Celebrate dad’s love of tools and building with the workbench pop-out Father’s Day card from the HP Creative Studio. Not only is it free, but he’ll love your creativity and appreciate his own mini-version of his tool shed. Or he might like the new Snapfish address labels for his own personal touch featuring his favorite photo for all those thank-you cards he still needs to catch up on. Available for $5.99 for a set of 36.

Master Chef:

If your dad belongs on Food Network, he’ll love a personalized apron ($14.99) or cutting board ($24.99) from Snapfish featuring his favorite photo of the family for the next big backyard barbecue.

Sports Fanatic:

Perfect for his next golf outing with the boys, give him a personalized golf towel ($19.99) from Snapfish or capture his favorite golf memories with the born to golf scrapbook downloadable for free from the HP Creative Studio.

For even more easy last-minute gift ideas, check out the HP Creative Studio for more free printables from photo frames to coupons for dad to redeem throughout the year.

And if you’d like to win a $50 gift card to Snapfish to get something for Dad (or for yourself), enter the giveaway below!

Giveaway Guidelines:

To enter the contest, you MUST become an email subscriber to Lipstick to Crayons. The subscribe button is in the upper right corner of the site. Once you subscribe (or if you are already a subscriber), leave a comment below telling me you did so, and make sure the email address you provide is the one you used to subscribe. After completing this mandatory first entry method, you can gain additional entries by doing any or all of the following (but be sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do):

1. Blog about this contest
2. Tweet this giveaway on Twitter
3. Favorite Lipstick to Crayons on Technorati
4. Stumble this post
5. Add Lipstick to Crayons to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar
6. Become a fan of Lipstick to Crayons on Facebook.
7. Post a link to this contest on your Facebook page.

This giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m. Central time June 7, 2010. Be sure to include a valid email address with each of your entries. Winners will be randomly chosen via random.org and will be notified via email and announced on this post.

If any winner does not claim the prize by June 9, 2010, he/she will forfeit the prize to an alternate winner who will be drawn at random.

USA & Canada residents only please!

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED. CONGRATS TO JULIE JONES, COMMENT #71.

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• Snapfish $50 Gift Card Giveaway (Can you say Necklace?)
• Snapfish Helps a Community, Gives You 50 Percent Discount On Photobooks

Plus, North Face is dishing out 10 $5,000 prizes for you to build your dream North Face collection. Enter daily to win at The North Face® retail store near you or online before December 24, 2009 and you could be one of the 10 lucky winners to win this great prize!

Check out these great North Face gift ideas:
Men’s Shaka Triclimate Jacket - Price: $249
Stay dry and warm when snow’ss falling with this all-mountain, versatile jacket.

The Surge Backpack – Price: $115
This durable, full-feature daypack features a dedicated laptop pocket (fits most 17 inche laptops) to keep you going strong whether you’re hard at work or hardly working.

Women’s Kira Triclimate Jacket – Price: $249
Designed for hard-charging, snow-minded athletes, this three-in-one jacket keeps riders dry, warm, and comfortable for all-day exploration.

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This kitchen has all the bells and whistles that would delight any kiddo — oven, microwave, refrigerator, sink with faucet and accessory set. It comes with frying and boiling sound effects and cabinet and drawer space. I think I might be spending some of my toddler’s Christmas gift money on this item from which I’m sure she’ll get plenty of years of play.

Walmart also is offering some other amazing online specials. Check them out:
Save on Amazing Online Specials at Walmart.com!

Huge Savings on Holiday Rollback Electronics at Walmart.com!

Holiday Rollbacks in Electronics, Toys and Video Games at Walmart.com!

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And if you’re thinking of Hanes in terms of underwear only, think again! Hanes offers a full line of clothing for women, men, and children. My teen – who all but lives in sweats between her constant swim practices — discovered last year a style of Hanes sweats that she loves! I was thrilled with her discovery, because I could buy these sweats for a fraction of the cost of designer sweats. Check them out here for $8.99. (Psst — I’ve found them at Wal-Mart for $5 during the holidays).

We also really like these zip-front hoodies which are currently two for $24! And I’m a big fan of their sport socks, which are on sale for $3.99 for a package of three. As a runner, I go through a lot of sport socks, and at specialty stores, they cost me $8 to $12 a pair. The Hanes brand has some cotton in the blend, which doesn’t work for long-distance running, but it’s perfect for regular daily workouts and you can’t beat the price.

