Anamalz have definitely become a frequent offender on the Raspberry Kids blog, and to be honest, we wouldn’t have it any other way. Anamalz have been a staple in the Raspberry Kids offering since the beginning, and we still cannot get enough of them.

We know a lot of you (whether you admit it or not :P ) are anamalz fanatics as well. As time goes by and new anamalz are released (like the reindeer and dinosauz in 2011) all of your collections continue to grow and we LOVE filling your orders for these amazing toys. Quality and design, there are few better combinations.

They are a personal favorite of, Chief Executive Mom of Raspberry Kids‘ son Riley. If our calculations are correct, we think he is up to a collection that includes  2 of each animal. THAT’S A LOT!

Check out our site to view all of the fantastic creatures, and this week, doing just that will help your chance to win your very own (if you haven’t started your collection) camel anamalz.

And a big congrats to TAMMY who was last week’s winner of our Flash Friday Giveaway!

The Giveaway 

An anamalz camel

How to Enter:

Go to Raspberry Kids and let us know which of the anamalz is your favorite

 For extra entries:

Subscribe to our monthly Raspberry Patch Newsletter on the top right hand corner of our homepage and let us know you did with a comment!

Share on facebook and let us know you did with a comment.

Tweet: “YIPPEE! I entered to win a camel anamalz on the Raspberry Kids blog and you can too! http://t.co/6uXhAZR ”

Contest ends February 21st 2012, 12pm PST. Open for Canadian residents only.

We love the idea of your surroundings inspiring creativity and activity. This room design nailed it on the head. Designed for a boy (or girl) aged 8-18, there isn’t anything about this room that we would change. Found on the amazing Kidtropolis blog.

An elevated bed with climbing rope, custom storage unit, climbing wall and personal intercom to the rest of the house, they have really thought of everything.

And of course, an Angry Bird (our favorite) made it into the room. A true 21st century child.

And this leaves us wondering, what would you little one’s ideal room look like?

Happy Valentines day to all of you wonderful Raspberry Kids out there (big and small). We <3 heart you all very much and wanted to inspire you with a Valentine’s Day recipe for the loved ones in your life via our friends at LMNOP and Valerie Gordon, instead. Made with Raspberries (of course)!

Valentine Heart Cookies with Raspberry Filling

Sugar cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla paste

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Using the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla paste, mix thoroughly. Add dry ingredients to wet. Form the dough into two discs. Wrap in plastic wrap or parchment and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. While the dough chills, make the jam filling.

Raspberry jam

(If you’re short on time, skip this step and try one of Valerie’s own brand of organic fruit preserves inside this sandwich style cookie.)

3 cups fresh raspberries
2 cups sugar

Mix the raspberries and sugar together in a bowl until the sugar disappears and the raspberries release juice. Pour the fruit mixture into a medium saucepan. Turn the heat to high and cook, stirring rapidly. The jam will boil and bubble. Continue stirring until the jam thickens. Skim any residual foam off the top of the jam. Pour jam into a bowl and allow to cool.

Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator. Flour a clean surface and roll the dough with a rolling pin until it is 1/3 inch thick. Cut out heart shaped cookies using a cookie cutter. Place the shapes on a baking sheet, 1-2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies appear slightly golden. Remove from oven and place cookies on a wire rack to cool. When the cookies and jam have completely cooled, place 1 tsp of jam in between two cookies and press together gently.

Let us know what you think of them and having a very loving day filled with sweets and cuddles!

xoxo The Raspberry Kids Team

As much as we like to think fresh, healthy and fun living is all giggles and cartwheels there are some products that are quite difficult to find natural, effective alternatives for. But not anymore, Thera Wise to the rescue!

The team at Thera Wise is a group of environmentally conscious health professionals committed to creating safe and effective plant based over the counter ointments for improved personal health and wellness.

Raspberry Kids is very proud to be carrying 5 ointments including, diaper and acne ointment. Tested by Raspberry Kids Team members, these products really work. And best of all, after treating yourself or your little one, you will have the piece of mind that they are being taken care of, naturally.

The full collection includes Thera Wise HmR Bio-Active Hemorrhoidal Ointment, SHO Bio-Active Skin Healing Ointment,  VpR Bio-Active Vaporizing Decongestant Ointment, Natural Baby Diaper Ointment, Ac+ Bio-Active Acne Ointment.

