4 Thoughtful Gift Ideas for Tweens

Thank you to Mixbook for sponsoring this post about thoughtful gift ideas for tweens. All opinions expressed are my own.

We have not one, but two tweens in our house!  Our twins turn 10 this January, and are growing increasingly difficult to shop for when it comes to gifts.  It's such a tough age because they are no longer little kids, but they are not yet teens.  Here are some ideas for thoughtful gifts you may consider for your tween . . .

1.  Custom Poster - If it's time to take down the little kid posters from their room, a cool custom poster would make the perfect gift.  Choose a special photo of a person, place, or thing, and have it printed on a large poster that fits that empty wall space.  Regular posters work fine, but an acrylic or metal poster print would look super-cool on your child's wall, not to mention they would be more durable than the standard poster.  Some fun subjects for a poster would be your child and his or her BFF, your family pet, or a special place that holds wonderful memories for your child.

2.  6" Tablet - If your child is too young for a smartphone, but finds a full-size tablet to be too cumbersome to carry around, then a smaller 6" tablet might be the solution.  A tablet, like the Fire HD 6, is about the size of a large smartphone, making it super-portable.  With an Android OS, your child will have a plethora of apps to choose from without having access to a smartphone.  Be sure to include a tablet case with your gift.  Most are quite inexpensive, so it's a no-brainer to add that extra protection.

3.  Experience Gift Card - A gift card is always a safe gift for anybody on your list, but what about giving a gift card or gift certificate for something your child can experience?  How much fun would it be for your child (along with a friend or sibling) to create a painting, paint pottery, take a cooking class, experience Taekwondo classes, learn about archery, etc . . . ?  The possibilities are endless, and the memories made from experiencing something new will last forever.

4.  Photo Calendar - If you like our idea of a custom poster, but are having trouble narrowing down the subject matter to just one, a custom photo calendar is a smart solution.  A calendar is the perfect gift for your tween because he or she is starting to have 'plans' to keep track of.  Having a place to record play dates, study dates, team games and practices, dance recitals, and friends' birthdays will also help your tween to feel more organized.  When the year is over, you can frame each photo from your calendar to make a photo wall in your child's room.

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Have a fun and thoughtful gift idea for tweens?  Share it with us in a comment here.

Our Thoughtful & Easy-to-Organize Teacher's Gift Idea from the Whole Class . . . a Wall Calendar Filled with Students' Quotes!

This is my second year organizing classroom gifts for one of our children's teachers.  Somehow it always seems that there is one room that does not have a Room Parent, who usually takes on this and other important tasks.  Last year, another parent and I teamed up and we were floored at how difficult it was to arrange the Holiday gift.  More than half the parents did not provide contact information for the student directory, so we had to send home letters to the families without drawing attention from the teacher.  The participation was staggeringly low, even though we only asked for $5 per family to go towards both the gifts for the primary teacher and the assistant teacher.  I was shocked and a bit dismayed.  The experience was so difficult that the other parent and I agreed not to attempt organizing an end-of-the-year gift.  Instead, we came up with thoughtful gifts on our own for our children to present to their teachers.

This past Holiday, I was presented with the same problem.  There was no official room parent, so I stepped up to organize the classroom gift.  This time, things looked more promising.  Nearly all the parents had provided their email for the student directory, which was a good sign.  I had learned from past experience to make participating as easy on the parents as possible.  I even offered to take contributions with cash sent to school or via PayPal.  So, I came up with a teacher's gift idea that would make it easy on the parents and would be unique and super-thoughtful . . . a personalized wall calendar filled with quotes from the students about their favorite things.  This was easier to do than it sounds.  All you need is to know how to use Google Forms and Spreadsheets, have a basic graphics program where you can turn text into an image, and have a place that prints custom photo calendars, like Walgreens.


Tips for making a 'Favorite Things' Quotes Wall Calendar for a Teacher's Gift from the class . . . 

