Free appetizer, free baby samples, free ice cream, horseback riding!

Coupon for free appetizer from Fox and Hound. Offer requires that you enroll your email address, you'll also receive a free entree on your birthday.

Register with Babytobee.com to receive free samples, coupons and offers for you and your baby. Great for expectant parents.

Free scoop of Baskin Robbins ice cream on your birthday when you sign up with their birthday club.

christianbiblestudies.com has free samples of bible study formats you can download for free on their website. Topics like Movie Discussion Guides, Great Teachers of the Bible, and a booklet that defines discipleship. There are three complete downloads, and 6 downloads that are portions of studies available. Study downloads are available between $5 and $15.

Save 48% and free shipping on a Lexmark Printer. Today only. It's the Wild Deal of the day at Shopathome.com.  There are also 7 different coupons for Lexmark products listed.

$12 for a single Horsemanship group class and ride at Singletree Stables. It's one of today's Groupons, and is a 52% discount! Click here!

coupons, and giveaways

If you like Coffee-Mate Creamer in your coffee, like them on Facebook, and/or follow them on Twitter to get one of 10,000 coupons they will be giving out for a free creamer.  February 4, 2011 is their first ever Free Creamer Friday.  The coupon will be good for one free bottle of creamer on that day only. Sign up quick for a better chance to get one, I'm sure this will be a popular one!

Free samples available for John Frieda hair care products, Poise pads, American Baby magazine, and Prilosec at Kroger.com

Barnes and Noble 25% off. Printable coupon click here.

Old Navy, Local deals, The Children's Place, Toys R' Us, and resturant gift cards

Here some things I found you may want to get your hands on for holiday shopping:

Love2blog2save has a coupon for 30% off one item at Old Navy. It's for in-store use through 12/24 and excludes the hot Techno Hoodies everyone is wanting. Get it here.

Bath and Body Works is running some discounts:  Like buy 3 get 1 free, $5 items, 2 for $20 candles, and 50% off. Check it out here.

If you are already thinking about after holiday sales, Baby Cheapskate has the Target markdown schedule on her page and she has some great clearance shopping tips on her site.

If you like to shop local, Eccentricity is having 30% off accessories, and buy 3 items get 30% off clothing. They have also just put out more scarves, candles, and jewelry. Like them on facebook to see more of what they have.

The Children's Place has a special on egift cards. You can receive a $10 ecard for every $40 you send. Check it out here.

Toys R' Us is now open 24 hours now until Christmas. They are also offering some great deals in those final days. Today is 50% off select items. Check them all here.

Restaurant.com is a great place to buy restaurant gift cards, especially for your loved ones out of town, (there is only one restaurant in Wichita on their site). Right now you can get $25 Gift cards for $10. Enter promo code HOLIDAY and get them for $2.  This is a spectacular savings. If you are traveling over the holidays, what a great gift to yourself to buy these and save money on your eating out bill. Amazing.

Well, I thought I was taking this week off, but there's too many deals to pass up. Stay tuned, I'll be bringing you more I'm sure!!!  Merry Christmas!!

My Gym - play over winter break

My Gym Wichita, has posted their December Mini-camps and Open play schedule for the next two weeks. This is a great time to either try out My Gym for your kids, or have a place to drop the kids off while you finish up those last few errands.  Reservations are required and space is limited, so call in your kids today!!
Go here to see the schedule!

Mint for your money

Mint is fresh, free, and intelligent online money management software. Over 1 million people are using mint's money management and budgeting software to their finances with over 3,000 users adding it everyday.
My husband and I personally use Mint.com to manage our money, and use it to set up monthly budgets, track our spending, and watch our investments, and loans. We both have mint apps on our phones where we can check any transactions and balances on our accounts at any given moment. We have a new found piece of mind knowing that our money is where we can see and track it at a moments notice - at our speed, on our time.
If you haven't signed up for mint you are missing out on the freedom and convenience it brings. Sign up here, and add your bank account to get started. Totally safe, protected and backed by the Intuit name, there are potential savings waiting for you!
Read up what I said about it in a previous post here.

