Bridal Shower gift ideas/ using CVS & Walgreens freebies

I have been waiting to post about this until I got a nice picture of some of the products I have gathered but I don't want to wait any more because I think it is such a great idea and am hoping others might benefit from it.

A few months ago I was invited to a bridal shower and was trying to think of a gift that was practical, unique, thoughtful, yet still within my budget. Here is what I came up with:

A Wedding Day Emergency kit! This would be a kit that holds all those last minute needed items that brides/bridesmaids are often scrambling to find. This was fairly inexpensive for me because I am able get them in a CVS or Walgreens deal that costs me no out of pocket money (for more info on how this works please check out moneysavingmom.com for a thorough look at how this is done). Others I buy on sale or at the dollar store.

Here is a basic list I use:

Hairpins (I just found some clearanced for 17 cents at CVS)
Safety pins
Rain bonnets (I found a pack of 5 at the dollar store)
Tylenol (I used Excedrin because it has some caffeine and I got if for free from CVS)
Tums (preferably those quick pack individual doses- again free from a CVS deal. I split a 24 pack and use them for more than one kit. I do this with quite a few of the items if appropriate)
Airborne (individual quick packs of this as well) great to help build up their immunity. SO many newlyweds spend their first few days of the honeymoon sick just from all the stress leading up to the big day
Lip Balm
Hand Sanitizer
Baby Wipes (great for polishing shoes last minute as well as lots of other things)
Lint Remover (dollar store or CVS deal)
Nail Polish Remover
Clear Nail Polish
Mints
Toothpaste and toothbrushes (I got a sample of teeth cleaning wipes and used these instead)
Hand mirror (found a nice set at the dollar store that had a hand mirror and a compact for a dollar)
Tissues (small travel pack)
Stain Stick pen (generic brand at the dollar store or work in a CVS deal)
Knee Highs 3 for $1 at Walmart
Straws (use the kind that are sealed in paper wrapper-like from fast food restaurant)- helps to keep lipstick from smearing
Sticky Notes (got mine free from CVS)
Pencil
Earing Backs (a package of these are around $3 from Walmart too bad I haven't seen any of these at CVS. )
Sewing Kit ($1 from most stores)
Eye Drops (I never bothered with these but might if I find a good deal)
Emery Board
Tampons
Deodorant
Scissors ($ store again)
Hair brush/ spray (although I can't imagine all bridesmaid and the bride forgetting these so I don't bother putting them in the kit)
Lotion (great to help with static clean too by just putting some on legs)
Double Sided Tape (kind of expensive but I throw it in if I have it)
Corsage Pins (I haven't put this in yet but someone told me to look for them at Michaels. So I might do that)
I am even including a back massager that I got for free from CVS this time.

I have also seen it suggested to add mock wedding bands JUST IN CASE! I haven't looked but suspect they might be at a craft store like Michaels.

I also like to add a snack- like a bag of gourmet pretzel mix and bottled water.

I didn't include every one of these items but I was able to get most of them. What's great about this is that I can continually add to my stock when I find good sales (or free items). If I were to walk into Walmart and buy all these at full price I am sure I would easily put $50-75 into one emergency kit. Instead I am able to pool most of these items from my CVS shopping trips which cost me almost nothing out of pocket.

I was able to purchase a very nice valet bag that unrolled to reveal 4-5 fairly large compartments. It also had some small travel shampoo/conditioner containers which I filled with lotion, nail polish remover, hand sanitizer etc. Its more cost effective than buying everything in little travel size.

Hope this idea blesses someone. The bride seemed VERY appreciative of having all these items put together for her.

Any other items you think should be added to the list?

Do you have any additional ways you use your CVS/Walgreens deals for gifts? please feel free to add your ideas in the comments section.

Trip to the ER

Quin swallowed a button battery today. You know one of those round ones about the size of a nickel. The internet said that if it was lodged in the esophagus it could start burning within two hours. So we headed to the ER. Sure enough there was a cute round white battery sitting in his tummy.



60% chance it will just pass through in 2 weeks they told me. If not then they will have to do something different. I didn't even bother asking for more details.

