holiday guide 2014 – Page 8

The Childhood Gift That Stood Out In My Mind #ChosenbyKids

This post is sponsored by Walmart. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Walmart Holiday Toyland is coming to a store near you. With the hottest holiday toys available, it makes me think about one Christmas toy that really stands out in my mind…..

I still believed in Santa. It was an exciting time. I’ll be honest, I don’t remember exactly how old I was or even what year it was, but I remember that Christmas. I’d guess I was about 7 years old, maybe 8. My parents were early shoppers (as I found out). The biggest thing on my Christmas list that year was a Barbie Dreamhouse.

I was the oldest of 4 kids. My parents didn’t have a lot of money. At the time I wouldn’t know not to ask for such a thing since, Santa brought that stuff. I remember the one I wanted. It was plastic: Red, white, and yellow. It separated into 3 different pieces and had 6 rooms for Barbie and her friends.

I would say it was about a month before Christmas, I ventured into my parents bedroom. I wasn’t supposed to be in there by myself but I guess that’s what made it more appealing. I was snooping around, the closet door was cracked a little. I noticed a colorful box in view. I snuck over and opened the door further. There was a big box, it was the Barbie dreamhouse. I ran downstairs asking my mom excitedly why she had a Barbie Dreamhouse in her closet. I got lectured for going in her room and she told me it was for my one cousin’s birthday. I was confused because we didn’t usually buy presents for the cousins (my mom was the youngest of 10 kids so we had tens of cousins). I was so disappointed that the Dreamhouse wasn’t for me.

Weeks went by and Christmas was finally here. I woke up excitedly Christmas morning just like I did every Christmas morning. My sister and I waited at the top of the steps. I think my one brother was just a baby and I don’t believe the other one was even born yet. We ran downstairs and right there in the middle of the living room stood a Barbie Dreamhouse tagged for both my sister and I. I was so happy and I played with that thing for years. I remember having mixed feelings when my mom finally decided to to sell it in my teens. Knowing what I know now, it must have took quite a lot of saving and deal scouting for my parents to buy that. I’m glad I did spend years playing with it. In my opinion it was probably the best Barbie Dreamhouse ever. Very solid, working doors and windows, you could move the sections to get at different things. Maybe they aught to make it again.

My dad was able to dig up the actual picture for me of the year we got our Barbie House. I was holding Peaches n’ Cream Barbie, remember her?

Walmart Holiday Toyland is bringing you the hottest holiday toys to a location near you! Through the months of November and December you can visit one of these Walmart Holiday Toylands. Click HERE to find the dates and locations near you. Has the child in your life been asking for a specific toy? This is your chance to see the toys your kids want. You can even use the free layaway to make sure you get it that day. I will be visiting my local Walmart on November 8 with my kids’ lists in hand to see the toys up close. Hopefully cross some toys off the list while I’m there. What can I say, I’m an early shopper too!

Did you or someone you know have this Barbie house? Do you remember your favorite gift as a kid? Don’t be afraid to share on social media as well with tag #ChosenbyKids

New GoPro Action Cameras Available at Best Buy

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduce price of for free

I’ve heard of GoPro cameras but not in the typical way I usually hear about things. When I hear GoPro I automatically think of those adventurous souls with the viral videos like that one this past summer of the guy that jumps into Sydney Harbor with a GoPro Hero strapped to his head and nearly jumps on a great white shark! Seriously, here’s the video if you haven’t seen it GoPro Hero Great White Shark.

What makes these cameras so appealing to the adventurers and photographers? What’s not to love? The waterproof housing, low auto low light mode, quick capture, wifi, and a slew of other amenities. The GoPro Hero goes where other cameras can’t. Err maybe sometimes they can but you won’t get the shots you can get with a GoPro. I mean I love my Canon Rebel but I’m not about to take mine down the spiral slide at the amusement park, it’s just not made for that! GoPro Hero cameras are.

Best Buy has the the new GoPro Hero4 for that adventurous shutter bug or extreme outdoors lover in your life. If you’re looking for that special gift this holiday season that will definitely be the highlight of their holiday, these cameras will definitely do the trick.

GoPro HERO4 Black: the most advanced GoPro ever, featuring improved image quality and a 2x more powerful processor with 2x faster video frame rates1, HERO4 Black takes award‐winning GoPro performance to a whole new level.

GoPro HERO4 Silver: the first-ever GoPro to feature a built-in touch display. Controlling The camera, playing back footage and adjusting settings is ultra-convenient—just view, tap and swipe the screen. With 1080p60 and 720p120 video, and 12MP photos at a staggering 30 frames per second, HERO4 Silver combines powerful, pro-quality capture with the convenience of a touch display.

