tn20

Oh, no! We bought these from Costco a month or two ago for an upcoming trip to keep our kids entertained. Does anyone have a good opinion of them? I've never returned anything to Costco before and don't know if they would even still take them back. And that is even assuming that my DH still has the stinkin receipt!

Momof3inpa- Wags can get kind of complicated, but here are a few basics... Number of manufacturer coupons (and this includes Register Rewards/ Jingle Cash) cannot exceed the number of items you have. (E.G. If you have 5 items and 2 man. coupons for 2 of the items, then you can use up to 3 RR/JC to pay for them (as long as you don't exceed the dollar value- no cash back.) You cannot use RR/Jingle Cash to pay for the same item you received the RR/JC for and receive another RR/JC. (E.G. If you buy, say a Dr. Pepper 2 liter for .99, you will get a $1 RR/JC back. But if you try to use that $1 RR/JC on a transaction that includes another 2 liter of soda, another RR/JC will NOT print.) On rare occasions, RR will "roll" (you can pay for one item with a RR earned on that same item and you will still get another, however, for a newbie, it is best just to assume that you will not get another RR/JC.) You can only receive one RR/JC per item (or offer group- shown grouped together in the ad) in each transaction. (E.G. If you buy 1 Dr. Pepper 2 liter and 1 other 2 liter (even if it is a different flavor) you will only get one RR/JC. But if you bought, say 3 free after RR/JC items, then you could use those RR/JC to then buy up to 3 additional free after RR/JC (as long as they are different offers), and get more RR/JC back. Some Wags are great about multiple transactions, letting you buy more than 1 of each item separately, and some will limit you to 1 of each item per day. You just have to feel out your local Wags and see.... mine is great... they order me things whenever I ask, will do as many transactions as I want, etc. I hope this helps- let me know if you have any other questions and I'll try to answer them for you! Good luck! As for me... I am super excited about B1G2 free wrapping paper and all the FARR/JC deals! I'm also glad that the sale starts on Thanksgiving so I can get up early, hit Kmart and Wags, then have BF to chase after other items at other stores.

I hope I'm not too late! Family Stone vs A Christmas Carol- 2004 Starring Kelsey Grammar Santa Conquerers The Martians vs Home Alone 3 Snow Globe vs Miracle on 34th Street- 1994 Version Friday After Next vs Santa Buddies Borrowed Hearts vs Muppet Christmas Carol The Life and Adventures of Santa vs A Christmas Carol 1984- Starring George C. Scott A Christmas Carol 2009- Starring Jim Carrey vs Ernest Saves Christmas NO.... I want both of these! I LOVE Jim Carrey and Ernest! (Sorry, I couldn't help voting for both!) The Night They Saved Christmas vs Die Hard 2 Yes Virginia!! There IS a Santa Claus! vs Mickey's A Christmas Carol

leefamily23- Reading this thread has made me feel just sick about your situation. My family is having a rough year financially, as well. My DH's plant closed, so he lost his job in January. He is going back to school, but we are living on a fraction of what our previous income was. But I cannot imagine what it would be like to have to worry that my sister (or any family members) were going to be mad at me because I can't spend much on their gifts this year. $150 a child is CRAZY... my budget for my own kids is only $200 (and it was a stretch to save that!) (I only buy for 1 neice, and I spend $25 on her... my sister buys for my 2 boys, spending $20-$30 total on them). Even if you were not having a difficult time, it would be COMPLETELY reasonable for you to tell your sister that you wanted to cut back the budget. If my sister were going through what you are, I would tell her not to worry, that something I bought for my boys could be from her so she didn't need to spend anything, and if she insisted on buying something, I would scale back the budget until she felt good about it. I would also tell her that I am going to spend my regular amount on her daughter to help give her a nice Christmas (and the gifts didn't have to be from me... they could be from her, or Santa, whichever worked out better). And I know without a doubt, she would do the same for me. I'm so sorry that your family is struggling this year and on top of that, you aren't getting the support you should have from everyone in your family. I don't really have any advice... I would just tell your sister, due to all the issues we're having this year, this is what we are able to do for Christmas, I hope it doesn't upset you, but we have to do what we have to do. Your family will be in my prayers for a full and speedy recovery for your DH, relief of your financial strains, and for you all to have a blessed Christmas! You are so right- your husband's life is much more precious than any gift you could possibly give or receive! Whatever your sister's reaction is, try not to dwell on it. Celebrate your blessings! *Lots of hugs*

Thank you, mhartel1!!!

