Holiday Gift Guide to Unique Gifts for Family

I partnered with The Hopping Bloggers for this sponsored Holiday Gift Guide. 

It's time to plan for the holidays! And today's gift guide is all about the family! For everyone from newlyweds to empty nesters, there something here for everyone! Our family is made up  of myself, my husband of 12 years, and two girls, Isabella, age 7, and Natalie, age (almost) 6. The girls have recently really gotten into playing family boardgames and love when everyone gets together to play a game - so games will be a big hit on our Christmas list this year!

Gifts for everyone

Shop Disney Tee

Our family loves Star Wars (see: Halloween costumes) - so I thought this "The Force is Strong in my Famiy" tee from ShopDisney.com was great and something we would definitely consider getting for a trip shirt for our upcoming trips! I love the simplicity and there is also a Star Wars logo on the back shoulder. Get it on: ShopDisney.com

Christmas Jammies

Matching family pajamas are a fun and festive tradition that your whole family can get into! I thought the Santa print on this set was perfect for Christmas morning! Get it on: Target.com

American Tourister Suitcases

American Tourister is our family's favorite suitcase brand and we have a variety of styles that we use for our trips. Our favorite style that we use is the Ilite Max style, we have a few of the 25 size and I'm panning on getting the 21 size as a part of Christmas gifting this year! I think that suitcases make a great practical family gift, especially if you know you have some fun trips coming up! They are also a great way to do a trip reveal - or to fill up with goodies for the trip too! Get it on: Amazon.com

Family Game Night

RoosterFin Games - Wizard Roll

We received the Wizard Roll game from RoosterFin games to test out and it was perfect timing, because the girls - especially Bella - have been super into magical games and wizards lately. After playing Sorcerers of Magic Kingdom interactive game at Magic Kingdom, I started looking for some interesting game alternatives we could play at home.  Wizard Roll was at a great level for it to be understandable and fun for the girls to play! Get it on: RoosterFin.com 

Disney Monopoly

It's no secret that we love Disney at our house! And now that the girls are getting a little bit older, I believe Monopoly will be in our future. (I always loved buying properties up as a child!) This Disney version is great for Disney dans, and I love that it has characters they will recognize on the board! Get it on: Amazon.com

Personalogy Family Game

We enjoyed testing out the Personalogy game earlier this year! It was a blast asking each other questions and learning more about each other. It also worked great for a travel game to pass the time while traveling!

Personalogy is a discovery card game that gets the whole family talking, laughing and having fun! Kids love to play, it creates hilarious and memorable moments for family dinners, parties or road trips! Personalogy brings families together through more meaningful and amusing conversation. Personalogy promotes families to share stories. The interactive component of describing “why” is what generates surprises and laugh out-loud moments. Get it on: Amazon.com

Gifts for Newlyweds

Family Decor Sign

This was a great decor find on Amazon. Amazon actually has some unique and really cute decor pieces that won't break the bank. I loved this "Family" sign as a great gift for an established family - or a newlywed couple that was just starting out and getting settled into their new home! Get it on: Amazon.com

Forever Yours Gift Box

Shopping for a newlywed or need the ideal winter wedding gift? This holiday special includes a FREE GIFT with purchase. YourCreative Memories Photo Album Gift Box makes the perfect personal gift to save memories beautifully, with a bit of fun! Each gift box includes a 12x12 scrapbook album with predesigned pages, so it’s quick and easy to add engagement and wedding photos, invites and more. It also includes a pen, adhesive, page protectors and 50 die-cut embellishments (a free bonus!) for added dazzle! All of it comes in an impressive gift box, guaranteed to make an impression and become a cherished keepsake. Get it on: CreativeMemories.com

EatSmart Precision Digital Kitchen Scale

This item is a great idea of newlyweds and families alike! The EatSmart Precision Digital Kitchen scale is light weight and accurate, so that you can weigh items in your kitchen without taking up a lot of space. 

The EatSmart Precision Digital Kitchen Scale is a versatile multi-function home appliance. Designed to be highly accurate and aesthetically pleasing, the Precision Digital is manufactured to the highest quality specifications. Weigh items up to 11 lbs quickly and accurately, with results displayed in four different measurement modes: grams / ounces / pounds / kilograms. The recessed platform allows you to effortlessly weigh items on the scale itself and the plastic design is easy to clean. This is a great gift idea for anyone who spends time in the kitchen - great chef or not. A must have for any family! Get it on: EatSmartProducts.com

There's truly something for everyone in this Family Gift Guide, full of unique gift ideas for those in your family! We are loving family game night this year! I hope your holidays are merry and bright!

