I am so excited to be part of the Back to School Giveaway Hop hosted by Sarah’s Blog of Fun! The giveaway will take place from August 22nd to August 31st and over 70 blogs are participating. Make sure that you enter all of the giveaways. You will find links to all the giveaways at the end of the post.

The Shopping Duck is giving away a High Sierra Energy Pack! This pack is a great backpack with four big compartments, deluxe organizer, 15″ notebook sleeve and MP3 player pocket. My daughter has one just like it and absolutely loves it. Also included is a insulated lunch bag, various school supplies (paper, scissors, glue stick, pens, pencils, folders) and a $10 Target Gift Card so you can get even more school supplies! Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter.

When September starts to draw closer, you can feel something different in the air. I don’t know what it is, but there is just that back to school feeling. It makes me a little sad. I love the summer – the warm weather, having fun with the kids, going on vacation – but I know it can’t last forever.

Every year, I take a picture of the kids as they head out the door for school. They look so ready for school with their cute outfits, backpacks and smiles. They are excited to see their friends again and wonder what the school year will hold in store for them. This year my older daughter is a senior. It will be here last back to school picture at these schools. Next year, I will have to take a back to school college picture.

This year, I think it would be fun to make a card using a collage of my back to school pictures. They would make fun note cards too. You can find cool back to school ideas at Tiny Prints.

Every year, a week or so before school starts, we all head out to get our hair cut for the new school year. The girls usually only want a trim and my son gets the same style – not too short, not too long!

If your kids need a new back to school hair cut, why not try out Cool Cuts 4 Kids? Cool Cuts 4 Kids is the nation’s largest salon chain for kids and they are offering a coupon good for $5 off any service of $11.95 or higher. The expert stylists at Cool Cuts 4 kids keep up on the latest hairstyles and are trained to take the stress out of any haircut day.

Each Cool Cuts 4 Kids salon has an entertainment zone that offers movies, video games and more. Plus, the offer a reward system – the Cool Rewards Club. Earn points for each regularly priced service and reward coupons are emailed directly to you. To find a location near you, visit the Cool Cuts 4 Kids website.

I have bought several varieties of Betty Crocker’s Cereal Treat bars. My kids enjoy the taste and they are an easy way to have a snack on the go. My kids think these treats are “cool” and want to pack them in their lunch bags for school. Now you can purchase a new flavor of Cereal Treat Bars: Lucky Charms® Treats. We recently tried both the Lucky Charms and Golden Grahams bars. My kids loved the taste and I loved the ease of just throwing them in the car or in a lunch box making it easy to carry a snack.

What I also love about the treats is that they are lower in calories than some other treats. Golden Grahams® comes in at 130 calories per bar and the new Lucky Charms® Treats are just 100 calories per bar. Every flavor of Cereal Treats Bars contain less than 140 calories per bar and are made with wholesome cereal.

As an extra benefit, you receive TWO Box Tops for Education seals on each box of Cereal Treat Bars. I know our Elementary School collects these and they bring in a good amount of cash for field trips, assemblies and special events.

Make sure to visit Betty Crocker’s website and sign-up for their free membership. You will receive valuable information and coupons too! Like Betty Crocker on Facebook for recipes and additional information.

Win It!

I received a prize pack from Betty Crocker/General Mills and you can too! My son absolutely loved the backpack/lunch bag. It is definitely big enough for his lunch and all his school supplies! Follow the directions below to enter the contest.

Disclosure: Cereal Treats Bars, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

In preparation for the Back To School Giveaway Hop that will take place August 22nd – August 31st on my blog and over 60 other blogs, I am going to giveaway a Back to School Label Pack from Lovable Labels as an extra back to school treat for one lucky winner (giveaway ends August 31, 2011, 11:59pm EST)!

I received a Back to School Pack of Lovable Labels to review. The Back to School Pack is the best value pack from Lovable Labels. The pack (over 165 labels) includes:

• 15 Regular Sticker Labels
• 80 Slimline Sticker Labels
• 48 Press n’Stick Clothing DOTS
• 12 Shoe Labels
• 2 Mini-Metal Tags (two 4” silver ball chains incld)
• 12 Square Labels

You can choose from many different themes, including: Sporty, Nature Lover, Be Girly and Polka Dot Me. Plus, the labels are personalized with your child’s name. I choose the Sporty Pack for my son since he loves sports. We immediately used the clothing labels and mini-metal tags for my son’s week at Cub Camp. I knew that his stuff would not be lost with the labels attached! We attached a label to the inside of his cap, since the Cub’s all wear the same hat. We never lost his hat, it was always returned, thanks to the label. The labels come neatly packaged in a booklet with tabs for each of the types of stickers. It makes it so easy to store and use the labels.

Lovable Labels has many different varieties of labels. Besides their Back to School Pack, they offer multi-purpose labels, clothing labels, bag tags, safety products, household labels and stationery. I absolutely love their Home Office Labels! What a great way to organize all your files.

We will definitely be using the labels this year for school. We will use them in my son’s books, file folders, clothing, shoes, backpack and anything else that needs to be labeled!

