Winner: Giddy Giddy hair clips giveaway

We had 188 entries in the Giddy Giddy hair clips giveaway (you can read all comments on the original post here) and I just drew a random number winner of #91. Comment #91 was the following:

Wendy said...
These are so cute and they certainly seem to work well. I'll be bookmarking the site :) Please enter me in the contest. Thanks!
11:51 AM

Congratulations Wendy! I'll be sending you an email in just a minute, please email me back and let me know which five Giddy Giddy clips you'd like (you can see them all here.)

Review: Giddy Giddy hair clips

Ro and Ree have hair that grows straight forward from their crowns, so you'll notice that I always have something strategically placed to keep hair out of their faces. To this end, I've assembled quite the arsenal of fun hair accessories. Man, I just love the darn things. Anyhow, when ittybittyladybug.com contacted me and asked if we were interested in reviewing the Giddy Giddy hair clips that they sell in their boutique, I said "Ooo, bring it on!!"

Well one week into the testing and I can already tell that these latest clips (designed by Giddy Giddy and sold by ittybittyladybug.com) are going to be in heavy rotation at our house. Why?

1. They're cute. So cute!




2. The snap clip part is sewn into the felt (completely covered), so it doesn't rip hair out of your precious child's head—even when the clip is brutally yanked out by someone like, say, a twin sister.

3. The clips are small but they're designed to stay put, even on baby-fine hair—and let me just tell you, Giddy Giddy is NOT lying about this. Ro and Ree have the slipperiest hair on the planet, and I think they just might be the roughest girls who have ever tested these clips. (Actually I know they are.) I casually stuck one in Ree's hair last night and sent the girls outside to do their thing, and I'll be danged if that clip didn't stay put for the entire twinado exhibition. I couldn't believe it—something about the felt must just stick to the hair. Want to see the proof? (click the arrow on the far right if you want to speed through the pics)


Oh yeah, kind of hard to argue with that, huh?

Suggestions for improvement:
The adorable flower clips come in pink, red, purple, and orange, and little Miss Ree wondered why the heck they didn't make a yellow one. Pretty good suggestion, if you ask me. Also, I'd love to see even bigger versions of the clips—go hog wild with them, ya know? These clips stay put like they've been glued in place, but with whirling dervish children like mine, you still get some hair that occasionally flips forward from the back of the head and covers the clip. Not a big deal, but a mongo-sized clip would be a nice option to have for the days when I know they'll spend more time upside down than right side up (like preschool days or park days).

Coupon Code and Giveaway:
Salsa readers who order from ittybittyladybug.com can enter the code SALSA15 at checkout to get 15% off your entire purchase from now through the end of September. The store is also sponsoring a giveaway of five Giddy Giddy hair accessories to a Salsa reader. To enter, just leave a comment here. One entry/comment per household, residents of the U.S. and Canada only, entries accepted until 8am on Tuesday 9/1/09. The winner will be drawn at random, announced on this blog, and also notified by email (if I have a way to contact you) that same day. The winner has 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

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COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED for this giveaway. I will go through and remove duplicate entries, then will draw a winner and announce the results by 3pm (Pacific time) today (8/31).

Winner of Sundaes Best hot fudge sauce

I drew the winner of the Sundaes Best case of hot fudge sauce this morning and got #87. Commenter #87 had said:

Sarah S said...
So many to choose from...I would have to get 3 each of:
Raspberry
Mint
Peanut Butter
Original

Congratulations Sarah S! Your profile didn't list an email address, so this will serve as notification. Please email me back (my email address is in the sidebar) within 48 hours to claim your prize.

Now, I would normally go have a wee little bite of hot fudge to celebrate, but I've been hitting the yummy stuff pretty hard in the last few days and it seems I have run out!

Guess it's time to order some more...

Charity Donation: If you didn't win, don't forget that you can still place a direct order from Sundaes Best and they will donate to one of my favorite charities: Half the Sky. From now until Sept 9, 2009, Sundaes Best will donate 5% of all orders that have "Salsa in China" in the comments section to Half the Sky. So if you order some sauces to hold your own tasting party, or to give as fun gifts, don't forget to write "Salsa in China."

