Nov 7 2007

Giveaway-a-Thon Day 3: Fun Fashion Craft Kits

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Lots of winners today from yesterday's Prizeapalooza. Evelina won the Kaboost. Rebecca G won the Laughing Pizza concert tickets and CD. And the Blush topless undershirt winners are Izzy's Mama, NeeshaN and Gayle. Thanks everyone who is spreading the word and entering the contests.

And the fun goes on...Today, another great product giveaway created by a local NYC mom. But, before I get into the prizes, a couple of quick notes. Someone brought up the issue of privacy and SPAM yesterday. Be assured, I'm not collecting your email addresses and I wouldn't know what to do with them if I did. You will not get any SPAM from me or any other source when you subscribe to Mommy Poppins or pass a link to a friend through this site.

On the note of subscriptions. If you have subscribed via email, make sure you reply to the verification email in order to activate your subscription. If you can't find your verification email, just resubscribe and reply to the new one.

Now, on to today's giveaway!

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What is a Mugwaz? They're really fun fashion craft kits. Kids can create their own fashion accessories from flip flops to bags to belts. The kits are easy enough for preschoolers, but cool enough for tweens and the packaging is almost as much fun as the kits with cute cartoons all over that are fun to read.

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Nov 6 2007

Giveaway-a-Thon Day 2: Prizeapalooza

The response to yesterday's Via Toy Box giveaway was great and the winner of the Via Toy box is...MB Burns. Congratulations. We are all jealous! Thank you everyone who spread the word and entered the contest. And, don't fret, today I've got a slew of great prizes to giveaway.

The first prize is, I think, one of the best new baby product designs of the year. The Kaboost Chair Booster is beautiful, functional and an ingenious new solution to dining with children. It's another product that is great for families in the city because it helps apartments looking stylish and grown-up while still functioning as kid places. The Kaboost Chair Booster turns any ordinary chair into a high chair by boosting the whole chair rather than just the seat. It is also foldable and portable (and storable) other great qualities that city parents need in products. You can see my original write-up of the Kaboost Portable Chair Booster here. One lucky winner will get a free Kaboost.

But there's more...

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Nov 4 2007

Mommy Poppins Giveaway-a-Thon: Via Toy Box

Today is the first day of the Mommy Poppins week-long giveaway-a-thon. I've rounded up some of my favorite products and some great new discoveries to give away to readers this week. There will be awesome toys, beautiful pottery, a little something for new moms, and the ultimate dream - two weeks of meals prepared in your home by professional chefs.

I put together this giveaway-a-thon to celebrate the coming of the close of the first year of Mommy Poppins. It's been amazing to watch the site grow this year and I wanted to thank all my readers for all you've done to help out; from your ideas, words of encouragement, feedback and spreading the word about the site to your friends.

Today's great prize is my favorite toy box/storage solution for kids - Via Toy Box. I absolutely love this product because it makes cleaning up and organizing kids toys easy. Great storage is the secret to successfully living with kids in city apartments. You have to have storage that gets everything hidden, yet accessible and looks great because kids and grown up areas are often not as separated as they are in larger homes.

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Nov 2 2007

Free Parks Programs Let City Kids Discover the Nature All Around

I think I love being out in nature in the Fall better even than in the summer. The smell of the damp leaves on the ground, the crisp autumn air, it's very relaxing and great being outdoors with the kids at this time of year.

But you don't need to hop in the car to get your walk in the woods. There are woods all around us and the NYC Parks Department has tons of programs to help families enjoy them and teach NYC kids about nature. There are too many in one weekend to even list, but here's the top ones in every borough.

Staten Island: Haunted Hike
Explore the haunted history of Conference House Park, which was once a Native American burial ground. 7PM Friday, Nov 2.

Manhattan:Inwood Park Nature Walk
How would you like a guided nature walk by no less than the chief naturalist of the NYC Parks Department? Spot songbirds and learn about the ecosystems of Manhattan's last natural forest and salt marsh. Sat., Nov. 3. 8-10AM, Inwood Park

Queens: Fall Migration
Help Rangers count raptors as they pass by on their Fall Migration. Raptors are always cool and kids will love that they are helping the Rangers. Flushing Meadows Corona Park, 10AM Sat, Nov. 3.