GoPro HERO: Featuring high‐quality 1080p30 and 720p60 video, and 5MP photos up to 5 fps, HERO captures the same immersive footage that’s made GoPro one of the best-selling cameras in the world.

12x more powerful processor with 2x faster video frame rates

Best Buy has the accessories you need and want for the GoPro Hero as well. I can’t get over the accessories Best Buy has for the GoPro Hero. They have a dog harness, yes a dog harness so you can strap that camera to your dogs back and get a dog’s eye view. They have helmet mounts so if you’re spelunking or bicycling you can take it with you. They have side mounts to attach it to…pretty much the side of anything you need. Anti-fog inserts, car chargers and much more! If the person on your list already has a GoPro I’m sure they’d appreciate some of these awesome accessories to really take their pictures and videos to the next level!

You an learn more at: BestBuy.com/GoPro or check out your local Best Buy to see these awesome cameras in person. Now what do you think you would use a GoPro Hero4 for? I would have loved to have one of these when we went to the beach this summer. My older boys were jumping waves. Would have been fun to hand them the camera and have them snap some pics. It’s not just for summer fun though. How cool would it be to strap one of these to a snowboarding or ski helmet? How about taking some pics while riding down on a hill on an inner tube?

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduce price or for free

Educational Fun for Kids with Dr. Cool Pan for Gold Kit

Looking for something fun to do with the kids? Hoping to bring an educational aspect to it. Gathering ideas for fun, educational, and unique gifts for kids for Christmas? Discover with Dr Cool has all kinds of fun, educational, and hands on activity kits for kids.

One of the kits they offer on their site is the Dr Cool Pan for Gold Kit. Kids can learn how to pan for gold just like the prospectors did. The kit comes with:

10″ prospecting pan
2 bags of “pay dirt” that contains small nuggets of pyrite (fool’s gold)
tools
vial
large pyrite nugget
full color info and activity guide written by teachers

My kids range in age from 12 yrs down to 18 months old. My 12 yr old and 5 yr old were the most excited about this kit. My 10 year old gets more interesting in building type kits. So My oldest son, youngest son, and I decided to pan for gold together.

My 5 yr old son was interested in the large pyrite nugget. My oldest son was ready to get to work on the directions. There is a rookie bag of pay dirt then a more advanced bag. The rookie bag has larger nuggets of pyrite to make it easier. It tells you to only pour so much dirt in the pan at one time. After working on it for a while hind-sight told us maybe we should have used even less than what we did.

You are supposed to use a bucket or basin to dip your prospecting pan in with the dirt in it. None of our buckets were wide enough. I decided to use the kitchen sink and just put the stopper in. Again, I wish we would have had something like a dish washing basin or a foot tub to do this in. After we started working on one clearing the dirt out by swishing the water out I had to wonder if any of the small nuggets of pyrite went into the sink. As the dirt goes in the water it of course gets cloudier so it would be difficult to see if you actually sloshed any pyrite out by accident. At least with a basin you could pour it out little by little and check when you’re done or change the water as you go.

Still with all the mistakes we made we found some little nuggets of pyrite. My 5 yr old was all too excited to use the magnifying glass and tweezer to pick out the tiny nuggest of pyrite and put them in the collection vial. The nuggets were pretty small even in the rookie bag but it gives it a more authentic experience, in my opinion, of how prospectors had to work for the little bit of gold they found. The kids had fun trying to find them in the dirt. My oldest son started the panning with the water. This process took a long time. I think it would have went quicker had we used less pay dirt at a time. My oldest son got tired of the panning process and I took over for a while.

My oldest and youngest son get a long well anyway but it was nice to see them cooperate and take turns with this kit. While we worked on it we talked about prospectors and the hard job they must have had to find a little bit of gold.

This set has won several awards including: Academic’s Choice Brain Toy Aware 2013, Best Picks Winner for New Products – Dr Toy 2012, and Tillywig Toy award 2013.

What I liked about this kit was that it was a different and educational experience for my kids. I like that it came with almost everything you need (minus the tub/buckets for water), you can use the pan and tools to pan in rivers and streams if you like, and that it’s super affordable. Right now it’s on the Discover with Dr Cool site for only $7.50! It’s normally $15 (which is still pretty good). This product will return to full price November 1. So if you’re thinking about buying this for a child in your life you’ll want to grab it by October 31 to get the best deal!

You can also find Discover with Dr Cool on the following social media sites:

Facebook: facebook.com/DiscoverWithDrCool

Twitter: @DiscoverDrCool

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.