UNREAL Candies are the Life of the Party

I had the wonderful opportunity to try a new candy product just before Halloween as part of my membership in The Global Influence Network. The candies are from a company called UNREAL. Their message:  UNJUNK your Halloween with UNREAL candy!

UNREAL™ exists because a thirteen year old boy asked one Halloween why candy needs to be so unhealthy. After an argument with his father, he did a bit of research only to find that candy is filled with bad things like hydrogenated oils and artificial colors and flavors. And what’s worse, he found out that those ingredients don’t make candy taste better, they simply make it cheaper to produce.
Nicky believed that candy without the junk could be made and that it would taste better. And he and his father and brother decided to prove it.

And they did.

UNREAL™ provides many of the great flavor combinations we love in our treats, but without the corn syrup, without the partially hydrogenated oils, without the GMOs, without the artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives, and with 40% less sugar per serving on average. The key ingredients are responsibly sourced, and the candy is available in the stores we all shop, at a price point we can all afford.

UNREAL uses real cane sugar, real milk, more cacao and more protein and fiber. This leaves you with a great tasting, unjunked candy that you can feel good about giving your kids... or yourself.

Now, I know you're asking, "But how do they really taste?". Right?  As part of the review process, I invited over friends and family for a little gathering and taste test. What did they have to say?

"Much better than I was expecting."

"I love the peanut butter cups." (Actually heard this quite a bit. They seemed to be the favorite.)

"Definitely have a different taste but you get used to it."

"That's really different."

Everyone had their favorites. Again, the peanut butter cups seemed to be the most liked. Definitely my favorite. There was a little hesitation and uncertainty, at first. With some of the candies, they weren't as happy with the flavor of the sweetening but most either ended up liking it after a few tastes or liked certain candies over others.

It seemed, overall, they all agreed that their children would approve. Most importantly, the parents were approving! Who can argue with UNREAL's "treats, but without the corn syrup, without the partially hydrogenated oils, without the GMOs, without the artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives, and with 40% less sugar per serving on average"?

For me, I'll be purchasing these for my Halloween but I'll also be using them for birthday parties and definitely in the stockings this Christmas.

UNREAL is available as Peanut Butter Cups, Chocolate Caramel Nougat Bars, Chocolate Peanut Caramel Nougat Bars, Candy Coated Chocolates and Candy Coated Chocolates with Peanuts. They're similar to other candies on the market.

Find UNREAL candies at Target, CVS, Kroger, Fred Meyers, BJs, Staples.. 30,000+ UNJUNKED stores coming soon.

Rayovac Summer Promotion and Twitter Party

Are you ready for a little Fun in the Sun? Rayovac sure is and they want to help YOU by giving you chances to win online and thru a special Twitter Party hosted by Rayovac and 5 Minutes for Mom:

Moms and kids just want to have fun and Rayovac has the power to make it happen!

The first 99 bloggers who promoted the Rayovac Powers Your Summer Promotion won a Rayovac prize pack: www.rayovac.com/PowersyourSummer

From June 21st through July 20th, we are empowering families to have fun through the Rayovac Powers Your Summer Promotion.


First, show us you "like" the brand and products on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RayovacFans and together with expert moms at 5MinutesForMom, we will offer up great daily summertime family tips and a chance to win great prizes.


Then access and complete the entry form on Rayovac's website at www.rayovac.com/PowersYourSummer. Simply tell us how you'll power your fun this summer each day for a chance to win prizes ranging from Cameras and Bikes to Camping Supplies and a Summer Supply of Rayovac Batteries!

No trick questions here! There is no correct answer to how you and your family add the Power of Fun to your summer!

Must be a US resident and 18 or older at the time of entry to enter this Promotion, the Twitter Event or the Blogger Promotion.


Rayovac Powers Your Summer Twitter Event


Join Rayovac and 5MinutesForMom for a Twitter Event to support the exciting Rayovac Powers Your Summer Promotion. The Twitter Event will feature more than 20 fun giveaways from Rayovac ranging from a summer supply of Rayovac Batteries to $50 Target Gift Cards.


