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Emmy’s Perfect Princess Tea Birthday Party

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:23:21 +0000

OK. So what little girl doesn’t want to have an unforgettable princess birthday party? I have to warn you though, after such an awesome princess filled birthday party, you will have incredible hugs, thank- you’s, and princesses attacking you with love raving about the day. If you think you can handle that I’ll let you know what we did to have such an awesome party for Emmy.

We used Giggledust parties for the main event which was a “Host Your Own Cinderella’s Royal Tea Party” and I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed. They think of everything; little princess sized tables, the cutest princess stools, linens, cups, tea pots, princess music, games, and the cutest décor ever, and it comes with a princess dress up station. There wasn’t one thing I’d change about this package. Oh and the awesomest (yeah I had to go above and beyond the word awesome and straight for awesomest) part is that everything comes insanely organized, with a perfect guide book with pictures and very detailed instructions on how to put it together. There was no question about where to place anything or how to put something together. It was the easiest set up ever, and for someone like me who is indecisive and craft-challenged, it was perfect. When we were done it looked exactly like the photos on their site!

All of the girls including Emmy arrived and were awestruck by everything. They then began to become little Cinderella’s for the day, each one was so excited about dressing up, putting gloves and boas on, I expected a few kids to not be into it, but even the girls who were not into dressing up, got into it . After dressing up and playing a little, we had my mom, dress up like a fairy godmother to perform a magical surprise. We had the little princesses sit down at the table and all watch as the fairy godmother had an important request, she showed them a little pumpkin and had them all close their eyes really hard and count to ten and think magical thoughts and then she told them with Emmy leading to follow her outside, and when we opened the door, the pumpkin turned into a horse and carriage that was waiting outside!!! We used Greyhorse Carriage Company , and they went above and beyond. They even put happy birthday princess banners on the side, and they hid their set up around the corner and coordinated the surprise with us, they were so awesome. Each girl walked down the aisle runner we had saved from our wedding to their chariot and they enjoyed a magical ride around the town. This part just went over the top for Emmy, she actually put her hand to her mouth and gasped. Seeing all of them walk in their princess outfits down the aisle with smiles from side to side was the most precious thing ever.

After the magical carriage ride they came inside for the tea party, and enjoyed little sandwiches, fruit, and pink tea (pink lemonade) and had so much fun acting like princesses. After the tea party, they took part in all 3 of the games Giggledust parties brought. They each led off in a magical princess dance off, with magical wands, and then they all went on a scavenger hunt, led by clues, to end with a book filled with jewels for them, I have to say Giggledust parties has us hooked, they even have boy parties that are just as cool, and spa parties for older girls.

After that it was time for cake, and let me tell you they were not disappointed. We had Sweet Talk Cakes make Emmy the most amazing cake I’ve ever seen. It was a Tea pot cake with such detail it was amazing, and tasted just as good as it looked. They even had a little tag on it made from fondant which said “Happy Birthday Emily”. I was thoroughly impressed. Emmy was so excited about it, and couldn’t believe it was a cake because it was so pretty. They surrounded it with little mini cupcakes which all matched the Cinderella Princess theme. I have to say I’m hooked on Sweet Talk Cakes now!

Throughout the entire party the little princesses kept giving me hugs and thanking me for having them to Emmy’s party, her one cousin is too cute, a few days after the party, they took her to a mall and when she made a wish at the fountain she wished to be back at Emmy’s party. Emmy had the party of every little princess’s dreams. It was so awesome to see her face light up with each new surprise.

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY EMILY RILEY!!!

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Contest Win a $100 gift card to Kidz Rule Inflatable Playground and party center!!!

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:26:48 +0000

So whose kid doesn’t love jumping and playing at Kidz Rule? Afterall, they are kids, right? It’s their job to play, jump, run, giggle, and tire themselves out, and what better place to do that than Kidz Rule? Well, if you haven’t checked out Kidz Rule , I’ll tell you why you should:

Kidz Rule Inflatable Playland and Party Center is Bucks/Montgomery County’s largest indoor inflatable playland with over 16,000 sq. ft. of fun. Their safe, clean, climate controlled facility features giant inflatables, slides, obstacle courses, an indoor playground, and a play area for guests under 2 years of age. From birthday parties to open play, Kidz Rule has it all!

The winner of this contest will receive:

A $100 gift card to Kidz Rule!!!

To Enter this contest:

Visit Kidz Rule and tell us below what your kids would love about going there!

