May 6th, 2013

Four Tips for Creative Mother’s Day Gifts

There are great Mother’s Day gifts out there. Everything from shoes and purses, to cards and chocolates, everything is game for Mom on Mother’s Day. Yet, rather than sharing specific gifts, I wanted to share tips on how you can have creative Mother’s Day gifts. Turn these classics into something more presentable, more appreciated, more unique, and more useful.

creative mother's day gifts

Instead of Chocolates, give Cookies

There is nothing wrong with chocolates, but they can get rather monotonous. Go to a local bakery and get a selection of delectible cookies, pretty pastries and cute cupcakes. If they don’t have pretty boxes and wrapping, find cellophane or bags and wrap with pretty ribbon at home.

Instead of a Spa, Give Polish

Instead of giving a spa certificate that usually languishes in a drawer since Mom doesn’t have time to go, give a gift certificate for a nail salon and package with a selection nail polish shades for instant gratification. Or offer a spa certificate with a baby sitting certificate.

Instead of Flowers, Give a Plant

Flower are great, but they die. Give a plant that can be planted in a garden. A self-contained planter garden of herbs, or a basket of flowers that Mom can put on the front steps so it lasts all summer long. Another alternative to flowers is something like an Edible Arrangement. Is has the same presentation-like feel as a flower bouquet, but at least Mom can eat it!

Instead of Jewelry, give Pottery

If you have tackled all of the Mom jewelry options, have the kids go to a pottery painting place. Rather than having all of them paint nic-naks, pick a bowl, a platter or a mug and have all of them paint a part of it. Maybe someone paints the inside of the mug, another child the outside, etc. Make sure you pick a place that uses a kiln so the piece can be glazed, cured and used! So it doesn’t collect dust in the corner.

No matter what you give Mom, it is the thought that counts! And remember to remember her all year long!

CategoryParenting Ideas and Advice | Comment1 Comment »

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May 2nd, 2013

MD Moms Wipes: Perfect for Travel

While I can rent a lot of baby items or bring a lot of baby gear with me when I travel, there was one item I couldn’t rent or bring: a baby bathtub. It was when I realized the huge benefit of the Gentle All-Over Clean Cleansing Towelettes by MD Moms.

My seven month old and I have done a lot of traveling in her short life: A business trip New York when she was six weeks old to a Disney vacation when she was five months old, and other trip when she was eight months old (and yet another next week.) This, of course, doesn’t include the daily travels we have (grocery store, mall, errands, gym, playgroup).

I give Baby G a bath every night and, when she was especially young, a traditional bathtub was not an option. Too slippery, too dangerous. Plus, she would scream her head off otherwise. So I use a portable bathtub, like this one, but it is most definitely not packable, and hotels don’t offer baby bathtubs. If we are in a hotel, a sponge bath is an option, but there are limited hotel towels and the bathroom was soping wet after we were done. Not something my husband appreciated (or the housecleaning staff.) I also felt like I wasn’t cleaning her very well, so I needed a new solution. It was then I remembered the MD Moms Gentle All-Over Clean Cleansing Towelettes I used for my son when he was a baby.

They are alcohol-free and hypoallergenic. You can use them from “your nose to your toes” as the product states. I especially love the fact that they are made in the USA (yay!) and there is no animal testing.

The added benefit I have found is that the towelettes protected her skin during the winter months. As we go through several extreme cold snaps, her skin got very dry. So we cut back on the nightly baths, and we used the MD Moms Wipes on her non-bath nights to get her clean without the drying effect of water and soap. Even now as summer is upon us, we still have the same routine.

I personally like them for me. When showering is not an option (let’s face it, if you have young kids, that is pretty often) this will do the trick. I throw a Travel Pack in my diaper bag, gym bag or, of course, my suitcase when I head out my travels. Plus, I use them for the moments when my kiddos get pretty dirty on the go (spit up, food spills, dirt from the playground, you name it.)

You can find them everywhere for around $12 for the tub size or about $6 for the travel size. MD Moms also has body wash, lotions and the absolute best Sunscreen Towelettes that, frankly, I could write a whole other post about. They are one of my must-have diaper bag items and my must-have travel item too!

 

MD_Moms_Wipes

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Image Credit: My own. All Rights Reserved
Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post.

 

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March 27th, 2013

How the New FTC Guidelines May Affect Pinterest and Twitter Parties

While I am an attorney, I am not your attorney. Nothing in this post shall be construed as
giving, offering or providing legal advice, legal review or legal analysis. You should
contact an attorney with assistance in understanding the FTC Rules and how it applies to your
blog or business.

If you have read my two posts on the good/bad of the new FTC rules and the three ways the new FTC Guidelines impact Bloggers, then you have probably started to wonder about three common applications of these new disclosure guidelines. Mainly, your responsibility when retweeting, hosting a Twitter Party or Pinning on Pinterest as part of a review.

It has long been said that you may be liable for a retweet. So, it goes to say that if you retweet my “Ad” tweet, you need to make sure the “Ad” part doesn’t get left off. Otherwise, you have just shared (and some would say, endorsed) with your followers a paid “advertisement” (according to the FTC) without disclosing it was an “Ad” or a sponsored tweet/post.

