For years Walgreens has been our go-to store for greeting cards, seasonal and holiday items, medicines and other “drug store” type products, photo developing, cosmetics… pretty much everything except groceries and clothing, so I was really excited to be offered an opportunity to purchase some Walgreens Brand products for review.

I decided to start stocking up on summer essentials and came home with a nice assortment of Walgreens brand products to get our summer rolling:

• Sunscreen – hopefully this year I won’t burn at all. Cross your fingers!
• Fruit Frosters – for when my allergies get going. I haven’t tried them before so I’m curious to see how I’ll like them.
• Sheer bandages – standard issue summer gear when you’ve got kids.
• Tender Tape – so we can stop borrowing it from my Dad for the kids’ soccer injuries.
• Reusable Hot/Cold Compress – for Angel Face’s sore knee… twisted ankle… stiff back… If soccer doesn’t maim her, marching band surely will!

OK I’m ready, Mother Nature, bring on Summer!

Pretty please?

Mother Nature kindly granted my request and sent a sunny and gorgeous Sunday. I slathered on my new Walgreens sunscreen and spent the afternoon working in the garden.

Sunscreen is so important, but it can be expensive. I love Walgreens brand sunscreen because it’s just as nice as pricey brands but won’t break the bank! It has a nice silky texture and is just is the perfect thickness to go on smoothly without running. Once applied it absorbs quickly and doesn’t leave a greasy or sticky feeling afterward like some sunscreens do.

I also like the light fragrance that wasn’t overpowering or “chemicaly.” I know that’s not a word, but it fits what I’m trying to say. The scent doesn’t linger so you can wear Walgreens sunscreen every day, like your supposed to, without smelling like you just came back from the beach.

Best of all, it worked! Unlike other springs when the first day my just-spent-the-past-six-months-indoors skin was in the sun resulted in a nasty sunburn, this year I didn’t burn a bit!

Score: One for me Walgreens; Zero for skin cancer.

Unfortunately I wasn’t digging in the dirt long before my allergies got going in a big way. For me this means a dry throat and lots of coughing fits that make me sound like I’ve got something horrible and contagious.

Sometimes a drink of warm water will soothe the savage allergy beast, but not always.

Walgreens Fruit Frosters to the rescue!

I hadn’t tried Fruit Fosters before and wasn’t sure if they’d work or if I’d like the fruit flavor. I usually keep menthol-based cough drops on hand, but they upset my stomach if I eat too many of them so I was ready for something new.

Coughing so hard my eyes watered, I ripped open the package and unwrapped my first Fruit Froster. At first I was disappointed; the Froster was yellow, which usually means lemon-flavored – ewwww! Don’t tell anyone, but I always pick out all the non-lemon-flavored drops from a variety pack and leave the lemon ones there. Shhhh!

When I popped the Fruit Froster in my mouth I was pleasantly surprised; instead of the straight lemon flavor I expected, the Fruit Froster had a sweet citrus-y flavor that made my mouth water. Oh, THAT’S what “Mixed Citrus” means: not a variety of different citrus flavors, but all the citrus flavors mixed together! OK, now I feel stupid. Yum! The Fruit Froster didn’t have the harshness or medicinal aftertaste my menthol-based drops had either.

The pectin soothed my throat almost immediately, and even when it was gone my throat didn’t feel dry like it sometimes does with menthol-based drops. I put a couple extra in my pocket as I headed back out to the garden, but had a feeling I wouldn’t need them.

I was right!

Score: Two for Walgreens; Zero for the allergy monster!

Back in the garden I caught my finger on a raspberry thorn and ended up with a nasty scratch. My usual rule is that bandages are only “to keep the blood in” but since I wasn’t done in the garden I decided to use one to keep the scratch clean.

I’m not picky as far as bandaids go, but I was really impressed by Walgreens Sheer bandages. At less than $3.00 for 80 bandages they’re really economical, and they come in three different sizes, perfect for anything the kids or a raspberry bush can dish out. The Sheer bandages are also latex-free, which is important because Z-Man and Little Guy have inherited the slight latex sensitivity from me that I inherited from my mom.

