Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet!? If you're still looking for some inspiration, I've gotcha covered with this Christmas Gift Guide & Giveaway - with a $300+ value jackpot!!
Keep reading for more info on the prizes and other great gifts this year for babies, kids, and adults, and enter to win in the Rafflecopter app at the bottom. Disclaimer: This post was sponsored and contains affiliate links - you don't pay more but we receive a small commission from purchases made after clicking.
THE PRIZES:
$250 Credit to Canvaspop!
If you have some photos you've been wanting to print and adorn your walls with, or if you prefer browsing professional printed paintings, Canvaspop has AMAZING options and their canvas prints and framed prints are absolutely gorgeous! This would make an amazing gift for your spouse, a loved one, or yourself! I recently ordered one of their pieces of canvas wall art and was absolutely blown away, it looked like a painting with brush strokes and everything!!! Watch my unboxing video below for the full experience and head over to Canvaspop.com to shop! 
Set of 2 Shark Wine Glasses
Do you want to drink wine out of regular boring wine glasses, or do you want to drink out of wine glasses with SHARKS in them!? I mean, HELLO! Hoe fun is this!? Our grand prize winner will receive a set of 2 of these lead-free premium crystal glass flutes from HOMEACC Shark Wineware, that are dishwasher safe and recyclable. They feature a wide and stable base, 10oz cup, reinforced stems, and a crystal shark inside each one - you choose transparent, black, blue, or pink sharks! A great gift for a loved one or yourself! 
2-Pack of DasMeer Swim Goggles
Have some swimmers in your home? Or have a tropical vacation coming up? These DasMeer swim goggles are fabulous! Featuring UV protection and anti-fog coating, ergonomic design with buffer seals that prevent leaking, a hard plastic case for each pair, 100% money-back lifetime guarantee, and the kicker - a quick release snap on the back so you can get them on and off without having to over the head! Our winner can choose their favorite 2-pack (color and size - adult or child). Everyone else can shop here!
Enter to win ALL of the above prizes ($300+ value) in the Rafflecopter app at the bottom of this post, but keep reading for the rest of our 2021 Christmas Gift Guide - not free, but totally awesome!!
GIFT YOURSELF... a better smile :)
GIFTS THAT PAMPER:
SUBSCRIPTION GIFTS:
I recently partnered with Bokksu to review their monthly subscription boxes of premium Japanese snacks and it is honestly such a cool gift for yourself, for someone who loves Japan or travel, or just the person who seems to have it all! Check them out here, and get $20 off your order with code USJAPANFAM20! 
Foldable Dry Erase Board
It's the versatility for me! Reading, writing, and spelling enrichment for kids. Pictionary and Tic Tac Toe games at home or in the car. To do lists. You name it, this 12x16" foldable double sided magnetic white board by Easnwillim is great for the whole family! What's more? It wipes clean in an instant and comes with 5 magnetic markers (with built-in eraser on each cap) and 4 round magnets!
If you need some more inspiration, scroll through these categories:
ENTER TO WIN HERE!!!
Open to US residents ages 18+. To enter, simply leave a blog comment and let the Rafflecopter app know you did so. Complete more actions to earn more entry points! (Click here to enter if the app is giving you trouble - you may need to refresh the page after loading but the app should work on that page) 
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Disclaimer: As a Share a Sale & Amazon Affiliate, I receive commission from purchases made after clicking affiliate links below.
I've put together a really fun list of the best Christmas decor shipped to your door this year!! But, before you head into the Christmas season with LOTS of online shopping, I wanted to share a few money saving hacks I've been using:
OK! Now that you know some of my shopping tips, let's get on with prepping our homes for the festive holiday season!!!
Artificial Christmas Trees:
Trending trees this year include flocked, pencil, and colored Christmas trees! Do you have one yet? Check out these!!
Christmas Lights & Decor:
 
Kid-Friendly Christmas Decor & Toys:
I mean, come on, how ADORABLE is this standing Christmas deer doll!? The legs retract so you can make the deer taller or shorter - love it!!
And you can't forget about TreeMendous Christmas Ornament Decorator!! Pop in the plastic ball ornament, turn it on, and hold markers on it while it spins! We use ours every year everyone in our family can make a new one to put on the tree with all of the past ones! They have a new decorator too, The Gift Box Ornament Decorator - so you can do ornaments with different shapes!
Christmas Fashion & Family Matching Christmas Pajamas:
Shop matching couples and family holiday outfits at Shinesty (affiliate link).
In The Kitchen!
Staying Warm!
Other Festive Fun!
