Holiday Gift Ideas | SoCal Savvy Mom

Oct 8
2015

See’s Candies Carlsbad Grand Opening 10/9/15

See’s Candies will celebrate the opening of a new shop in Carlsbad on Friday, October 9th. The Carlsbad shop will serve as a fundraising and gifts center. There will also be the full product line of over 100 varieties of candies that we all know and love. It will also offer discounts on select items to qualified customers who are placing large orders or buying in bulk for their fundraising and corporate gifting needs.

The official opening and ribbon cutting will take place at 9:30 a.m. on October 9 at the new shop located at 1830 Marron Road in Carlsbad, next to Marshalls. On opening day See’s will offer customers volume discounts on select products throughout the shop with no minimum purchase requirements. Kids will also receive free lollypops and hats!

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any sweeter, fundraising customers can also enter to win a See’s Flash Fundraiser. The prize is enough See’s Fundraising candy to earn $1K in profit to support the winning organization. The sweeps runs October 8 – 16 and entries can be submitted online at sees.com/CarlsbadSweeps.

In honor of the grand opening of the new QD shop, See’s wants to celebrate with the residents of the Carlsbad community. See’s values its customers and always believes in providing a warm, welcoming environment for shop visitors. For over ninety years, See’s has remained true to the heritage and values founded by Mary See.

About See’s Candies:

Delivering deliciousness since 1921, we happily continue to make candy Mary See’s way, using only the finest ingredients — with no added preservatives. Our chocolates and treats are American-made in our own candy kitchens, from our decadent truffles and chocolate-covered nuts to gourmet lollypops and our crunchy Peanut Brittle, its quality you can taste in every piece.

Step inside one of our shops, and you’ll see a crisp, clean black-and-white checkered motif inspired by Mary’s original kitchen. Each day, visitors are welcomed with the friendliest service and can choose a delicious piece of candy to try.

Headquartered in sunny California, we have over 200 retail shops across the country and an online shop that serves See’s fans around the world. We continue to uphold our commitment to delivering the highest level of taste, quality, tradition and service. Mary would be proud.

Mar 8
2015

Fun St. Patrick’s Day Treats

by Nicole Connerley

Rice crispy treats are a favorite in our house, yet another reason to love them is you can make them for any holiday. We have made Christmas trees, pumpkins, Easter Eggs and now four-leafed clovers! Not only are they very easy to make, they are also delicious to eat as well. My son helped with every step of making these and had a blast while doing it.

Ingredients Needed:

1 box rice crispy cereal

1 bag of marshmallows

Green food dye

Butter (we used coconut oil instead)

Melt 2 tbsp of butter and 40 marshmallows in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute. Mix melted ingredients together and add green food dye. Add 4 cups of rice crispy cereal, add another cup if needed. Let set for about 5 minutes and then use cookie cutter to cute out. We used a coconut oil spray and sprayed the cookie cutter a few different times so the rice didn’t stick to it. After you have cut them out set on wax paper to set. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Mar 6
2015

Easter Giveaway fun face paints for kids

by Nicole Connerley

Hip, hop, hippy hop, the Easter bunny is coming to town! We all celebrate Easter with the ones we love, including those little ones who can’t wait to see what the Easter Bunny has left them. This year instead of just candy, think about putting fun items in their basket that they will enjoy. We are offering two face paining kits from FacePaint.com as a special Easter giveaway. A little about Facepaint.com, they been in business for almost 30 years and their products are for professionals and beginners alike. They make it very easy with free face paint designs, downloadable instructions and video tutorials so our kids will look amazing! FacePaint.com offers free shipping in the US, and same day shipping guarantee, that is great customer service.

The website is very easy to use and has so many categories you are sure to find exactly what you are looking for. There are painting supplies for every occasion, some of the most popular occasions are Carnival Face Paint, Birthday Face Painting Kits, Face Paint Party Supplies, Cheerleading Face Paint, Halloween Face Painting and Holiday Face Painting.

A little about the products we are giving away: Snazaroo Face Painting Kits combine fabulous easy to follow instruction books and Snazaroo face paint to create all sorts of exciting designs. All Snazaroo face paint instruction books include general face painting tips and techniques on face painting along with many exciting full-face designs.

Snazaroo Face Paints are hypoallergenic and the world’s safest face paints, meeting US FDA, Canadian, and European standards for cosmetic safety and the only face paint with a Child Toy Safety Rating. Snazaroo paint is non-toxic and easy to use face paint that is water-based, fragrance-free and wash off easily.

To enter this FUN giveaway click here

facepaints

Feb 12
2015

Adorable Baby Valentine’s Day gift

by Lauren Moisant

Valentine’s Day is coming, a few days away actually, do you have a gift for your loved one yet? If you are still searching for the perfect, unique Valentine’s Day gift look no further, we have you covered! This perfectly adorable footprint plate is sure to please. Why we love it is because it is handmade and very inexpensive. Simply stop by the dollar store on your way home and pick up these few items!

By now everyone knows that I love my baby’s foot and hand prints and will make any excuse to make a craft out of it.

Materials:

Red Enamel paint (Walmart for $1.98)

A plate or two depending on how many plates you are making (Dollar store)

Rubbing alcohol (Dollar Store)

Small paint brushes (Dollar Store)

Cute little feet (sorry you can’t use my son’s)

Directions:

1) Prep plate by cleaning it with the rubbing alcohol

2) Paint the cute little feet and press onto the plate to make a “V” Paint to finish the word and any other design you’d like

3) Place plate in cold oven and turn on to 250. Set time foe 3 hours

4) Turn oven off and let the plate cool completely before removing from oven

Wrap and give the perfect handmade Valentine’s Day gift!

Jan 20
2015

Easy, Fun Valentine’s Treats with kids

by Nicole Connerley

Valentine’s Day treats are so fun to make, especially with little ones, my son and his friend helped make these treats. Items needed for these treats are:

1 box Oreos (we used Trader Joe’s) Traders has a gluten-free option for these cookies as well
2 bags of Candy Melts
2 to 3 different Valentine’s sprinkles
30 Lollipop sticks
Wrappers and ties if you are giving them out

Candy melts made by Wilton are great for making tons of different types of candy. The most important part of this recipe is to not over cook the candy in the microwave, it we be ruined if you over cook or melt rather.

Microwave for 1 minute on 50% power
Remove from microwave and stir (which will be minimal at this point)
Microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power
Remove from microwave and stir
Repeat steps 3 & 4 until tit is smooth

Carefully remove one half of the cookie
Use stick to remove some of filling so stick will lay flat in the filling
Add melted chocolate over the stick and filling to reconnect cookie
Let cookies set for 10 minutes so the chocolate and cookie are reconnected completely otherwise cookie will fall apart

Dip both sides of the cookies so completely covered in chocolate
Wipe excess off of the one side (not the side you are going to use sprinkles on)
Dip into sprinkles
Set aside on wax paper for an hour or two until firm to the touch

If you are planning on passing these out in your child’s class I would recommend using the treat bags and twist ties. Very inexpensive the 50 treat bags cost $1.99 and the twist ties $.99 both from Michael’s. The chocolates were on sale from $3.99 to $1.99 this week also at Michael’s, the sprinkles I got at Target for a few dollars.

The finished treats! Since it is before Valentine’s Day I brought these into my mom’s chemo nurses’ today and they loved them, I plan on making them again and bringing to my son’s class. Something to note Traders has a gluten-free option for these cookies, which is great because my son’s class has a couple of children who need this option. I love that Trader’s has made it that much easier to make these treats for everyone in his class.