Increase your chances with additional entries by doing the following!!

Like 4PAKids on Facebook
Follow 4PAKids on Twitter
Like Kidz Rule on Facebook
Follow Kidz Rule on Twitter
Subscribe to Kidzrule’s newsletter
Leave a comment on Kidz Rule facebook Wall with “I entered to win a $100 gift card to Kidz Rule at @www.4PAKids.com” (make sure to tag by using the @ symbol)
Retweet this contest and mention @4PAKids and @kidzrulepa

(Leave a separate entry below for each thing you do)

The winner will be selected at random and announced 08/30! GOODLUCK!

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Contest -4 Tickets to See Sesame Street Live: Elmo’s Healthy Heros at the Sovereign Center

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:20:44 +0000

If you have an Elmo fan in the house this is the contest to enter!!! We’ve been to a couple of these shows and Emmy and her friends have loved these, even if they’re not “into” Elmo as much they’ll still love the show!

This show is Sesame Street Live: Elmo’s Healthy Heros

When Super Grover loses his superness, Sesame Street needs a hero! Never fear, Elmo and his team of Healthy Heroes are here. Teaching lessons of healthy habits through song and dance, Elmo, Abby Cadabby and your favorite Sesame Street friends will explore exercise, nutrition, sleep/energy and hygiene – all in a quest to put the “super” back in Super Grover. It’s Elmo’s Healthy Heroes to the rescue.

The winner of this contest will receive:

4 Tickets worth $16 each to go see the Sesame Street Live show at the Sovereign Center

Show Times available:

Tuesday September 21st at7pm
Wednesday September 22nd 10:30am or 7pm

To Enter this contest:

Leave a comment below of what Sesame Character is your favorite!

Increase your chances with additional entries by doing the following!!

Like 4PAKids on Facebook
Follow 4PAKids on Twitter
Leave a comment on your facebook Wall with “I entered to win 4 tickets to Sesame Live from @www.4PAKids.com (make sure to tag by using the @ symbol- if you like us on facebook when you type it a link will come up and you click on it to tag us!)
Retweet this contest and mention @4PAKids

(Leave a separate entry below for each thing you do)

The winner will be selected at random and announced 08/21! GOODLUCK!

Also if you don’t win use the promo / discount code ERNIE at this link Ticket Sesame Street Live Show to save $3 off each ticket (excluding Sunny Seats and Gold Circle seating).

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OHHHHH AHHHHH Fireworks, Fountains and water to Play in?

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:35:56 +0000

OK so I’ve been meaning to go to Longwood Gardens for years now, and we finally got to go!! I always heard Longwood Gardens has kids activities and a water area for them to play in but I was skeptical on how entertaining it would be. I imagined a beautiful garden with a tiny water fountain for kids in the corner, and running after Emmy every two seconds yelling “Don’t rip out any more flowers!” and then being kicked out by the garden police for having officially destroyed their flowers.

Well we went….and….I was wrong! You may want to save that statement I don’t think I will ever utter it again=) We went on a Fountain and Fireworks day! So let me first start with that and work my way through the rest of the Kid Friendly things to do.

First let me say I felt like I was in Disney! This show tops any 4th of July fireworks I have ever seen. They start the show with music which acts as a conductor for the fireworks and fountains throughout the show. As the musics tempo changes the fountains color and flow changes, and the fireworks are set off to follow along. Emmy loved it!! She loved yelling out the colors of the fountains, along with stating if the music and colors were sad or happy, and loved when the music was face paced and the fireworks danced throughout the sky. The show was gorgeous and Emmy was amazed, she turned to me giving me huge hugs and thanking me for bringing her several times throughout the show, and to see the light of the fireworks reflect off your child’s eyes, as you see the pure wonderment in their expression is priceless. So fireworks alone I would return to Longwood Gardens just for that. The show was magical, although I have to admit I spent a good amount of the time watching it through Emmy’s eyes.

After the Fireworks show we worked our way to the indoors children’s garden. Which like I said, I was expecting a little fountain and dying plant in the corner from children playing with it way too much. AND I was WRONG again! I know… I know…I’ve broken the girl code to never admit you’re wrong. The kid’s area was so awesome. First you enter it, and it’s like walking through a mini bamboo forest, and there are several fountains for your kids to play in and explore. There are fountains that jump, bubble, splash, and more! Emmys favorite was the fountain that acted as a window and the fountain that allowed you to paint a dragons teeth by wetting paintbrushes. Also, another cool thing was the path that connected the fountains it was like a mini maze, that went throughout 2 floors. Emmy loved every bit of the kids area and it reminded me of the Secret Garden movie from the 90′s. I have to say we loved Longwood Gardens and would reccomend it to parents any day!