1.  Create a Google Form with clear instructions for the parents on how to interview their children and how to submit their children's responses in the blank fields.  I found it easier to use a fill-in-the-blank format for the questions.  Be sure to include a mandatory question asking for the child's name.  I offered a wide variety of interview questions, with some pertaining to certain times of the year, but, to make this low-stress on the parents and students, I only made two of them mandatory . . . what the child's favorite thing about their teacher is and what their favorite thing about 1st grade is.

2.  All the interview responses will automatically be collected in a Google Spreadsheet.  At this point, you should figure out how many quotes you would like to include per calendar page and decide if you would like to make a 12-month or an 18-month calendar.  Based on the responses I received and my wanting to include 4 quotes per page for a 12-month calendar, I figured out that each student should have 3 or 4 quotes included in the calendar.

3.  When making your images of the quotes, be sure to change the color of the quotes you've used in order to keep track of how many quotes you've used from each child and to avoid duplicates.  Be sure to make your image in a high resolution format (300 dpi).  If you don't have a graphics program, you can download Gimp for free.  You can make the quotes as simple as you'd like or use different fonts, colors, etc . . . I tried to be sure to include any seasonal quotes on the images to be used on the relevant months in the calendar.  I also made sure to include all the students' quotes about their favorite thing about their teacher and about their grade.  For any families who did not submit their children's quotes, the students' names were still printed on the front cover of the calendar with the rest of the class.

4.  Ordering your photo calendar should be pretty easy.  I used Walgreens Photo, which is extremely user-friendly.  All you need to do is choose the size and format for your calendar to get started.  Then you can choose a theme and customize each page of the calendar with your image, text, and different backgrounds.


For the classroom's Holiday gift, we included this calendar along with other goodies and a gift card in a gift basket.  The teacher was so touched while reading all the quotes that it brought tears to her eyes.

For the end-of-the-year gift this year, I will be making a design with all the student's names on it to print on a canvas tote bag for the teacher.  I think I will be using Walgreens Photo again.  I was pleased with the results last time, plus they always have coupons available on photo gifts and I was able to pick the finished product up at our local store.  Of course we'll be filling the tote with a gift card and other fun things for summer vacation.  Do you have any suggestions about what kinds of things we should include?

How to Turn the Customizable "M by Staples Arc System" Notebook into a Blogging Organizer (Free Printables)

Thank you to Staples for providing complimentary product samples to facilitate this project.  All opinions expressed are my own.

For the past four years or so, I have been using a serious day planner.  By "serious" I mean that it had two pages per day, a pocket for my portable drive, a complete A to Z address book, sleeves for business cards, and more.  This organizer was so cumbersome that I never took it anywhere with me and I just ended up leaving it open on my desk all the time.  I could also only fit 3 months of refills in the planner at one time.  In addition to this organizer, I used a separate small notebook to keep track of product reviews.  I also used large Post-Its as page markers and to write ongoing to do lists, so that I could just move it to another page instead of having to copy the list over.  This definitely was not the best system, but I had been using it for so many years, I had grown accustomed to it. When I was introduced to the M by Staples Arc System, I saw this as an opportunity to streamline my daily planning.

To help me with this endeavor, Staples provided me with everything I needed (plus a few other fun home office products) to build my own blogging organizer . . .

• M by Staples Junior Arc Customizable Leather Notebook (In my favorite color!)
• M by Staples Arc 2013 Week/Month 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" Refills
• M by Staples Arc System Tab Dividers
• M by Staples Arc System Pocket Dividers
• M by Staples Arc System Task Pads
• My by Staples Arc System Page Flags
• My by Staples Arc System Desktop Punch
• AvantPro Pen with SilkScribe Ink (I received Black, but fun new colors were just introduced for Spring!)

I will be describing how I set up my Junior Arc to turn it into a basic daily blogging planner below, but the M by Staples Arc System is so versatile that you can easily change it to meet your own needs.

Step 1.  Remove most of the ruled paper that came with your Junior Arc Notebook.  I just left 2 or 3 sheets in case I needed scrap paper to jot something down for someone else.

