Parenting Healthy

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New Christmas Movie - Charlie’s Christmas Wish DVD

It is not Christmas until you have watched a new family Christmas movie to get everyone into the spirit. This year Lionsgate has released Charlie’s Christmas Wish on DVD, Digital, and On Demand November 10 (today)! This movie has the Dove Approved Seal which means it is meant for all ages. Whether your heart is warmed by kids with the spirit, dogs or your Veterans than this movie will be your Holiday cheer. It is plenty of entertainment for kids and parents and you will fall in love with Charlie.

Charlie’s Christmas Wish Synopsis

In this heartwarming holiday film starring Aiden Turner (from “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) as John, a troubled war vet’s family finds new hope from a scrappy little rescue dog. Discharged and sent home for the holidays, John tries hard to adapt to civilian life—and to son Jimmy’s new pet, a feisty terrier named Charlie. As the family meets other struggling local veterans, they know it’ll take a miracle to bring peace to them and to John. Good thing Charlie has a direct line to the Man Upstairs…

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Watch Charlie’s Christmas Wish today on Digital or order you DVD from Target or Amazon!

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Brands with a Cause, Food, Natural Foods

CHUM Fruit Bites have the simplest, purest ingredients

November 9, 2020November 9, 2020 Erin Sluka

Comment: I was sent these sheets. Opinions are my own and this post may contain affiliate links. Thank you for visiting.

CHUM Fruit Bites have the simplest, purest ingredients

There are fruit snacks and then there are CHUM Fruit Bites. They are like fruit snacks in that they are fruit-flavored but unlike the fruit snacks you know because they are ONLY fruit. Also, despite the fun colors and animal designs they are not just for kids because I can’t get enough of these myself. I love these as a mid-day working snack.

I feel like I should tell you all about these CHUM fruit bites so you know what they are made of but the ingredient lists are literally just fruits. That’s it! 100% wild without the fake stuff!

I can tell you that when you buy CHUM Fruit Bites you are helping them make a difference. They donate 15% profits to Wild Aid, protecting wildlife.

You can find these REAL fruit bites online at the CHUM Fruit Bites shop and on Amazon. Right now they are having a #StaySafe sale and shipping is free on their site!

Visit our 2020 Fall Foodie Series for more food topics

2020 Holidays, Education, STEM Learning, Toy Reviews

Smarty JOJO Toy teaches directions, shapes, colors and opposites with Play

November 3, 2020November 1, 2020 Erin Sluka

Smarty JOJO!™ is not just smart, he is interactive. Smarty JOJO toy teaches directions, shapes, colors and opposites with play. Flycatcher is an early UK company that offers innovative tech toys that are brilliant. Available in the US on Amazon is this genius toy plane with personality (if there is a toy out there that has its own personality, JOJO is it)! He retails for under $25 and I still can hardly believe its price point is that low for what he offers in play.

The question I had after learning about Smarty JOJO is how well he actually performs in person so I was able to give him a try. I do not have any preschoolers at home. I do watch my 12 month old nephew – too young for this but he was highly intrigued by his voice and fun design. He carried it all around with him. But I was the one who played with Smarty JOJO for his features and any child from 3-5 will have instant friend with JOJO.

Let me list his awesome features for you

Identifies colors
Speaks English and Spanish
Encourages physical play with its motion sensors. The more your child moves with JOJO the more fun he offers
Fun missions teach directions, shapes, opposites, and emotional intelligence: Right & Left, Up & Down, Fast & Slow to name a few
Follow a task correctly and JOJO’s lights flash as he states you are correct

Kids learn as they play. For instance, when JOJO is asking your child to “go left” or “go right” there is a small light on each wing that will light up so they know which direction is right/left. When asked to go “land on a color” he will flash lights and give a congratulatory command to indicate you are correct.

He will surely be a hit over the Holidays. Smarty JOJO is likely to remain my favorite recommendation for ages 3-5 for the 2020 Holidays! Find Smarty JOJO and other Flycatcher products on Amazon. Another Flycatcher hit in our home for the older sibling (ages 5-99) is the smART Sketcher! Learn more at Flycatcher Toys!

Visit our 2020 Holiday Gift Guide for more great gift ideas

Gift Guides, Kids, Parenting

Ideas for Throwing Your Kids a Fortnite Party

October 31, 2020May 12, 2021 Erin Sluka

This post contains affiliate links, but is not sponosred

Throwing kids parties for birthday, milestones or graduations is a bittersweet event. It is sweet in that we love to make our child’s day as special as possible but bitter when we can’t find all we need for easy party planning.

Sometimes you have to get creative and make your own decor and that takes time and worst of all, creativity which I actually lack more times than not. Perhaps those moments I pretended I was interested in the game of Fortnite so I can play with my son and get to know his favorite game will pay off now!

Ideas for Throwing Your Kids a Fortnite Party — Ideas for Throwing Your Kids a Fortnite Birthday Party

Because I know what a supply drop is and impulse grenades are I can easily improvise. The best part is when you improvise with cheap items like snacks and balloons it is easily affordable to create a themed party. Buying it already done is nice, but I found out that by taking a day to create DIY pieces saved me a lot of money.

It is the hottest game right now for boys (and girls too): Fortnite! Have you tried looking for licensed birthday party decor? It hardly exists so when Anthony wanted a Fortnite party I took to Google and Pinterest for ideas on how to pull it off and it was a hit!

I lined the Supply Drop favor bags across my entertainment center and hung balloons in blue and black to spell out Fortnite. I tried to find plain yellow balloons where I was because when the drop shipments happen in games it is a yellow balloon that drops them so that is the best color to pair.

VBucks are the spendable points you earn in the game so I made some, used a 2″ craft circle cutter to cut them all out and tape to chocolate coin candies.

I just googled some prints and printed out on heavy paper top hang around the house. This Fortnite party is coming along!

Fortnite Party Planning Printable – Kids Birthday Party

You can even google ‘slurp juice label like I did and find this pattern. I can fit 3 on piece of paper to print and cut. Slurp Juice is the revive potion and blue gatorade bottles work perfectly. Their is another potion in the game you can find that is purple if you can get grape Gatorade and use those.

Impulse Grenades and bombs occur in the game so you can get brownie bites (I found a bunch as Walmart and Costco also has bins of them). I used cheese puffs for grenades but popcorn works too.

Simple cupcake toppers where I found Fortnite images and craft cut in circle on hard stock paper with toothpicks. Then to finish the Fortnite party off I ordered my son a tee shirt I found online that reads: Eat. Sleep. Fortnite. Repeat.