So, if I’d suggest visiting the Hanes site to do some holiday shopping. You’re bound to find a few inexpensive items for several people on your shopping list. And if you’ve got an uncomfortable holiday moment to share (again, who doesn’t?) go here and tell Hanes about it before Jan. 2, 2010. While you’re there, you also can:

• Learn how to avoid future uncomfortable holiday moments.
• Send funny Uncomfortable Holiday Moments e-cards to friends and family.
• Request Hanes products by creating a wish list of things you would rather receive this holiday season (you’ll get a discount!)

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• Maternity Dress Giveaway and Coupon Code
• $35 Snapfish Giveaway and Back to School Fun
• Win Free Groceries from Kraft
• Win a Disney Vacation
• Meet the Divas and Enter to Win a $20 Amazon Gift Card

Holiday shopping season is here again and the Global Influence network has some great gift ideas for you, tried and tested by real moms. Click on the links to check out what our team of reviewers had to say about each of these gift ideas, and then take a moment to enter our fun giveaway and take a chance at winning some of these fabulous products. Featured Reviews Pouchees –

Busy moms need all the help they can get to stay organized and keep life as simple as possible. The Pouchee is the perfect solution to keeping all those little things together, putting everything you need, right at your fingertips.

Duck Hunter -

Duck Hunter turns the excitement of the hunt into an activity the whole family can enjoy. Launch the duck in the air and try to hunt it down with the toy shooter as it flies freely in the air. A fun choice for those who love outdoor sporting.

CardStore cards

-Personalized holiday cards are an important item on everyone’s to-do list and often a hassle to create and print. Cardstore.com has everything from family photo cards to invitations for your big holiday party, simplifying your holiday season.

Great Holiday Gift Ideas Things Remembered Custom Couture Jewelry Just Elfin’ Around Card Cubby Harumika By Bandai Harumika Runway Showstopper Harumika Style Starter Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo Strawberry Shortcake Playset Kota Monty Rex Wall to Wall Basketball Nerf Pocket Vortex Busy Ball Popper Talking Chuck Truck Leapfrog My Pal Scout Leapfrog Tag Jr Leapfrog Scribble and Write Animal Planet Polar Land Playset Animal Planet Dinosaur Playmat Onionhead Adult/Teen Feelings Pack OnionHead Children’s Feelings Pack Onionhead A-Z Feelings Magnet Set FotoboxPlus MeTime Tees

Fun Holiday Giveaway!
For this holiday guide, we want to share the love with the blogosphere! Some of our generous sponsors have donated prizes to be given away to lucky readers! To enter to win one of the following fabulous prizes, simply fill out the form here: http://tinyurl.com/y8t92rw

Prizes include: Things Remembered Custom Couture Jewelry Pouchee Elfing Around Harumika Onionhead Feelings Pack Nerf Wall to Wall Basketball Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo MeTime T-shirt

Entries will close on December 6, 2009 at 11:59 PM EST. Winners will be contacted by email after the close of the contest.

Global Influence Member Guides Need more ideas for this holiday season? Check out the guides that some of our Global Influence members have put together on their own sites! Thrifty Jinxy, Happy Healthy Hip , And Twins Make Five , Because Two People Fell In Love, Mommy Musings , Lipstick to Crayons , Bargain Briana , Mommy PR , Shop With Me Mama, Santa Picks, Rave and Review, Connected 2 Christ , 3 Boys and a Dog, The Classy Closet , Contest Corner, Lisa Reviews , A Giveaway Every Day, HulaHoopinMom, Spalibrations, High Impact Mom, From Cribs to Car Keys

All reviews listed in the Global Influence gift guide were product provided. Featured positions were purchased by sponsors. Member gift guides are not affiliated with Global Influence.

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Enter DaddyScrubs. DaddyScrubs Comfort Wear introduced its line of  “I’m The Daddy” medical scrubs, t-shirts and accessories in September 2009. It’s a brand of clothing created by a Dad for Dads in every stage of fatherhood, from the frantic first-timers to the calm, cool and collected veterans of the maternity ward!

Founder and father of four Robert Nickell discovered there was a void in the marketplace for comfortable delivery room attire for Dad. So, with input form his expectant wife, eh created this exclusive line of DaddyScrubs.