Free sign up and a $10 gift card

Sign up for PureWow and get a $10 gift card to NoMoreRack, and be entered into a drawing for an iPad and a $1000 Neiman Marcus gift card. 
As seen in Us magazine, the Huffington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, PureWow brings you the best most prestigious of fashion, food, health, beauty and travel all to your inbox. Sign up here.
Just for signing up, you will get a gift card to use towards NoMoreRack which gives 8 deals on the web per day with $2 flat shipping per order. Everything from fashion, to music to skin care, makeup and accessories. All at super great discounts. Get in on this offer before it's gone.

Photo canvas - free

Here's a great gift idea for that someone that has everything: Turn a favorite photo into a Canvas art piece. What's even better is that it's FREE!! All you pay is shipping and handling, which on average looks to run about $14.95 per canvas. I believe this is one per household. Limited time offer, so hurry soon! From Canvas People.

Lots and Lots of stuff

My inbox was busting at the seams with some great things today! First let me list the sales, offers and FYI's you may need for finishing up your Christmas shopping.

Toys R' Us:  Hours for then next two days (Sunday and Monday) are 6am to midnight, and then switching over to 24 hours (!) Tuesday - Christmas Eve. This might be the secret to beating the crowds...They are also running buy 1 get 1 toys (like Nerf and Lego) and free shipping (should you not want to leave your chair). I'm sure there will be some more great deals as the week progresses to get you back into the store. Check out the web page with all the details here.

Leapfrog:  If you love their educational, engaging toys for your kids, or need a great gift idea for any kid, check out the sales at Leapfrog.com. There is still time to order online, get free shipping and get it by Christmas. 25-75% off sitewide, and save an additional 20% off on your order with promo code WINTER20. Check it all out here.

Barnes and Noble: I love B&N for most of my Christmas list this year as they have something for everyone. They are running buy 2 toys get the 3rd for free. This is great as they have such fabulous educational toys and games. Holiday children's books are buy 1 get 1 50% off as well. Go to barnesandnoble.com to see all the in-store and online sales going on. Make sure you sign up for their email list while you're there to get some exclusive coupons sent only to email subscribers.

Old Navy:  It's hard to beat their deals in store, they are so great this time of year, but if you order online through 12/20 you can still get 20% off your purchase, and get free shipping to receive it by 12/24. Use coupon code ONSAVE20.


New coupons at Coupons.com to help you get all the Christmas goodies and ingredients for your holiday dinner celebrations. Check them out here.


Happy Shopping!!

Free with purchase, free sample, and vote to end hunger

If your child is still having wet nights,  Pampers Underjams are made for older kids to wear at night. You can try it for free at the Pamper's website. Click here to sign up.

Loving Mamapedia! Today's deal is 1/2 price shoes at Shoemall.com. They have Reeboks, Crocs, Steve Madden's and other great brands. Don't miss the Family Fun magazine by Disney subscription for $5 for a year, and some other great gift ideas.

Give the gift of relaxation with a gift card from Beau Monde. Pay $125 and get a card worth $150, pay $140 and get a card worth $175, $150 get $200!!! And receive a FREE camera session and 8X10 portrait from Camera Angles with any $100 purchase. Go in Sunday, December 19th, from 12-4 and also get a free set of Beau Monde Make-up brushes, a $30 value, with any $100 purchase. Complimentary chair massages while you shop. This would be great gifts for that someone special on your list.  This sale is valid only this Sunday and at any of their three locations: New Market, Comotara Center, and Douglas and Oliver.  Wichita City Mom LOVES Beau Monde. (hint hint husband!) wink

Now the biggest news for Wichita right now is we are in the running to receive $1 million dollars from Wal-mart for The Kansas Food Bank. As I write this we are ranked #4. You can vote too, go to this link to vote for our community. Five runners up will receive $100,000. Vote and tell your friends to vote!!

Dropside Crib Alternatives

So all this banning/outlawing got you nervous about what to put your baby in at night? 
There are some other, more unusual options out there,most are guaranteed to make your job as a parent easier, and slightly unnecessary.  You're sure to get a good nights sleep, and be the talk of all your friends with some of these unusual cribs I found on the net today.  No worries about drop-side catastrophes here!

