Traveling With Kids: Scooby Doo Treat Buckets

Right now, we have plans to journey on a road trip to California. Luckily, it's not terribly far but we do have two kids ages 6 and 10 and there is always that dreaded question. "Are we there yet?". About 30 minutes into the trip, boredom sets in and the next hours are filled with "I'm bored" or "he's touching me". Ahhh yes, the joyous sounds of children.

When I went to Walmart to get our goodies for our trip, I wanted to get the kids something to entertain them. Some may say this is bribing but I like to call this effective planning. I went to the toy section and was filled with the internal dialogue or I guess monologue of "Do my kids REALLY need more toys?". I mean realistically, they have a million toys and to pay more money for something else that will find it's way to under the van seats, I really had to reconsider. I wanted to find a game like this one that we could play in the car:

Cute right?

But since I didn't find anything good in the games section, I went for the party section. I thought maybe I could find some cute stuff that would be good for the car, and not cost me a lot of money. I was really excited when I saw the Scooby Doo section. Recently when my kids were sick and had to stay home from school, we had to watch a lot of movies and we watched Scooby Doo quite a bit.

I decided when I found some plastic cups of Scooby Doo (that were only $.75 each) that I would put together some cute "Mini Treat Buckets" for the kids to have in the car. I also found some stickers, activity books, Scooby Doo bandz (one of the latest kid fads) and candy.

Price Breakdown:
Cup: $.75
Candy: $.50
Pencil: $.05
Activity Books: $.20
Sco0by Doo Rubberbands: $2
Scooby Doo Stickers: $.75

Total per bucket: $4.25!

These are great because:
They can hold toys
They can be re-used as a cup
They can hold trash in the car
They can fit inside a cup holder

Of course the best thing is that they were under $5 per kid!


Want to see my shopping trip at Walmart? Check out my Whrrl:

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I was compensated for my time by Collecitve Bias, all opinions are my own.

#CouchCritics Movie Review; Saw: The Final Chapter

I love doing themed movie nights with the family or with friends. I'll pick a movie and make dinner, drinks etc around the "theme" of the movie. This makes for a cheap family night or a party with friends. I'm also a big fan of Redbox which makes movie watching fantastic. Since it's only a dollar per night, whether I loved it or hated it, it was worth it!

This weekend I did a movie night with Brian and a few friends when I was asked to review a movie; Saw: The final chapter.

Now before I get to the frightful details of this movie, I want to show off a few of the foods I served at our movie night!

Crunchy Eyeballs


Jigsaw Nachos

People (chicken) legs

Hearts (potatoes)

Clever right? I think so!

If you have seen any of the Saw movies, then you already know there are always twists and turns to be expected. This movie was definitely no exception. Not only are there twists and turns throughout the movie, the ending is always a shocker. The gore was also a gruesome player in this movie, I'll admit I shut my eyes more than once. The plot drags a bit in the beginning but picks up after a bit.

The big question in this movie is, how can there possibly be a Saw movie without the original Jigsaw?! Who is going to act on his behalf? Is he going to come back to life?! I'll admit, I was fooled into thinking I knew who it was and found it was someone or some people completely different!

While this definitely isn't a family movie, it is one worth renting and watching if you are into suspenseful movies that spark with fear! Of course watch with the lights on, with someone else and maybe on an empty stomach. You do not need to have watched the previous Saw movies but it may help if you have at least seen the first Saw movie. Also remember, there is no such thing as a happy ending.

Do you want to see my shopping trip? Check out my Whrrl:

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I was compensated for my time by Collective Bias. All opinions are my own.

Guest Post: Teasure Box ~ Food Boxes, A Week of Food for $30.00

Here is a review for the Treasure Box (www.thetreasurebox.org)
By Rachel Pocknell

Treasure Box is a box of frozen food that says it is enough to feed a family of four, lunch & dinner for a week, or a single person for nearly a month. The box is around 21-25 pounds of food and the price is $30. The menu is somewhat different each month and they offer 3 different kinds of treasure boxes. The regular box which includes meats, sides, soups, veggies, and a dessert. The “quick and healthy” box is basically just TV dinners. They also offer a protein box which consists of 10-12 pounds of frozen meats.

Signing up is very simple, you purchase it online at their website and pay up front. You choose your pick up location at the same time as purchase, they have multiple pick up stations around the Valley mostly at churches. We are impressed with our regular treasure box although I’m not sure it is quite enough to feed a family of four for a week. The quality of the food is great, we’ve had no issues with that (I especially like the broccoli cheese soup)! So long as you like just about everything that is on that month’s menu, I think it is worth the money. I would personally stay away from the “Quick and Healthy” box, as it is just TV dinner type meals and in addition to not tasting that great, I don’t think it’s worth the money on that one!