Rayovac Powers Your Vacation Summer Promotion Twitter Event

Date:  Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Time:  7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. CST

Location:  #rayovac

Follow:  @Rayovac_Battery, @5minutesformom, @CirclePRMary



Disclosure: Part of a promotional campaign for Rayovac.

Tiny Prints Greeting Card Giveaway

Contest is closed. Congratulations to:  

 Angela at The Children's Nook

I just love cards. Honestly, I think I enjoy sending them even more than I like getting them. I can stand in the card aisle forever, reading cards and trying to pick out the perfect .... one, yeah, right. Usually the perfect handfull.

Press Release

TINY PRINTS REVOLUTIONIZES THE ART AND TRADITION OF SENDING
GREETING CARDS

WITH THE CONVENIENCE OF ONLINE TECHNOLOGY

Tiny Prints Greetings Makes it Easier than Ever to Be Thoughtful

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA —April 12, 2010—Tiny Prints (www.tinyprints.com), a leading online retailer of premium, personalized stationery, announces today that it is expanding its highly successful product and service line with the launch of Tiny Prints Greetings, a new line of stylish printed greeting cards users can personalize, schedule and send online. The new service combines the power of Tiny Prints proprietary web technology with the trendsetting design sensibility the brand has always delivered.


Tiny Prints Greetings seeks to preserve and enhance the delight of sending and receiving greeting cards in the mail by revolutionizing the age-old practice with modern technology. Key benefits of the new service include:


§ Personalized Greeting Cards: Users will find the vast selection of stylish and creative designs that they have come to expect from Tiny Prints, only now they can also match their favorite designs with one of the thousands of verses from a library of options. Plus, since every aspect of a card can be personalized, users have the option to easily include a recipient’s name, edit the verse and upload photos to truly personalize their cards to express their exact sentiments. As a result, no two Tiny Prints cards will ever look exactly the same.

§ A Better Way to Shop: Not only can users easily personalize their cards online, they can address the envelope, add a stamp and pay for the card with just a few clicks. Customers have the option of sending cards to themselves to sign or save even more time by having Tiny Prints mail their cards directly to recipients. The end-to-end process can be completed in minutes, and all cards can ship within 24 hours.



§ Enhanced Convenience: For those who wish to avoid a mad dash to the store right before a special occasion, the service even allows users to set up automatic event reminders for birthdays, Mother’s Day, anniversaries and other occasions. Users can even schedule a queue of personalized greeting cards to be sent automatically up to a year in advance.

“The innovation made possible by Tiny Prints Greetings will help us further realize our vision of enhancing intimate human connections through the tradition of sending paper greetings,” said Ed Han, CEO of Tiny Prints. “By combining our design strength with user-friendly web technology, we hope to make sending greeting cards much more thoughtful and less time consuming for the next generation.”

For this convenient service with a personalized touch, users can pay per greeting card or sign up for a membership plan to enjoy special pricing on every card they send, starting as low as $1.99 each. As an added bonus for the launch, the company is waiving the first year's membership fee and offering the first three greeting cards absolutely free of charge when customers sign up.


Six years ago, Tiny Prints set out to create a more thoughtful world by enhancing the tradition of receiving high quality stationery in the mail. With the introduction of Tiny Prints Greetings, the company is making it easier than ever to reach out on special birthdays, holidays or even just to say hello. Combining the convenience of online shopping and advance scheduling, Tiny Prints Greetings will help you never miss an important occasion again. Visit http://www.tinyprints.com/greeting for more information.

About Tiny Prints


Tiny Prints, Inc. is a web-based company comprised of two brands offering premium, personalized stationery, Tiny Prints and Wedding Paper Divas. Tiny Prints provides simple, modern and unique stationery from photo cards to personalized greeting cards to thank you cards and business cards. Offering exclusive designs from the nation's top designers, easy card personalization, a powerful preview engine and top-notch customer service and paper quality, their designs have been lauded by numerous television networks, publications and celebrities.

Isn't that exciting. All this time as a stationery company and now CARDS! You can imagine my excitement when I was chosen to bring you this fabulous information about Tiny Prints. (Disclaimer) Not only do I get FREE cards for posting this but I get a great selection to choose from. And, if you read the press release, you see that I also get to give YOU free cards, too. That's right, everyone receives 3 FREE cards just for signing up for one of Tiny Print's membership plans and, as they said, the first year's membership fee has been waived!