A solution for every one of the curveballs life throws at you.

We are aware that this is the most glamorous of giveaways but it could easily be one of the most useful. Today we are giving away 2 ointments of choice to a lucky blog reader. But to enter, we want to know the product that you find that hardest to ‘go natural’ with.

The Giveaway 

2 Thera Wise Ointments of choice

How to Enter:

Tell us what product you have hardest time to ‘go natural’ with

 For extra entries:

Subscribe to our monthly Raspberry Patch Newsletter on the top right hand corner of our homepage and let us know you did with a comment!

Share on facebook and let us know you did with a comment.

And just because:

Like Thera Wise on Facebook

Contest ends February 17th 2012, 12pm PST. Open for Canadian residents only.

Is there anything sweeter? We think not. Thanks Canadian Family for posting this video.

(notice how wordless this actually was :)? )

It has come to our attention that this has unintentionally become a Saturday post. Our Friday quickly escaped us as we devoured chocolate…it will make sense in a second.

For a moment we are going to take a step away from our role as kids gear bloggers and step into the spotlight of food. More specifically, chocolate.

At Raspberry Kids we are all about customer service and quality (if you haven’t noticed :P ). We love telling you, our fantabulous blog readers, about everything little ones but in 2012 we are also going to give you the inside scoop on some other amazing businesses and products.

If you have been to or live in Vancouver, you may have been to one of their stores or tried a chocolate at a friends. If you have not, you are in for a treat.

*Drum Roll*

Today we bring you Mink Chocolates.

Aside from their beautiful branding and STUNNING customer service, Mink Chocolates makes, arguably some of the best chocolate out there.  Whether you are having a Mermaid’s Choice (a Raspberry Kids favorite) or biting into a truffle, you can be guaranteed that you are eating only the best.

Now I know that you are are all thinking “well this is great and all but I don’t live in Vancouver”, but you dont have to worry your little bon bons about it. Mink Chocolates now ships their delicious treats INTERNATIONALLY! The perfect gift for that foodie sister in law, or your friend who has everything, you can never go wrong with Mink Chocolates.

And it gets better, Marc from Mink has so generously given us a gift box (WTH A $42 VALUE!!!!) for one of our lucky readers.

And feel free to send this blog post to any of your loved ones just in time for Valentine’s day (literally just around the corner!!). If you received this from your significant other, you can be guaranteed they want Mink and Mink only on the 14th.

Consider this our good deed for the day.

Mink Chocolates gets 5 Raspberries out of 5.

The Giveaway 

A Mink Chocolates Gift Box (valued at $42!!!)

How to Enter:

 Like Mink Chocolates on fb and comment on their wall that Raspberry Kids suggested I check you out!

Tweet “I just entered @raspberrykids Flash Friday to win an @minkchocolates Gift Box and you can too! http://ow.ly/8SAJ7 ”

 For extra entries:

Subscribe to our monthly Raspberry Patch Newsletter on the top right hand corner of our homepage and let us know you did with a comment!

Share on facebook and let us know you did with a comment.

Contest ends February 10th 2012, 12pm PST. Open for Canadian residents only.

Inspiration comes from all sorts of places. We love these photos from the Dwell Studio Blog, The Studio. A birthday party based on Garden Blossom Print from Dwell Baby, sounds good to us!

With so many amazing designs from companies like Dwell, Skip Hop, Beatrix NY, the sky is the limit when it comes for inspirations for parties!

Mickey's Helping Hand

For those of you who know me, you know I’m a pretty big fan of Disney. What’s not to love? Endearing characters, creativity galore, magical memories, extraordinary attention to detail, phenomenal customer experiences and a little bit of pixie dust thrown in for good measure.

This post is the first entry in a three part series that will chronicle my experience with Disney in the past, the present and the future.

I was the ripe old age of 3 when I first visited Disneyworld so let’s be honest, other than pictures of this trip, I don’t remember much. What I do remember as a child is getting to eat off of TV Tables in our living room on Sunday’s as a special treat to watch the Wonderful World of Disney.