These scrubs make great gifts from Moms, sister, mothers-in-law — just about anyone who wants to show their love and appreciation to an expectant father. They offer a great way for men to celebrate fatherhood and they give the new Dad a little recognition as he walks through the halls of the maternity ward after his bundle of joy has arrived.

DaddyScrubs are currently available exclusively at the DaddyScrubs Web site for $39.95, but one lucky Lipstick to Crayons reader can win a set of scrubs for free by entering the contest below.

Giveaway Guidelines:

Visit the DaddyScrubs site and come back here and tell me in the comment section which color of scrubs you like the best.

Receive additional entries by doing any/all of the following, but be sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do:

1. Blog about this contest
2. Subscribe to my mailing list/RSS feed
3. Tweet this giveaway on Twitter (you can tweet daily if you want, but make sure you leave a comment each time you do).
4. Favorite Lipstick to Crayons on Technorati
5. Stumble this post
6. Add Lipstick to Crayons to your blogroll or my button to your sidebar
7. Become a fan of Lipstick to Crayons on Facebook
8. Enter my GE appliance giveaway here (until Nov. 15)

This giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m. Central time Nov. 27.  Be sure to include a valid email address with each of your entries. Contest open to United States residents only. Winner will be randomly chosen via random.org and will be notified via email and announced on this post.

If winner does not claim prize by Nov. 30, 2009, he/she will forfeit the prize to an alternate winner.

This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to the winner — Monique, comment #14.

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Part of living area, and hallway leading to bedroom.

We had the pleasure of being guests at the Embassy Suites Downtown Lakefront for a Friday and Saturday night in September. If you’ve never stayed at an Embassy Suites, you should know that for a family with young children who need to go to bed before the rest of the gang is ready for lights out, it’s perfect. The spacious two-room suites are standard, which gave us some much-needed family relaxing time in the evenings. We were able to put our toddler to bed in a hotel-provided portable crib in the bedroom area, close the door and then choose from an extensive list of popular, new movies for rent via in-house pay-per-view. As you would expect, the living area couch also turns into a bed, so the suite comfortably accommodated our family of five without having to force the teen and tween to share a bed (whew!).

As if the big suites aren’t enough, the other fabulous family-friendly features of the hotel are:

•  the made-to-order complimentary breakfast (This was a serious spread of food options and saved us a bunch of money on breakfasts.)
• eager to please staff (While the drive from our home in St. Louis to Chicago is just under six hours normally, it’s a tad longer with an active toddler. When we arrived late Friday evening, they checked us in, parked our car, delivered our luggage and set-up our portable crib in less than 15 minutes!)
• daily manager’s reception with free snacks and cocktails. (Can you say happy husband?)
• on-site fitness center (My competitive swimmer was distraught over having to miss swim practice for our family getaway until she spotted the lap pool.) 

The hotel’s strategic  location in the heart of the city’s top shopping, business and entertainment districts means you can easily walk (even with a toddler in a stoller) to Navy Pier, Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park. It also means the hotel offers a mesmerizing view of the downtown area and of Lake Michigan.

During our visit, we visited Chicago’s Navy Pier, rode the 150-foot high Ferris Wheel, ate Ed Debevics, took a water taxi and shopped up and down Michigan Avenue.

I’d highly recommend a family “staycation” or “vacation” to Chicago, and I’d definitely direct you to the Embassy Suites Downtown Lakefront as your hotel destination. We had a great time and are anxious to do it again next fall.

—–

Our stay at the Embassy Suites was complimentary.

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DraftDude.com, an online fantasy sports helper, has launched a service that allows people who know absolutely nothing about football to make professional-level drafting decisions for fantasy football leagues.

This website helps users to make expert-level drafting, playing, and trading decisions in a matter of minutes. Needless to say, it’s an easy way to shock your dude and his friends by having the best picks at his next draft party! It only costs $10 for the entire season, and that’s not much of an investment if you get your “dude” to do the Foxtrot with you after the football season is over.

Draftdude has a five minute instructional video to make it super easy to for you to draft your team.

Also, in order to begin impressing your dude “right off the bat,” the experts at DraftDude have provided the following free tips for you to begin using this weekend.

DraftDude.com’s top five picks for the NFL’s Most Underrated And Overrated Players

#1 Most underrated Wide Receiver: T.J. Houshmandzadeh

WHY? He caught 92 passes last year, despite being on an anemic Bengals team in a tough defensive conference–the move to Seattle will help.

