Family Game Night!

I posted a giveaway a while ago asking you all what your parents did to bond with you. And there were some really touching responses.

And that got me thinking about my own memories of spending time with my family. I looooved board games. Couldn't get enough. My favourite was always Monopoly, because of the strategy, but I'm the kind of guy who would play until three in the morning, just because I wanted to win.

(Side note: true story, I was playing with a friend once and I ended up beating her, but for the sake of emphasising how bad I crushed her fair play I let her borrow from the bank. she ended up owing the bank about $20,000 before deciding it wasn't worth it.)

But the economy, as terrible as it is, gives us another reason to play board games. You can spend a moderate amount of money, and get hundreds or thousands of hours of enjoyment and family bonding. Just consider how much you can spend going to see a bad movie with your family for two hours! The gas alone might warrant taking another mortgage out on your house.

The good people at Hasbro have you covered this back to school season. With new classics and updated takes on old favourites, you'll find something you and your family will love! Check out the following:


Scrabble Slam
(Approximate Retail Price: $6.99; Recommended Age: 8 and up; Players: 2 to 4)
Scrabble Slam is a fast, word building game where players create four-letter words using lettered cards.

Bop-it!
(Approximate Retail Price: $19.99; Recommended Age: 8 and up; Players: 1 or more)
Bop-It! is the think fast game that calls all the shots. Twist, Pull, Bop and Shout your way to victory.

Jenga Max
(Approximate Retail Price: $19.99; Recommended Age: 8 and up; Players: 1 or more)
In Jenga Max, players connect plastic pieces to a ring suspended above the game base and try to prevent it from maxing out and toppling over.

Trivial Pursuit Team
(Approximate Retail Price: $34.99; Recommended Age: 12 and up; Players: 2 Teams)
For the first time ever, Trivial Pursuit has been redesigned to encourage team play, moving beyond traditional Q&A trivia to create an inclusive game play experience.

Connect 4x4
(Approximate Retail Price: $19.99; Recommended Age: 8 and up; Players: 2 to 4)
Connect 4x4 is the world’s first double grid, four-player game of Connect 4.

Guesstures
(Approximate Retail Price: $24.99; Recommended Age: 8 and up; Players: 4 to 6)
Guesstures is a high-speed game of charades. Players act out easy to hard words while their team tries to guess the word before time runs out.

Pictureka!
(Approximate Retail Price: $22.99; Recommended Age: 6 and up; Players: 2 or more)
Find it fast! Find it first! Pictureka! is the exciting game of visual hide & seek. Collect the most mission cards to win.

So, bring back family game night. Get one of these games...bond with your family, save some money.

Just don't stay up till three forcing people to play Monopoly with you.

Good To Be You Discount

Liliputians Discount

You're looking for cute, fun, unique, happy, interesting, different clothes for your little ones...of course you are!

Try Liliputians... makers of little girls' and boys' clothes - designs you won't find anywhere else!

And, until September 30 2009, use code BTST09 for 15% off!

Andrea's Beau Discount

Please note: discount is valid until 27 September, 2009. Don't forget to check out the Andrea's Beau giveaway!

Kaskey Kids' Discount

Put your child at the ten yard line this back to school season!

Kaskey Kids, with their amazing collection of fun, imagination-inspiring toys for boys and girls, are helping us to make sending your kids back to school, just a little bit easier.

Kaskey Kids produce a range of life-like miniature sports figures: from actual College football teams, to soccer, baseball and even hockey figures! Their collections come with playing surfaces and goals!

Take advantage of these neat toys for your child today by using code GoGuys for a 10% discount, until September 27!

Boxy Design Giveaway!

UPDATE: THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! Congratulations to the Thrifty Divas and Laurie C for winning!

Boxy Design recently sent us some of their product to review, and I was astonished at the quality.

As a man who was once a boy, who used to use and abuse his lunch boxes on a daily basis at school, I was thoroughly unprepared and even a little intimidated by the product. I'm actually not sure these lunch boxes, drink bottles and backpacks could be damaged, let alone destroyed.

I mean, it's always a good sign when your kids can sit on the same thing they store their lunch in and still bring it home in one piece.

But it's not just the durability of Boxy Design's products that should have you clicking their link with the speed of an ant under a magnifying glass on a sunny day. Boxy Design has specifically designed their products to be efficient: have a look at the image below.

Boxy Design's backpack has loads of compartments, including one at the bottom (pictured) which is insulated. Boxy Design sells a high quality freezer Gel Pack which slides in underneath, ingeniously keeping your son or daughter's food cool.

Their lunch box also is compartmentalised using smaller containers, making it possible for you to keep their various snacks separate and in some kind of discernible order. Together with Boxy Design's sturdy and stylish drink bottle, you're entirely covered when it comes to equipping your child for a healthy, nutritious school day!



Boxy Design is so confident in the quality of their product, that they're giving away two AUD$50 gift certificates!



All you have to do, is tell us what you would pack for lunch for yourself. The first person commenting must choose something beginning with A, the second person must choose something starting with B, and so on. So, look at the comments, and see which letter is next!

The craziest two comments win! If you want an idea how crazy, we left the first comment to give you an idea...

If there are more than twenty six comments, just go back to A again!

• Open worldwide
• Competition closes September 27, 2009
• One entry per person, please!

Visit Boxy design's website!

Seventh.Ink Discount

So, you've seen our Seventh.Ink giveaway. Now, marvel in wonder and delight...feel the awesomeness and tremble at the benevolent nerve of Seventh.Ink to offer a 10% discount on their tragically cool men's and women's apparel and accessories: just use code BackToSchool10.

isABelt Giveaway

UPDATE: THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! Congratulations to Mtlgrl4evr, Sarah and Jennifer for winning!