At age 5, we returned to Disneyworld with my Mom, Dad, Sister and my Grandfather who was in his 90′s. As my Mother told the story, he was the first one up the ramp to go into the park. My Grandmother lived in a nursing home and wasn’t able to travel but my Grandfather missed her very much and cried the entire way through the It’s A Small World Ride because he longed for her to be there with us.

Delicious Disney Breakfast

My Mother also told stories about how when I saw Mickey Mouse across the way, I bolted from her hand and ran as fast as I could over to him. We got autographs from Cinderella, Minnie, Mickey, Pooh Bear et al. We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean, Dumbo, the Mad Hatter Tea Cups and many more rides but I was very miffed when my sister and dad got to go on Space Mountain and because I wasn’t tall enough, I had to settle for the people mover with my mom and grandpa.

It was several years before I returned to Disneyworld and I was living my dream working in the travel industry. I got the opportunity to go to a Disney Train the Trainer program and got the white glove treatment throughout my stay. All my childhood memories came flooding back as I watched the parades, went on rides and was overcome by emotion watching so many families enjoy the shows. One of the highlights of this trip was a visit from Jiminy Cricket and receiving my certificate for the course.

A few years later, I again visited Disneyworld with my employer and did some more training. As a student of Disney, we learned about some of the philosophies that went into their hiring practices, their training, their staff development and their unmatched attention to detail. We learned about the roles of the Imagineers and other cast members. Our hostesses were beyond gracious, generous and they stopped at nothing to wow us throughout our stay. During our free time, despite the fact the new Animal Kingdom had just opened, I decided instead to return to my favorite park, the Magic Kingdom where this time, it was my turn to have tears stream down my face as I returned to It’s a Small World and I also FINALLY got to have my ride on Space Mountain. It was worth the wait.

Many more years would pass until I had the opportunity to return to a Disney Theme Park but Disney and their brilliance was still a part of my life. Whether it be the latest Pixar movie or reading books or quotes about Walt, my infatuation with one of the greatest companies of all time was still strong.

Having such high expectations, I returned to Disneyland last June. I was once again a guest of Disney’s as was treated to a first class show. Highlights included the new Star Tours attraction, the opening of Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, Alladin a Musical Spectacular, Mickey’s Soundsational Parade, World of Color, a behind the scenes tour of the Imagineers Blue Sky Cellar, an inside peak at Cars Land slated to open in mid 2012 and much much more.

Soarin Over California with Minnie Mouse

Disney did not disappoint and while I was there I picked up two autograph books for my next trip to Disney which will be the first for our kids, aged 6 & 5. Stayed tuned for Disney Diary Entry #2 – The Present coming soon!  In the meantime, feel free to comment and share your Disney memories!

Goofy & Goofier!

Dearest Daisy Duck

Pluto! Woof!

Mickey ‘n Me

It is Friday again! I know, we cannot believe it either. Pretty soon the first month of 2012 is going to be over. Time sure does fly when you are having fun! This week we have the lovely Maureen from Emily Press, who has given us, not only some of her FABULOUS custom turquoise slim  labels but also an Skip Hop Owl Lunchie to go with them. The color combination is absolutely perfect!

We all know how hard it is for little ones to keep track of their lunch boxes and other items. How can we blame them? Being little (and big for that matter) is so much fun! This label, lunchie combo is a match made in Raspberry Kids heaven. Even if you little one leaves their lunchie on the playground, Emily Press Labels make it so easy for the finder to return it.

But don’t get the wrong idea, Emily Press Labels aren’t just for lunch boxes, they are perfect for labeling almost anything. books, clothing (yes, they are washing machine safe!) and  every other object imaginable (well maybe not your pets… we haven’t tried that one yet). We cannot get enough of the amazing variety of designs. Find the perfect style for your little one! As well, at Raspberry Kids we carry the Emily Press customizable wall stickers. Awesome decor for any room.

The Giveaway 

Emily Press custom turquoise slim  labels and a Skip Hop Owl Lunchie 

How to Enter:

Tell us which Emily Press design is your favorite!

 For extra entries:

Subscribe to our monthly Raspberry Patch Newsletter on the top right hand corner of our homepage and let us know you did with a comment!

Share on facebook and let us know you did with a comment.

And just because:

Like Emily Press on Facebook

Contest ends February 3rd 2012, 12pm PST. Open for Canadian residents only.