Reviews/Giveaways – Page 3

Disney’s Moana Review

November 26, 2016/1 Comment/in Reviews, Reviews/Giveaways, THE BLOG /by Chris Read

I took my daughter to go see Disney’s new feature film, Moana, and we both absolutely loved it! While it may not have the same powerful soundtrack that a movie like Frozen had, Moana was fun and exciting from start to finish while also having an amazing message that even my 6 year old could grasp.

Besides Moana, who is a strong, ambitious and bright young girl, my favourite character was Maui, who is played by The Rock, Dwayne Johnson. His arrogance made for some hilarious scenes but his kindness keeps you rooting for his character throughout the movie. As you will see in the video from our experience, my daughter’s favourite character was Moana’s grandmother who is another bright spot throughout the movie.

The one thing that always strikes me about Disney’s movies is that there always seems to be an underlying message for viewers to think about. Whether it’s a strong political message in a movie like Zootopia, which I was lukewarm about, or the emotional roller coaster that was Inside Out, Disney seems to to want to make more than fluff piece movies that you will forget about in a week or two. Moana was no different as it delivers a strong message about the environment and the effects of taking from the land without giving anything back.

I really hope you get a chance to check out Moana because outside of Big Hero 6, this was my favourite Disney offering in a long time. Yes, I enjoyed Frozen, I am not a monster, but this one had so many great scenes that we will definitely be buying the DVD when it comes out so we can watch it over and over again! Feel free to check out the video I put together of our experience at the screening and I’d love to hear what you thought of Moana once you get a chance to see it!

The Rice Krispies #TreatsForToys Program Is Back! {Plus, A Giveaway!}

November 21, 2016/118 Comments/in Giveaways, Reviews/Giveaways, THE BLOG /by Chris Read

I’m so excited to announce that I am teaming up with Kellogg’s Rice Krispies for a 3rd year in a row to work on their Treats For Toys program! The concept of this program is as simple as Make, Share, Give! You Make a toy-shaped Rice Krispies treat with your kids, Share it at TreatsForToys.ca or on social media with the hashtag #TreatsForToys and Kellogg’s will Give $20 to the Salvation Army to go towards providing a toy to a child in need this Christmas.

Understanding that it can be difficult to come up with ideas, I have included the recipes of the toys that my daughter and I created in our kitchen laboratory! You can also head over to TreatsForToys.ca to check out all the amazing creations that others have come up with. Just think, if everyone in a family of 4 uploaded or shared a toy-shaped treat, that would provide 4 toys to children who would otherwise receive nothing this holiday season. There’s no baking required either, so I encourage you to get your kids involved!

As promised, the recipes we created are listed below and after you get through those I have included a fun giveaway for a Treats For Toys gift pack! So, have some fun in the kitchen and feel free to head over to my Facebook or Twitter pages to share your creations with the #TreatsForToys hashtag!

#TreatsForToys Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this program.

Home Entertainment Essentials From Best Buy {Plus $100 Giveaway!}

November 15, 2016/401 Comments/in Giveaways, Reviews/Giveaways, THE BLOG /by Chris Read

Last week I shared some home entertainment system tips that were provided to me by a Best Buy blue shirt associate. Today I’m going one step further by recommending specific products that caught my eye while also sending one of you off to Best Buy with a $100 gift card burning a hole in your pocket! Let’s get started then, shall we? Here is my list of Best Gifts from Best Buy!

Toshiba 55″ 4K UHD LED TV

It all starts with the TV and after having used the 49″ version of this TV for the past week, I can say that I am extremely impressed. My family’s favourite feature so far is the ability to stream our YouTube and Facebook videos directly to the TV with the push of a button.

Check out all the features here!

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Sonos PLAY:5 Wireless Speaker

Having great sound is what will set you apart from the rest of your friends when it come to home entertainment systems. The thing that caught my eye about the Sonos sound system was not only the ability to buy separate pieces as you can afford them but also the fact that you can connect your devices to this system via wifi.

You can learn more about Sonos here!

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Bose SoundTouch 120 Home Theatre System

Looking for the ultimate home theatre experience? Let me introduce you to the Bose SoundTouch 120 Home Theatre System. This system almost blew me out of my local Best Buy and in the best way possible.

Check out the specs here but bring a paper towel for your drool!

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PlayStation 4 500 GB NHL 17 Bundle

For the gamer in your life, which in my house happens to be me, the Playstation 4 NHL bundle has served me well for months now and I highly recommend you give it a try. Guys, you may want to check with your wife before hooking this up to your main system but that’s where it belongs!

Check out the PS4 Bundles Here!