My tips on going:

Bring an extra set of clothes for your kid so they can get plenty wet (or dry off with a picnic outdoors in the day)
Have them wear flip flops for the water area if possible so you don’t have to change socks, and shoes.
Enjoy the water with them so do the above for you too!
Bring chairs for the firework show
Right before the firework show make a bathroom trip, there are bathrooms right behind it, and don’t bother waiting in the huge bathroom line, on the 2nd floor there is an empty one!!!
Bring a camera, possibly one that doesn’t mind the water
Its quite a bit of walking so if your child likes the stroller bring it (although I would leave it out of the kid area)

Have you been there? If so what are you’re thoughts on it?

Jen

www.4pakids.com

~Keeping Familes Together and Active!

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Contest- Win a Portrait Package from Clix and have your kid(s) be the face of 4PAKids! Ends 08/02

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:01:42 +0000

OK, so we all love getting photos done of the kids. Afterall you have the cutest kid in the world right? Well, if you haven’t checked out Clix Portrait Studios in Peddler’s Village, I’ll tell you why you should. They do such awesome work. they capture the sparkle in your child’s eye, and their personality shines through, and although you can not stop them from growing up way too fast, you will have that moment to forever look back on.

The winner of this contest will receive:

A 5 pose package, that is your favorite 5 poses on CD (value of $125)
Your kid(s) will also be the face of 4PAKids for the next month, and who doesn’t love seeing their gorgeous kid on the web?

To Enter this contest:

Leave a comment below with who you want photos of!

Leave your email and all Participants will receive a free gift from Clix!

Increase your chances with additional entries by doing the following!!

Like 4PAKids on Facebook
Follow 4PAKids on Twitter
Like Clix on Facebook
Leave a comment on Clix facebook Wall with “I entered to win a portrait package from Clix, and for my kid to be the face of 4PAKids on @www.4PAKids.com” (make sure to tag by using the @ symbol)
Retweet this contest and mention @4PAKids and Clix in Peddler’s Village

(Leave a separate entry below for each thing you do)

The winner will be selected at random and announced 08/03! GOODLUCK!

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Would it be so wrong to put her in a protective suit or Bubble?

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:31:18 +0000

There are many types of parents out there when it comes to being protective and I think I would like to join the camp of INSANE! Yup, I’m crossing the line! I ‘m going to that institution with padded walls, and yummy medicine!

You may say noooo you’re not insane, but after reading this you will because I’ve decided after recent events I am going to invent the coolest most stylish protective wear outthere. I have to invent this because if I put a football helmet on her, with a pillow strapped around her waist and with goggles and a chin guard on her people may possibly look at me as slightly overprotective. Although I think the kid from the “Cat in the Hat” Movie in the photo here looks pretty cool!

Now you may say “you’re insane!! But did you know that back in the day people used to make protective headgear for their babies and toddlers all of the time, and it seems we stopped because we’re vain and judgemental. So I’m going to invent a superman type outfit that can protect our kids with a thin liner from everything from a fall to a jump off a building. The problem is, I’m not a scientist, or a designer, or rich.

Now you may ask how I’ve gone so far over the ledge, and why I have decided I’m ok with being crazy. Ok so here it goes, Emmy this year has become friends with the ER nurses because shes had so many boo boos. We started the year with a dog bite, from a crazed insanely big…..,no, I’m exaggerating it was a 9 week old tiny puppy that jumped up and bit her face and actually got her bad enough to need her lip stitched back together. She dealt with it well, no tears while getting stitched, I almost passed out when I saw it happen but she did good. So we recovered and a few months actually went by, and then we went to the aquarium 2 weeks ago where GERMX shot 3 feet across the room into Emmy’s eye (she had her glasses off for that minute to let her face paint dry) and it had to be washed out for 5 minutes at the ER (my blog about this is stuck on my computer with a virus), 6 days passes by and she gets a concussion at a kids birthday party, and now yesterday to top it off she gets a bug bite on the eye and now her eye is swollen shut! So I’m going to add a bug zapper to that protective outfit yet to be made.

