Illumination AZ Review!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Illumination AZ for the review free of charge.**

My family and I were recently invited to the VIP preview of the Illumination AZ drive through light show, my kids love looking at Christmas lights and it was something I loved doing as a child as well so we decided to go. What is Illumination? It is a large drive through light show, there are thousands of lights all synced up to light up and turn off to the beat of Christmas songs, this is it's first year running. If you pay before hand tickets are $30 and if you buy them once you arrive tickets are $35 per car load not per person.

I really enjoy the idea of a large drive thru light show, however this is their first year running so they do have several bumps they need to smooth out so this review isn't completely positive unfortunately. The show was due to start at 6:15pm so we were all asked to arrive as close to 6pm as possible. We arrived about twenty minutes prior to the time and there were already a decent amount of people waiting, once 6:30 rolled around there were still no lights and no movement. The person in charge of the light show that needed to be there and on stage arrived a bit late and then got stuck in-line so we had to wait for them to get set up. Once everything got turned on and started moving it was a little bit of a mad house, they had 4-5 lines of traffic all merging into one single file line and there wasn't anyone directing traffic so everyone was just trying to squeeze and rush their way to get into line first. I think they should have someone standing at the front directing traffic to make things a little easier as this is something I've noticed a lot of people commenting about on facebook as well.



Once you get into the line things start to move pretty smoothly from there, as long as you follow the speed limit, set your radio to the station they provide and shut your headlights off you shouldn't run into any issues. Along the drive there were a lot of neat features such as drive thru light tunnels, giant Christmas trees, peace signs, cactus, and more. Each one was a different color and some of them did different lighting effects than the others but we did notice that several trees and sections of lights weren't on/working at all which was a bit of a bummer because it left gaps in the drive. The kids had a lot of fun looking at all of the lights though. At the speed we were going I would say it took us about 15-20 minutes to drive from the start to the finish of the lights. At the end of the lights there is a section set up for you to park and get out, there are food trucks, sweets vendors, crafting stations, bathrooms, Santa's workshop where you can take photos with Santa and more.



The park and stroll section has a giant light up Ornament you can walk through, has bounce houses for the kids plus a number of other fun activities for your enjoyment along with music and food. The kids had a lot of fun because it was like a mini carnival. The Illumination AZ will be open nightly until January 14th. It is located on the I-17 just north of the Norterra shopping center, 27701 N. Black Canyon Highway Phoenix, AZ 85085.

At Home Christmas Decor Reivew!

**This was is a sponsored post, I received a gift card to go shopping to purchase items seen below. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by At Home & BSM Media Inc. for the review free of charge.**

The holiday season has arrived and with Thanksgiving just a few days away it means it is almost time to start decorating for Christmas if you haven't already. Decorating for the holidays is always so much fun because there are so many cute and fun decorations out there that fit everyone's styles, budgets and likes. At Home carries dozens of Christmas decorations for outside your home and inside your home and with prices starting at $1.99 and up it should be a stop during your holiday shopping this year.

I was recently sent a gift card to go pick up a few Christmas decoration items to decorate one area of my home, I decided on the pathway that leads up to my home but I also picked up a little something for my kids/guest bathroom. I have incorporated what I bought from At Home along with the existing decorations I already had and I am pretty happy with everything!



The first thing I picked up was a Pinecone wreath with ornaments that is 22", they are normally $19.99 but they are currently on sale for $9.99 and I do not have a wreath so it was perfect timing. The wreath I had last year was real so it had to be tossed out at the end of the holiday season but I kept the battery powered Christmas lights that were on it and added it to my new wreath as you can see above. Next while we were walking down the isles we spotted some fake snow in a can, I remember my mom getting this same kind of snow when I was a kid and we always had so much fun spraying it on the windows, the tree and more so I wanted to pick some up to use for my home as well. We used it to make the windows look like they are frosted and used it to spray a bit rock in our yard to look like it is an ice berg. We bought a single can for now for $4.99 to see how much was in it and we received a pretty decent amount of snow from it. I also spotted a small blue Christmas tree that I picked up to decorate my bathroom with, it was only $2.99 and it is my favorite color so I couldn't say no even though my husband looked at me like I was silly.



