and I’m proud of it!  It seems that some advocate groups have got their panties in a bunch about Mom Crew members hosting Madagascar Viewing Parties.  The New York Times has reported on their complaint that they have brought up with the FTC claiming that Claritin is stepping over the line by including stickers with their medications and allowing some of us moms to host a viewing party in anticipation of Madagascar 3 coming out.

Well I have some words for those lovely folks.  GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!!!   I don’t mean to cyber yell but I feel that they are using bits and pieces to defame alot of mom bloggers and bring them bad press.  If you are a blogger you know how hard it is to build a fan base you don’t need someone calling you a kiddy pill pusher without a reason.  We were asked to invite 5 MOMS and their kids over for a viewing party to watch Madagascar 1 and 2.  If you asked any of the children at my party who sponsored the party they’d probably tell you that I did, as a responsible adult I did not discuss Claritin with the kids in my home.  While the kids were playing we discussed allergies and I gave out plenty of samples to the moms who had a use for them.  Nothing provided for the kids had anything about Claritin on them so there was no way that this party was advertising to them.  Honestly if you ask me it was advertising the new movie the Claritin samples were just a nice little perk for the moms.

Yes there is advertising to kids on everything we use it seems.  However if I don’t want to purchase a product I don’t whether it be overly sugared character cereals, overpriced licensed bubble bath, or medicines with some ad on it.  I purchase products for the members of my household based on 2 things need and price.  Have I bought the store brand of medicines before YES if there is not a coupon or sale and the store brand works just as well I’ll buy it regardless of character endorsements.  I also think that criticizing Claritin for making grape flavored chewable medications is a bit ridiculous, I am nearly 30 years old and took flavored medicines when I was younger and you know why my parents bought them?  Because I took them without a big fight and that is why I buy flavored medicines for my son, take a look in my medicine cabinet and you will see that my son doesn’t care for cherry flavored items which is made clear by the fact that nearly every medicine is either grape or blueberry flavored.  And for the record my son doesn’t walk into the bathroom and start sucking down his children’s Advil even though he likes the way it tastes, he knows better and it’s up out of his reach. 

With all of this being said if advocate groups still feel that Claritin’s and Dreamworks handling of this campaign was in any way inappropriate then they need to attack the people responsible.  They should not be taking innocent Mom Crew members with them, after reading the article and the complaint filed I am just outraged.  We are parents and saying that we are not intelligent enough to know when our children need medicines and when they don’t or insinuating that we will purchase anything and everything our kids want based purely on the character’s face on the side of the product is insulting.  Please know that I would never push anything on you or my own family just for some freebies, every opinion expressed on this blog is purely my own.  You can check out the article for yourself here if you care to read it. 

I thank you for being a loyal reader and taking the time to listen to my opinions which may help you decide on what to purchase next time you are shopping. 

With the kids home from school you have a great chance to save some money and if you are not careful a chance to spend way too much.  Over the next few weeks I’m going to try and talk about some of the ways to save and how to avoid those money pits that we all fall into.

So far I’ve found having Shawn home means we are going through more food he is constantly looking for a snack it seems so here’s my tips. 

• By favorite cracker types in large boxes either on sale or at discount stores like Aldi’s.  I’ve found that Shawn isn’t nearly as fussy as I am when it comes to exact tastes and buying big boxes is 100x cheaper then snack packs
• Another snack saver Jell-O it’s really cheap and easy to make.  Pick up a pack of small glad containers and make individual servings of Jell-O up once or twice a week.  I’ve found that a standard size box of Jell-O makes 6 of those cups.
• Freeze juice pops, yogurt (small serving sizes with a mini popsicle sticks in them are great), and fruits to make a fantastic cool treat for those hot days.
• If you have a dehydrator you can buy whatever fruits are on sale and make snacks that store well.

I’d love to hear any other summer snack suggestions you can think of.  Next time I’ll be talking about how to avoid the boredom blues without breaking the bank.  Feel free to email me any suggestions.

Being part of the Claritin Mom’s Crew I was invited to host a viewing party in anticipation of the newest Madagascar movie hitting theaters this Friday.

I was provided with Madagascar, Madagascar 2, popcorn boxes, lots of Children’s Claritin samples to hand out and some recipes for snacks.  We planned out a party and found Madagascar Kraft Mac & Cheese, animal shaped chicken nuggets, popcorn, penguin gummies and Jell-O.  The boys had a good time watching parts of the movies, they were very excited about the end of the school year coming soon and wanted to play.  We enjoyed a yummy lunch, some great snacks and the boys even settled long enough to watch most of the second movie. 

While they watching I told the moms about Children Claritin and handed out samples for everyone and some stickers.  We broke out desserts and had a great time.

I’d like to thank Claritin for making this fantastic little party a hit, the boys were all very excited about seeing the newest Madagascar and we are trying to plan a trip to the drive in with all of them.  I was provided with party supplies and movies from Claritin however all opinions are my own.  You can find coupons online here and lots of fun Madagascar activities on Claritin’s Facebook page.

The winner of the Post Honey Bunches of Oats giveaway is Entry #8 Claudia E. for sharing on FB Claudia please email me at bellemitchell702 @ gmail.com with your shipping info and I'll get your coupons in the mail to you asap. Thanks to everyone who entered I hope you'll stick around as I have a couple more giveaways in the works for you coming soon.