniture Slides used to move heavy furniture with the push of a finger, these skates are awesome.  The company agreed to sell me two pairs at the end of that particular trade show and I brought them home to see if my kids would love them as much as I did.

The skates were wildly popular… with the entire neighborhood.  For months our furniture was moved to the perimeter of our living room will kids took turns using the skates to perform.  Daredevils took them to the top of our carpeted stairs, sitting on their heels and riding down the “hill”.  My kids enjoyed having the “it” toy – with a msrp of $19.99!

Great gift, but be warned – you may lose your living room to future Olympic figure skaters and hockey players!

North American Bear Company has the Quintessential Baby Doll

I was never a big fan of the baby doll – don’t get me wrong, my kids were.  They had them and all the accessories that went with them (and take up so much room, perpetually making their own rooms look disgraceful). But the hard vinyl faces and bodies are big turn off for me.  Nothing squeezeable, loveable.  They are hard to cuddle with.  And the vinyl picks up dirt making them appear unkempt.  Kids quickly start putting these uncared for looking babies away, not in the baby carriage, but in the bottom of the toy box, because not even they want to look at the dirty faces.

I am however, in love with the North American Bear Company‘s Rosy Cheeks Baby who comes as either a little girl or little boy, has a variety of hair colors and two skin tones.  And each and every one of them has…rosy cheeks, of course.  The soft velour skin is loveable (and washable!). At 15″, the size is right – realistic where many soft babies are eerily small.  The cloth diaper and little jersey wrap are removable.  The features are embroidered, creating an overall sweetness to the doll.  A great gift for an expectant sibling or a young nurturing soul.