Winners Kate Spade Saturday find!

I was looking for a quick cute gift for a girlfriend at Winners this past week-end. I was so happy to see that they now carry Kate Spade Saturday items! Such fun pieces! You can check out the Kate Spade Saturday line here!

My friend has just returned to school so these fun & modern Kate Spade desk accessories were perfect!

Round desk container via Kate Spade Saturday

Round desk container via Kate Spade Saturday

Kate Spade Saturday notebook (no longer available on Kate Spade website)

Kate Spade Saturday notebook (no longer available on Kate Spade website)

Kate Spade Saturday mini notebook set (no longer available on Kate Spade website)

The container was $12.99 from $40 originally on the Kate Spade website and the notebooks and notebook sets $6.99 each from the original $20 on the Kate Spade site. Pretty great deals considering my friend is a big Kate Spade fan! There were many other items from the line! Definitely worth going to check out if you love Kate Spade stuff too!

Loot Bags....hmmmm

I have read on many mommy blogs that mom's hate loot bags!  They hate making them and receiving them.  But kids absolutely love them! I on the hand love loot bags and couldn't wait to put them together for my son's birthday, but I have to admit I almost started hating them because I just couldn't find anything good enough to put in the loot bags.  But after bouncing from one store to another it finally came together.

It all started with the Penguins...to clarify the theme of the party was Winter ONEderland and I found a super cute penguin Beanie Baby named Waddles at Chapters (Chapters had the lowest price and they had bags of this guy, which was perfect as I needed 34) and I fell in love.  So I walked out of Chapters with bags of Penguins!  The salespeople had a good laugh.  I thought it was nice to give the kids a collectible, keepsake they can always have from my son's birthday.  

Via Toys R Us

Then I got lucky at Michael's and found take out boxes that had candy cane swirls on them to use as my packaging.  They went perfectly with my theme.

Because of the size of the penguin I didn't have much space for the "fun" items so it limited my options.  I found the best places to shop for the little trinkets were:

- Michael's - this store had a very big selection and the prizes were much better than other places.
- Mrs. Tiggy Winkles - this store had cute little things that I didn't see anywhere else but the selection wasn't overwhelming.
- Winners - good for random things
- Chapters

For the boys I included some of the following items with the penguin and some chocolates:

From Toy R Us

From Michael's

Via Mrs. Tiggy Winkles

From Mrs. Tiggy Winkles

For the girls I included the following items with the penguin and some chocolates:

From Michael's

From Winners

 For the babies/young toddles I included some of the following items with the penguin:

From Shopper's Drug Mart

From Winners

From Winners

Via Ikea

The end result looked like this!

A big thank you to Gwynn Wasson for the theme inspiration and the beautiful favour tags! Check out her work on the catchmyparty.com website.

Hello Monday!: Winners for Christmas gift shopping!

A second visit to Winners this past week-end and I am...(drum roll please)...done my Christmas shopping (well, ok almost...I still need to pick up a few gift certificates and finish up some online photo gifts)! I'm not certain if it's because I went early this year but Winners has a fantastic selection of gifts! The majority of what I bought was for children which was perfect since they carry a huge assortment of Melissa & Doug products.

If you have not heard of Melissa & Doug it's a brand that makes great quality wood toys.  They're sold at Toys R Us as well as many online stores. See below for most of the Melissa & Doug items I saw this week-end.  They were for ages ranging between 1 & 4 years. I've posted the recommended minimum age recommended for each product below each picture.  At Winners, these gifts all ranged between $4.99 and $19.99, now that's a great deal! Most of the ones I bought were $7.99 & $9.99!

Cutting Food - Wooden Play Food (3+ years)

Dinosaur Stamp Set (4+ years)

Dinosaur Sun Catchers Kraft Kit (4+ years)

Bear Family Dress-Up Puzzle (3+ years)

See Inside Alphabet Peg Puzzle (3+ years)

Pound & Roll Tower (2+ years)

First Bead Maze (1+ year(s))

Bead Bouquet Deluxe Wooden Bead Set (4+ years)

Best Friends Forever Magnetic Dress-Up Playset (3+ years)

Barnyard Animals Jumbo Knob Puzzle (1+ year(s))

Wooden ABC/123 blocks (2+ years)

Magnetic Chalkboard & Dry-Erase Board (3+ years)

Caterpillar Gears Toddler Toy (18+ months)

Pattern Blocks & Boards Classic Toy (3+ years)

Wooden Shape Sorting Clock (3+ years)

Alphabet Nesting & Stacking blocks (2+ years)

Wooden Dinosaur Magnets (2+years)

Decorate-Your-Own Door Hanger (4+ years)

Doorbell House (3+ years)

Maggie Leigh Magnetic Dress-Up Set (3+ years)

Rubber Duck (4+ years)

Farm Sound Blocks (2+ years)

Decorate Your Own Wooden Fashion Dolls (4+ years)

Under Water Floor Puzzle (3+ years)

Scoop & Stack Ice Cream Cone Playset (3+ years)

Fold & Go Mini Dollhouse (3+ years)

Rainbow Stacker Classic Toy (18+ months)

Sticker Collection (3+ years)

12" Tabletop Paper Roll (3+ years)

Stacking Train Toddler Toy (2+ years)

I also found a great $20 gift for my Secret Santa at work which I can't share just yet ;)...but it's definitely value for your money!

Last but not least, I found gorgeous Cynthia Rowley and Elie Tahari mirrored contemporary jewelry boxes for my teenage nieces. $14.99 for the small ones and $24.99 for the large ones.  I will add a charm bracelet in each and voila!

You gotta love it when a store makes it this easy on you (and your budget) to give the perfect gift every time!