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PlayStation VR Launch Bundle

If you’re going to get a PS4 anyway, you may as well look into grabbing the #1 item on my Christmas list year in the PlayStation VR headset! I’ve seen enough videos on YouTube to know that this device will provide hours of fun on your big screen TV.

Here are all the details on the PS4 VR Headset

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Google Chromecast Ultra

Let’s say you went against my recommendation and bought a TV without Chromecast built in, the Google Chromecast Ultra is a simple way to use your mobile device to stream your favourite TV shows, movies and more to the TV. And while streaming, you can still text or call without interrupting what’s playing or draining your battery.

Check out what else the Chromecast Ultra can do!

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Now, I believe I mentioned something about a giveaway, didn’t I?? To get you started on your way to a new home entertainment system from Best Buy, I am giving one lucky reader a $100 Best Buy gift card! All you have to do to enter in fill out the Rafflecopter form below and cross your fingers! Happy Shopping!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this program, which involved playing with all sorts of cool electronics!

How To Create The Ultimate Home Theatre Experience

November 6, 2016/1 Comment/in Reviews, Reviews/Giveaways, THE BLOG /by Chris Read

One of the top items on our holiday list this year was a new TV for our living room as our current model is about 6 years old and the advancements in home entertainment in that time have been beyond anything I could have imagined. Not wanting to make the wrong decision, we worked with Best Buy to set up an appointment with one of their Blue Shirt associates and home entertainment experts, Ryan, and he helped us throughout the process.

I wanted to share some of his tips with you because it was all new to me so I figured there were more of us, less technology savvy, people out there… Honestly, had I not asked for Ryan’s help, we would have walked out of Best Buy with a mishmash of things that don’t belong together. That said, here are some of his top tips for outfitting your home entertainment system!

Good Sound Is Key!

As great as TV technology is these days, if you want a true home theatre experience, you need to up the ante when it comes to sound. I always used to walk right by the sound aisle because I knew I’d be spotted for the fraud I was while pretending to look impressed by it all. Ryan taught me all about the differences and importance of the various components of sound, pointing out that the sound bar was where the magic happens, while the sub woofer played in important role in the projection of bass. I admitted to him that I had received a surround sound set a few years earlier and had no idea what the sub woofer did, so I just left it unplugged next to the TV… Shame.

Obviously, the sound set from Bose was incredible but it was the Sonos system that caught my eye. I liked the ability to purchase pieces as I had money for them as opposed to having to shell out all the money at once. I also liked that you could connect your mobile devices to any of the pieces through wifi so you could play your music from anywhere in the house.

To Make It Great, You Must Calibrate!

That’s right, I said calibration. Let’s just be honest here, I had no idea what this meant as Ryan talked about it until he showed me the difference. You see, when most people see a TV with bright, vibrant colours, they are immediately drawn to it. In most cases, however, you are not watching with the colours or clarity you were intended to see. Best Buy offers a service where the Geek Squad will come to your house, with all their fancy equipment, and calibrate your new TV for you in the room that you are going to place it in.

What this does is sets the colours and clarity around the specific natural lighting that your room contains. Oh, and don’t worry about losing the calibration due to power outages or other errors because the Geek Squad saves your settings and can easily re-calibrate for you!

Miscellaneous Odds & Ends

Here are a few other tidbits of information I got out of my visit to Best Buy!

1. Make sure you measure your living space before purchasing your TV and TV stand. You don’t want to have to worry about these details while you’re in the store and then pick the wrong sized things.
2. Grab a couple extra HDMI cables and a power bar. Do you know how annoying it is to excitedly set everything up only to realize that you need one more cable??? I do…
3. Don’t be afraid of buying open box items. Not only is this one of my secret strategies, but the store clerks also emphasized that open box does not mean faulty. It is almost always because someone returned it without even trying it and you could save major dollars by taking it off their hands!

That’s all for today’s lesson! I hope it proves helpful for you when you are ready to redesign your home entertainment space. Oh, I almost forgot, here is the TV we ended up with!

It’s the Toshiba 49” 4K UHD Smart TV and we can’t wait to get it fired up! I’ve been told that 4K is the wave of the future so I’m excited to see what it brings. I also love the fact that the TV has Google Cast built in to give us easy instant access to apps like Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify!

I highly encourage those of you in the market for a new home entertainment setup to stop into your local Best Buy and ask for one of their experts to walk you through all the options. Thanks to Erin and the Best Buy team for making this such a great experience for us!

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this program but my wife is loving watching The Bachelor on this giant new TV so I am definitely 100% satisfied with my experience!

Celebrate #NationalSandwichDay on November 3rd with SUBWAY® Canada!