Review and giveaway: Sundaes Best hot fudge sauce

As unabashed chocoholics, we were really excited about this product review. The task was simple: open up the box (a whole box!) of seven different hot fudge sauces from Sundaes Best and write down what happened.

The Bottom Line:
The hot fudge itself is great, but the variety of flavors makes it a party!

We wanted to get lots of kid opinions, so we scheduled a hot-fudge-tasting party with four twins in attendance, bought a bunch of vanilla icecream, and cracked open the jars. It was a blast.




The kids were a little antsy and could barely wait while TubaDad slowly heated the jars in hot water. They thought he'd never get done and practically writhed in agony before they got served.




When the icecream was finally served, the discerning tasting panel (Ree, Ro, H2, and S2) gave the sauces a resounding eight-thumbs up. They loved the stuff so much that they stuck straws in the bowls to get every last drop. (I should probably apologize to the H Family now that our girls have taught their girls that trick. Oops.)




The grownups at the tasting also had a ball testing all the different flavors. We had to taste each flavor several times for (ahem) scientific accuracy purposes. Hee! A hot-fudge tasting is just the best idea for a party, and the Sundaes Best sauces come in so many different flavors that there's something for everyone. Speaking of which, we had a resident technical dude at the party who tallied everyone's rankings and pronounced the official flavor winners: #1 was Sundaes Best Original, #2 was Marilyn's Mint, and #3 was Patty's Peanut Butter. Peanut butter was my personal and passionate fave, for what it's worth. I just ate some more straight out of the jar with a spoon. Just to, um, check and make sure my previous sampling was still accurate. Heh heh.



We did have a couple of suggestions for improvement, as always:
- How about a new sinfully dark chocolate flavor? Mmmmm.
- No one at the party liked the hazelnut flavor. Sorry. It placed in the very bottom of the statistical rankings by a long shot.

Giveaway:
Sundaes Best will send one lucky reader an entire case of hot fudge sauces (that's 12 8-oz jars, a $72 value!), in your choice of flavors, and they'll cover the shipping charges. To enter, just check out the Sundaes Best flavor page then leave a comment here with the 12 flavors that you'd like in your winner's case (there are 7 flavors to choose from, so double up on some or order an entire case of one flavor—it's up to you). One entry/comment per household, US and Canada residents only, entries accepted until 8am on Monday 8/24/09. The winner will be drawn at random, announced, and notified by email (if I have a way to contact you) that same day. The winner has 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

Charity Donation:
Sundaes Best will also give a donation to one of my favorite charities: Half the Sky. From now until Sept 9, 2009, they'll donate 5% of all orders that have "Salsa in China" in the comments section to Half the Sky. So if you order some sauces to hold your own tasting party, or to give as fun gifts, don't forget to write "Salsa in China."

~~~ COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED ON THIS GIVEAWAY and the winner will be drawn and announced shortly (just as soon as my mom arrives to help with the girls and I have a minute to spend on the computer).

Winner of the Sears Portrait Studio giveaway

We had 158 entries for the Sears Portrait Studio giveaway and the winner was picked by random.org at 8am this morning (with TubaDad and Ree witnessing that everything took place correctly).

The winner is commenter #25, Gramma, who said:

Gramma said...
Howdy! Gramma here in Austin entering to hopefully win Sears photo session for my grandchildren.Two thoughts on picture ideas for Ro and Ree... I can just see them playing school with an old fashion desk. Take turns posing as student in the desk and teacher at a little chalk board. This might be saved for photo op just before they actually start kindergarten.Second idea is just having the girls looking so lovely in traditional Chinese dress.

Gramma, your profile didn't have an email address, so please contact me by email within 48 hours to receive your prize. My email addy is in the sidebar.

Thanks everyone for playing, and also thanks so much for the awesome suggestions on Ro and Ree's 4th birthday shoot. I was totally scared to do the upcoming shoot, just drawing a blank on what to do, and now the only trouble I'll have is narrowing down the great ideas. Wow.

If you didn't win but would still like to try out Sears Portrait Studio, you can print out this coupon for a free 10x13 wall portrait and bring it to your portrait session.