Holiday Gift Guide Archives - Jen is on a Journey

Imagine: Zookeeper for Nintendo DS

December 21, 2009 by The Mom Jen Leave a Comment

Ubisoft Entertainment brings us Imagine: Imagine (the #1 game in America for girls) lets your 6- to 14-year-old experience her dream career, all without leaving home! Imagine games are fun and safe, with educational content. From Artist to Detective to Fashion Designer, there are a host of fun and aspirational games to entertain and delight young women.

Imagine: Zookeeper is a fantastic game that delves into the natural world, at the same time giving you the power to learn about and help the animals in the wild.

Run Your Own Wildlife Reserve – Build your own animal preserve while you care for its inhabitants. Lead visitors on a fun tour of the park.
Exploration and Knowledge – Explore your preserve and count the different species as you learn what their individual needs are. Photograph them to document the growth of baby animals.
Wild Animal Rescue – Rescue injured animals and nurse them back to health at the preserve headquarters.
Preserve the Territory – Prevent poachers from entering your preserve and learn to fight pollution to keep your park safe for all animals.

Our Take: Don’t get me wrong, this game is NOT only for girls…my 8 year old son can’t put it down. Even if means petting animals for points, this is something my kids can do. They enjoy the missions that bring more people to the zoo, increasing their “pay.” The money is then used for to buy infirmaries, watering holes, generators, and food storage houses for the animals. Their first run-through of the game and they were figuring it out and having no trouble at all maneuvering through the rules.

As parents, my husband and I enjoy all the questions and interest the kids bring to the table when it comes to careers and their future. This game has initiated many conversations like that and we can appreciate the educational value of them, and feel a bit better when they’ve got the gaming system in their hands for hours!

Other games by Ubisoft Entertainment…

Babysitters
Imagine Babyz
Imagine Ballet Star
Imagine Boutique Owner
Imagine Detective
Imagine Family Doctor
Imagine Fashion Designer
Imagine Movie Star
Imagine Salon Stylist
Imagine Teacher: Class Trip
Imagine Wedding Designer
Imagine: Fashion Designer New York
Imagine: Interior Designer
Imagine: Makeup Artist
Imagine: Rock Star
Imagine: Teacher

The game retails for $29.99 and would be a wonderful gift for any girl, gamer, or animal lover on your Christmas list!

Thanks to Ubisoft Entertainment for sending their product for an honest review. The experience was our tried-and-true opinions and were not influenced by any source. I was not monetarily compensated to write this post.

Holly and Hal Moose from Build-a-Bear Workshop

December 17, 2009 by The Mom Jen Leave a Comment

What have to be the two CUTEST creations from Build-a-Bear Workshop arrived at my door today! Holly and Hal Moose, the antlered sibling duo introduced last year along with their story book, Holly and Hal Moose: Our Uplifting Christmas Adventure,” and a series of webisodes are an incredibly darling addition to our household!

A one-hour animated television special based on the book aired during Thanksgiving week and the DVD is available in stores and online.

Holly and Hal make wonderful gifts for the holiday season as do all the fabulous animals, clothing, and accessories at Build-a-Bear Workshop.

My take: This duo has become my newest adopted children and I will treat them as such *smile!* Adorned in the outfits in the picture shown above, I truly fell in love with them when I opened the box. From the adorable Ugg-style boots and puffy coat on Holly, and Hal’s snow goggles, this pair of Build-a-Bears officially belong to mommy. Build-a-Bear has been a staple company in our family for over 5 years now, and the quality and attention to detail each individual animal holds is priceless. Not to mention you can breathe new life into an old animal by simply changing it’s clothes, or personalizing it with it’s own version of your favorite hobby!

Turn yoursELF into an ELF this season and create a unique gift for that special person on your Christmas list…

*For sports fans: Dress a furry friend in the uniform of a favorite sports team, whether it be a professional baseball, basketball, or college football. Ohio State enthusiasts can add the university fight song to any OSU attired animal!
*For foodies: Chef Curly Teddy will make the perfect for your favorite cook.
*For boys: Check out the Star Wars paraphenalia and turn any stuffed animal into the coolest sci-fi character in the galaxy!
*For girls: If you took your kids to see “The Princess and the Frog,” you have to see the Build-a-Bear Princess Tiana costume, it’s dreamy!
*For music fans: the JONAS dog, guitars, and all the Hannah Montana items will satisfy the tween rocker in the family!
*For babies: Velvet Bear and Pup are sweet gifts for the newest arrival and are asthma friendly!!
*For soldiers: honor their service by shipping a furry friend to the front lines. Nearly all plush animals can be outfitted in camo or in the uniform of any military branch!!

Best of all, Build-a-Bear has one-stop shopping at over 400 stores around the world or online at buildabear.com and for every budget!

Build-a-Bear has provided the items for this giveaway and review. All opinions expressed were my tried-and-true experience and were not influenced by any source. I was not monetarily compensated to write this post.