Stacya (or anyone else for that matter!)- Do you know if the Rewards members' COF starts early in store, too, or is it only online? I usually do all my Gymboree shopping online, but as it turns out, I'm going to be in a city with a Gymboree tomorrow, so that would work out perfectly! TIA!

Wow, TRU. I'm very impressed with you this year... not even the beginning of toy season yet and you've already managed to alienate a bunch of potential customers! Nice. I've gotten my book... looks like I was among the first to get it, which is weird because I am, lets see... 80ish miles from a TRU. Weird thought process on their part... to send the books out to people who may or may not take the trek to their store, but not to people who have easy access to one. And not making the book available in store is outrageous! What is the point of having a big toy sale if not to sell toys... and how are you going to sell many toys when you aren't allowing your customers easy access to the sale flyer. I guess they are hoping that people will look online, know the items on sale, and come and buy them, without the cost of them printing the book. Whatever. But then refusing to send one out to customers who take the time to call and request one. That is just rediculous! If my book weren't already torn, scribbled on, items marked, etc, I'd mail it to someone who didn't get one. Especially since they are sending them out in the newspaper... imagine how many of those copies are tossed out, without even being looked at. In the newspaper, they might get 1 person in 20 (emphasis on might) who sees something they want and goes to TRU. A person who takes the time to request a catalog is almost a guaranteed customer. Seems like pretty flawed marketing on their part!

Does anyone know if these prices are valid online? I'm about 90 miles from a Target, but there are several things on my kiddos' lists that I would like to pick up!

This takes a long time to make, but it is SOOOO worth it! 30 day Friendship Cake You need to start with: 1 1/2 cups of starter juice (if you don't have starter juice, make your own by mixing 1 1/2 cups of sugar with 1 1/2 cups of some kind of liquor. My starter juice is like 10 years old, so I don't know what it was originally made from.... I've heard brandy or any kind of wine works well. In a 1 gallon sized glass jar with a lid, mix the starter juice with a large can of peaches, cubed, including the juice, and 1 cup of sugar. Do not refridgerate! Just set the jar on your counter top and once a day for 10 days, open it up and give it a good stir. On day 11, add 1 large can of pineapple chunks, with the juice, and 1 cup of sugar. Once a day for 10 days, open it up and stir. On day 21, add 1 jar of marachino cherries, cut into halves, DO NOT ADD THE JUICE, and 1 cup of sugar. Once a day for 10 days, open it up and stir. On day 30, drain your fruit. Save the juice to use in the future as your starter juice. The older this liquor mixture gets, the better your cake is going to taste! Mine has gotten to the point where I just about pass out from the alcohol fumes when I open it every day to stir it. I questioned whether or not this was safe, but my great aunt apparently has had her "juice" for about 30 years... I wonder what happens when she opens her jar!?! Separate your fruit into 3 portions to make your 3 cakes. Each cake must be baked separately. Each cake needs: 1 yellow cake mix 1 small box of instant vanilla pudding 2/3 c. oil 4 eggs 1/3 of the fruit mixture 1 cup large chunks of walnuts Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray. Put your mixture into the pan. Put it in the oven for 45-60 minutes. (I do 45 minutes, but my grandma's oven takes 60 minutes). Let it sit for a few minutes, then turn pan over onto rack, plate, etc. to get it out of the pan. I think the cake is best cold, so we refridgerate it and eat a piece with a cup of coffee or cocoa. Its very rich and dense, so a little goes a long way! The cakes freeze really well, too! We bottle up a mason jar of starter juice to give out with the cakes that we give to friends, family, and neighbors, along with a recipe card so they can make their own.

I got my Big Christmas book in the mail today. It has the $10 GC WYB $75+ on the back (which says, In store only- Limit one per guest, so doing back to back transactions with the Qs is a YMMV, but I wouldn't count on it), plus on the front there is a $15 off WYB $150+ card stuck to it. But it says Not valid with any other "R"Us total transaction offer (in-store only), so there goes my hope of getting a $10 gift card, plus the $15 off on a $150 purchase. The $15 off is valid 10/31 to 12/24. ETA: Does anyone know if you can get the $4.99 19" stuffed bear or dog with $50 purchase online? I'm leaning towards ordering online, but if I can't get the $4.99 stuffed toy and I can't get the $10 gift card, I might just take a road trip to TRU.