So when you see a cute 3 year old walking arround with a home made protective outfit on in the meantime don’t judge me, have pity on me! Actually I just had a great idea, I could get Baby Pop to make this cool protective outfit and pass it off as a superhero costume until I hit the lottery and can invent one=) Now I’ll just have to invent a superhero that wears insane amounts of protection to convince Emmy it’s cool to wear. It shouldn’t be to hard right? I mean she already wears princess dresses 24 hours a day, I’ll just have to convince her Princess Protecto is the newest coolest princess out there!

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Win a $50 gift card to Town Crier Bakery- Ends 7/24

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:50:50 +0000

Contest ended Congrats #2 Samantha Plaud for winning. Starting Monday will be another contest so check back!!!

OK so if you have read my posts on my love for Town Crier Bakery , you know why this is a contest worth entering, but just in case you’re not familiar with Town Crier Bakery let me clue you in on this highly addictive shop=) First let me say that they have so many bakery goods to choose from. My favorite being their cupcakes.

My exact quote after eating them was “they were the most amazing cupcakes ever. Like the ones you only see in movies where the icing to cake ratio is perfect, and the icing on top looks like it was made by a cupcake designer, actually I think that’s is the perfect way …to describe them, they’re high fashion cupcakes, that’s tastes match the appearance!”

Enter Now to win a $50 Gift Card to Town Crier Bakery

To Enter this contest:

Leave a comment below with what you would love to use this for!

Increase your chances with additional entries by doing the following!!

Like 4PAKids on Facebook
Follow 4PAKids on Twitter
Like Town Crier Bakery
Leave a comment on Town Crier Bakery facebook Wall with “I entered to win a $50 gift card from @www.4PAKids.com”
Retweet this contest and mention @4PAKids and @towncrierbakery

The winner will be selected at random and announced 7/25! GOODLUCK!

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Our trip to Dutch Wonderland

admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:26:06 +0000

First and foremost, let me start by saying that if you’re going to do Dutch Wonderland and you don’t mind doing the long car ride twice you should take advantage of their preview package, where if you visit within three hours of closing you get in for free that night and get to use your ticket another night in that season.

How cool is that? I mean honestly, with little kids you can only stand around 3 hours of amusement park without going clinically insane anyway, and the fact it’s a night time special means you can avoid heat stroke and waiting in long lines, while your little one wants to only go on dry rides and your sweating bullets. Added bonus…you don’t have to worry about food in the park, naps, strollers…. So if you can, I recommend taking advantage of that, and then when you come back you can spend the whole day there and enjoy the wet rides as well.

Speaking of wet rides, I don’t know if you were aware but Dutch Wonderland not only gears their dry rides and performances to little kids they have a water park area that rocks for little ones. Duke’s Lagoon has water slides where you don’t get all that wet! Now some of you may be saying well what the heck is the point of that? So you wait in a line to go down a water slide where you don’t get cooled off and soaking wet? But for those of you with little kids that hate water in their eyes (like Emmy and her cousin) this is the perfect opportunity to introduce them to water slides, and the best part is you don’t slam into a body of water at the end, where you cling to your kid with your legs wrapped around them while trying to cover their eyes and pray to the heavens that they don’t roll off and ban water rides for the rest of their life. Instead this one ends just like a slide would, so cool, so awesome, so geared towards the under 6 crowd! Dutch Wonderland gets 4PAKids two thumbs up for that one!

Another cool Dutch Wonderland feature is the fact that they entertain you all day long. Not only do they have rides, both wet and dry, they have performances, princess story times, a diving show, and a musical ensemble that walks around engaging the kids. Also, another place to relax is the beautiful gardens that surround the park, there is even a place you can feed ducks or take a relaxing boat ride. At this park there are plenty of opportunities to sit back and hang out while the kids enjoy a show, and you can gain a little sanity back before enjoying another round at that spinning ride that you pretend to enjoy while smirking and doing fake “woohooo this is fun” statements so your kid doesn’t know that you really want to physically get sick.

Aside from all of those features I have to say that there are so many rides for kids under 5. My daughter is 3 and is able to do tons of rides here, two roller coasters, the swings, a little mini whip it ride, and tons more. For the avid toddler ride junky like my daughter this is the perfect place to visit. It is also a great park for kids with various ages; they seem to have it all covered. I would recommend Dutch Wonderland to anyone, and plan on going back as many times as possible=)

Let me know your thoughts on the park, and what you love or think they could improve on, or any tips you have for visiting=)

Jen

www.4PAKids.com

~Keeping families together and active

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HELP! Emily My 3 Year old Activist….huh?

