Today, I am proud to share a guest post from my daughter Allie. She’s letting you know just what it’s like to shop with me.

After picking me up from ice skating lessons, my mom asked if I wanted to go to Kohl’s (ONLY because she had a $5 off coupon). Nevertheless, being one of my favorite stores, I agreed.

At Kohl’s, I found a pair of incredibly cute boots and begged my mom to buy them for me. I made sure to let her know they were 30% off because she won’t buy much unless it’s on SALE! Apparently, 30% off isn’t enough! She wouldn’t buy them…instead, she wandered off to the home decor section, leaving behind the amazing boots.

Exploring the store even more, I discovered an adorable blue denim vest! I again noted it was 30% off and asked if we could get it. I even tried it on so she could see how great I looked in it. Still…not enough, 30% off is just not enough!

So, in the end, we ended up at the checkout counter with 3 pairs of fun knee-high socks and some flip flops for next year. Just because she is seriously weird, my mom asked me to include the prices in my post. The socks, normally $10.00, were just $2.00, yes just $2.00! That’s 80% off! 80% off IS enough! The flip flops were originally $16.00, but we only paid $3.20. So, with our $5 coupon, it all cost just $0.20! Only $0.20!

That is shopping with my mom, according to me, Allie!

Well, Hot Diggity Dog! I am super excited about today’s Groupon. You can get 2 hours of jump time at Sky High Sports in Bellevue for as low as $9.00. My husband recently told me about this place and he that he was planning taking our 3 teenage boys.   I picked up 4 so they can try it out and have a great time (at a discount!).  Expires Jan 14, 2012.  Limit 4 per person. Limit 4 per visit.

If you are looking for a family activity that would be better suited for younger kids, you can get admission for 2 to the Remlinger Farms in Carnation for only $12.  Expires Sep 24, 2011.  Limit 1 per person.

DisneyFamily.com has a very creative (and inexpensive) Father’s day gift.   You can download a template, so you can print out a Daddyland Coupon Book, which would be perfect for your kids to give to their Dad.   We are huge Disney fans, so we will definitely be making this!

Thanks Couponing to Disney!

I am having so much fun playing with the Silhouette Machine.  I created some sweet Princess Wands that you could use as party favors.  I saw this idea, at my local scrapbook store, the Scrapbook Nook, and I knew I had to pick a couple of the empty tubes to make some of my own.  The tubes were $ .99 each.  The final cost was around $1.20 per wand, which is not a bad price as far as party favors go.

M&M’s fit in the tubes perfectly!  I happen to have the super cheap M&M’s I picked up during the Easter clearance. The Easter M&M’s were wonderful, because they are pastel princess type colors.

I added all lavender M&M’s to one of the tubes.

I cut out a star and princess crown with the Silhouette machine to make the top of the wand. I added some “bling” to the crown. I cut different lengths of ribbon and taped them on the back side of the star.

Next I attached the plastic tube filled with M&M’s and I had myself a princess wand!

Unfortunately, my only daughter is out on a “Daddy/Daughter date” so I had to rely on my other children to be my princess models for me.

Um, do you think I need to be concerned that child #3 made a fairly decent princess?

Don’t forget! Silhouette is giving Thrifty & Thriving readers a great deal on a Silhouette machine.   You can get a Silhouette SD machine and heat transfer package for only $219. That’s a savings of over $125!!! To get this special pricing, you will need to use the promo code THRIVING at checkout.  This promo code is good from 5/17 -5/25  only!   Here is what you get:

• Silhouette SD Machine
• 1 Roll of hot pink smooth heat transfer material
• 1 Roll of teal smooth heat transfer material
• 1 Roll of white flocked heat transfer material

If you already own a machine, you can get 25% off all heat transfer material.

Silhouette is also giving away a Silhouette Machine and heat transfer bundle to one super lucky Thrifty & Thriving reader.  Make sure you head over here to enter the giveaway!

With all the nail freebies and deals that have been available at Target lately, it got me to thinking I could put together a cute theme for my daughter’s birthday that is coming up. We could go with a “beauty” type theme and hand out fingernail polish and other items as the party favors. The best part – they won’t cost me hardly anything!!!

I have mentioned that every time I buy 2 Revlon beauty tools these 2 coupons print out. When ever I redeem them, I have had them redeemed for the full $5 value even thought the 2 items I purchase run around $3. If you are interested in doing the same thing, I would start by buying 2 small nail clippers at $1.59 and see if the coupons print out for you, if not, you can always return the clippers.

Here are the items I purchased for the party favors:
Revlon Emery boards 1.54
Relvon compact nail clippers 1.59
Up & Up nail polish remover .99
Small metal bucket .50 ($1 section – 50% off)
NYC nail polish .97
Total = $5.59

Coupons used:
$5/2 Revlon tool coupon that prints out at register when you buy 2 Revlon tools
.50 Target printable coupon for nail polish remover
Total Coupons = $5.50

Final Price = $ .09 (before tax)

For more, I plan to repeat the exact same purchase in another transaction. If you are interested in picking up some, you will need more than one computer to print the Up & Up fingernail polish remover coupons (you can print 2 per computer). You should get a new $5/2 Revlon coupon with each transaction you do.