Valid dates should be 10-31 to 11-24... I *think* that's right anyway... Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong!

Thanks, Brina and Brad!!! Does anyone know if the sale prices are valid for TRU.com, too? The closest TRU to me is over an hour away, but I really want to pick up one of those Kung Zhu battle sets. I was going to pick up all the pieces that are included at WM where it would have been about $95, but TRU is going to have it for $79.99 - 30% for spending $75 or more, so $55.99 or a savings of about $39! So I'm pretty excited about that! If I have to drive to a TRU, the cost of gas is going to cut into my savings a LOT! About coupons, my coupons have always been on little card things stuck to the front of the ad... the front page isn't shown, so hopefully we'll still get them! And about the "Hot Price" by certain toys, those are usually items that TRU thinks will be a hot toy and they don't want to publish a price because they want to be competative if other stores mark them down and also don't want to be held to a lower price if the toy becomes hard to find and they want to jack the price up.

I got mine and was so excited- especially after getting the pen and highlighter, too. But what do you know... my rotten hubby has already taken everything over! About an hour after I opened the package, I look up and there is DH, wearing my shirt.... then later I'm looking for my new pen... can't find it. Ask DH who says, "Its in my bag with the highlighter for school." What a punk! Thanks again, Brad!

Thanks for posting this, Brad! I saw several things that are on my kids' lists, but I'm going to have to keep an eye on prices elsewhere before buying. :)

These are priced $15 in store as well, so you might want to check your local store. I saw them yesterday and considered buying one, but my TS3 fan is a bit too young.

Thanks for the congrats, Star, Sweet, and Chief! Good luck in the next contest to you all!!! I'm normally completely cursed, so I was shocked that I won one...!

WOO HOO; I just got an email from Brad saying that I won a T-Shirt!!! I'm so excited! Thanks, GottaDeal!!!

I need to figure out my budget for this year... DH lost his job and is going back to school and I am a SAHM, so we are scraping by. This year our list will include DS7 (?), DS4 (?), DH ($25 limit), Me ($25 limit), MIL (?), my dad (?), step-mom (?), mom ($5 limit- annual gag gift exchange), step-dad ($5 limit), sister ($5 limit), brother-in-law ($5 limit), niece ($25 limit). All neighbors, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, etc. will get a tin (bought on clearance last year) full of homemade fudge, peanut butter bon-bons, and cookies. For my boys, we try to spend about the same amount of money, but the big thing is to get an equal amount of gifts. For the $5 gag gifts, I buy as much as I can get for the $5... sometimes someone gets 1 thing and someone else gets 5, it just depends. Then for my dad and step-mom, I try to get comparable items, even if the prices are different, but I will set a maximum amount we can afford. I always feel bad though, because even when our budget is much bigger, we still only have an income that is a fraction of theirs, so my step-mom buys every member of my family a ton of things (hundreds of dollars worth of stuff for each person), and then we give them their small, inexpensive gift and I feel like a jerk. I was thinking $700 - $30 Christmas tree - $75 Christmas dinner and baking ingredients = $595 for presents - $200 DS7 - $200 DS4 = $195 - $25 DH - $25 Me= $145 - $25 DN = $120 - $20 Gag gifts = $100 - $25 Dad - $25 Step-mom - $25MIL = $25 for wrapping paper, tape, ribbons, etc. Geesh, that seems really tight... but as it is its going to be tough to even save up the $700. Oh well, its going to have to do! I need to cut up all my credit cards so I'm not tempted!!! Through a lot of sacrifice, we've paid off $30K of $35K in debt and I want last $5K to keep going down, not start going back up!

I can't even remember what I bought last BF! I have a vague memory of battling huge crowds at Walmart and then standing in a rediculously long line back in the hunting section, but no idea what I bought.... I don't even remember what town I was in on BF! Geesh! I need to go look at last year's ads; maybe that will refresh my memory! Wait a second... I know I bought booster seats at Kmart- BOGO, ok, at least now I remember what town I was in!