BUT Quin really had some interesting things to say on the way to the ER. He really thought he might die from this. I realized this as he started talking and I have to say that I just let him talk for a few minutes just to see if God was dealing with some issues in his heart.

He started by saying "mom, if I die would you please finish my scrapbook and put it in the thing with me" After I realized how serious he thought it was I also realized just how much their scrapbooks mean to them.

Then he started to almost cry and said..."mom I know that I asked Jesus to be my Savior ... BUT I have never done anything for HIM!" It was just so precious. So I took the opportunity to tell him that of course God doesn't base our salvation on what we do for Him so we can be at peace about that. But sometimes God has us go through emergencies or difficult circumstances because it helps us focus on the important things and helps us learn how to love God more.

Quin had been struggling with some things (kindness, humility, gentleness, compassion, submission, respect... hmm same things I deal with daily too) and I thought it might be good for him to think about what is really important in this life.

I didn't let his fear drag on too much and I explained that we were taking him to the hospital so that they would be able to help him. Even after I assured him they were going to help him he said "well I really would like to die in my sleep mom. I don't want to be in pain" Poor kid.

He got to the ER and was sharing interesting things there as well.

The dr asks me "is he homeschooled?"

Now I would like to think it was because my son sounded so intelligent as he answered questions but the reality was it was the middle of the day and he knowing he should have been in school when it happened he deducted that no real teacher would have a battery sitting around for a kid to swallow or certainly wouldn't let him play with it in his mouth! :P

They were all quite kind, polite, and friendly. And because of the nature of the accident we got to go through quickly. Here is a picture of little Liam in his carseat on the way home. He is all snuggled in a little "Cuddle me" that someone recently gave to me. AWWW.. too cute! And yes he has just discovered his thumb!

update to the battery story. It took 3weeks but the little round battery passed through Quin's system just fine. A little rusted but in tact. I suggested to Amanda she stick it back in the remote control that it came out of "EWWW GROSS mom... no way!"

Finally Well Again, my ramblin thoughts

We were able to attend church all together as a family for the first time in MONTHS! We now have a smörgåsbord of cold remedies, vitamins, natural remedies, and pain relievers in our medicine chest. The vitamins, herbs, and extracts have been there but the over the counter quick fix things were something we almost never used as I have always been an advocate of just helping the body to help heal itself.

Now in theory, shouldn't a family that eats fairly healthy be able to staid off sickness?

Is staid a real word and if so can it possibly be used in that sentence? Hmm I am afraid I am just too distracted by a TOOTHACHE to even care to look it up. Sooo I will have to live with the consequences of my illiteracy.

Speaking of illiteracy, my son and I were playing a word game (can't remember the name of it). But it gives the word and 3 "definitions" of which only one is correct. One of the words was literate. Choices were as follows: 1) well read 2) instructed 3) well I can't remember the third choice. Suffice it to say that I chose well read and I was wrong. It actually was "instructed". I didn't believe it so got a dictionary out and had to admit I was indeed wrong.

Which brings me back to my wrongness. Yes I know that isn't a word but I am going with it. This sickness brought a reoccurring headache and cough that had us searching the drug store for something to help. We have had more Tylenol and Motrin in our systems in the past two months than in the last two decades. "We" is only in the family sense as "I" was able to avoid all of it for the most part.

Thank goodness for CVS and it's Extra Care Bucks. :) We have been able to stock up on toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, toilet paper, makeup (which I didn't use too often before) and other items like cough syrup and pain reliever which I thought we would never use but was thankful for last month. I have to say I am starting to feel a little guilty leaving the store because I am able to get so much with almost no out of pocket cost to me. For those of you who want more info... check out moneysavingmom. I stop by her site a few times a week to find out which stores have the best deals.

So that is my rambling thoughts for the day. I have hesitated to post because I figure it is more interesting to have a picture and a sentence or two about it. But I hadn't been really taking too many pictures this year and now my camera SD card is missing! I am hoping it was set aside safely and I have only to remember where it has been safely placed.

Coupons- are they worth it?

The subject of coupons was brought up on an email group that I belong to. I never bothered with coupons as I almost never purchase name brand products, except for Helmann's mayonnaise. BUT a few weeks ago I decided to start a coupon notebook because I found that there were stores(CVS especially) that offered certain items on sale and when combined with my coupons I could get them next to nothing.

