Hallmark Unveils Exclusive Keepsake Ornaments at Comic-Con #Giveaway

Here is something you may not know about me: I have a an immense collection of Christmas ornaments. And when I say immense, I really mean it. See for seven years, throughout high school and college, I worked at a local mom and pop pharmacy/gift store. This store also happened to carry Hallmark cards and gifts. Every holiday season, I would spend a good portion of my paycheck on Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments. Even though I was still living in my mother's basement. After seven years of doing that, I have quite a few boxes of ornaments to pull down from that attic every November. So many ornaments that they don't all fit on our huge nine foot tree.

Last week at Comic-Con International in San Diego, Hallmark unveiled several exclusive Keepsake Ornaments that were available to purchase only at the event.  Including this very awesome Star Wars themed two-pack of 4-LOM and Zuckuss from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

 
Only 1,000 sets were made so if you were lucky enough to be at this event and buy one, well I am beyond jealous! Those of you that have been following me for a while know how much my family and I love Star Wars. In fact, every Christmas we have a Star Wars Christmas tree which displays only Star Wars Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments that I have collected over the years.

My family also has a pretty strong love for all things superhero related and The Avengers heroes are definitely a favorite. I was so excited to celebrate a little Christmas in July courtesy of Hallmark.

My gift pack included an Iron Man Keepsake Ornament, DC Super Friends You're A Hero Recordable Story Book and two Text Band. The first thing I did was lock myself in our office and record my voice into the book. It was super easy to get each page recorded and I was done in roughly five minutes. That night at bedtime I gave the boys the book and they really love listening to me read each page to them whevener they want.

As I mentioned I love Christmas ornaments, so I think my new Iron Man one is beyond cool.  It also comes with a stand so you can either hang him on your tree or display him on a shelf.

You can see that the stand is part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem from The Avengers. For the 2012 holiday season, Hallmark also created a Thor and Captain America ornament to go along with Iron Man. All three ornaments have a stand with part of the emblem and if you buy all 3, the stands snap together to make an awesome display.

Hallmark also has five new Star Wars Keepsake Ornaments for 2012 and somehow I have to find a way to get my hands on all of them. There is plenty of room on our Star Wars tree for more! At the very least I need to pick up General Grievous and Han Solo on the Tonton. Oh and Darth Santa is simply hilarious so I will need him as well.

I also received some cool new Text Bands in my gift pack which is a fun way for kids to send text massages to each other. They can create a message of up to 10 characters and then in order to exchange their message, they can either fist bump or high five. There are a variety of fashion bands that can be purchased separately so your child can have one that matches their style. Do you see the Star Wars band down there?

Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments started hitting stores this month, so be sure to head in to see what else is available this year.  In addition to Star Wars and The Avengers, there are so many other ornaments pulled right out of pop culture like Twilight and Brave. Personally, I am super duper excited for the Gigi ornament as that is one of my all-time favorite movies. I am adding it to my Christmas list (ahem). And now I am off to hunt down the 4-LOM and Zuckuss set on eBay.

Giveaway
One (1) lucky winner will receive a Hallmark prize pack which includes one Iron Man Keepsake Ornament, one DC Super Friends recordable storybook and two Text Bands. Giveaway is open to US only and ends on August 1, 2012 at 12:01 am EST. Please use the Rafflecopter form below.

Please note that the opinions and views expressed in this review are my own and based on my personal experience with the product and/or company. You may encounter a different experience with this than I did. I received free product to review.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes for Wii Review & Giveaway

With four young boys in this house, there are two things that are very much loved: super heroes and LEGOs. Who am I kidding? I love them both too! And when it comes to video games, the LEGO games are this family's favorites. We have all three LEGO Star Wars games, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and the first Batman one. When I saw that LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes was coming out, I knew I had to get my hands on it for my boys (and me).

Batman and Robin return in LEGO® Batman™ 2: DC Super Heroes, the highly-anticipated sequel to LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame, the best-selling LEGO® videogame of all time, which has sold more than 11 million units worldwide. This time the Dynamic Duo join forces with other famous DC super heroes including Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern to stop the notorious villains Lex Luthor and The Joker from destroying Gotham City. Batman fans of all ages will enjoy a new and original story filled with classic LEGO videogame action and humor as players fight to put the bad guys back behind bars.

Let me just start by saying that when I showed the package to kids, they started jumping up and down and fighting over who would get to play it first. They were all very excited and this game did not disappoint. As in typical LEGO video game fashion, the game is easy for kids to pick up and play but equally fun for adults as well. I know it is rated 10+ but we let our 7 year old and 5 year old twins play all the LEGO video games and they do great with it. I personally get a kick out of the humor that they mix in. For example, when Superman is standing by idle during game play, you will see him flexing his muscles. And when he flies, you hear the Superman theme music play.

One of the awesome things about this game is that you get to play as other SC super heroes as well. Early on you will unlock Superman and along the way there is also Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and many more. In total, there are 50 DC super heroes to play as! Superman is our favorite to play as so far because not only can he fly, but you also get to use his X-Ray vision, Heat Vision and Freeze Breath! Our boys are also itching to find Green Lantern. As for villains, you will find all of the usual suspects in The Joker, The Riddler, Two Face and so on plus Superman's arch nemesis Lex Luthor is thrown into the mix as well. This is also the first LEGO video game that the characters have voices, which is a nice change.

When you think of Batman, of course all of his awesome gadgets come to mind. There are plenty of those to go around in this game. You will get to drive the Batmobile, Batwing and Batboat and you will need to use special suits to get through certain levels. All of this makes for hours of fun game play! We have had LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes for about 2 weeks now and it is the only game my kids want to play. It is definitely a huge hit and they have plenty more to complete. Of course their favorite part is replaying a level in Free Play mode so they can choose whichever Super Hero they want. It will be awesome when all 50 characters are unlocked. This game definitely gets 2 big thumbs up from me and my boys, who can't get enough of it. You may also find mom playing a little bit after the kids are in bed. But that's our little secret!

Shop
LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is available on Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 gaming platforms. ($29.99 - $49.99, depending on system). Shop GameStop now!

Giveaway
One (1) winner will receive LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes for the Nintendo Wii system.  Please use the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!


Please note that the opinions and views expressed in this review are my own and based on my personal experience with the product and/or company. You may encounter a different experience with this than I did. I received free product to review. This post contains affiliate links.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open to legal residents in US only, 18+ only and will end on July 25, 2012 at 12:01am EST. Winner will be chosen at random using Rafflecopter and will be announced in the widget. Winner has 24 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. Prize fulfillment is the responsibility of the sponsoring company. This blog and its author are not responsible for giveaway prizes that are lost in transit or damaged. This blog is also not responsible if a sponsor/company does not send prize(s). Naturally, I will communicate with said company(s) several times, and make every effort to resolve the issue. Good luck!

Wordless Wednesday: Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns

This was my first time ever carving pumpkins, and I think I did a pretty darn good job. Of course the snowstorm messed everything up and I didn't finish the last two. I did get Wolverine all carved but never got to take any pictures. The fourth was probably going to be the Hulk, but that pumpkin still sits completely intact in my frigid house.

Iron Man Jack-O-Lantern

 

Yoda Jack-O-Lantern

 

Wordless Wednesday: New York Comic Con 2011

On Sunday we headed down to the New York Comic Con for the second year in a row. My niece dressed as Wonder Woman and my boys dressed as some of The Avengers: Captain America, Thor and Iron Man. And of course there is my hubby as Green Lantern. It was a fun day!

Wordless Wednesday: Mini Captain America

He likes to dress up like his 3 big brothers do. And he can take any one of them down too.