October 26, 2016/279 Comments/in Giveaways, Reviews/Giveaways, THE BLOG /by Chris Read

As a family who always seems to be on-the-go, we spend quite a bit of time in SUBWAY® restaurants, which is why I am so excited to be partnering with them for National Sandwich Day! Through this initiative, SUBWAY® will donate more than 303,000 meals to Food Banks across Canada. To put it into perspective, that’s more than the number of children across the country that rely on food banks every month.

As we work our way into the holiday season, food banks are working overtime to make sure that they have enough stock on their shelves to meet demand. With more than 550 food banks and 3,000 affiliated programs, Food Banks Canada will help more than 1.7 million Canadians this year. With food bank usage up 26% since 2008 and almost 80,000 people visiting food banks for the first time each month, now is that time for us to step and make a difference.

Go ahead and let all that data sink in for a minute. Oh, I should also mention that even donating just $1 can help to provide 3 meals to Food Banks Canada.

This year I will be bringing my kids with me to visit our local food bank, for a number of reasons. It gives them the opportunity to learn about volunteerism, which I believe to be one of the most important things we can do to help build our communities, while also helping them understand that not everyone is as fortunate as they are.

This is where you come in! For every sandwich purchased with a drink for National Sandwich Day on Thursday, November 3rd, SUBWAY® Canada will donate a meal to Food Banks Canada. But that’s not all. In addition to donating a meal, participating sandwich shops will also give the purchaser a second sandwich of equal or lesser value for free! So don’t forget to mark Thursday, November 3rd in your calendar and head out to your local SUBWAY® restaurant to do some good and to have your #SandwishGranted!

Win a $50 SUBWAY® Gift card!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To help you on your way to #NationalSandwichDay I am giving away a $50 SUBWAY® Canada gift card! All you have to do to enter is fill out as many of the Rafflecopter entries below and I’ll draw a winner before the big day! Good luck!

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this program.

Save Money & Help Others In Need With The Boston Pizza Kids Card!

September 9, 2016/235 Comments/in Giveaways, Reviews/Giveaways, THE BLOG /by Chris Read

It’s no secret that my family has a love affair with Boston Pizza. It is our kitchen away from home, mostly because it’s the one place where the kids will eat their full meals, but also because it has a little bit of everything for everyone. We go to BP so frequently that my son and I instinctively know which section we want to sit in because it has the best view of all the televisions, which play a variety of sports at all times.

I am excited to announce that the Boston Pizza Kids Card campaign is back and that you should really take advantage of it! This is one of my favourite restaurant promotions for a number of reasons and for those of you who haven’t heard of it, here is the deal. Anytime between now and October 2nd, you can purchase a BP Kids Card for a minimum $5 donation, which will get you five free kids meals, valued at $35! Pretty cool, right? That’s not all! If you register your Kids Card at BostonPizza.com with your MyBP account, you’ll get a 6th kids meal for free!

All donations go to the Boston Pizza Foundation Future Prospects program and every $5 raised will provide 1 hour with a role model for a child in need, so they can realize their full potential. We purchased 5 kids cards last year and had no problem going through them all, so I can’t wait to get my hands on this year’s edition and neither should you!! Head to your local Boston Pizza today and feed your kids for free while also helping children in need.

More About Boston Pizza Foundation Future Prospects

For more than 25 years, Boston Pizza Foundation Future Prospects has worked with partner organizations to help give kids in need the role models they require to inspire them to realize their full potential and build a brighter future.

* Every year, the foundation provides more than 200,000 hours of mentorship to kids in need.
* Boston Pizza Foundation Future Prospects has raised more than $22 million since its inception.
* Boston Pizza Foundation Future Prospects partners include: Big Brothers Big Sisters, Kids Help Phone, Live Different, JDRF and The Rick Hansen Foundation.

GIVEAWAY!!

To further celebrate the return of the Boston Pizza Kids Card, I am giving away a $50 gift card to Boston Pizza! All you have to do to enter is complete as many of the entry methods as you want on the Rafflecopter form below and I’ll notify the winner in two weeks! Good Luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SUBWAY® Canada Is Making Your Sandwishes Come True! {Giveaway}

August 2, 2016/421 Comments/in Giveaways, Reviews/Giveaways, THE BLOG /by Chris Read

Listen, here’s the thing. I am bad at making lunches for myself. I have been this way ever since I was old enough to work and I’m not expecting that to change any time soon. As bad as it sounds, this news doesn’t mean that I am not eating and it also doesn’t mean that I am filling up my body with junk five days a week.