To make the party favors, I added a little Easter Grass that I picked up last year at 90% off. You should be able to find some in the Easter clearance right now.

This is what everything looks like added to to the cute metal bucket. I added a couple of cotton balls to use with the fingernail polish remover.

Finally, I wrapped it all up with cellophane and tied it with a ribbon. We tend to have our birthday parties with smaller numbers, because it makes it more manageable for Mom, and my daughter likes a smaller group of friends anyway. I shouldn’t have any problem picking up enough to make 4 of these party favors.

We love spending time together as a family, it’s fun to enjoy some quality time together, but with a large family it’s not always cheap!   Here are some of the things we do to enjoy MORE family fun that is also frugal too!

We Take Advantage of FREE Store Events – We have headed to Home Depot or Lowe’s to make their FREE projects they offer each month.    We plan on heading to the Lego Store in April for their FREE build event.  We even had the opportunity to meet some Star Wars characters at Pottery Barn Kids once!  You can find so many fun free events put on by businesses around you, you just need to know where to look.  Most of these events are not only free, but they are also fun and sometimes even educational.

We Enjoy Art Projects – I am a big fan of art supplies!!  You can get so much enjoyment with simple art supplies.   The great thing is that you can often pick up the supplies for super cheap.  We always pick up extra supplies in July and August when they have the back to school sales.  The watercolors that my son used cost me only $ .25.   There were hours worth of enjoyment from that one small quarter I spent!

We go Geocaching – Our family loves to go out on a Saturday afternoon for some Geocaching.  It’s fun for everyone involved from the youngest to the oldest, they all love it.   There is no cost involved, because we were able to download a FREE Geo-Caching app to our iPhone.

We Bake Something – Making things in the kitchen is a super frugal way to spend some quality time together as a family.  Plus, there’s a bonus!  When you are done, you get to eat what you made!   Food and fun, it doesn’t get much better than that!

Speaking of Food and Fun - Tony’s Pizza is giving you “99 Days of More“! When you go to www.Tonys99DaysOfMore.com you can enter to win a $500 Visa Gift Card – they are giving one away every day!  You can also win and Apple iTunes Gift Card or Nintendo Wii!  They are also giving away 99 FREE Tony’s Pizzas.

This is a sponsored post through a compensated Mom Bloggers Club member program.

At participating bowling centers, your kids can bowl 2 games per day for FREE! Dates, and age requirements will vary by location. You can check here to see if you have a participating location near you.

For older children or parents that want to participate in this promotion it will be a one time fee of $24.95 to bowl all summer long. Please check out www.kidsbowlfree.com for all the details on this promotion.

Thanks The Coupon Project!

The first Tuesday of every month Lego Stores offer a FREE Build Event. The project for March is a cute little Lego bird. Kids ages 6 – 14 get to build the Lego bird and then get to take it home with them. The event starts at 5:00 and is only available while supplies last.

You can find a link at the top of the page to find a Lego store near you.. There is only one location in both Washington (Bellevue) and Oregon (Tigard). You may want to call your store just to double check the details and make sure they are participating.

Groupon has a lot of great offers this weekend for those you of you that live in the local Seattle/Tacoma area. You can pick up the following deals this weekend. The first two would be great for families.

Get a family 4-pack to the Seattle Children’s Museum for only $15. ($30 value). Expires in one year, you may buy multiple as gifts.

Pick up discount admission or a yearly membership to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. You can choose from a one-day ticket for only $6 (reg $12), or a yearly membership for only $37 (reg $75).

There are also 2 other great deals food deals too:

Get $15 at the Pita Pit in Tukwila for only $7.

Get a dozen cupcakes from Trophy Cupcakes for only $16 ($33 value). They have 2 Seattle locations, and 1 in Bellevue.

You can download 21 FREE Valentine craft ideas for kids. My daughter has been asking me to have a craft day, so I am hoping we will find something fun to make.

Garden d’Lights is the transformed Bellevue Botanical Garden with over 1/2 million lights turning it into a winter wonderland.  Tickets are normally $5 per person and children 10 and younger are free.  However, they have a few free entry dates – Dec. 6-8 and Dec. 13-15.  Hours are from 5pm-10pm with last admission at 9:30.  Print your tickets online before you go by clicking here.

They also have a “Plan your Visit” page that has a garden map, parking tips, directions, and other helpful information.

I am starting off the Homemade Holiday series with instructions on how to make your own Christmas Countdown. It’s an advent calendar of sorts, only instead of little goodies each day, there are fun activities that your family can enjoy together. One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is spending time together as a family, but it can get so busy that sometimes we don’t take the time to stop and enjoy it. This countdown helps our family slow down and enjoy Christmas more.

The countdown is made with paper and has magnets attached to the back of each number, so you can attach it directly to the front or your refgrigerator. You could also attach them to a cookies sheet and hang it on the wall if you wanted to. On the back of each number is a special activity that our family will do for each of the days before Christmas.