** This is a sponsored gift guide in collaboration with The Hopping Bloggers. All opinions are my own.

Celebrating our Anniversary with Family Fun!

August is our anniversary month and this year my husband and I will be celebrating 12 years of marriage together! We enjoy celebrating with the kids and doing fun family activities that will be memorable for them as well, to commemorate dates like anniversaries. This one is a special one, because we are planning on returning to the Opryland hotel in Nashville where we were married and showing it to the kids for the first time ever! Excited is a complete understatement!!

Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee, Photo courtesy: Opryland

Due to my husband's work travel schedule and the Great American Eclipse (which is happening the day after our *actual* wedding anniversary and happens to pass right over Nashville!) - we were originally planning on booking a stay at Opryland closer to our anniversary date but then realized that planning for a weekend that there wasn't a once in a lifetime solar event which caused hotel rooms to be twice the cost, probably was the more feasible way to go. So we now are planning our overnight stay for the beginning of September! That's alright though, because it gives me more time to plan!

We did take the kids up for a quick day trip to the American Girl store in Franklin, Tennessee for the first time since that is something we said we would do that in August, and they got a chance to check that out. We will also have some school activities over the next few weekends in addition to my husband's work schedule keeping him busy, so I anticipate the next few weeks will fly by!

Check out a video of our first trip to the Franklin, TN American Girl store here:

When we do go on our road trip to Nashville, we are hoping to not only check out Opryland - which if you've never been there is a super cool resort hotel with restaurants, entreatment, waterfalls, and even a river - inside the interior of the resort... but also take the girls to see some sites around the Nashville area. We haven't been to their zoo before and there are also a number of cool landmarks and buildings in downtown Nashville to see as well.

Since it's our anniversary, I would love to get pictures taken on the same Delta Landing that we had our wedding on, and be able to recreate that with the girls as close as possible. That has been a goal for the past few years to get that photo of our entire family in the same spot that we were married in and I would love to have that framed in our new home!

Also, to encourage some family bonding time, I'm bringing along a game on our anniversary trip that was sent to us to try out called "Personalogy", which is a family fun card game which is a great discovery game for the entire family! When it arrived, Bella was interested in it right away, immediately opened it and started asking questions! She loved hearing everyone's guesses as to what her answers would be, then she found the adult cards and they took turns guessing what my favorites as a child were!

We've already had a number of laughs playing Personalogy together and I'm looking forward to bringing it to Opryland with us to celebrate our anniversary as a family while discovering more about each other at the same time!

Personalogy is available on Amazon and is a great travel game the entire family can play!

You can check us out playing it in a day in the life here... I also figure out how to clean the pool for the first time ever on my own!

This may turn out to be one of my favorite anniversaries ever, since we are finally returning to where my husband and I were married and will be able to share it with the girls! I'm excited to share their reactions and will be sure to vlog the entire trip!

** I received compensation and complimentary products shown in this post in return for posting a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

AQUOS Crystal goes To The Edge! With 5" Edgeless Screen

We've been having fun playing with the AQUOS Crystal mobile phone by Sharp Mobile the past few days! Most people are probably familiar with the funny face game that you can play with the phone, and the girls have enjoyed that. I've also found it amusing that Mommy can always get #WhatMommyWants (a smiling child that ISN'T making messes) with the edgeless screen design. If your little is less than amped up about your current activity - I've found that the "funny face game" works wonders - and if all else fails, just "picture in picture" impose a smiling photo of your child, and voila! Problem solved!

Kidding, kidding. Here are my thoughts on it:

And be sure to check out my LIVE STREAMS, NEW on Periscope!! I've given a sneak peek of the AQUOS Crystal fun prior to this blog post, and we will be live streaming at Bella's dance recital throughout the weekend! I'm looking forward to taking it #totheedge DANCE style!

Follow Sharp Mobile at the links below!
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SharpMobileUSA
Twitter: @SharpMobileUSA
Instagram: #totheedge @AQUOSTOTHEEDGE
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPNNCUmeTDK8H-00be8zDug

** Items shown in this post were sent complimentary for purposes of review. All opinions are my own.