Now onto the big things! At Home has a decent sized collection of yard inflatables and they start out at very affordable prices many are just $19.99 each and are adorable plus big enough you can see them from the street. We picked up a 44in inflatable Polar bear sitting down on his butt, and a 4 foot inflatable snowman with Santa hat & twig arms both of which are the $19.99 inflatables. We also added the snoopy we already have out with them for a fun little inflatable section of the yard.

                              

My camera didn't like all the lights being on so the photo is a little blurry but I think everything looks pretty cute together! You can also see our pathway markers, we picked up two sets of their 30 in Candy Cane pathway markers that come in a set of four for $9.99. We placed them each a even length apart then we took some tinsel and strung it between each candy cane to make a lined path up to our porch, there are also solar paneled lights next to each candy cane to help add a little extra lighting. In all we spent about $76 on everything (we bought a bag of popcorn too), and we used the 10% off coupon you can get for signing up for their newsletter. Many of these products will be on sale during Black Friday so be sure to check out their flyer because they are having some really good deals.

PaRragon October Book Buddy Review!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by PaRragon for the review free of charge.**

October's Parragon Book Buddies box review is slightly late and I apologize for that! It arrived shortly before my wedding/honeymoon so I am just now getting to it but for those of you who are very excited for the upcoming Disney Pixar film Coco you are in for a treat! Octobers book buddy box features a number of fun and activity filled Coco books along with a special treat which is Olaf's Frozen Adventure. Each of the books included in the October PaRragon book buddy box can be purchased via Amazon, many of them are actually listed a bit cheaper than the suggested retail price on the back of the books. Ready to see what was in the October box? Everything is featured below:



Disney Pixar Friends Forever; Retail Value $4.99. This coloring and activity set features forty four pages of coloring sheets and activities plus four sheets of stickers perfect for ages 5-8. Instead of having an assortment of stickers to randomly put on folders and arms this book has four pages of activity stickers that have a specific spot in the book. The first twelve pages tell a story and are where you will place the interactive stickers, after that you will find coloring pages and games such as mazes. I like that the story book pages are in full color and have a different paper finish than the coloring pages because it makes it seem as though the stickers would be easy to remove if your child were to misplace it. This coloring book had enough of a variety of activity subjects to keep them entertained.

Disney Pixar Coco Mosaic Stickers By Numbers; Retail Value $7.99. This interactive book has twelve pages of mosaic stickers and twenty four pages of blank mosaic images that are each numbered. As a kid I always enjoyed the color by number activities so I knew this was something my kids would enjoy, it says it is recommended for kids ages 8-12 but I think this would be great for younger kids as well because it helps with their coordination and matching skills. Some of the pages are easy and only have a handful of places that need stickers and others are more intricate and will take more patience. I think this would be a great addition to any birthday or holiday gift bag for kids. It is full of color and isn't a book they will finish in a few minutes so it is worth the purchase.

                                        
                      

Disney Pixar Coco Sing Your Song; Retail Value $7.99. This coloring book is only one out of two in the book buddy box that did not come with stickers, instead it comes with sixty-four activity packed pages and two pop-out sugar skull masks. This book is suggested for ages 6-10 but would also be great even for kids up until 15/16 because there are a lot of thought provoking activities such as pages that ask you to draw your own adventures, write your own song and set future goals for yourself. This is another activity book in the set I received that will take quite a while to complete and is completely worth purchasing.

                        
                       

Disney Pixar Coco Always Remember; Retail Value $5.99. This fun coloring book doesn't include any stickers but it does come with a cute skull shaped crayon holder with four crayons and is my favorite book in the book buddy box. I really like that most of the coloring pages feature a black background because it will really help make the colors you put on the paper pop. I am actually working on coloring one of the pages myself and will post it on my instagram once I am done. This book is recommended for kids 6-10 and has a lot of fun coloring designs to fill in.

Olaf's Frozen Adventure; Retail Value $4.99. This cute winter themed coloring book features the very lovable Olaf, you will get to join him on his adventures with some of his Frozen friends. It has forty-eight coloring and activity pages, one page of stickers and four crayons for your enjoyment. This coloring book features page after page of adorable illustrations for you to color and fill in and has all of your favorite Frozen characters. This is a great book for all Frozen lovers and would make a great addition to any gift during the holidays.

