Smiles all round and a Hallmark giveaway you WILL want to win

Of late, I have browsed in our local news agency and thought that greeting cards are a little bit expensive. You know, for a bit of cardboard with a picture on it. To save our coins, we have done a bit of card making over here in the past - kids drawings, my appalling scissor skills and some glitter. You know the drill. And they always look....ok. Thrifty and ok.

No candles were harmed in the production of this Hallmark card

But sometimes when you send a card or give a card with a gift you just need something a little bit more special. A "wowee buckle tee" factor if you like. When the nice folk at Hallmark sent me some of their new "interactive" cards, I learnt all I really needed to know about them in the two minutes after they arrived in my letterbox.

When we opened the envelope and looked through the cards, my 5 year old Batsman simply could not contain his giggles at the dancing Carmen Miranda on one card, the Crocodile Rock music played on another and most of all the card with the "push button" dancing mustache. The Hallmark interactive cards light up, jiggle, giggle, pop up enormously and dance. And they made my boy smile and giggle. So knowing that we had smiles all round, I can only imagine what it will be like to be a recipient of one by post.

Yes, the mustache dances

And, just to increase the level of smiles around here, Hallmark have provided very generous giveaway packs for 2 lucky Segovia readers. Each prize pack includes a selection of cards from the interactive range, the licensed Disney range, the polka-dots range, and classic range, as well as a double forever friends CD featuring tracks from The Script, Michael Buble, Delta Goodrem and many others, AND a Hallmark recordable storybook. The pack is valued at over $115, and is basically a years worth of cards. Um, wow. It's a great prize and think of the time and money you will save on not buying glitter to make your own.

So here is what you need to do to win:

1. Leave a comment below telling me something good about your day. Share the happy.
2. Follow Segovia - here or on FB
3. Ensure that you are contactable by leaving an email address with your comment or via your profile.

The giveaway is open until midnight on July 9, 2012. There are two prize packs, each valued at $115. Winners drawn randomly.

Disclaimer: These are my personal opinions. I received a selection of Hallmark interactive cards to enable me to review them. You lucky people get the opportunity to win the two big prizes.

Big4 Bellarine - the real deal

I haven't done much work with brands.
I have kind of tinkered around the edges.
And mainly I have told myself it is because I just don't have time.
Sure there is a part of me that likes a little bit of free product here and there. But when it gets down to it, I think the real reason is that a lot of the time I find all the marketing mumbo jumbo a bit uncomfortable and disconcerting, especially if I feel like me (or my readers) are having some sales pitch rammed somewhere it doesn't need to be.

But every now and then, something comes along and you know it's the real deal. No bull. No ramming anything anywhere. Just the real deal.

Last weekend I had the great fortune of being one of 40 mums invited to a sleepover event at Big4 Bellarine Holiday Park just a little way from Geelong. Lots of others have written posts about what happened on the weekend so if you want to read about that go here and here. Suffice to say we were well fed, watered and pampered. It was a lovely break.

I was particularly impressed by the way Sophie, one of the co-owners of the park, told us the story of how their wonderful park came into being. She told the story with thought, honesty, grace and the fabulous sense of humour of someone who has put it all on the line to get a business going and is giving it a real crack. Hearing the story was one of my favourite parts of the whole weekend. I really truly love it when people's authenticity shines through and with Sophie it shone brightly.

I have booked a little winter break for later in the year at Big4 Bellarine. I am really excited about showing the Captain, the Batsman and the Bowler around all the fun facilities they have. I have had a good chat with Sophie about autism and how that affects our family and how it can make holidays a bit tricky. She really listened.

I already knew Big4 Bellarine was the real deal after my weekend experience but you know when I really knew?

I knew when a little package arrived this week. It was personally addressed to the Batsman....a social story to help him understand where he is going on our winter break and what it will be like. It's this kind of stuff that makes the big difference. The Batsman loved it. You should have seen his face.

Yep. The real deal.

Final words: I had a great time at Big4 Bellarine. I was not paid or asked to write this post. I just wanted to share something real. Really. xx