So, you want to keep those jeans/pants/shorts up, without using a big ol' clunky belt? So, you want something fun, stylish and subtle?

Of course you do. You know you do!

It's a good thing isABelt is here to help you out, because no girl (or woman!) can really afford to be without one of these little gems. Available in sizes to suit all women, iaABelt is the perfect fashion accessory for your daughter as she goes back to school, or even for yourself!

Have a look-see at the video above, to find out how easy IsABelt is to adjust, and wear. Simply expand or constrict by pulling, test, and slip through!

And, isABelt has a range to suit everyone. Whether it's a unisex isABelt wide for added support, isABelt+ for plus size women or even isAStrips, to keep your isABelt in place when you have no belt loops, these guys have got you covered. Literally.

Now, isABelt are a generous bunch. They know their product is functional, stylish and indispensable (unless you like your jeans hanging off your butt like one of those girls in a 50 Cent music video), and so, they're going to help you out. Or rather, help you help your daughter out.



isABelt is giving away one of all four styles of their isABeltJR, an isABelt just for girls! They fit girls size 6x-14 or womens size 0-8. Check out the image above, to see what the styles look like. There's "Delicious", "Fruity", "Peace" and "Skull" styles!



Check out the 4Square game below. You need to create as many words as you can, of any length, from those letters. But, the letters have to touch each other, either horizontally, diagonally or vertically. So, in the example below, we could put L-A-M-P together because they touch.

When you think you have as many as you can get, post a comment with the number of words you got (yes, we will ask to see your list!) If you later, see that someone else posted a comment with more than you got, you can try again and post a second comment if you come up with more words. You get to post as many attempts as you like!

Winner number one gets their choice of two isABeltJRs! Winner two gets the next choice and winner three the remaining style.

Where there is more than one person with the number of words (ie tied for first or tied for second etc), a random draw will be held.

• Remember, only post the number of words you came up with, don't post your list in the commentst!!
• Open to US and Canadian residents only, please
• Competition closes 27 September, 2009

Have fun!

Seventh.Ink Giveaway!

UPDATE: THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! Congratulations to Soy Pea, Xenia, Kathy Pease and Heather22 for winning!

Update: Check out the Seventh.Ink Discount!

Now, I want you to reach back.

Way, way back. Remember going back to school...how much fun it was? Or, wasn't? Let's face it, summer's ending, the sun is sliding into its shadows much earlier and the warmth is escaping degree by puny degree. And you're stuck in a classroom.

Did you ever go back to school with the same clothes in which you so happily said goodbye to your campus, just a couple months ago? Not much fun, huh?

But, you remember how great it was to go back in new clothes, right? Whether it was new kicks, a new pair of pre-ripped jeans ('cos they were cool!) or a new shirt.

This is where Seventh.Ink enters the picture.

Impossibly cool, fringe and fun...honest but with self-evident style that will knock the socks off the other kids, Seventh.Ink's brand of "I don't need to be cool, but I am" t-shirts will leave everyone in awe of your kid's contrails of coolness. You owe it to your kids to check out Seventh.Ink's site!

Remember how much fun going back to school in new clothes was?



Seventh.Ink, in their wonderfully post-modern generosity, is giving 4 lucky readers the chance to win!

• The first winner will receive their choice of a guys' or girls' "Guitar Quadruple Threat" tee and a $5 gift certificate
• The second winner will receive their choice of a guys' or girls' "With Love" tee and a $5 gift certificate
• Winners three and four will each receive a $5 gift certificate

• Simply go to Seventh.Ink's site, and leave a comment back here, telling us which tee says the most about you and why! (Don't forget to leave us some way to contact you.)
• Entries go into a random draw and the giveaway closes September 27th, 2009
• Open to US residents only please!
• to find out how to earn extra entries click here!

Need another reason to visit Seventh.Ink? How 'bout their 10% off discount, until September 27th? Just use the code BackToSchool10.



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Andrea's Beau Giveaway!

UPDATE: THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! CONGRATULATIONS TO 'TEALECLAN' FOR WINNING!

Don't forget, until September 27th only, Andrea's Beau is offering readers a 20% discount!

"What started out as a mere ribbon romp exploded into an all-out hair decoration obsession..."

So says the about page on the Andrea's Beau website, and it's not hard to see why. A site for beautiful objects for both girls and women, Andrea's Beau dazzled us from the very first glimpse.

From the beautiful women of the mountains of Tibet, the sands of Bora Bora and the forests of Guatemala comes inspiration for designs so exquisite, so pristine, that any girl or woman who wishes to feel pretty and lovely need look no further!

And it's not just us singing the praises of Andrea's Beau. Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Nordstrom all have carried Andrea's Beau product, from elegant pastel hair accessories to the ornate, stunning gloves which add a crisp finish to any formal outfit. If 500 stores around the world can't be wrong, then nor can you!

What better way to send your little girl back to the educational doldrums of school, than with something gorgeous? And, for that matter, why not something for yourself? With a website fresh, functional and easy to use, amazing prices and customer service devoted to making your experience as pleasant as possible, sending your daughter back to school will be easier than ever before!



And, to help make it even easier, Andrea's Beau is offering one lucky reader the chance to win a US$25.00 gift certificate! Have a closer look at the images on this page...each item you see here can be purchased with this gift certificate (please note, the items grouped together are sold individually).

• All you have to do is go to the Andrea's Beau site then come back here and leave a comment telling us your favourite item! (Don't forget to leave us some way to contact you.)
• Gift certificate does not include shipping.
• Entries go into a random draw and the giveaway closes September 27, 2009.
• To find out how to earn extra entries, click here!

Don't forget, Andrea's Beau is offering a 20% discount to BCE readers until the end of the Back to School Thingy (September 27). Just use the code comfortjoydesigns.