As I worked the soil I expected the combination of movement, gardening gloves, and sweaty hands to cause the bandage to let loose, but at the end of the day it was stuck to my finger just as tightly as when I’d first put it on. When I was ready to take it off, it came off fairly easily without too much effort or discomfort.

Score: Three for Walgreens; Zero for bacteria.

When I purchased the Walgreens Brand products for review I never expected to need so many of them all in one day, but I ended up needing another of them before the day was through.

Who’d have thought gardening was such a dangerous hobby?

After planting a seedling I stood up and felt a terrible pain in my back. It was so bad I doubled up and had to catch myself on the edge of the garden. Darn it, why wasn’t I more careful?! I slowly and carefully stood up straight, searching for the least-painful position

The earlier sunshine had been swallowed up by ominous clouds and I could hear thunder in the distance. I was about two-thirds of the way done with my planting and determined to finish before it rained, so I grabbed my gardening bench and perched carefully on it to finish planting.

By the time I was done planting my back had loosened up and I thought I’d dodged the sore-back bullet.

I was wrong.

I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and literally couldn’t get out of bed. When Teacher got me to my feet the pain had me clutching him around the neck, riding it out like I’d ridden out so many contractions. The contractions were nothing compared to the pain in my back!

The next morning I struggled out of bed and into the shower, hoping the hot water would help loosen my back muscles. It did, but I was still in pain. I took an Ibuprofen another Walgreens brand we keep on hand and wished I could get back into the shower.

Suddenly I remembered the Hot & Cold Compress I’d bought for Angel Face!

I followed the instructions for hot use – place the pack inside the belt, microwave, and strap on. Ahhhhh! Between the heat radiating through my sore back muscles and the ibuprofen it wasn’t long before I started feeling human again. As long as I remembered to move carefully I could get through my normal day without any pain.

Score: Five for Walgreens and Zero for me cuz I was stupid and threw my back out to begin with.

I haven’t had to break into the Tender Tape yet, and hope I don’t have to for a good long time!

Crossing fingers!

Since we’ve used Walgreens brand products for years I knew that Walgreens brand products are high quality at a great price, but I didn’t know until recently that by choosing Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness products I’m helping others!

I recently learned that the purchase of every Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Product supports bringing preventive wellness services to local communities through the Walgreens Way to Well Fund™.
· a. Walgreens will contribute up to $3 million annually to the Walgreens Way to Well Fund™.

· b. The Way to Well Fund™ will provide free preventive health tests as well as other health and wellness services and education to local communities. Some of those services will include preventive health tests through the National Urban League Health & Wellness Tour and vouchers redeemable in select stores.

Try Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness products. Visit the site for more information.

Now let’s have some giveaway fun – how about a $100 Walgreens gift card from BlogHer?

The giveaway dates are dates are June 6th – June 30th, and it’s easy to enter! Simply tell me which Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness product is your favorite, or which one you’d like to try!

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.

Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.

You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

Visit the Official Rules and the BlogHer Round Up Page!

Good luck – I’m rooting for you!

Planning a party? Looking for some great tips to help you save money and avoid being stressed out?

How about an extra $100 – for free?

Check out my Holiday Party Tips and Sweepstakes – it’s easy to enter!

This is a sponsored post from BlogHer and Welch’s.

Ten years ago Teacher and I inadvertently started a family tradition – on New Year’s Eve we invited my parents over for pizza and cards. The next year we invited Uncle Jay, Uncle Ike, Aunt Elle, and their boys for pizza and wings. Each year the party grew, and grew, and grew – last year we had thirty people over and tons of goodies in addition to the traditional pizza and wings. More details and recipes to come in future posts!

Along the way we’ve learned some tips and tricks for hosting a great party without losing your mind or emptying your wallet.

Ask for help. Don’t try to do everything yourself; ask family and friends to help out! For our New Year’s Eve party we ask everyone to bring something to share. You’ll avoid the stress and expense of providing everything, and give your guests the satisfaction of making a valuable contribution to the party.