As a matter of fact, with a SUBWAY® restaurant just down the street from me I am not only staying fed but also doing so in a health conscious manner and at an affordable price. My SUBWAY Sandwish of choice is a 6 inch SUBWAY Club on Italian Herb & Cheese bread, topped with lettuce, cucumber, salt, pepper, hot peppers and mayo. Oh baby, just writing that down has me pumped for my next visit, which will actually be in 49 minutes from now!

You may have noticed that I’ve been saying Sandwish instead of sandwich and that’s because SUBWAY has made it their mission to grant Canadians’ Sandwishes by offering a quick and customizable meal from top to bottom for everyone’s individual lifestyle and dietary needs. In case you needed more reasons to stop in to your local SUBWAY today, here are a few more things to consider:

– Adding all the veggie options to your 6-inch sandwich provides two daily servings of vegetables.
– Since 2008, SUBWAY® restaurants has reduced sodium by 30% across lunch & dinner subs.
– Their 9 grain wheat & honey oat bread contain 24 grams of whole grains and five grams of fibre.
– SUBWAY is working to remove all artificial flavours, colours & preservatives from its menu by 2017.
– SUBWAY is proud to offer proteins sourced from Canada as much as possible, including Ham, Turkey & Cold Cut Combo in their restaurants.
– SUBWAY also works with local farmers across Canada to supply seasonal produce during harvest season.

Western Canada can enjoy BC-grown cucumbers from April to October and Ontario will be able to enjoy locally-grown cucumbers, onions, peppers and tomatoes in early fall! Just the fact that they are trying to incorporate home grown ingredients would be enough for me but knowing that my lunch is freshly prepared really puts SUBWAY over the top!

Getting our #SUBWAYSandwish on!

$100 Subway Gift Card Giveaway!

Throughout the coming months I will be working with SUBWAY to help make your Sandwishes come true and this is the first such opportunity! Simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below letting us know what your #SUBWAYSandwish is and we will be making those wishes come true! Oh, don’t forget to check out this hilarious video SUBWAY created when they placed a Zoltar machine out in the street to grant Sandwishes for passers-by! Giveaway is open to residents of Canada, excluding Quebec.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this program.

Schick Yourself & Feel Great About It!

June 14, 2016/15 Comments/in Reviews, Reviews/Giveaways, THE BLOG /by Chris Read

The truth is that I’ve been tired lately. Working multiple jobs while trying to coach and be there for the kids as they take part in multiple activities. It’s our own fault for letting them try all the sports they wanted to all at once instead of making them choose one or two. My fault or not, it’s still tiring and with that comes sacrifices, some in the form of personal hygiene.

Before you avoid me like the plague, I still bathe, wash my clothes and brush my teeth, most of the time… My beard game, however, has been bordering on Jabba the Slob for the last couple months and I finally decided to take charge! I kept telling myself that I was a trendsetter and that disheveled dad was the new baby face. I wore the uneven patches of gray throughout my facial hair like a badge of honour after winning another battle over whose turn it is to shower next. The hair in my armpits bec…nah, I’m kidding, who cares about that!?

Of course, all of this is ridiculous and really comes down to simply being too lazy to shave. I considered it excellent timing from the folks at Schick that made me realize just how lazy I had become. They asked me to take the new Schick Hydro® 5 razor for a test drive and even invited 50 of you to try it out as well. More on that later, though! The new Schick Hydro® 5 system has an upgraded Hydrating Gel Reservoir which hydrates throughout each shave, a larger Guard Bar for increased skin stretch, and reduced Blade Span to minimize skin bulge which all help to get a smooth shave – all the while with the signature Flip Trimmer for hard-to-reach places. How could I say no??

So, I shaved, and suddenly being clean shaven after months of slobbery felt pretty darn good. Everyone in the house was excited for the change, especially my children who said they were tired of my beard scratching their faces. Who knew that taking some time to clean yourself up could feel so good? Well, I guess a lot of people who do it regularly knew that, but still! Of note, the Schick Hydro® 5 razor did an amazing job! Even with the thick weeds I had growing on my face it never jammed up once, which has been a problem with different razors for me in the past.

How To Get Your Hands On The New Schick Hydro® 5 Disposable Razor

As I mentioned earlier, I am not only giving away the new Schick Hydro® 5 razors for 50 people to review on Amazon.ca, but also an opportunity for one of those 50 people to win a $100 prepaid gift card! Here’s what I need from you to make that happen.

1. This is open to anyone living in Canada, excluding Quebec.
2. To leave a product review, you must have an Amazon.ca account and have purchased an item in the last 6 months.
3. Send an email to me at [email protected] with your Name, Email, Home Address and Phone Number. I will send the 1st fifty people the new Schick Hydro® 5 disposable razor along with instructions on the how to enter the $100 draw.