Creativity for Kids Craft Kits and Art Supplies

December 14, 2009 by The Mom Jen Leave a Comment

My girls love all things arts and crafts. Give them some scissors and glue and they can go to town on anything, and the best part is that it keeps the television off and sparks their creativity!! Faber-Castell and Creativity for Kids make the most fun kits for kids to build, create, and express their inner artist! Recently we received the Holiday Festive Felt Stocking project, the kit includes:

Felt Stocking 11in x 14.5in
Mini felt Stocking 3.5in x 5.25in
Assorted self-adhesive felt shapes
Self-adhesive rhinestones
Silver glitter glue
Instructions and ideas

Our Take: This kit was perfect for my two daughters who were eager to work on the project together. The kit comes with one regular sized stocking that my youngest decorated, while my older daughter embellished the mini stocking. With all the decor being adhesives, this was a great fine-motor exercise for my 3 year old, and wasn’t too difficult of a task that she would get frustrated. I loved seeing the team work between the two sisters, with the only cautionary part of the project was waiting to be completely done with decorating before applying the glitter glue name. Overall it was a great project that both girls got to “own” by simple instructions and beautiful adornments.

The kit sells for $21.99.

I was sent this kit of charge in exchange for an honest review. The opinions were our tried-and-true experience and were not influenced by any source. I was not monetarily compensated in any way.

Shade Clothing for Women

December 14, 2009 by The Mom Jen Leave a Comment

Often when you’re looking for just the right style clothing to fit your personality or lifestyle, you are confronted with issues. The creator of Shade Clothing took matters into her own hands to solve her clothing issues and turned it into an amazing online women’s clothing line that you’ll love!

The idea for Shade Clothing came to Chelsea Rippy of American Fork, UT, after one of many frustrating shopping trips. As had happened so many times before, she spent hours scouring clothing racks looking for items that were stylish without being too revealing. Fed up with her unsuccessful attempts to find hip, modest clothing, Chelsea decided to take matters into her own hands. She spent one year designing and developing a line of stylish, essential undershirts with the goal of giving women exactly what they need to dress modestly, comfortably and fashionably. In September 2004, when she felt like her shirts were “just right,” Chelsea founded Shade Clothing, a company with a simple mission: make clothes that help women feel comfortable and happy.

My take: Being a mom, I face different issues with my body and body image, that I want to find clothing that highlights my best features while keeping modest! At Shade, I found an adorable Striped Boyfriend Cardigan that looks and feels great on! The style gives me a preppy, yet feminine look and looks fabulous with skinny jeans, or leggings. I love the long length of the sweater, it gives me a little height on my shorter frame, and wearing slight heel helps too! The quality of the sweater is fabulous and is perfect with a thin tee underneath for our cool California winters!

I was sent the cardigan in exchange for an honest review. The opinions were our tried-and-true experience and were not influenced by any source. I was not monetarily compensated in any way.

Melissa & Doug’s Grocery Store/Lemonade Stand

December 12, 2009 by The Mom Jen Leave a Comment

If you have children, you might know about Melissa & Doug toys, they have an extensive product line of more than 800 unique and exciting products for children of all ages! For the past 20 years they’ve focused on offering fun and educational products with tremendous value, quality and design. Our family trusts and relies on Melissa & Doug toys because they are made so well, they stand the test of time, love, and sometimes rough play! Back 11 years ago when I was teaching, I purchased Melissa & Doug wood puzzles in my classroom. To this day we have 2 of those puzzles and it still looks brand new!

About the infamous Melissa & Doug…

Twenty years ago, we started our company in the garage of the home where Doug grew up — we had to be careful not to disturb Doug’s parents who were still living there! Thanks to your support, we’ve been able to move into a real office down the road, a building that actually has separate ladies and men’s bathrooms! Our philosophy has remained the same over the years–to make each and every customer a happy and permanent member of the Melissa & Doug family, while offering products with tremendous value, quality and design. We’ve always welcomed customer suggestions, and we continually strive to make improvements to our products. We’re honored by the faith you place in us and view it as our responsibility to continue to earn your trust in the years to come!

Something my youngest daughter loves to do, like many 3-year-olds, is pretend play. We recently had the chance to review the Grocery Store/Lemonade Stand from Melissa & Doug.

Our Take: Because the weather isn’t suitable for a true lemonade stand experience, we set up our family grocery store! It took a good bit of time, I suggest start early if you’re giving this for Christmas! My husband is the resident toy assembler, he’ll never admit to it, but it took over an hour!The stand is perfect size for my daughter, she loved “stocking” her bins with her animals, play balls, and some real canned food from our kitchen! The set does not come with play food, so that will definitely be on her Christmas list, but there are more than enough household items around to improvise. I love that the size isn’t over-whelming for her bedroom, one she shares with my older son. We envision many summer days in the future making and selling lemonade on our block, one of those special milestones for every child. This is a fantastic toy that will provide hours upon hours of enjoyment.

The Grocery Store/Lemonade Stand sells for $129.99