#2 Most overrated Wide Receiver: Terrell Owens

WHY? The aging Owens is often among the league leaders in dropped passes, but gets more attention for his off-field antics–both of which could  signal a dip in production. He could become disruptive if he becomes aggravated that he is not as productive as he has been in the past, further harming his production.

#3 Most underrated Tight End: Kellen Winslow

WHY? After an injury-riddled 2008 campaign, Winslow is primed for a rebound with new team Tampa Bay. He is a playmaker with potential for a  big year if he stays healthy.

#4 Overrated Kicker: Adam Vinatieri

WHY? The former Super Bowl hero’s skills are declining, and Vinatieri only attempted three field goals in the red zone last year on a strong
Colts offense. Expect that trend to continue.

#5 Most underrated Defensive Player: Trent Cole

WHY? Another Pro Bowl snub, Cole is a consistent performer who plays on a strong Philadelphia defense. He will rack up at least 10 sacks.

Have fun with it, ladies. And let me know how you “work it” to your advantage!

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These are just a few of the many declarative statements made the the three 11-year-old boys who graciously agreed to help me review the recently-released video game  The BIGS™ 2, sent to me by 2K Sports.

Bradley (my son), and his friends, Noah and Seamus, couldn’t say enough about how much they loved this game, which they played on the Wii. The game also was released for the Xbox 360® , the PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 and the PSP®.

The boys played the game for hours and here are their other thoughts:

Pros:

• Besides being “wicked cool” and “tight”, this game has realistic people, is easy to play and “Big Blasts Rocks!” Plus, they liked that you can choose from any league and team.

Cons:

• They thought it was hard to pitch at first, and the controls were a little confusing to learn. But once conquered, the game was “totally awesome.”

The BIGS™ 2  is the sequel to the popular arcade baseball franchise. It features MLB® All-Star first baseman, Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers, as the cover athlete and spokesman for the game.  The game offers fans the opportunity to enjoy bigger power-ups and amazing visual effects.

 In addition to new player animations and improved pick-up-and-play controls, The BIGS 2 gives fans the ability to make more strategic decisions with the added Batter’s Wheelhouse, execute new Legendary Catches, and pull off amazing Big Slams. Exciting new game modes have also been added this season, including Become a Legend and the heavily fan requested Season mode. Become a Legend picks up the story from the end of the Rookie Challenge mode from The BIGS, as gamers take on the role of a player that suffered a career threatening injury and is challenged to regain his Major League career by fighting his way back at the Mexican league to the Majors. Along the way, players compete in boss battles against MLB legends and steal players from other teams, eventually earning enough votes to get into the Hall of Fame. The BIGS 2 also features a brand new Season mode that offers full MLB team schedules, stat tracking and roster management that adds another layer of depth to the already addictive baseball experience.

The Bigs 2  is rated E 10+ by the ESRB and sells at Amazon for $45.99.

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Starlooks Boutique offers the best of children’s wear, toys, as well as gifts and clothes for the entire family. Best of all they feature Made in the USA products.

We especially love personalized products and Starlooks offers a wide selection of clothing and gifts. Here are a few of our favorites.

The luxurious 100% cotton sweater can be monogrammed and comes in sizes 0-12 months, 2T and 3T. Unlike most monogrammed items this sweater will ship out within four days which is great if you are looking for a personalized gift in a time crunch.

Dress to impress with the Strawberry Icing Ruffles Pink and Brown Birthday Set by one of our favorite designers Liliputians NYC. Features a fun shirt with your little birthday girl’s Birthday Number in a unique, curly, swirly number applique of a pink icing and strawberry print. All is served up on a yummy chocolate brown tee. The matching ruffled skirt comes in the strawberries and icing pink print. Three full ruffled tiers give the skirt lots of volume and a flirty silhouette. Handcrafted with love in NYC. Available in sizes 6 Months, 9 Months, 12 Months, 18 Months, 2T, 3T, 4T, 5, 6, 7, or 8.

Their beautiful clothing don’t stop there. The Sky Blue Lotus Euro Tunic is to-die-for as well as the Apron Skirts.Whether your looking for upscale or casual clothing, gifts, toys, all things for baby including furniture, bath products, jewelry, or stuff for moms and dads, Starlooks Boutique has it covered!

Sign up for the Starlooks newsletter to stay in the loop about any sales, coupon codes, contests, giveaways, and boutique news.

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