Win It!

Lovable Labels has generously offered to giveaway on my blog a Back to School Pack. One winner will get to choose the design and personalization. This prize is valued at $45!

The product in this review was provided to me free of cost for the purpose of conducting this review. All opinions in this review are my own and are not influenced by monetary compensation.

Last week, my 12 year old daughter and I were able to attend the Dove Back to School Bash with Don’t Fret The Sweat in New York City. Unilever, the maker of Dove products, has aligned themselves with community partners to provide partners with the essential tools to help build their tween’s confidence in transition years. The partners include Stardoll.com, HealthyChildren.org and Varsity apparel.

The event included hair and makeup stations, a professional photo shoot (including wind!), frame making and a visit with Rosalind Wiseman, an internationally known expert on children, teens and parenting and the author of Queen Bees and Wannabees (the basis for the movie Mean Girls) and Boys, Girls and other Hazardous Materials.

My daughter’s favorite part of the evening was meeting Rosalind Wiseman! It turns out that my daughter had already read Boys, Girls and other Hazardous Materials in 6th grade this year and was super excited to meet the Ms. Wiseman who signed a copy of the book for her.

If you are looking for information to help your son or daughter with those rough tween years, visit Don’t Fret the Sweat Facebook page for great information for the experts!

My kids don’t use chalkboards at the schools anymore, they use dry erase boards. Often, the teachers ask them to purchase dry erase markers to bring into school. These markers can stain clothes, though. Now, Expo has come out with a dry erase marker that is washable! Hooray!

These markers come in 6 bold colors, are non-toxic and have a low odor and are perfect to use with dry erase boards. Right now, you can get a coupon for $1.00 off.

Many are predicting that the economy will recover soon, however, here in New Jersey, we are still at 10% unemployment. It is often at these times that many will consider a career change. I have a few friends who have decided that the best way to accomplish their goals of a new career is to go back to school.

One way to attend school is online. These online degree programs are becoming more and more popular. The course work is the same that you would get from a regular degree program and the convenience of doing the work at home is a plus. One of the degree’s that I found was a Masters in Public Safety Administration. This degree focuses on public safety and is often sought out by those would want to advance to leadership positions. Some of the course work includes: Public Safety and Administration and Management, Fiscal Management for Public Safety Administration and Critical Thinking and Decision Making.

Today, we are much more security focused and this field could be a great choice for those interested in changing or advancing their careers in public safety and security.

The Parent Bloggers Network wants to hear your thoughts on back to school shopping and teaching your children financial responsibility. They have teamed up with Capital One who is offering a free courses in money management.

[photopress:back_to_school.jpg,full,pp_image]A few years ago, I used to dread back to school shopping. My kids would always want to spend outrageous amounts of money on clothes and school supplies. Often, many of the clothes would sit in the back of their closets and not see the light of day until they were finally outgrown and I had to give them away!

Now, my outlook on back to school shopping is very different.

Each of my children receives a budget for clothing for the whole year. The budget is based on what we can afford as a family and is divided in half for each child. They get part of the money in September and the other part in January. They know exactly how much money they have and that it has to last for a whole semester.

My children have learned to spend their money wisely, once it is gone, that’s it. Instead of buying new clothes right before school starts, they save their money until the really good sales start. They definitely get more bang for their buck.

My teenage daughter, who loves stores like Hollister and American Eagle has found the value of outlet stores. She does not want to spend her money on $40 t-shirts when she can get them half price at an outlet or a discount store.

As a parent, I find my children coupons, point out sales and help them make wise decision, but ultimately the final decision is theirs. Recently, my 10 year old daughter found a 40% off coupon at Justice, plus she already has a $25 coupon from a recent purchase with a gift card. She was so excited because she knew how much more she could purchase by combining these great savings!

We have taken this concept to other areas as well. My children receive an allowance based on their chore participation, homework completion and extra chores they do around the house. They must divide this money into three separate envelopes – Savings (20%), Charity (10%) and Spend (70%). If they are looking to make a big purchase (my teenage wants an iPod Touch), they include another envelope and put part of their spend money in that envelope to save up for a special purchase. Their spend money is used to buy anything from a pack of gum, to extra school supplies, to toys and movie tickets.

Teaching my kids to be more responsible for money has helped reduce my stress as a parent and helped my children to eventually become financial responsible adults!

I can’t believe that summer is almost over. This year, my kids start school on September 2nd, which is early for us. Usually we start school the day or two after Labor Day, but Labor Day is so late this year that we are actually starting before.

On my list of things to get ready before school starts are:

1. Check all backpacks and make sure that they are still sturdy and we don’t need new ones.
2. Check lunchboxes and discard any that are nasty and smelly.
3. Make some frozen sandwiches for easy lunches.
4. Purchase lunch sides that are easy to pack and healthy!
5. Get any school supplies that are needed.
6. Make sure that the kids clothes are in order and old, non-fitting clothes are donated.

We don’t shop for back to school clothes before school starts since the weather will remain warm for at least another month or so. I do let them purchase one new outfit so they can look spiffy on their first day!