Brooklyn: Backyard Ecology Walk
A kid-friendly introduction to Fort Greene's wildlife will teach NYC kids about the nature that lives right in their own backyards. Sure to open city kids' eyes to the world of nature around them. Sat., Nov. 3, 1PM, Fort Greene Park.

Bronx: Fall Foliage Walk
Enjoy some of the most exquisite fall foliage in the city on a guided walk through an oak, hickory and sweet-gum forest and search for the special 400 year old white oak. Pelham Bay Park, 2 PM. Sunday, Nov. 4.

Want more NYC nature walks?

Check out trails.com. A member fee is required, but it gives you unlimited access to detailed guides for hiking, biking, kayaking and more all over the US. There's tons of guides for NYC and the surrounding areas and even ideas for hikes with kids. You can try it out with their 14 day free trial.

Gorp is free site that has lots of hiking and other outdoor activity ideas around NYC and the country. The information is less detailed than what you'll find on trails.com or in a book, but it's a good starting place.

Best Hikes with Children in the Catskills and Hudson River Valley

is a book that features 51 easy hikes to enjoy with your kids in the area.

 

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Nov 1 2007

Subscription Drive Giveaway-a-Thon

Halloween Costume Pics from Lower Manhattan

Do you look forward to your daily dose of Mommy Poppins? Would you miss it if it were gone? Do you wish you could get even more? More posts, more features–like an event calendar, classifieds and meet-ups?

In order to keep bringing you excellent content and add features, I need to grow readership. I'm pleased to say there's now over 300 subscribers plus about that many readers on the site every day. You are a growing club of great parents, but my goal is to double readership by the end of the year. To do that I need to draw on the amazing power of you. If you love the site, tell your friends. It's not spam if you know they'll love it.

To make it more fun, next week I'm doing a Subscription Drive Giveaway-a-Thon. There's going to be some really fantastic prizes, including TWO WEEKS of free gourmet, meals cooked in your own home by the chefs of The Dishes Dishes. And that's just one of many great prizes we're giving away every day next week. So be sure to check in each day so you don't miss out on anything.

And tell your friends!

Ugly Doll

Below I've listed some other ways you can help support Mommy Poppins. If you feel like giving back, it's always appreciated and everything will go right back into the site.

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Oct 31 2007

Top Posts and Reader Survey Update

Last month, I announced the Mommy Poppins Reader Survey. I am still collecting responses and if you haven't done it yet, I strongly urge you to take the survey. I'm getting great feedback that I think is really going to help make the site better.

Happily, one of the main thrusts of the responses have been that people are loving the site and just want more. I'm working on bringing you more, but to get there I need to grow readership and start generating some income so I can add features. To help get there, next week I am doing an awesome Subscriber-Drive-Give-away-A-Thon. More on that tomorrow, but if you don't normally check in every day, I suggest you make an exception for the next week. It's going to be a lot of fun.

After the Top Posts, I will share some of the Reader Survey results and answer some of the questions that have come up so far.

Top Posts for October 2007:

10 Halloween Parades for NYC Kids

Free Swap for Kids Halloween Costumes

Five Food Hacks: Getting kids to eat vegetables and love it

Sensory savvy snacks help kids do better in school

Columbus Day Weekend Apple Picking and Festivals

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Oct 30 2007

Halloween Parent Hacks and last minute links

Congratulations to Izzy's Mom who won the Great Green Giveaway. She'll receive free tickets to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, a copy of the BBG Gardening with Children book and a Tree in a Box.

It's not over yet, folks. Halloween is tomorrow and there's still time to check out some of the coolest and most fun Halloween ideas and resources I've found around the web.

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Oct 29 2007

Blue Man Creativity Center, Reggio Emilia and Preschool Parenting Talk

You know the main thing I worry my kids are missing out on in their education in New York? It's not so much math, social studies or reading. It's Creativity. I don't mean art. I mean just random, wacky NYC Creativity. This post is about a really cool new preschool, a hot educational philosophy, and a preschool parenting talk that are all aimed at putting more of that big C type of creativity back into childhood.

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