Don’t stress the decorations. Your guests are coming to see you, not decorations! If you feel the need for something special on the table, fill a bowl or basket with something seasonal: pumpkins and gourds for Thanksgiving, shiny ornaments at Christmas, etc. Candles are another easy and elegant decoration, but be sure they’re placed where little fingers can’t reach them and there’s no danger they’ll tip over or start someone’s clothing on fire. That’s not the party memory you want to be making!

Have something for everyone to do. Plan activities based on the interests of your party guests. At our New Year’s Eve party we have video games, cards and board games, and movies, but if you may want to have dancing or charades, depending on what your guests like to do.

Use space wisely. Do you have a place for coats? Where will the food go and where will guests eat? If you have video games, movies and board games, will they interfere with each other? We’ve solved these problems by having the kids put guests’ coats upstairs in a clean bedroom, set up the buffet on the kitchen counter so the table is free for eating and games, and moved the video games/movies to the basement family room. There’s only one TV, but last year one of College Boy’s friends brought his TV so they could play video games AND watch a movie at the same time.

Offer a simple buffet. Buffets are much less work than sit-down dinners; you just put out the food and let everyone help themselves. Be sure hot foods are kept hot and cold foods are on ice so no-one gets sick. Hors d’ oeuvres and finger foods are easier to eat and more fun than foods that require utensils. Just be sure to provide lots of napkins!

Clean out the cupboards. Put out the last of your Christmas cookies, combine various half-boxes of crackers in a pretty basket, spoon leftover cheese spread into small bowls, or place snack-sized containers around and fill them with the nuts, pretzels and other snacks leftover from previous parties. I realize the photo has nothing to do with this tip, but it reminds me how much we laughed that year, so I had to include it.

Don’t forget the bubbly. No matter what the occasion, a party is always more special when there’s a bubbly drink. Obviously for New Year’s Eve we have champagne for the adults, but we also have Welch’s sparkling juice for the kiddos.

If champagne is out of your budget consider a sparkling punch instead – Welch’s website a bunch of quick and easy my favorite way to go recipes for Sparkling Holiday Punch, Spiced Grape Punch, Sparkling Cranberry Spritzer, Sparkling Cranberry Punch, and a Holiday Toasting Cup. This year I plan to try the Holiday Toasting Cup recipe!

Take lots of photos. Be sure to take lots of photos so you can look back throughout the year and remember what a great time everyone had!

Splurge on something special. Find something to make the evening special; buy prettier but more expensive disposable plates, get a box of gourmet chocolates, purchase a new CD of party music, or whatever will make the evening more special for you. We bought New Year’s Eve hats, crowns, horns and noisemakers, and enough wine glasses so everyone – even the kids – could “ring in the New Year” together.

Let BlogHer fund your party. BlogHer is providing a $100 Visa gift card for me to give away to one lucky reader! Just think about what you could do with an extra $100 this holiday season…

*To enter the sweepstakes*
Just leave a comment listing which Welch’s sparkling juice or Welch’s sparkling juice recipe you want to try, and share YOUR stress-free party tip. Be sure to include your email address so I can contact you when you win!

*For a second entry*
Tweet about this post with a link to it and put your tweet URL in a separate comment below. -OR-
Blog about this post with a link to it and put your blog post URL in a separate comment below. -OR-
Follow this link to enter without tweeting or blogging.

*For MORE chances to win*
Visit BlogHer.com’s exclusive offers page to find the eleven other bloggers who are also giving away $100 Visa check cards.

Sweepstakes ends at 5 pm PST on December 31, 2010. For official rules, visit the BlogHer.com official rules page.

Happy holiday party planning, and good luck!


Don’t forget: Welch’s Sparkling Juice cocktails are the perfect choice for happy family celebrations
* Non-alcoholic, so they’re perfect for the entire family.
* Deliciously refreshing with a light, bubbly sensation.
* Upscale package perfect for special celebrations.