Tag Archives: littlebits

Photo-A-Day, Toys

Give it Forward: Christmas is For Kids 2017 Donation

Christmas is for Kids 2017 Donation
Photo-A-Day #4594

These are toys that we received from various toy companies for free. Opinions are our own. Amazon.com affiliate links are withing the post.

Back in 2008 we began a Christmas tradition. That year a friend of mine was having a toy drive for Christmas is for Kids, a local charity that collects toys for the area children. That first year we donated a couple of toys but then we decided that each year we would put aside some money each month so that we could make a decent toy purchase at the end of the year. That way we could give a good sized donation. Fast forward to today and we’ve been making larger and larger donations because of the work that we do through this blog. From contests to conferences and everything in between there are many toy companies that have been providing us toys each year and we give the overflow to Christmas is for Kids.

Early on Allison and I decided to involve the kids in our toy buying. We wanted to show them, from an early age that they can help people less fortunate. You may not change the world for everyone but you can start locally and help those in your immediate environment. My kids have never had any want for toys especially because of this blog. Involving Eva and Andrew in the process of selecting toys for other children is very important. This year they were fantastic in the store. Not once did they ask for any toys for themselves. The hardest thing was saying no when they choose expensive toys. I had to keep explaining that the higher the cost of the toy the less toys we could buy to help out the kids. I think we also had some lessons in math and estimating and rounding and more and also understanding how much prices are for toys came in to play as well. Andrew wanted to get a toy and thought that it was $6 but was actually $64. It gave me a chance to talk money with him.

We also recorded a video thanking many of the toy companies for sending us toys to review and some that we were not able to review but instead added to our gift donation. I wanted to recognize them here. You can see the video below. And below that a bit about the toys.

Continue reading Give it Forward: Christmas is For Kids 2017 Donation →

Comic Book, Disney, Movie, Photo-A-Day, Travel

Look Out, L.A.! I’m Hitting the Red Carpet at the #ThorRagnarokEvent

11 Comments
Thor Ragnarok
Photo-A-Day #4547

I have been invited to California October 9-11th by Disney to attend the Red Carpet Premiere of Thor Ragnarok and many other things. Airfare and Lodging are being provided as well as some meals while in town. I will probably receive some promotional items and more. Opinions of everything are my own.

Thor Ragnarok Event

Disney Magic came to my inbox the other day. An invitation to not only see the Thor Ragnarok movie early (it opens in theaters on 11/3), but to actually attend the Red Carpet Premiere of the movie. I’m sure that we’ll get a moment or two to interview some of the cast but I am not sure who we are interviewing yet. I may actually be as close as I am to Chris Hemsworth as I am to his cardboard visage in the photo above. How incredible is that?

Thor Poster

This movie looks incredible and not just because the Hulk is in it! See for yourself!

On this trip I will also be attending a very special Cars 3 themed dinner in celebration of the In-Home release of Disney/Pixar’s Cars 3 (available on Digital 10/24 and Blu-ray 11/7). I am hoping that this special dinner will actually be at Disneyland in California.

UPDATE – The dinner WILL be in Disneyland!!!!! It will be at Flo’s V8 Cafe inside Cars Land at Disney California Adventure!!! For the first time ever Cars Land will be fully decked out for “Haul-O-Ween” which will make the night that much more fun! After dinner we will go on Radiator Springs Racers, Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween and Mater’s Graveyard JamBooree AND because it’s right next door, before we head back to the hotel we will go on the brand new GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ride Mission: BREAKOUT! which will be themed out to Halloween with the new name “Monsters After Dark”!

I have not been there since Allison and I went out there nearly 15 years ago. Going to Disneyland with a group of bloggers has been one of those things that I have never done on one of these trips before and I really want to do that. The Red Carpet is a first for me, so maybe two firsts in one trip…

Cars 3

While on this trip I will also be screening a new episode of Disney Junior’s new animated series “VAMPIRINA” (premiering 10/1) which tells the story of a young vampire girl who faces the joys and trials of being the new kid in town when her family moves from Transylvania to Pennsylvania. After the screening there will be a Q&A with the series’ Executive Producer, Chris Nee (“Doc McStuffins”). That will be a lot of fun, the show is super cute. See for yourself.

Vampirina

That isn’t all, either. I’ll also be attending a lunch with the technology company littleBits to get hands-on with their brand new STAR WARS Droid Inventor Kit (https://shop.littlebits.cc/products/droid-inventor-kit) where you can make your own R2D2 and bring him to life!

I’m excited about this because there is a fair bit of coding that we can do to make this robot do some cool things.

R2D2 ittybits

UPDATE: We just learned that we are also going to be screening two episodes of the new ABC comedy, The Mayor. We will also be meeting with 2 of the shows stars Bernard David Jones (“Jermaine Leforge”) and Marcel Spears (“T.K. Clifton”).

The Mayor

The show is pretty funny. I look forward to meeting these guys and screening more of the show. You can go and see the pilot of The Mayor on ABC Go.

I love going on these trips and they are always so much fun. I was torn on this one because it falls right on Eva’s 10th birthday. Double digits is a significant one and we are going to make sure that she has something amazing to do on Sunday the 8th before I leave. I asked her if it would be okay for me to go fully willing to turn the trip down if she honestly wanted me to stay home or was going to be upset. She told me that she knows I love her and that I love these trips. She also said that this is an amazing opportunity for me and she doesn’t want me to miss it. She does want to make sure that we get to Facetime together on her birthday. At least with technology we won’t miss talking together on her birthday, face to face.

I’m sure that Eva will be following along to the fun pictures and videos that I will post from the trip. You can follow to and make sure that you are following these hashtags on social media: #ThorRagnarokEvent, #Cars3Bluray, #Vampirina, #littleBits