We are always on the lookout here for great Wii games for Madison (my 5 year old) to play. Wii is designed for kids, but we often find her getting stuck on the kids games.  However, the first great thing I have to say about Birthday Party Bash is that she doesn’t get stuck.  She actually has never asked us for help yet.  I love a game that doesn’t frustrate her to the point of crying.  I have to admit this is one the most unique games out there that I’ve seen.  When you open the game, there are actually invitations, so you can invite your friends over to play and celebrate your birthday.  When playing this game, you have several options.  First, you can choose to decorate a room for the party.  You can choose everything from a pirate theme to a princess theme, and there is really everything in between too.  There’s even a cake in the game!  I do have to admit that my favorite part is the 20 party games you can play.  They range from Pinata Blast, Duncan Hines Cake Stacker, and Birthday Blowout.  However, Madison’s favorite game is the rocking climbing one.  I am pretty sure it is, because she beats everybody every time.

If you are looking for a great game for younger kids, I highly recommend this.  It makes a great Christmas or birthday present.

One of the places we buy our Wii games from is GameStop.  One of the many reasons we got a Wii was to get not only my kids off their butts, but Bill and me too.  Has it worked?  Definitely!  We have lots of games that require us to actually break a sweat.  I was excited to see that GameStop is having a campaign called “Sharpen the Mind, Shape the Body”.  Games aren’t just mindless things.   At my house, we learn, we exercise, and we have fun as a family.  The great thing is that as part of this campaign they will have some awesome titles like My Fitness Coach or Dance and Dance Revolution to demo.  I love trying out the game in the store to make sure they are a right fit for my family.  Before we bought our Wii, Madison had actually tried one out at GameStop (and that helped me talk my husband into buying one!).  I have always found their associates extremely knowledgable, and they can help you find the right games for your family.  They will even let you trade in your old games to get new ones!

If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to get fit, definitely check out the games at GameStop.  Lose weight, have fun, what more can you ask for?

The first contest was for the Build A Bear Wii game.  The winner is:

Congrats to Jeffrey W!  I will be emailing you shortly.

The other giveaway I was running that ended last night was for the really cute Polliwalks shoes.  The winner for that contest is:

Congrats to Susan Ledet! I will also be emailing you shortly!

Congrats to these two winners and thanks for all the wonderful entries! I recently got an email from a sponsor of one of my great expressing what a great community we have at Lisa Reviews. I have all of you to thank for that, so thank you again!

Madison can never remember Madagascar, so we call it “I like to move it, move it” in my house.  My kids love both of the Madagascar movies (heck, my husband and I love them too — the penguins are my personal favorite).  For us, it was a naturally progression to get the Wii game (since we have done this with several other movies we have seen).  The first thing I love is that it is rated E for Everyone.  Why is this important?  We have had kid’s games rated higher than that even though they are based on little kid movies.  If it rated any higher, Madison has a tendency to not be able to play it which is just too frustrating for everyone in this house.  The graphics do the characters justice too.  The main game is a single player game.  However, there are several minigames also, and those tended to be two players.  I love that this actually easy enough for a four year old to play (hot potato and musical chairs were a hit here) and still hard enough for adults.  You also are able to pick your favorite player to play with too be it Alex or Marty or even the penguins. Each character actually has their own unique abilities (Melman has healing powers), combat skills (Marty has a powerful kick), and special moves (Alex can zip down vines).  This is truly a fun game to play, and if you don’t have a wii, you are able to get this game on DS, PSP, XBox, Playstation and PS2 also.

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:

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This giveaway will end on December 14 at 8:00 pm CST is available to US and Canada residents only. Good luck!