In Love With Zarbee's

* Zarbees provided products to sample for this post.  As with other sponsored posts, thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.  I have used this brand before receiving the samples.

This past winter my kids were plagued with never ending coughs. All winter long. Sleep was lost at first. I used up all of my tried and true tricks, including Vicks on the bottom on the feet. Nothing was working on their nighttime coughing. I was in the pharmacy at Target observing all of the products and realized I had yet to try one brand: Zarbee's. I fell in love with their cough syrup for children that weekend. I loved that it was all natural (and truly IS all natural!) and their were no fights from my kids about taking it. How many products can I claim that about??!!? Not many.

Imagine how thrilled I was when we got our bottle of their vitamins for kids. No high fructose corn syrup, no artificial flavors or sweeteners, no gelatin, and gluten free. I was excited to see that there weren't dyes in the vitamins for color. Now for the taste test. I'll be honest, I opened up the bottle and tried them while my kids were at school. I wanted to see how much of a fight they would put up trying these. I popped an orange, then a yellow, then a reddish color in my mouth. Okay so I tried all of the colors because they were delicious! They tasted just like a fruit snack, but with an actual healthy kick to it. 

Getting my kids to take vitamins is nothing less than a hard chore usually. However as soon as they tried Zarbee's Children's vitamins, they asked for more. They said they tasted like gummy worms. We finally found a vitamin they all like, they'll all take with no issue, and it's affordable! Zarbee's for the win!

I, along with Zarbee's, would love for YOU to try Zarbee's vitamins. Zarbee's is GIVING AWAY two bottles of Zarbee's vitamins (one bottle of Children's vitamins and one bottle of Toddler vitamins). 

To enter the giveaway - comment on the post in the blog (not on Facebook!) with:
1) If you've ever had to trick your kid into taking a vitamin or medicine and
2) whether you would like to win the Children's or Toddler bottle. 

A winner will be picked at random and announced on Monday!

A Very Disney Birthday

Disney birthday party themes have been around for awhile.  I know I'm dating myself, but I remember many Little Mermaid birthday parties as a child.  It's no surprise the super popular Frozen has been a recent trend (just ask Miss Elizabeth), but there's also Cars, Big Hero 6, and other great stories that make great party themes.  

When scrolling through Paperless Post's new line of Disney invites, inspiration struck!  I would love to plan a Minnie Mouse birthday party for my little sister!  No, I don't have a seven year old sister - more like twenty-seven!  But my baby sister shares a November 18th birthday with the one and only Minnie Mouse!  While sixty years separate them, Minnie is timeless and it would be so fun to have a little throw back birthday party.

One of the reasons we fell in love with our home is how great it is for entertaining.  Whether it is a backyard party (like our wedding last summer) or a gathering inside, our house works well.  So with a location in mind, I looked to Paperless Post for an invite idea and fell in love with this one.

Embarrassing childhood photo required

If you aren't familiar with Paperless post, you absolutely need to check them out.  They offer chicinvitations that can be sent via email AND via snail mail!  That's right, design one invite, and send them electronically to everyone you can and send printed ones to grandparents, plus have a couple keepsake invites to save!  You can use paperless post to track RSVPs and more!  I totally fell in love with them when planning a baby shower a couple years ago!

Okay, back to the party!  When it comes to decor, it was a no-brainer to turn to good ol' Pinterest.  Seriously, is there anything you can't find on Pinterest?  I looked at hundreds of cute ideas and found ones that were practical and would be easy to make or put together.  But one of the things that makes Disney-themed parties my favorite is the availability of cute supplies!  Seriously - you don't have to be a DIY Craft Queen to put a Disney party together!  A quick visit to nearly any party store will have dozens of options for you to choose from!  Here are my picks:

DIY Plates & Ears - how cute are these?  Super easy and I could put them together well in advance!

DIY Dum Dums Decoration - Hello floral foam and glue gun!  I wonder how many episodes of The West Wing I can marathon while I put these together?

Cupcakes - SO many cute options on Pinterest!  But I've seen enough DIY-Fails to know when to call in the professionals.  Ashlen and I have used our friends over at Creme bakery and I know they could whip these up!  

DIY Centerpieces - Oh, hello more floral foam and glue!  

Favor Bags - These would be super easy to assemble in advance.  Unlike treats and small toys for kids, I'm thinking a small bottle of wine and a couple wine glasses for each guest?  Nothing fancy, you know I like my buddy $2 Chuck ;)

Pinterest inspiration found here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

So that's how I'd plan my 'baby' sister's Minnie Mouse birthday.  Ooh, and maybe these treats too!  Any ideas for entrees?  Add your comment!

Love With Food in Kansas City

This post is sponsored by Love With Food.  All opinions are my own.

After one of the coldest winters I remember, my little family was ready to get out of town and spend some more time outside for spring break!  We decided to head about three-hours south to Kansas City for some shopping and a couple museums in the 75-degree sunshine.  Our family has been more mindful of our meals and snacks lately, and I certainly didn't want our getaway to turn into meal after meal of fast food.  Sure, burgers at Five Guys was on the itinerary, but we needed convenient healthy snacks for in the hotel and car. 

When the folks at Love With Food reached out, they certainly piqued my interest.  A monthly snack shipment full of natural or organic goodies sounded great; but the real icing on the cake was how they pay it forward.  For each box delivered each month, Love With Food provides a meal to a hungry child in the US.  Food insecurity effects 16.2 million kids in our country, or one out of five children.  As of today, Love With Food has donated over 400,000 meals to food banks and has no plans to stop until they've ended world hunger.

Before packing up the car Wednesday, my teenager and I were excited to open our shipment and I couldn't believe how much they fit in that small box!  If we had stopped at the grocery or convenience store, we easily would have spent $15-20 to replicate everything in our $10 box!  Plus these were much healthier options!

With multiples of a few items, we knew these goodies were the perfect snacks to share on our trip.  Over the next few days we tried the sweet and crunchy Cookie Chips, the not too sweet/not too salty Kettle Corn, the dried figs, granola, and the chocolate goodies.  There were sweet items, salty items, and savory; no matter your preferences, there was something for each of us in this box.  Many of the items were the perfect size for sharing and would keep well in the car for quick snacks for young kids.  Plus the 30-meal Rachel Ray cook book they included was perfect reading material for me as the passenger.

The awesome folks over at Love With Food want to hook you up with a FREE box, all you have to pay is $2 shipping and handling! 

Use discount code FLICKA or this link to redeem!  But hurry, this is a limited time offer!