Ripley's Believe It or Not Hollywood, CA Review!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. The products mentioned below have been provided by Ripley's Believe It or Not Hollywood, CA for the review free of charge.**

Ever since I was a kid I've always loved Ripley's Believe It or Not! I used to watch the shows and every year when my school held it's book fair the first book I'd be sure to pick up was the newest Ripleys book. Although I have been to Hollywood once and in California several times I've never been able to visit the Hollywood Ripley's Odditorium or any of their other locations and it is something I have always wanted to do. I am happy to say I was finally able to visit their Odditorium! I've worked with Ripley on several occasions reviewing their newest books but this time I was offered a chance to visit their attraction in person while I was on my honeymoon.



We took off early in the morning from our home and drove to California straight for Ripleys, it was a pleasant drive and Ripley's was easy to find. For those going to visit it should be noted Ripley's is located on Hollywood Boulevard and does not have a parking lot/structure of it's own so you will need to pay one of the parking lots to park for the day but it wasn't too bad and we got there early enough there was still plenty of parking. When we arrived there were only a few other people there which was nice because it pretty much gave us the place to ourselves. 

 

I knew that Ripley's was set up like a typical museum where they have different rooms with a variety of interesting, creepy and fascinating things on display but what I didn't realize was that it was packed full of interactive spots. They had things you could open, buttons you could push, a shooting gallery where you could shot at real movie props and once you hit them they would do different things, they had dance screens and more! Even the bathrooms had interactions but I won't spoil the surprise and tell you what is in them. 

 

                 

The Ripley's Hollywood Odditorium is two stories and is set up so you can easily navigate everything, you start off in a small room on the first floor then descend down a flight of stairs to explore downstairs before being lead back up the other side of the stairs to explore the other rooms upstairs. The stairs themselves are interactive as well, each step is a piano key so it makes all kinds of sounds as you are going up and down. The whole thing took about an hour without many people around so we were able to stop and look at each thing we wanted, we had a lot of fun at the Odditorium and I am very happy I was finally able to visit. If you are in the area and want to check out other attractions they also have a wax museum across the street, you can buy a ticket just for Ripleys or buy a VIP pass for $36 which gets you into both attractions. 

$150 Nordstrom November Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Prize: $150 Nordstrom Gift Card

Giveaway organized by: Oh My Gosh Beck!

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter form to enter daily. Giveaway ends 11/28 and is open worldwide. Winner will be notified via email.

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Sun Tail Mermaid Info Post.

**This is not a paid or sponsored post. This is a Pre-post post in exchange for the chance to be selected to work with this company on a review, but it does not guarantee a spot on the campaign.**

 Make your little girls dream come true! Sun Tail Mermaid has created the world's best swimmable mermaid tails and mermaid flippers. Their mermaid tails are soft, comfortable, and come in a wide variety of designs and colors. They are made of high quality swimsuit fabric with 4-way stretch.

Sun Tail Mermaid's monofins are extremely comfortable and virtually unbreakable. Their patented monofin is several steps ahead of everyone else in engineering, durability, comfort, and functionality. The propulsion and control is exceptional. The monofins come in a wide range of beautiful colors, so you can match your mermaid tails or look amazing wearing it alone.

10% discount - Receive a 10% discount on your order at www.SunTailMermaid.com by using coupon code: BestGiftEver Coupon Link.@usfg

Instax Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Prize: Instax Prize Package including camera + film

Co-hosts: The Mommyhood Mentor® // Mama's Mission // Surviving Mommy // Crayons & Cravings // Coupons and Freebies Mom // Jenns Blah Blah Blog // Capri's Coupons // Lipgloss and Crayons // Mom and More // Inspiring Words from the Heart //  Peanut Butter and Whine // Sparkles and Shoes // Getting Fit Fab // Misadventures with Andi // Beautiful Touches // Java John Z's // The Frugal Free Gal // SWEETHAUTE // Ottawa Mommy Club // babushka's baile // Foxy's Domestic Side // Burning Moon's Inside Advice // Organized Island // I Choose My Best Life // Southern Mommas //  Deliciously Savvy // Living Simply // Oh, The Places We Travel! // MommaDJane // Pumps & Push-Ups   

Giveaway organized by: Oh My Gosh Beck!

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter form to enter daily. Giveaway ends 12/1 and is open worldwide. Winner will be notified via email.

Are you a blogger who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your blog? Click here to find out how you can join a totally awesome group of bloggers!

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