 1. The Suima Crib. Mimicking the gentle, loving arm movements of Mom (or Dad) it rocks side to side every 1.8 seconds. There's even a "baby cry" sensor so you can sleep through the night. No worries about slat entrapment, a safety net keeps junior safely tucked in at night. Sadly, you may have to travel to Japan to pick this one up, and it will set you back $5000.  crunchgear.com

 2. The Infant Eggy Bed.  Found at xoxobook.com It looks more like a travel pod that Mork from Ork might have taken when he was a newborn than baby bed. Cool though, in a modern, minimalist, futuristic sort of way.

3. Slightly creepy, the Itellicot is smart and supposedly safe.  It rocks the baby to sleep, it lifts up and down so you don't break your back getting your baby to bed, and has a built in fan (for air circulation and a/c) and baby monitor.

4.  Maybe you would like your baby to have dreams of sleeping in the wild of the African Savana. (or in the belly of a zebra) This crib from ninetoninedesigns.com is designed to look like a zebra. The head acts as a tray for bottles and baby needs, the tail has shelves for arms reach storage. Classy little wheels make it moveable around the room. Check it out at Intellitots.com

5. This tank crib found on Dwell Studio was made by some parents who wanted something unusual and couldn't find one they liked.  Made of walnut and plastic, it's kind of more aquarium than crib. To each his own.

6. If you still can't find something that feels safer than a typical crib, there's always cardboard.
Complete with wheels and mattress, babygadget.net, all for $308.

Cribs Banned

Just like had been previously predicted, the Government is going forward with banning/outlawing drop-side cribs for infant use. This means manufacturing, selling, and re-selling of drop-side cribs will be considered illegal starting next June. 

Over the past 10 years there has been 30 infant/newborn deaths associated with drop side crib construction. These cribs can malfunction on the sliding side rail allowing a baby to get trapped between the mattress and rail, entraping and/or suffocating them.

The new safety regulation will introduce more rigorous testing for crib safety, and improve warning labels and instructions making sure parents are assembling cribs correctly. 

The CPSC is not requiring any drop side cribs currently in use to be disposed of, but that parents with drop side cribs go to cpsc.gov/cribs to make sure there are no warnings on the cribs they are currently using.
11 million cribs have been recalled since 2007. The largest back in November when 2.1 million cribs by Storkcraft were recalled.

sources:
freep.com
msnbc.msn.com

Top coupon offers

Here's the latest deals going on over at ShopAtHome. It's getting crazy with lots of things to look at as we are getting to crunch time on holiday shopping and especially with any shipping involved.

Ghirardelli chocolate 20% off through 12/31. Click here.

JCPenney's get 10% of your purchase back and free shipping.

Save 55% on the New Flip MiniHD at Avon.com! 


Get 10% Extra Cash Back at Victoria's Secret!

Gap.com coupons plus 8% back. 

See how ShopAtHome can save you money, and earn you cash back for your purchases. I am an affiliate publisher, all links are connected to my site and help earn me money to keep bringing you more of what you want to read. Thank you.

Amazon Mom

Here's a great perk just for being a Mom - Amazon wants you to use them for your baby products. As a way to earn your business they now have a program specifically for you to get those items, and get them cheap. Join the Amazon Mom program and save up to 30% off select diapers, wipes, formula, and baby food, plus free 2 day shipping with no minimum order. I have also learned that coupons can be used on the Amazon site, and they also have groceries too.  Check out Moneysavingmom.com for more about Amazon for your grocery shopping and saving on baby products.

Also check out the Groupon that is good until tomorrow night- it's $1 for 3 rentals from Redbox. That's like getting 3 free!! (as long as you get them back on time!!! The free only covers the first night)

A thank you from Biolage

In honor of all they do, Matrix is giving you the chance to tell your stylist thank you for their talent and hard work, and donate $1 to the The Conservation Fund's efforts to create a greener, leafier planet.

You just need your salon's email address, or stylists address, and they will send the thank you and the donation, then you will receive a free sample from Biolage from the product line you choose. Not a bad trade.

Click here to get your graciousness rolling.