The main thing I'm hoping for is a good deal on a Nintendo DS Lite for DS4. His 5th bday is just a few days before BF and he is DYING for a DS. I'm hoping that somewhere will have a great price on one, seeing as they are "old" (with the DSi and the DS3D coming out). I would be ok with $100 and thrilled with anything less than that. All he wants is the DS and the Toy Story 3 game for it, so hopefully there will be a deal on that, as well. As far as Christmas gifts go, we are going to be looking for toys, video games, and movies for cheap... we are on a tight budget this year and are really hoping to stretch our money as far as possible. Our budget for everything Christmas related (down to the tree and Christmas dinner) this year is about the same as we spent on just the kids last year, so its going to be interesting. :)

I'll be spending much less. This year has been really hard on us financially so we are on a very tight budget. Oh well, it will still be fun!!! Nothing like getting mauled at 5 in the morning to save $10 on an action figure! :)

We used to be with my Dad's family on Christmas Eve and would have a big spagetti dinner with salad and garlic bread. Then that tradition changed and we rotate having Christmas Eve with either my mom's family or my In-Laws, then we have Christmas with the other. (This year, we're having to mix things up again because my FIL passed away over the summer and MIL has no other family close.) But anyway, this year, we are attending 3 different Christmas dinners... one, Christmas Eve, is at our house with MIL, then Christmas with my mom's family (MIL comes with us, but still wanted to have a day with just her... Christmas Eve), and late Christmas with my dad's family. For ALL three of these meals, we have what is traditionally thought of as a Thanksgiving meal... Turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole, rolls, pies for dessert... My DH and DSs are all OBSESSED with these Holiday foods, so even though it sounds like a bit of overkill to me, they are excited. We never have leftovers from Christmas day or our late Christmas, so they convinced me to make everything here on Christmas Eve so we would have stuff for sandwiches, etc. My 7 year old, who is tall and thin, but eats like a horse, seems to be counting down, not to opening gifts, or being visited by Santa, but until the ham is done- LOL.

This is what we'll be doing this year on Christmas Eve... Take our DFosterS2 in to see his parents in the morning. Then we'll deliver the cookies and fudge that we made the day before to the neighbors, and spend the day with our kids and MIL at our house playing board games, Holiday arts and crafts, watching Christmas movies, doing our gift exchange with MIL, having a ham/turkey dinner. Oh, and tracking Santa's flight online. Then at 6pm, we're going to a neighbor's house where him and his wife dress up as Santa and Mrs. Claus and take pictures with the kids, give out candy, play games, etc. Then we'll come home, put out cookies and milk for Santa (gotta hurry, Santa is already in our town, because we just saw him down the street!), carrots for the reindeer, and doggy treats for Santa Paws (we bought Santa Buddies and have 2 new puppies this year, so we must prepare for Santa Paws- LOL) and then put the kiddos to bed in their matching Christmas jammies. Then DH watches The Christmas Story while I put together toys, finish any wrapping or whatever, and head to bed before Santa arrives.

I'm sorry your dress hasn't come in. That is so disapointing. I hope you find something else nice to wear! I hate UPS Mail Innovations. I think its walmart.com that I'm thinking of that uses it that I've had nothing but problems with. I live in So. Oregon and UPS has (slowly!) sent my stuff to WA State, then handed it over to USPS where it took 7-8 days to make it, I dunno, 350 miles or so. It seems like UPS and then USPS don't make these Innovations packages any sort of priority. They just let the package sit around until they have room to send it to the next place, which then does the same thing. Thankfully, I've been using UPS 2-Day via Amazon Prime and they bring them all straight to my house. All the free to home or cheap ($.97-$2.97 shipping) on WM.com seems to come with the Innovations so I am now avoiding them at all cost!

Ooh... I don't want to think about it! A lot! Baking for family, friends, neighbors... probably $100. I have to make 16 pounds of fudge, plus cookies, banana and zuccini (sp?) bread.... Christmas Eve dinner (home w/family of 6+MIL): Ham, turkey, and all the sides. Probably $50. Christmas dinner (Away w/extended family): Sweet potato casserole, pies, rolls... Probably $20 After Christmas- Christmas (Dad's house w/extended family): Green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, make turkey and ham (but Dad buys it!)... Probably $15. So, probably $185 between baking and our 3 Christmas get togethers... Geesh.... its no wonder I always gain 5 pounds in December!!!