Step 2.  Print out the free blogging planner pages I made at the bottom of this post (or make your own).  Fold the pages in half with the printed side facing out.  Then insert the shaded edge of the folded piece of paper into the Arc System Desktop Punch, while lining it up with the easy-to-use guide for Junior Arc-sized pages.

Once the page is in place, push the handle all the way down to punch the slotted holes in the paper.

Step 3.  Decide what sections you would like to have in your planner.  My organizer has ruled paper, a Notes section, a Photos/Ideas Log section, a Review Log section, a Calender Planner section, and a Contacts section.  Then insert the Arc System Tab Dividers between each section and label them with the included self-adhesive tab labels.

Step 4.  I took a page off the Arc System Task Pad to use as a page marker and an ongoing to do list that I can move from week to week, if needed.

Step 5.  To save room, I removed the pages of the Arc System Week/Month Calendar Refills that I no longer needed.  I highly recommend putting 6 months of refills in at a time.  How often do you need to go back to previous months in your day planner, right?  These refills also come with a regular monthly calendar at the beginning of each month so you can jot down any important events just as you would on a wall calendar.

Because the 3-Year Reference Calendar is only printed on the front of the first page for January, I cut off the January tab with scissors and placed the whole page inside an Arc System Pocket Divider.  Since the divider is larger than a standard page, I put the calendar at the very end of my notebook.  It worked out perfectly and I can read the 3-year calendar right through the pocket.

For the specialty double-sided blogging organizational pages, you really only have to print them as you need them.  There is no need to add extra bulk to your planner just to store the extra blank pages.  On the same note, you can easily remove any pages that you no longer need.

I also created a page for any notes you may need to jot down or record.  Our children are on a points system where they can earn (and lose) points based on their behavior and how they handle their responsibilities.  Everyday, I need to make a note of how many points each child has earned or lost.  This page works out perfectly for that, but it really has an infinite number of uses.

TO PRINT:  Be sure your computer's printer is on and ready to go.  Click on the desired page to enlarge.  Then right-click on the image and choose print.  Use your browser's back arrow to return to this page.

Product Review Log

This printable is designed to record all your product reviews, with places to mark whether (or when) the product was received, the scheduled posting date (or due date), whether the post is a review and/or a giveaway, and a place for special notes.

Photos and Topic Ideas Log
This printable is designed to list out everything you need to take photos of for upcoming posts.  There is also a place to record any future blog post ideas you may have.

Notes

This printable is a versatile place to jot down notes, whether it is for blogging, parenting, or something else.  It is a good way not to waste paper because we often use one notepad page or one Post-It per note.

To view all the M By Staples Arc System products, visit your local Staples store or Staples online.  Why not get Mom an Arc System Leather or Poly Notebook along with a Staples gift card for Mother's Day?  That way she can customize the notebook to fit her own personal needs.

Back to School 2010 Giveaway: Orange Circle Studio Calendars & Planners [CLOSED]

Orange Circle Studio makes some amazing planners that are stylish, unique, functional, and affordable. I love that their planners are designed with moms in mind, which is something I hadn’t really seen before. I was given the opportunity to try out two of their wall calendars and a mom planner.

At first glance, I had to notice how cute they are! Being a mom of two boys, I don’t get enough girly things in my life so seeing the flowery pink and other vibrant colors really made me smile. Next I noticed that these are not your average run-of-the-mill calendars. These are very well-made, not just made of paper, but something thicker than that. They will not fall apart by the middle of the year, that’s for sure. I also really love their unique designs and that the calendars and planners all begin their year in August, when school starts and mom’s busy schedule begins. All 3 have tons of space for recording your events, but it doesn’t stop there.

The Mom’s 24/7 Calendar is the best wall calendar I have ever seen. The top portion contains the calendar and enough space to write in your events/appointments but the bottom is what makes it truly unique. There is a pad of tear of paper at the bottom that holds a detailed view of your week. You can fill in all the details of everything there and then neatly rip it away when the week is through. Also, the right hand side of that pad is perforated with a “My List” section to fill in your grocery, to-do, or whatever else you need. Then you just tear off at the perforations and you have it to go. Truly an innovative product!

