Thrive

Choosing a name or title is always the hardest part of completing a process. You want it to be meaningful and unique.

THRIVE

You can't say much more than that. Thrive Algae Oil is about cooking with something that will benefit your body the best you can. It's super healthy with 25% more monounsaturated fats and 75% less saturated fat than olive oil, and olive oil is supposed to be pretty good right?! Truly meant to help your body thrive.

So when I told my husband I was going to throw this party and cook food using Algae Oil, he wasn't sure he wanted to eat it. It sounded strange and he was afraid it would taste weird. When I told an invited friend, she said, don't cook everything in it because she was also scared of the taste. So the best part about this oil, turned out to be that the taste wasn't strange. It didn't taste gross. In fact, it didn't taste different at all. I can get behind something that is good for me and still tastes good!

2 ways we used the oil was to do a stir fry of some yummy vegetables (green beans and bell peppers), which was a feast for the eyes too with all the colors, and we did twice baked potatoes. Both were so great! 

(What is a party without some games, so we did that too!)

Disney Codenames

I remember being introduced to the original Codenames and being instantly hooked. It was my new favorite game. When #tryazon and #USAopoly offered the change to try out Disney Codenames I jumped at the chance! It's so much fun.

The basic idea of Codenames is you split into 2 teams. There's a secret grid that only 2 callers can look at. Each caller wants you to guess their set of words based on the grid. They give clues by saying ONE WORD and a number. The team then has to guess what card the caller meant for you to guess. The number lets you know how many cards the caller thinks are connected to that clue. Just be careful! You may end up guessing the other team's card (ending your turn), and innocent bystander, or the assassin, which gives the other team the win automatically.

What I love about Disney Codenames is the cards have 2 sides. One side has a word, but the other side has a picture of a Disney film, scene, or character. Using the pictures was sometimes harder to connect multiple cards, but was a fun challenge.

The huge reason I really wanted to try it with pictures is for my young children who are not proficient readers. By playing with pictures, they could play too. Now we have a game for the whole family! And because the game is played in teams, you can have as many players as you want. It's always hard finding games that will accommodate large groups.

I would definitely recommend Disney Codenames or the original Codenames to anyone and everyone.

Telestrations Party Pack

Telestrations: a game like Telephone (passing whispered words from ear to ear), but with drawing and writing instead.

Result: fits of laughter

I've played the "poor man's" version of this game before, paper, pencil, fold it, pass it. Man, I should have invested in this game earlier. It's so much easier having the dry erase flip boards instead. The subject cards make choosing a topic to draw simple, and when you get an impossible topic to draw, the laughter ensues. It's a great party game. Involves lots of people.

Imagine your dad getting the word "locksmith"
He decides to draw a lock (of course)
            and then draws "Joseph Smith's first vision" to get you to guess "Smith"
Somehow your brother knows exactly what he meant to draw.
What?!?!?!?!?
But no one gets it after that, and errors fly across it's pages.

I seriously wondered if that much laughter could be bad for the baby in my tummy!

The scoring system doesn't seem worth keeping up with, but really, we're playing the game for the laughs, not the points.

Good thing there were plenty of dry erase markers, because 2 (was it 3?) leaked on us and we threw them away.

We got to the point beyond bedtime....and still played another game. It was THAT good! I love the stuff #USAopoly, #Telestrations and #Tryazon come up with!!

Smart games and Tryazon

I love when I get chosen to try out new stuff. I love it more when it's games. #smartgamesusa and #tryazon let our family try these and we had fun!

THere were three games.

Our favorite was Little Red Riding Hood. It was a game that my 6 and 4 year old boys could play with a little bit of help. We had actually recently played a similar game in the iPad, but I love that this is the same fun without screen time involved! You're given a scenario to set up and then try to place the right pieces to allow for the correct path to house.

Color Code was also fun. You use multiple tiles to try and recreate the same picture shown. My 6 year old could do this. It didn't hold his attention span for as long, but still fun. I saw some older kids doing is one too and they loved it.

IQ Puzzler was the last one. It was much harder. I don't think as well spatially. It isn't something I would use with younger children.

We had lots of fun though! Thanks again!


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Banza bonanza!

The name sounds fun at least right?