That’s it! Make sure to get your name in by June 23rd so you don’t miss out!!

*Disclaimer: This program is only open to age of majority residents of Canada (excluding Quebec). To participate, you must have purchased an item on Amazon.ca within the last six months; otherwise, you will be unable to leave a review. All participants will receive a Schick Hydro® 5 disposable razor as featured in this post.” Full Rules Here.

These Boots Are Made For… Everything, Apparently!

May 29, 2016/0 Comments/in Reviews, Reviews/Giveaways, THE BLOG /by Chris Read

Kids are funny creatures. They are completely opposite from us grown-ups in that they don’t seem to care about things such as fashion, common sense or practicality. Okay, they are unlike ‘most’ of us grown-ups…

My son recently received new Bogs rubber boots from Altitude Sports and I was very excited about it. There’s something special about watching a child splash through puddles in rubber boots. It helps remind us of the freedom we once enjoyed as children to do whatever we pleased. The smiles on their faces as they thrash their way through the rain are enough to tell a thousands stories.

As it turns out, what I saw as a simple and practical pair of puddle jumpers meant something completely different to my son. Sure, he still loves splashing in puddles with them but much like a new pair of running shoes, his new boots came everywhere with us! Without further ado, here is my list, in no particular order, of the strangest things my son used his new rubber boots for.

Baseball Practice

*Jose Bautista also plays in rubber boots! (*Not true)

Street Hockey

Everyone knows rubber boots are best for running…

Jumping on the Bed

Are my kids living the dream, or what?

Soccer

Actually the rubber boots are good for unleashing crazy kicks in this case.

As you can see, my children are just as weird as yours and I couldn’t be happier about it. Having structure is cool but sometimes you just need to throw on a pair of rubber boots and jump on a bed, am I right? Please tell me your kids do this kind of stuff too…

I should also mention that Altitude Sports is a 100% Canadian company and my transactions with them have all been amazing. Their discount website, The Last Hunt, has some incredible deals from brands like Salomon and The North Face and you should definitely check it out if you don’t mind wearing the previous season’s gear.

Don’t forget to visit Altitude Sports at their Facebook and Twitter pages to say hello and to let them know that you support a solid Canadian company!

Why Didn’t You Eat Your Lunch??

May 25, 2016/3 Comments/in Reviews, Reviews/Giveaways, THE BLOG /by Chris Read

We have asked our children this question on an almost daily basis for this entire school year. I have no idea what it is about the lunches we are packing that repulses the children so much but it seems the one thing we can count on in our house is a less than half eaten lunch when they get home from school.

When prompted about their decisions to neglect their lunches we have received a number of different, yet equally unsatisfying answers, that range from “They didn’t give us enough time!!” to the half-mumbled version of “I don’t know” that sounds kind of like Tarzan’s roar if he were to do it quietly and curtly. It is a frustrating daily exercise that we have tried to fix in a number of ways but still seem to be losing the battle.

Much like the rest of you, we have very active kids who compete in multiple sports and activities. I’m actually at a loss on how to explain to them that they need this food in order to fuel themselves throughout the day, as everything we have tried seems to go in one ear and out the other. Actually, if you guys have any tips, please feel free to share them in the comments because I am all ears! All this said, we have found a few items that the kids will eat no matter how little time their ~~dictators~~, oops, I mean teachers give them.

The latest such items are the new Quaker Chewy® Super Grains granola bars, which were sent to us by Quaker for the kids to try out. In the last week since we have been sending them in the kids lunches, they are the only empty compartment in the lunch bags when they return home and the kids would eat them all in one sitting if I left them out in the open. The things I didn’t tell the kids are the reasons why I am happy they are eating them. The Quaker Chewy® Super Grains granola bars are made in a peanut-free facility and combine super grains like whole grain oats, brown rice, whole wheat, quinoa, sorghum, and barley to deliver 8 g of whole grains, 5 g of protein and 2 g of fibre. Remember the mention of fuel earlier? This is at least some of the fuel they will need to get through their afternoon activities.

I will admit that the lunch time battle is far from over but I will definitely take these small victories as they come. I mean, my kids are enjoying both the Oats & Chocolate and Oats & Honey flavours of the Quaker Chewy® Super Grains granola bars. That’s a win in itself for my picky eaters and we are now one step closer to an empty lunchbox at the end of the day. Now if only we could force them to eat their fruit…

How about you? Do you have picky lunch eaters? How do you deal with it? No, seriously, please help!

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this program but I did in fact have to hide the granola bars because my son is a granola monster who would hide in his room and eat them all in 2 minutes…