The same logic can apply to a Twitter Party. I’ve been thinking a lot about this. I have come to the conclusion that if you are getting paid to host a Twitter Party, and thus promote the brand/product/service, how is it any different than getting paid for a promotional one-time tweet. Or tweeting a link to your blog post that is promoting a brand, product or service. I’m not seeing much difference, though I would love to hear thoughts on the contrary.

 
FTC_Twitter
 
Lastly, a lot of brands have sponsored campaigns where they ask Bloggers to Pin on Pinterest. If you are getting paid to Pin, and thus ‘enticing me’ to visit your paid post or brand page with that pin, you must disclose you got paid to pin. Similar to me getting paid to post and having to disclose the payment in the post.

If your pin is just an extension of your sponsored blog post, and you created a pretty pinable image on your own, you still need to disclose, as it still entices me to click to your site. It is similar to me tweeting about my paid post: the FTC requires me to clearly disclose that my link or tweet is sponsored. While not specifically stated, but implied, the FTC requires you to clearly disclose, in similar logic, that your pin or pin link is sponsored.

Lastly, since the FTC wants your disclosure to follow your content (see my explanation here), a Pin must contain the same disclosure in the Pin as the FTC requires in a video review, or in a post, or in a tweet. Having the disclosure in a comment section is not clear and conspicuous as required by the FTC, and it may not follow the Pin which could be a problem (similar to a retweet.)

 

FTC_Pinterest

 
This is new ground people, and every person (attorney or not) is going to have an opinion on the application of these FTC guidelines. Guidelines are guidelines. They help explain a rule. In this case, the FTC Rules on Digital Advertising. Yet, rules are often fully explained when a supposed violation of them (e.g. you and your blog) goes to court and the courts start dictating what all of this means.

Fun times ahead….

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While I am an attorney, I am not your attorney. Nothing in this post shall be construed as giving, offering or providing legal advice, legal review or legal analysis. You should contact an attorney with assistance in understanding the FTC Rules and how it applies to your blog.

Note, this is brand new information that is still being processed by a lot of people. It is unclear if you have to go back to amend posts. Even I am learning about the scope of the changes every day and will continue to update my blog and social media extensions as the information becomes known, shared and understood.
 

CategoryTechnology | Comment1 Comment »

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March 27th, 2013

What Review and Giveaway Bloggers Need to Know About the New FTC Guidelines

While I am an attorney, I am not your attorney. Nothing in this post shall be construed as 
giving, offering or providing legal advice, legal review or legal analysis. You should 
contact an attorney with assistance in understanding the FTC Rules and how it applies to your 
blog or business.

In my recent post about how the new FTC Guidelines affect Bloggers, I mentioned that Bloggers must now (1) disclose sponsored posts or paid content in ANY social media mentions, (2) be upfront in their disclosures, and (3) make sure disclosures travel with them. If you haven’t read that post yet, you can find it here.

new ftc guidelines for bloggers

New FTC Guidelines for Bloggers

The good news in all of this, is that you can determine if you want your Disclosure to be organic or static. For example, you could say “Disclosure: I received payment for this post” at the beginning of your blog article, or be conversational in the opening paragraph of your post, like “Yesterday, I started using the free blender that ABC company gave to me to review, and so far I love it.” The FTC doesn’t care about the actual words you use in your posts, videos, tweets, so long as the words you do use are clear and conspicuous (spelled out, upfront) that this was a paid review, sponsored post, an Ad, paid tweet, sponsored video, etc.

Bad news is that you really have to be careful what you say in your review. For example, I could say in my post, “I loved using this face cream. I had to look great for my 20th high school reunion, and in two weeks, it made my skin younger!” If I did say that, I would be in FTC trouble. What I should say is, “I loved this face cream. I had to look great for my 20th high school reunion and in two weeks (though typical results are seen around 6 weeks), it made my skin look younger.

The gist of all of this?

While the FTC is telling you the parameters to comply, they are still leaving it up to you to determine what language works for you. So while you need to clearly and conspicuously disclose, you get to determine what to say. Yet, what you say in your content is important too. You need to ensure that you are not misleading your readers in believing in a feature, or a result, that doesn’t exist or occur, in a product you are reviewing or giving away.

Lots to digest, but there are three additionally unique circumstances that I thought I should mention, and that is (1) how liable you are for the retweets, (2) how this applies to Twitter parties, and (3) how this applies to Pinterest. If you are interested in my thoughts, keep reading.

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While I am an attorney, I am not your attorney. Nothing in this post shall be construed as
giving, offering or providing legal advice, legal review or legal analysis. You should
contact an attorney with assistance in understanding the FTC Rules and how it applies to your
blog or business.

Note, this is brand new information that is still being processed by a lot of people. It is unclear if you have to go back to amend posts. Even I am learning about the scope of the changes every day and will continue to update my blog and social media extensions as the information becomes known, shared and understood.
 

CategoryTechnology | Comment2 Comments »

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