The Do It All Bold Blossoms Calendar is also a great calendar, but doesn’t feature the weekly pad at the bottom. What it does feature is a bigger calendar with more space to fill in information, stickers to mark important dates, holidays, and events, and two pockets for storing important items at the bottom.

Both wall calendars have the ability to be hung by a nail or tack or can be stuck to your fridge with the built-in magnets and both come with a handy pen that fits in a holder.

Last but certainly not least is the Do It All Bold Blossoms 17 month planner. I love the Bold Blossoms design; it’s so feminine and cute.

This planner is the perfect planner for moms. I love the elastic band closure, so nothing slips out. I love the front pocket to hold bills, invitations, and other paperwork. The stickers are convenient for marking holidays, appointments, parties, date nights, birthdays and more. The planner pages are large enough to hold all the necessary information about each event, yet the planner isn’t too big or bulky either. It runs from August 2010 until January 2012 so, for the price of $14.99, you’re getting a lot. It also features a list of 2011 and 2012 holidays, a place for emergency information, an address book, note pages, and 3 column perforated pages for your To Do and Shopping lists, a really unique and genius feature. All in all, this is, by far, the best planner I’ve ever seen and I can’t wait until August to start using all these great products.

To view the full selection of calendars and planners offered by Orange Circle Studio, visit OrangeCircleStudio.com . For a limited time, when you become a fan of Orange Circle Studio on Facebook, you will receive a discount code for 20% off your next purchase.

Thank you to Orange Circle Studio for providing us with sample products free of charge to base this review upon and for providing additional products for our contest prize.

What you can win:
One lucky reader will receive a prize pack containing the following items (ARV $45):

• a Mom's 24/7 Monthly/Weekly Calendar
• a Bold Blossoms Do It All Planner
• a Bold Blossoms Do It All Calendar

Limitations:

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. If you enter anonymously and do not include a valid email address in your comment entries, I will not be able to notify you should you win this random drawing.

How to Gain Entries:

Browse the selection of planners and calendars offered by Orange Circle Studio. Then leave a comment telling me the name of one item that would help you be more organized (aside from the 3 items reviewed in this article). You MUST do this to be eligible to win this contest.

Extra Entries:

1) For 5 extra entries, leave a relevant comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. Then leave FIVE separate comments with the name of the post on which you commented. You will earn 5 extra entries for each different non-contest post you comment on.

2)

For 5 extra entries, enter one of my other contests. Leave FIVE separate comments here telling me which contest you entered. You will earn 5 extra entries for each contest you enter.

3) For 10 extra entries, blog about this contest linking back to this post AND OrangeCircleStudio.com . Then come back here and leave TEN separate comments with the link to your blog post.

4)

For 1 extra entry each, if you are a Friend of mine on Facebook and/or if you have "liked" the 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires Facebook page, then leave a separate comment here telling me so with the link to your Facebook profile.

5) For 1 extra entry each, follow Orange Circle on Twitter and/or "Like" Orange Circle Studio on Facebook. Then leave a separate comment for each with the link to your Twitter or Facebook profile.

6)

Follow me on Twitter. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Twitter profile.

7)

Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then come back here and leave the link to your tweet in a separate comment. You may do this once per day until the end of the contest.

8)

Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or you can follow me through Blogger or subscribe via email (widget is on sidebar). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

9)

Subscribe to A Blog of Goodies' feed (the sister site to 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

10)

Add my button or blog link to your blog's sidebar. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your blog.

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(All entries will be verified prior to awarding this prize.)


Random Drawing:

This contest will be closed on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. A random number drawing will be held shortly after. The winner will be announced here and will be contact via email or through their blog. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

Good luck in the drawing!

Giveaway & Review: Mead OrganizHER Household Organization Prize Pack (plus $25 Target GC) [CLOSED]

As our children get older, we have increasingly more things to schedule around. With just our six year old son, we have school activities, play dates, and tae kwon do. That is on top of routine doctor and dental appointments, etc . . . I had to find a way to increase our household organization.