Saturday's Wild Deal

Today's deal is a hot one, through ShopAtHome, it's only valid through online ordering but apparently it's a popular 
item this holiday.
Save $9.97 and free shipping.
There is also a long list of coupons from this retailer that is a favorite destination for holiday shopping! 
Check it out here.

Homemade Christmas

I love sugar scrubs and have been looking online for sugar scrub recipes. I came across some great holiday gift ideas from C&H Sugar on their website.
There is a recipe for homemade marshmallows. (yum!)
Peanut Butter dog biscuits
and white cane sugar, and brown sugar scrubs.
They even give you some cute printable tags for gift giving and wrapping and gifting ideas to print from home.

photo from alittlebitfunky.blogspot.com

Browse around the site for more holiday recipes like "edible ornament's", and printables like a homemade recipe book you can create and print with their cute holiday templates.
Some great, easy gift ideas and good family fun for Christmas time.

Also go to A Little Bit Funky for her recipe and some cute ideas for jars and gifting. I like some of her ideas as well!  She has a lot of really cute homemade crafting gift ideas that most anyone could do I believe.

Build-a-Bear Savings links

If Build-A-Bear is on your child's wish list this year, check out these coupons before you shop. There are more great savings off purchases, and great deals on select stuffed animals. Click my link for all the savings available.
If you missed my post about the text message deal from Build-A-Bear, check it out here.

BOGO Sweaters

Buy One Get One Free Sweaters still happening over at Old Navy. Good for anyone. Men's, Women's, kids, baby. You will need this coupon/coupon code to get it.
BOGO Sweater for FREE at Old Navy!
Plus, shop through ShopAtHome.com and get 8% cash back!! That's more money to use on more gifts!! 
Hurry because it ends December 12th!

12 days of Wild Deals!!

ShopAtHome.com, the site where you get cash back on your purchases, is having 12 days of Wild deals to bring you some great gifting ideas!!  Now I've been out, so I missed out on day one, but day two is today and is a really exciting deal that is the top wish on my kids Christmas list this year. With an extra 5% cash back making your total cash back reward at 10% on this deal only!! And free shipping!!!
Check it out here!!

Play with your food...

Check out today's Mamapedia deal -
$15 for $30 worth of Yubo, compartment-able, eco-friendly, customizable lunch kit.

So cute with lots of great colors to choose from, you can customize the inside with different sizes of containers eliminating the need for baggies and plastic wrap.

Everything fits neatly inside the Yubo lunch box, and it is dishwasher safe, and kid friendly (durable and cute with customizable face plates that can be changed). Prices are fairly decent and for the $30 credit you can easily buy a starter set with everything you would need to get you going, and just pay for shipping and tax. Check it out here.

Build-a-Bear Savings!!!

Money Saving Mom has a great offer for Build-A-Bear she found on another great saving blog. Text BEAR to 69866 to get $10/$30. You also get entered for a $50 gift card. It's good until Christmas Eve! Note: it will enter you also to start receiving "Bear Bucks" via text message to your phone. Normal text rates apply so make sure you unsubscribe if you are not interested in receiving any more offers.

Free PocketBac, Free Lipgloss, 1/2 price, coupon for crafting

Free Reindeer Pocket Bac in-store or online from Bath and Body Works. Print the coupon or get the coupon code here.

If you use Swiffer products, or want to, take advantage of this chance to get a free cookbook from Reader's Digest called Quick Food: Gourmet Recipes In Just 30 Minutes.  Go to the Reader's Digest website to enter the UPC code and get your copy.

Free Lipgloss with any purchase from Victoria's Secret. Print the coupon here.

Heads up men, today's Groupon is perfect for you to find that last minute gift for the lovely lady in your life. Red Envelope has $30 for $15 on today's Groupon. Love love love Red Envelope for the unique, classy and witty gifts. Thoughtful and classic. You'll find something for the someone who has a bit of everything. Some items are a bit on the pricier side, but $30 should make a nice dent in the prices to still get you a great buy on something very nice this Christmas.
Check out the website here.