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 19:48:55 +0000

OK so this is something I wasn’t expecting. My 3 year old, Emmy, made the connection that the meat we eat is from animals.

My 3 year old armed with this info =Emily The Activist!

You may ask how she came to this realization….well I have to say it wasn’t pretty. We have a family of foxes living in our yard and a mom fox+7 baby foxes equals lots of dead animals appearing in our yard. Emmy was very upset over the last few months. She kept asking why they had to eat animals and I always had different but true answers. Well…. last night my answer was that there we 2 kinds of animals, ones that ate fruits and veggies called herbivores, and ones that ate meat called carnivores. Simple enough right? The average three year old might take that info and be alright with it. Well, not “Emmy the activist” She then declared that they should all eat food like us, and said they should eat CHICKEN….and as soon as she uttered the word she realized all to soon that we eat animals. She declared we’re not animals so why do we eat animals? I explained that humans were in fact animals. To which she yelled “I am not an animal!!!” (Yes all dramatic like that too) !

After that argument, that I’m still not sure I won, she went on to declare that she will no longer eat animals, AND neither will you! That’s right, I said it, she included you! Oh, come on, don’t feel bad that a 3 year old has decided you will now become a vegetarian, because it’s not just you. She has included all of the meat eating animals as well. You may ask how she plans on doing this. Well she stayed up until 11pm last night unable to sleep filled with questions and thoughts and ideas, and dun, dun, dun…(yup that’s my dramatic drum roll again) she has decided that YOU, yes I said YOU will make vegetarian meals for all of the animals around you and so will we, and that the animals will be happy they no longer have to work for their food so everyone will become vegetarians including the animals! Oh, and you may ask what shes going to do with the over abundance of animals, she thought about that too. All of the nice ones that don’t bite can live in your house!

Oh, and by the way, she is going to start going house to house to make you aware of her plans, she’s not just settled with the idea of it. So if you see a 3 year old armed with fruit and veggies coming to your door RUN! That’s right I told you to run from my kid. I’m no longer safe…but you still have a chance to eat that burger in peace!

I do want to know, what would you do? Would you lie and say we don’t eat meat, try and avoid it? Address it head on? Thoughts and comments welcome!

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Our 4th of July Philly Style

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:54:13 +0000

Growing up in NE Philly we always went to Lawncrest to watch the fireworks but as we grew up my parents decided to hang on the block and watch them. I’ve protested this by going to Lawncrest, the shore, the lake, everywhere and anywhere with official fireworks to make me nostalgic. BUT this year….(dun dun dun-yeah I wrote that wrong, it’s supposed to be dramatic music) we went to my parents to watch what was supposed to be in everyones terms “the sickest, longest, most awesome firework show around”.

So was it? Ummm…I’m still kind of confused on that one.

We got down there at 8pm and the random fireworks started. It was super cute my niece Abby was afraid and Emmy sat holding her ears for her (they’re both 3) so it was super cute.

After that everyone and their moms started lighting off fireworks in an unspoken competition. This was the part everyone in the area raves about, the part that goes on for hours.

In my opinion I always thought that firework shows were supposed to be just that a show not the length of a Lord of the Rings Movie, with a prequel and sequel. I just always thought what kid, or person with the patience of a kid, like myself, could sit through hours of staring at the sky going ooohhh ahhhhh? Although, I have to give it up for Philly, there were no babyish oohhs and ahhs, it was hoots, hollers, and cheers for the people risking their hands getting blown off lighting tons of fireworks.

Was it cool? Yeah…if you want to have an adrenaline rush from dodging the fireworks that are lit the wrong way. At first someone thought I was crazy for warning, you probably shouldn’t stand that close. I even gave the reason that when we were younger a firework came straight into our house, but noooo they thought I was crazy. Until moments later when a series of fireworks were lit the wrong way and shot in our direction. During the course of the night, we ducked, we hid behind bushes, it was like firework dodgeball.

We ended our night early at 11pm. Yes! That is 3 hours of fireworks, and I said we ended the night early.

If you ask would I do it again, I would have to say probably, only because Emmy likes hanging with her cousins. Although I have to say I would rather do the shore, watch an average length firework display and head home.

So I dedicate this Post to all of the brave souls in Philly that dared to light fireworks for our viewing pleasure.

Thanks for reading=)

Jen

www.4PAKids.com

~Keeping Families together and active!