Have you ever went to the Build A Bear Workshop? If so, you will know that it is one of the coolest places around if you have kids. It is seriously like watching magic happen as you watch your bear being made. It is awesome that you can personalize it and everything. However, when we moved from Aurora back to Chicago, I didn’t realize that we were going to be leaving our beloved Build A Bear Workshop. I have no idea where one is now. That being said, there are a couple of ways for me to get my Build A Bear fix.
First, there is a celebrity auction going on right now! They will be auctioning off celebrity-built Build-A-Bear Workshop bears along with autographed copies of the Build-A-Bear Wii game. These bears and signed games will be on eBay’s Giving Works to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California. The bears were built by celebrities like Tori Spelling & Dean McDermott, the Jonas Brothers, James Gandolfini, Melissa Joan Hart, Bonnie Hunt, Mitchel Musso, Meaghan Jette Martin and more. This would definitely be a talking point for your house!
If that isn’t enough, Wii has come to the rescue for those of use who don’t like by a Build A Bear workshop! They now have a game called Build-A-Bear Workshop® A Friend Fur All Seasons. Up to four players can play and you can name, feed, and dress your bear. You can even go on adventures with them! This game is rated E for Everyone, so you can enjoy it no matter what age you are! You can buy this game at places like Walmart, Target, and really any game retailers. However, I have a great giveaway for you! How would you like your own Build A Bear game? Here’s what you need to do:
1. Leave a comment on this post. Tell me what feature you think you’d like best about the Build-A-Bear Workshop® A Friend Fur All Seasons game.
2. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify.
3. Stumble this post. If you don’t know what Stumble Upon is, please read Lori’s post at Blogging Cents. She explains it extremely well.
4. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc. (1 entry for each social network).
For 5 additional entries,
1. Blog about this on your blog. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
2. Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
3. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed
4. Add my badge to your sidebar:
This giveaway will end on December 14 at 8:00 pm CST is available to US and Canada residents only. Good luck!
If you are looking for a unique gift for either yourself or your family, then allPopart is a place you need to check out. They take pictures that you send in and turn them into beautiful pieces of art. We personally chose the 4 panel Warhol style for the kids pictures. However, they have so many styles to choose from that you can easily spend an hour or two deciding what you want (trust me, I know from experience). The next hardest part after deciding what style is deciding what pictures to use! Once you have those two decisions made, the rest is breeze. Everybody loves this picture. Madison thinks it is the coolest thing ever to have this on the wall. Will just says “see” to everybody, so they look at it. I am currently waiting for Bill to hand it in the basement. However, for now, I have it on the ledge:
It loks awesome there too, and it completely goes with the color scheme we have down there. I have had several people already ask where we got it from! This is an excellent heirloom to pass down and a great way to mark your children’s youth. I highly recommend allPopart for their quality and for their customer service. I am 100% satisfied and have told everyone they need to get some art for their house from allPopart!
As many of you may know, the majority of my friends and family live about four hours away from me. That means, that it is a long distance phone call for me to talk to them. When I found out about Tokbox, I was pretty excited to try it out. Now, this is super easy to use. I tried it out with a few people, and they were all impressed with the clarity of both the image and the audio. I’ve tried other programs before (**cough**yahoo messenger **cough**) that the video was choppy. When you’ve got little kids using these programs (which I have Madison talk to her cousins with it), they don’t understand the choppiness. Mom doesn’t really care for it either. However, there was no choppiness, no lagging, and really I have no complaints about Tokbox. It took me less than 5 minutes to sign up for the service and get a chat started with one of my friends. Now, the coolest part is that you both don’t even need to have a webcam (though the person initiating the call does I think). Once you have your account set up, all you have to do is hit invite, and it will give you a link to pass onto the person you want to talk to. You can even put this on your blog and/or social network profiles. Then your visitors can click “Push To Talk” and connect to you in real time. I’m not adding it here, because I really don’t think you want to listen to screaming kids which is usually how my day goes. You can even record a video and email it someone too!
If you are looking to connect online, TokBox is the way to do it. The clarity of the video and the audio can’t be beat, and it is so easy to use!
Want a unique piece of art for your house? Want this art to be talked about at all the parties you go to? If you answer yes to either of these questions, you have to get a piece of DNA art. I have to admit, this is one of the coolest things I have seem come out. Here’s how it works:
First, you will receive a sample collection package which includes the tools to swab the inside of the cheek of whoever’s DNA you want as artwork. I personally think I would do my kids, but you really can do anyone who is willing to give you some buccal cells from their cheek. You then send the collector back to the MyGeneImage lab. Once you send it in, it takes about two weeks to create your piece of art.
Now, you can pick from several different styles of how you want the DNA to be displayed. You get to pick which gene sequence they use as well as the design, background color, and size of the artwork. Your first choice is myArtwork which is a reflection of the gene sequence displayed in picturesque art. Then there is myCrystal. This is your DNA sequence engraved inside a crystal structure with the 2D or 3D picture of the individual. Lastly, there is myGenetic ID which is the ultimate identification card with genetic markers.
It is hard to believe what beautiful artwork can be made from our gene sequences. However, myGeneImage has figured it out, and I am impressed. For your kids or the person you never know what to get them, this is the perfect fit.
Want to be the coolest parent ever this Christmas? The zOrb microscope is that cool gift. I’ve had my 4 year old using it, so it is good for little kids all the way up to teenagers. It easily hooks up to your computer; all you need to do is hook it up to your USB port on your laptop or desktop. The really cool thing is that you can magnify it anywhere from 35 times on a 14″ monitor all the way up to 53 times on a 21″ monitor. Want to see it in action? Watch this video:
The microscope has a built in illuminator too. The coolest part is that you can make your own video with it too (and no, I won’t subject you to the videos my daughter made). The zOrb comes in three colors: Surf Blue, Safari Green, and Lava orange.
A gift all ages will love is this zOrb microscope, so make sure it is on your shopping list.
