Hallmark ~ Holiday SPLURGE {Review & Giveaway #10}

Hallmark has done it again and given us all some very unique and thoughtful ways to show that we care. Any of these options would be especially nice for family and friends whom you won’t get a chance to see this holiday season.

One of my favorites is The Night Before Christmas Recordable Storybook! We got a chance to try this out first hand and I love it. The instructions in both written and spoken form make it super easy to figure out and I really like the traditional story and look of the book. It was easy to record and rerecord each page as needed. Simply open the battery pack and flip the switch to lock and you are all set!

When your child turns the page it automatically plays your recorded voice for that page.  Even if you turn the page before the recording for the previous page is over it stops and starts with the new page’s recording. I love that feature! The volume is at what I would say is the perfect level and you can hear my voice clearly, even if I have a slight cold. Here is a just a quick sampling of what it sounds like.

My only complaint is a slight rustling sound at the end of each recorded page. I didn’t do anything to jostle the book when I would hit stop to end the recording. I think this occurred simply because the microphone is very sensitive.

I haven’t yet given this to my boys as I plan to make it a special Christmas Eve gift. I thought another great idea would be for my husband and I to alternate pages so we both read them the story. My husband’s family is all across the country so I know how wonderful this would be from a grandparent who won’t have the chance to read a bedtime story in person.

This recordable storybook retails for $29.95 which isn’t bad when you consider it can become a timeless keepsake. I just received a $10 off coupon for this in the mail a few days ago so keep an eye out for it!

There is also some other great options for showing you care across the miles like this Digital Scrapbook.

The Digital Scrapbooks incorporate music, photos and text with personal photos which can then be displayed on a digital photo frame, computer screen, television or anywhere a USB drive can be used.

Another fun option is this DVD Greetings Card. How cool is this for only $9.99?

Hallmark DVD Greetings are an interactive approach to the holiday newsletter. Each DVD Greeting hosts a template that can be edited and customized with personal photos, burned to the included DVD and sent with a coordinating greeting card (also included)

And of course there is always the Recordable Greeting Cards which is the least expensive but still special option at $6.99.

More than 30 holiday Recordable Cards both With and Without Music are available from Hallmark. Each allows the sender to record a 10-second voice message directly into the card which the recipient will hear when opened. The Recordable Cards with Music also feature a 30-second song clip which plays after the message.

You can purchase any of these items directly from your local Hallmark store. Use the store locator to find the nearest one to you!

{ Giveaway }

Hallmark would like to give TWO of my readers a $25 Hallmark gift card!

MAIN ENTRY: Visit Hallmark and tell me what you’d love to spend the gift card on if you won!

Want more entries? (I know you must!) After answering my question do any of the following and leave a comment telling me what you did. Each is worth one entry unless otherwise noted. Your comment is your entry so please leave the appropriate number of comments for each extra entry.

-Tell me the item mentioned in this post that interests you most and why!
–Follow the Hallmark’s PR team on twitter to stay in the know
-Follow my blog publicly
-Subscribe to my feed in a reader or by email
-Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway

Win one of two $25 Hallmark Gift Certificates to show you care @babylovingmama from @HallmarkPR http://tinyurl.com/yl5ano8 #giveaway PLS RT!

-Add my button to your blog
-Add my Holiday Splurge event button to your blog
-Blog about this contest and link back here and to Hallmark (3 entries)

This contest will end on 12/10/09 at 11:59 pm CST. U.S. residents only. The winner will be drawn via random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification email before I draw another winner or do a live giveaway.

Disclosure: I received a sample for the purpose of this review . This has no bearing on my completely honest review above and was not influenced by any type of monetary compensation. The opinions and experiences I’ve shared with these products are my own and yours may differ.