If that's not enough, I'm also going to give one lucky reader a chance to win 25 FREE Tiny Prints Greeting Cards.

Giveaway Time

This giveaway will run until May 17th at 11:59 PM, CST. Make sure you leave a seperate comment for each entry and you MUST complete the mandatory entry to be eligible for the giveaway and additional entries.

Mandatory Entry

Make your way to the Tiny Prints Greeting Cards, choose your favorite design and bring me back a link to it.

Additional Entries

(1) Follow TinyPrints on twitter

(2) Follow me, SereneMoments on twitter

(3) Sign up for the Tiny Prints newsletter

(4) 'Like' Tiny Prints on Facebook (2 entries)

(5) Enter any current giveaway, telling me which one (2 entries)

(6) Grab my Button (2 entries)

(7) Tweet about this giveaway, leave me the link, can be done daily (2 entries per day)

(8) Follow this blog publicly

(9) Follow any of my other blogs for 2 entries each:
     
      Girls With Goodies

      Relax and Enjoy all your Serene Moments

      Visions of Life

**This giveaway is sponsored by MomSelect. I received 15 free cards of my choice in exchange for my honest review and post.**

It's a Party at Sandy's!

WooHoo! Sandy over at Tales From A Shopaholic Mommy is having a Birthday Bash to honor her little girl's 2nd Birthday!

The Birthday Bash will run September 5th thru 12th and will include giveaways for shoes, clothes, watches, an Amazon gift card and more!

You don't want to miss it!

Lands' End Back-to-School Twitter Party!

Wow! Can you believe it is already time to send those kids back to school again? It's true! Some of you may have already. Are you ready? Are the supplies all bought? New clothes and shoes placed neatly in the closet?

Hey, don't panic! Mom Select and Lands' End are here to help with the "Lands' End Ultimate Back-to-School Twitter Party"!




Summer is almost over and Moms everywhere know what that means - Back-to-School! If the thought of back-to-school shopping makes you feel overwhelmed, not to worry; one of our favorite brands is offering up their expertise and a chance to win major must-haves!

Join Lands' End for the Ultimate Back-to-School Twitter Party!




Lands' End hosts will be available to answer back-to-school shopping questions and the party will feature more than 20 product giveaways from co-hosts, 5minutesformom.com.

Date: Thursday, August 20th
Time: 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. CST
Location: #landsend

Save the date and log-on to Twitter for an evening of shopping tips, socializing and great giveaways!

Pre-Party Posts to Win a Back-to-School Wardrobe!

Want to enter for a chance to win a back-to-school wardrobe ($250 Lands' End gift card)?



Here's how in three easy steps:

1. Create a Fantasy Backpack at Packland - Simply visit Lands' End's Packland at www.landsend.com/packland, create a fantasy backpack and post it to your blog before August 20, 2009.

2. Promote the Lands' End Back-to-School Twitter Party - Don't forget to promote the Back-to-School Party on your blog before August 20, 2009.

3. Send a Link - To be entered for a chance to win, you must send a link to your post to kira.gutknecht@landsend.com

One winner will be chosen randomly and contacted by Lands' End on August 21, 2009!


So, have fun and I'll "see" you at the party!

How to Make Hummus

I have heard so much about Hummus and, I have to tell you, I didn't know what it was. Being one who loves to cook, I just had to research it and see what it's all about. I was so surprised to learn that this popular dish is kind of a "souped up" bean dip. Of course, garbanzo beans are not what you would typically use for a bean dip but the "concept" it to use a bean base and add "stuff" to make it into a thick, rich dip or filler. So, in case you are like me and lost as to what it is or how to make it, here's the recipe:



1 can (15 oz) Progresso® chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained, reserving 1/3 cup liquid
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup sesame seed
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
Chopped fresh parsley
Pita bread wedges, crackers or raw vegetables, for dipping, if desired


1. Place beans, reserved bean liquid, lemon juice, sesame seed, garlic and salt in blender or food processor. Cover and blend on high speed, stopping blender occasionally to scrape sides if necessary, until uniform consistency.
2. Spoon dip into serving dish. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve with pita bread wedges.