I'm a lover of macaroni and cheese. Always have been. To some of you that means the fancy shmancy dishes for adults, but, honestly, I'm talking about the box. Good memories growing up eating it, perfectly the art of the mixing and stir, to mastering the half box when there was no one to share with. When I saw Banza was doing a Mac and cheese party I knew it was for me.

Some of the details you need to know is it's vegan, gluten free (until we added our regular butter and milk), and high in protein because it's made from chickpeas.

The details you want to know....how did it taste?

Well, it was pasta a little bit more chewy, the smell and color a little off. I ate my whole bowl. I didn't have that much, but it was filling. Others liked it too, both adults and children. Some adults didn't like it varying from "one bite was enough" to "I wouldn't choose to eat it again." My child wouldn't even tr it. Granted he's a picky 3 year old, but he typically eats macaroni. Many children didn't try it besides him, though.

So while a healthier option of macaroni is cheese would be nice, I don't think I've found my option yet.

Thanks for letting me try something new #tryazon #banza!

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Smart Games USA with Tryazon

I like all things I've been able to try through Tryazon, but this one has been my favorite. Smart Games USA really has some fun ideas. It was fun to play on my own and play in a group. They made me think. And when I didn't get it right, I wanted to to think about it some more. My boys are a little young for the games, but they still wanted to play so I helped them think about it.

I got 3 games. Here they are:

IQ XOXO

It's like tangrams. You've got to arrange the pieces to fit within a rectangle. But the order is important too. You must maintain the pattern, XOXO. No x's touching other x's. Same for o's. I'm not terrific at tangrams, but this is one game that my young boys love and so we played it over and over. I'm actually getting pretty good at one version of it. That's pretty cool. I'm kind of smart. :) 

Biggest problem with this game is so many small pieces. I wish there was a more secure way to handle it.

Ghost Hunters

I really like this one. It still has shaped pieces that must fit into a square shape....still tangrams, but there are flashlights printed on parts of the pieces. The flashlights must highlight the ghosts on board as you "hunt" them. I was a little amazed how hard my first puzzle was, only to find out that it was actually #51. I solved it and felt even cooler. The first few puzzles have some shapes highlighted, so that really helps the beginner figure it out. The case carries several puzzles. 

Major complaint is I wish the pieces were magnetic. They fall off so easily. It would be nice if they stayed on the game.

BUSY BUGS

This one was super fun. IT IS MAGNETIC! And everything is attached together. No losing pieces here! It would be a super easy travel game. There are several puzzles telling you to arrange pieces so that only certain bugs show or only so many bugs can show at a time. It was fun to rearrange the pieces around.

I wish the booklet was made of stronger paper for the rougher kid/adult.

So fun! What a great night. I can't complain when I'm giving an excuse to play games, hang out with friends, and eat yummy food.

EQtainment Party

This was a different experience for sure. The party was brought to us by EQtainment. It's games and activities meant to teach kids social skills in a couple of different ways.

I received Q's Race to the Top board game
On-the-Go Pack
Q Time Buddy
Storybook
Coloring book

Using the board game, each player moves it's piece by rolling the die and answering questions depending on the color landed on.

Red = an physical activity
Green = a situation needing a solution through "Q" the monkey
Blue = general questions about being polite, communicating (all social skill concepts), but directly related to the child/reader.

Looking at it as an adult, I actually wasn't that impressed. I was hoping for something more. The On-the-Go Pack is the same cards as the board game, but no board. I don't know why you would want to pay extra for the same set of cards.

My boys did want to play it though. It says it's for ages 3+ but my 3 year old did want anything to do with the questions and answers. My 5 year old played and would kind of answer questions, but really he just wanted to get his monkey to the top first and didn't pay much attention to me asking him questions. I would make him pause for it each time, but he had often rolled for his turn before we were ready to move on. The ages seem really hard. I want to teach my young children the polite response to these questions, but they seemed a little young. I'm afraid that older children wouldn't want to bother with it. There are some great questions, I just wonder if it's really the most age appropriate way to get the ideas across.

As I type, I'm considering using the cards in the car. Even if we only answer one per ride, maybe we can have a meaningful conversation.

The stuffed animal, Q Time Buddy, seemed well made and the children enjoyed playing with him.

If I were desperate, I might consider buying the board game alone. There's no way I would ever pay full price for the entire set that was sent to me.

I received these products for free from #tryazon and #EQtainment for my honest opinion.