I picked up a nice notebook with a few extra zippered compartments for .29 at a thrift store. I then purchased a few baseball card vinyl sheets. I can fit 12 coupons on each page (along with their duplicates).



Each page has it's own theme such as Medicine, paper goods, Hygiene, Canned goods etc. I put Medicine, hygiene, paper goods first as I use these weekly at CVS.



On Sunday afternoon or Monday morning Ella helps me clip the newest coupons and Emma begins to sort and put them into the notebook. It does take a while to do this but the girls have a lot of fun and I find it much easier to see what coupons I have and easily find them. I bring the whole thing with me when I shop.

For daily posts on frugal living and finding great deals at CVS, Walgreens, RiteAid, etc take a look at MoneysavingMom's site.

I now have 8 tubes of toothpaste, a few bottles of nice hair care products, deodorant, and razors that I only paid pennies for. This is so much better than constantly running out like we always used to.

Eggtastic Basket

I found this cute basket a few weeks ago at a Thrift store. For us it was better to have eggs easily accessible and I can fit more in less space. Always a good thing :)



Did you know that eggs that are gathered fresh from the farm can be left out on the counter in a basket like this for a few weeks and still be good? As long as they aren't cooled and then allowed to warm back up again. Ours are from the store (already been cooled down and who knows how long they have been sitting at the store) so our basket goes into the frig.

SPOC (no not the one in Startrek)

I saw a really nice baby carrier (Ergo) in a children's shop the other day. I have never found a sling to be very comfortable and neither have my babies. But this one felt pretty good and offered the ability to wear the baby on the front, on the back, or on the hip which I thought was great. The bad part was that it was almost $100. YIKES. I don't think so. (Actually I did try to reason that it could be a good choice if I wore it every day. But logic rang through).

I even had a woman from freecycle offer her Bjorn to me but we are all sick and she lives about 20 minutes away. In the midst of this I also began to research different options that would be less expensive than an Ergo and found someone talking about a SPOC [Simple Piece Of Cloth].



BINGO! 5-6yards of material in 20"width wrapped in a variety of ways depending on how you want to 'wear' you baby. So a few days ago when I was at Walmart, Amanda and I picked out a slightly stretchy comfy piece of fabric for $1 a yard! wohoo... now that I can work with! 60" in width could be cut into three 20" strips. The cost was now only a few dollars for three wraps. We also found some really cute Winnie the Pooh Bear material and I plan to sew a square of that on that will be the part that wraps behind the Liam's back. Just to make it look a little bit cuter and babyish but I haven't bothered with that yet. It is SO COMFORTABLE and was perfect timing since Liam came down with the sickness and has wanted to be held way more than usual.

I looked at a video from hugabub.com to see how to wrap it and I found another site that had a dozen different ways to wrap a baby but can't seem to find that now...I'll have to keep searching.

sick again sick again

Hard to believe but sickness has struck again. I have Ella on lap sleeping so am not bothering with pics etc as there are none taken and none on the computer. I would say this is Liam's first true sickness (more than a stuffy nose). He has a fever and is whimpering as he breathes.

On the good side.. I received an email today about the puppy that was donated to the Search and Rescue unit. Here is what she wrote:

She [I think they named her Amita] turned nine weeks old on this day and it was her first "training" at the DEC land. She went over, under or through everything we took her to. She did some runaways.....................where she watches the person run and hide while she is being held back and then she is released with the "find" command and goes to find them. She was doing so well at the short distance (usually start at only 10-20 feet for several day/weeks depending on the dog) that we did one about 100 feet and she was so excited she whined and pulled while being held back. When she was released with the command, she came right through all the brush, stumps and downed trees directly to the "missing" person. She is the neatest little pup I've had in a looooooooooong, loooooooooooong time. She is sitting on command, climbing on command, goes under or over on command, recalls, will "place" on command (stays on a point identified by us.......could be blanket, stump, rock, etc.) and when she is anywhere in the yard and I say "go home", she RUNS for the porch and sits at the door to go in. She is toooooooooooooooooooooooooooo smart. I will have a time keeping up with this one.

I tried to get a picture from email to load here but couldn't figure it out.