Here’s how to make your own Christmas Countdown

I started out with a piece of Making Memories Christmas scrapbook paper with 25 numbers printed on it,  I cut out each of the numbers.  Several scrapbook companies make numbered paper for Christmas, so you should be able to find one at a scrapbook store or even Michael’s. If you can’t locate any paper, you can easily use number stickers or print numbers out using your computer.

I added some fun embellishments, like buttons, ribbon and bling to dress them up a bit. I use Glue Dots to attach all of my embellishments, they are wonderful for attaching items that are bulky.

Next, you will add magnets to the back of each number. I used the magnets made specifically for business cards that have adhesive already on one side. If you are like me, you get lots of magnets with advertising on them, you could even use those.

Once you have all 25 days cut out and the magnets added, you will want to add the fun activiites on the back of each one. I got my calendar out for this, because we already have some activities planned, like going to the Nutcracker, so I made sure to have those activities coordinate with the correct number.

Here is the final project! It’s nice to look at and it will help your family share some fun family time together during the month of December.

Need some ideas for fun things to do during your countdown to Christmas? Here are the items I have on the back of mine (some of these are local events).

• Read about the birth of Jesus
• Go Christmas caroling
• Bake Cookies
• Watch Charlie Brown Christmas
• Bring Treats to neighbors
• Go to Snowflake Lane (FREE event at Bellevue Square)
• Drive around and view Christmas lights
• Visit the Giving Tree & choose some names – Get gifts
• Family Christmas Party
• Church Christmas Party
• Read our favorite Christmas story
• Watch a Christmas movie
• Make Chex Mix
• Make Chocolate covered pretzels
• See the Nutcracker
• Decorate the Christmas tree
• Make Christmas cards
• Drink hot cocoa with candy cane whip cream
• Go see a holiday movie
• Watch the Grinch that Stole Christmas
• Leave a surprise on someone’s doorstep
• Share Christmas memories
• Go to Zoo Lights
• Take donations to the Food Bank

Variation: If you would like to make something like this to have as more of a traditional advent calendar, you could put a clue on the back of each number to where the treats or goodies are hidden in the house.

Welcome to Thrifty and Thriving! You may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or have the once a day email delivered to your inbox. My Facebook Page is an excellent way to stay up-to-date on the hottest deals.

You can sign up for the new Barnes & Noble Kids Club for FREE.   It sounds like there are lots of great FREE benefits for signing up.

Here are the club benefits:

• Welcome coupon for 30% off the list price of any one children’s book or toy
• You’ll get a $5 reward everytime you purchase $100 in-store and online
• Free cupcake from our café for all your children’s birthdays
• Monthly email newsletter featuring even more savings

Head on over HERE to get your kid’s signed up!

For those of you in the Seattle area, you can sign up with a local game creating company to be a playtester.   The company is called Forrest-Pruzan Creative, and they are located in Seattle.  Most of the playtesting happens at their laboratory in Seattle, so local families are the best candidates for their playtesting club.

Playtesting is lots of fun, you get to play the games before they are even released to the public. Plus, you get to see the thought process that goes into all those fun games you play. When the game you test is finally released – you get a copy of the game for FREE!

Forrest-Pruzan has created such games as:

• Cranium Cariboo (our personal fave!)
• Cat in the Hat I Can Do That! Game
• Boochie, A Whole New Ball Game (another one of our favorites!)
• Oh The Places You’ll Go – Board Game
• Spy Games Spy Trackdown
• Konexi -Deluxe *NEW*
• + many more

What do Playtesters do?
When you are assigned a playtest, you will head to their Seattle office and play a game or two. You share your insights on what you liked about the game. Sometimes you share your thoughts on whether the instructions were clear or not. It’s really low key and LOTS of fun! They have games for all ages, from pre-schoolers to teens.

What’s in it for you?
When you playtest a game, once they game is released, you get a copy of the game for FREE!   We recently received some of the games we playtested, it’s always fun to add a new game to your collection – especially when it’s FREE!

Do you want to sign up?
Signing up is easy, if you live in Seattle or any of the surrounding areas, send an email to testing@forrest-pruzan.com. You will need to email your name, phone number and zipcode.

Make sure you like Forrest-Pruzan on Facebook, so you can keep up-to-date on the gamemaking and upcoming playtests!

I have always wanted to take our family to see PNB’s Nutracker at McCaw Hall, and this year we will finally be attending. I just purchased my tickets!  My teenage boys are already practicing their “I am so excited to be going to a ballet with my family” faces.  The Nutcracker is not a cheap event, so I did my research and found a couple of ways to save some money.

15% Discount on Select Days and Times:

98.9 KWJZ is offering a 15% discount on select days and times. Just head on over HERE to get all the details.

Discounted Gift Certificates at Costco:

You can purchase 2 $50 gift certificates at Costco for $79.99. That is a 20% savings. Just figure out how many gift certificates you will need ahead of time and purchase them at Costco.

Who has attended the Nutcracker before? Did you love it?