House hunting and TOWN hunting is hard. HARD hard hard. Especially for young families who understand their wants and needs now, but have a hard time knowing what they'll need from their town 5, 10, 15 years down the road. A cute walkable downtown can add quite a bit of money to the price tag of a home, so is it worth it? Well, that depends how much you want to rely on a car. Do you want your middle and high school aged kids to be able to get to school, sports, activities, dates, and jobs on their own? Would it be nice to walk to the drug store, the movie theater, and the municipal pool? If your answer is YES to these, as it is for me, then a walkable town with decent public transportation should be high on your town requirements list.
Lucky for you I'm neck deep in research for our own hunt, so I thought why not put together a blog post that makes it easier for myself and others in the search! This will actually be the first in a series of town shopping posts... this is the New Jersey Bergen & Essex Counties edition! I hope you find this helpful, and please PLEASE leave a comment below if you have any insight to offer! Did I get a statistic wrong? Do you have a town I missed that is worth considering? Sharing is caring guys!!
MONTCLAIR, NJ
RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY
WESTWOOD, NEW JERSEY
GLEN ROCK, NEW JERSEY
RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY
CALDWELL, NEW JERSEY
VERONA, NEW JERSEY
OTHER Cute Walkable Family-Friendly Towns in New Jersey (which I deemed too far out of our desired area, but you may love):
Research more towns using my favorite sites:
So what do you think?! Do you live in one of these towns? Do you recommend it or have another that should be on the list!? Leave a comment below and I'll update the post!!
This post was sponsored by Kidas and contains affiliate links where I may earn commission from purchases made after clicking.
If your kids are like mine, they LOVE gaming. They'd game all day (and night) if we let them.
Of course we know screen time should to be limited. They need fresh air and exercise. They have school and homework. They need to be kids and run around and play with siblings and friends in real life! When it's gaming time, I'm happy to indulge because I know it's a true passion for them. But I don't especially want to sit there watching them play, monitoring every moment of their screen time. Do you?? Did you know 50% of kids who play video games have encountered online predators or cyberbullying? Shocking right?! More than 19 million American children have suffered from bullying or harassment in online multiplayer games. Terrified yet?? So how do we keep kids safer while gaming? Kidas. That's how! Kidas is an amazing software that helps monitor and analyze your child's in-game activity with 24/7 in-game voice and text scanning. They e-mail you a weekly report alerting you to any potential red-flags, from cyberbullying and hate speech to scams and predatory behavior. Or in my case, thankfully, letting you know all looks good and you have nothing to worry about (yet). I love that it's not only looking out for dangers, but also helping me get a better idea of the hours spent gaming and what times of day my kiddo is playing. I mean, how else would I know if he was secretly waking at 3am to play Roblox? HA! Thankfully, he's not... yet... Here's the most recent report we got from Kidas: 
Very basically put, Kidas' proprietary technology has been trained on thousands of cases of real life cyberbullying and online predation, so it knows what words and phrases are cause for alarm. It helps parents monitor their kids' gaming activity in a non-hovering way. Don't worry - you're not spying. No need to be secretive about it. Let them know you installed it and what it will (and won't) be doing.
Kidas has a great FAQ section on their website - the top section is geared toward parents, and the next section is geared toward kids, answering questions they might have about it such as "Will my parents hear or see my conversations??" (Spoiler alert: no, we won't, and we don't need to - Kidas will be watching out for red-flag words and phrases for us). It's a super quick download and installation (Windows-run computers only, even works on my son's ancient Windows 7 PC; not available for Chromebook or tablets). Seriously, just a couple of minutes. It currently works monitoring 75+ of the most popular games, including Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush, The Sms 4, and Adopt Me. They add games to their list frequently, and you're encouraged to message them with a request if your child is playing a game not currently on their radar. They have a free 30-day trial and after that it's just $6/month or $60/year, with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. I mean, we've paid more for a coffee, am I right!? This is a DEAL! So what are you waiting for? Sign up today and don't forget to use code USJAPANFAM10 to get 10% off!! 
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I receive commission from purchases made after clicking affiliate links below (and I appreciate it SO much, thank you!!)
**Updated 11/18/21**
Tis the season... to do LOTS of shopping!! So how about some AMAZING DEALS!?!?
Black Friday is coming, but I'm going to be continuously updating this page with EARLY Black Friday Deals, some which have already started!! So bookmark this page and come back daily!! I'll put newer deals at the top! First, if you aren't already an Amazon Prime member, sign up here for a FREE 30 day trial!
On Sale November 15 - 22:
On Sale November 22 - 29.
On Sale November 29 - December 6.
LIGHTNING DEALS (1-2 Days Only)
On Sale through November 15.
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About Me ^_^I'm a NYC metro area mom blogger living in NJ with my Japanese husband & our 3 kids (twins plus 1). This blog is chock full of product reviews, family travel guides, and giveaways galore! It's also home to Bay Ridge Families, and several guides focused on kid-friendly activities and guides to South Brooklyn, Hudson Valley, and New Jersey, as well as family-friendly destinations beyond the NYC area (check the menu bar!)  
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