Soon the twins will throwing their schedules into the mix along with their big brother's, my husband's, and my own. At the moment, I have everything written in my Day Runner with the important things set to have my computer's calendar email me a reminder. Then I also have a calendar in the kitchen where I write all the family-related appointments on top of their being in my personal organizer. Are you following me so far? My son even has a wall calendar in his room where I try to write anything that has to do with him, but I rarely remember to do so. I knew there had to be a better way to keep my family organized and the Organizher brand of products by Mead offers families like mine quite a few choices of organizational tools.

The Organizher Magnetic Calendar Center allows me to list out all our appointments and important tasks for the week in one place. This calendar is divided so that each member of your family can have their own section for easy reference. There is even a place to plan out your meals for each day. This particular calendar is undated, which is great because there are some weeks where we do not have too much planned so it is possible to skip a week without wasting a whole page.

The Meal Planning Magnetic Notepad is similar to something I was already using, except this product is much more compact. I love this pad because it lets you plan out a whole week's worth of meals and list out the ingredients you need to purchase on the same page along with your other grocery items.

The Family Organizer is great for someone who likes all their organizational tools in one place. It contains sections to plan schedules (your family's and your own), menus, shopping, and more. The perforated to-do lists have the days of the week on the front, but also have a blank checklist on the back. These are perfect if you make honey-do lists every week for your spouse and your older children.

The Expense Tracker is exactly what I needed to keep our bills straight. There is a place to write out your budget. It is always easier to follow a budget when it is written down where you can see it. There are also pockets for each month's bills and for each month's receipts. Since this system allows you to separate your expenses month by month, it is easier to actually see where your money goes. I had been tracking my family's expenses on a simple Excel spreadsheet and it is really difficult to use it as a tool to track expenses other than tracking account balances because everything is lumped together.

These and many more Organizher products by Mead or extremely affordable. For example, the Family Organizer retails for just $14.99 and the Meal Planning Magnetic Notepad sells for just $3.99 . You can find Organizher products at most Target stores nationwide.

Thank you to Mead for providing us with Organizher product samples free of charge to base this review upon and for providing additional products plus a Target gift card to use as our contest prize.

What you can win:
One lucky reader will receive one of each item I reviewed (a Family Organizer, an Expense Tracker, a Magnetic Calendar Center, and a Meal Planning Magnetic Notepad) along with a $25 Target gift card.

Limitations:

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. If you enter anonymously and do not include a valid email address in your comment entries, I will not be able to notify you should you win this random drawing. Winner must not have won any Mead or Organizher prize pack within the last 90 days.

How to Gain Entries:

Browse the selection of Organizher products currently available. Then leave a comment telling me which one product would be most helpful to you and why. You MUST do this to be eligible to win this contest.

Extra Entries:

1) For 5 extra entries, leave a relevant comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. Then leave FIVE separate comments with the name of the post on which you commented. You will earn 5 extra entries for each different non-contest post you comment on.

2) For 5 extra entries, enter one of my other contests. Leave FIVE separate comments here telling me which contest you entered. You will earn 5 extra entries for each contest you enter.

3) For 10 extra entries, blog about this contest linking back to this post. Then come back here and leave TEN separate comments with the link to your blog post.

4) Friend me on Facebook. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Facebook profile.

5) For one extra entry each, "Like" Organizher on Facebook and/or follow Organizher on Twitter. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Facebook profile or your Twitter profile.

6) Follow me on Twitter. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Twitter profile.

7) Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post using hashtag #Organizher. Then come back here and leave the link to your tweet in a separate comment. You may do this once per day until the end of the contest.

8) Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or you can follow me through Blogger or subscribe via email (widget is on sidebar). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

9) Subscribe to A Blog of Goodies' feed (the sister site to 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

10) Add my button or blog link to your blog's sidebar. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your blog.

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(All entries will be verified prior to awarding this prize.)


Random Drawing:

This contest will be closed on Monday, May 24th, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. A random number drawing will be held shortly after. The winner will be announced here and will be contact via email or through their blog. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

Good luck in the drawing!