Really liking the unique and useful selection of great buys from Mamapedia lately.  Today you can get some great reusable grocery and produce bags from Flip Flop. I like the way these look simply because they look like the regular plastic shopping bags but out of a nylon like material. Easy to tote around, and easy to load up your groceries and get them home. Check them out here. Remember, select your school to donate 5% of your purchase.

Great coupon from Michael's today. One is good only today and tomorrow, and there are some great sales going on this weekend as well. Click here for coupon.

Stake an unwrap attack...

Fellow Blogger Mom, Twitter acquaintance Naomi from Superdumb, Supervillian is having a $100 ebay gift card giveaway. Tweet her over at Twitter (a mystery site for most of you, I know), and get entered to win. She was selected as an official Unwrap Attack Elf by Ebay and Samantha Bee. She gets to launch an unwrap attack on a friend, and give one away to someone to launch their own unwrap attack. Check our her blog here to get the scoop on entering. Thanks Naomi for letting me share this with my readers!

Work At Home Mom of the Month - December

Shalonda Kull had a secure job in an unsecure job market. Rubbing elbows with CEO's and presidents, sometimes it was glamorous and sometimes running the rat race was enough to make her crave a simpler existence. With two young children growing up quickly in front of her eyes, her world of living from one day to the next was less than she had desired it to be. Though she loves being an Air Force wife to her supportive husband Ryan, the chance of deployment is always a possibility, and it was during those times that being home and being physically, mentally, and emotionally available to her kids was even more important.

The presence of faith and spiritual support called her heart to believe that home was where she needed to be. Peace for her family would be the big payoff.

But even peace is a hard thing to achieve even when you are a stay at home Mom.  Every Mom experiences the "crazy Mom cycle" and desires to get some sort of break from it all. With lots of creative energy and now extra time to explore it, she started making bows and tutu's for her infant daughter Emma. Friends and family loved them and encouraged her to sell them. Hence Kull Kreations was born.  Quickly she then discovered though, that photography is where her passion lies.

Shalonda speaks of her photography as something she is "choosing" to do because she loves it.  The enjoyment is the payment, and the money she makes is a bonus. Having a part in creating memories for someone helps her to walk away with a happy heart, knowing that it is something that will always be enjoyed. She understands the importance in capturing that precious moment in time and turning it into a treasure that will be kept for a lifetime. She strives to capture a timeless look, bringing out the full personality of the subject.

Getting busier and busier she is looking forward to growing her business by taking some classes specifically aimed at learning her camera and classes on editing tools and techniques to bring her into a more professional level. Her past experience at her Supply Chain Management position provided her the ability to organize her time, and deal with all sorts of different personalities, as well as getting a lot of time in behind a computer. She credits her friend Megan as huge source of support and inspiration. Megan has always been a positive supporter of her work and encourages her when she's down. She is a friend that will drop everything to help her with whatever. (We all adore friends like that!)

In addition to Megan, she has a huge support group of friends and family. Her Mother-in-Law is always there providing necessary tools and encouragement. Her church book group "GTalksquared",  and her Aunt Lindy have been her source of spiritual support and encouragement. "I wouldn't even be taking pictures if the Lord hadn't put it in my path," Shalonda says, "and they are always there to help me do my best to stay on his path. I'm so thankful for God's spiritual gifts that he has provided for me." Shalonda does portrait shots, families, maternity and engagement photos. She can work on location at your home or place of your choosing, or she has a variety of places to shoot where she loves to capture that timeless moment! Shalonda and her family, ready for the holiday season! Check out Shalonda on Facebook here. Book a session with her between now and January 1st, to receive a free 8X10 as thanks from Shalonda.  Mention CITYMOM to get the free picture! One reader will receive a free session with Shalonda. Here is how you enter:  "like" Shalonda's page on Facebook.  Then, if you do not follow me on facebook or twitter, please do one or both, OR Follow me with google connect or sign up to get my RSS feeds.  Include that you liked Shalonda and  your method of following Wichita City Mom, and give your user or @name (if applicable) in the comment section below. Drawing will be made December 27th from those that comment. Winner will be announced on the 30th. Session will be good for one year from that date. Good luck and thanks for reading!!