Name Your Own Hotel Price

Zach and I recently used Priceline's Name Your Own Price program and I had to pass along the details! We LOVED our experience with it and got the opportunity to stay in a 3 star hotel room that was SO SO much nicer than the 2 star one we had originally booked for almost the same price! I wanted to use it one more time before blogging about it and Zach did it again recently so we know a little more about the program.

THE DEAL
You get to name your own price for a hotel and if they accept your bid then you get the hotel room for that price! We were able to stay at the Embassy Suites in Greenville, SC for $40 a night and when we got there the rooms were actually going for $219 a night!!!

HOW IT WORKS
Visit www.priceline.com, click on the "hotels" tab then the "name your own price" icon. You're able to enter in the city, dates, and number of rooms. The next screen then helps you narrow your location to a specific region and allows you to select the star level for your hotel.

After that info is entered then it comes the "trickier" part. You then enter in the price you are willing to pay for the star level you selected in the area you selected. My brother called me and had gotten the deal for the Embassy Suites so we just entered the same price he did ($40) and were lucky enough to get the same hotel!!! You can enter ANY price you want but if it's too low then the website will warn you that your most likely not going to get one for that price.

THE PROS
Um...it's pretty obvious that you get to get an AWESOME hotel for WAY cheaper than you'd normally be able to get it! When we booked the room in SC we actually had already checked all the hotel deal websites and booked the cheapest room we could find. It was a Knights Inn (reallly crappy) for $34 a night. We paid $6 more a night for a MUCH nicer room!!! Totally worth it :) On top of getting a great deal the whole experience gives you a rush. It's super exciting to enter a price and then be surprised at where you get to stay!!! And knowing that the hotel is guaranteed to be the star level you chose means you know you'll be somewhere nice.

THE CATCH
While it's super fun and a great deal there are downsides. Once you enter that price you're willing to pay then you are locked in at that hotel. IT selects the hotel FOR you (based on the location and star level) so you can't be very picky. For example we weren't able to find a room that allowed dogs. We just had to enter the price and hope for the best (it didn't allow dogs so we kenneled them instead). We were told, however, that ALL 3 star hotels have refrigerators and microwaves so we at least knew in advance that we'd be okay there!

It also is really only a great deal if you're traveling very soon from the time you book. The closer to the date of travel then the more likely the hotels are to be willing to give rooms for cheap since they know they probably won't get filled. I plan in advance so we won't get to use this deal very often (in this case it was a funeral situation so it was very last minute planning). It IS great though for Zach as he travels often for work and he can just book a hotel the day before he leaves!

When Zach went to use it recently for his business travel we did learn another downside. If you enter a price and no hotels will take it then you have to wait 24 hours before you can enter in another price for the same star level and location.

Also once it matches you with a room it calculates the taxes and fees. When we stayed in SC the $40 a night did NOT include the tax or fees which made the room actually cost more per night. We stayed 2 nights and got charged $16 for fees and taxes so that really made the room $48 a night. Still a GREAT deal and totally worth it but I wish they could tell you the fee amount up front so you'd be able to figure that in when you name your own price.

REVIEW
While there are downsides to using this program, we love it! Overall it IS cheaper than other sites around. Zach booked his hotel recently in the Atlanta area for $40 a night and all other hotel websites (including the regular Priceline site) had the same hotel (which was the CHEAPEST in the area) for $79 a night! I highly recommend using this program, especially if you're a last minute traveler!

Have you tried this out before? Any thoughts or things I didn't include???

Mr. Monkey - Lovie

As you may have noticed on my personal blog, I love Kye's Mr. Monkey! He sleeps with him every nap and at night and I'm so thankful we have him! I think he'll be a big help with weaning off the paci too :) I thought I'd share some info in case anyone wanted a Mr. Monkey of their own.

My mom actually bought Mr. Monkey for Kye for his first Easter. They make a smaller size (Kye has the big one) and they are great because they are machine washable! We actually bought a back-up one so that way when I do wash the "main" one he doesn't have to go without.

When he got the monkey I thought it was cute but I didn't want to put it in the crib with him due to SIDS risks. I actually decided to call the company about it. They were SUPER nice and explained to me that their "blankies" are the only ones that have been approved as safe at any age in a crib!!! The material is breathable and it's a good side to insure they won't somehow hurt themselves with it. It's been voted one of the 10 best toys by Dr. Toys and I agree with him, out of all the the baby junk I've fallen for and purchased this is one thing I'm so thankful we have!

Here is the site to order one for yourself...they are by Komet Creations. You can't actually order off the site but they have a link to find a retailer near you or you can google "komet creations lovie" and a bunch of online stores pop up! I actually decided to write this post because I googled "lovie" (Mr. Monkey's official name) and a MILLION things came up that weren't lovies and it took me awhile to find the actual site! They have tons of different types of animals and things too. I actually told Mrs. Charlotte about Kye's awhile back and now Payton, Kye's cousin, sleeps with a Hippo every night! had to share so other babies out there can enjoy their own "Mr. Monkey" too!

B. Toys

Before Kye's birthday I went to Target to make a wishlist for him and I saw these neat toys! They are by a company called B.toys (link is to their facebook fan page, their company site isn't up and running yet). I was drawn to them mainly because of the colors the company uses. Instead of the bright, primary colors of every toy on the market these are more modern looking with fun, funky colors and cool designs.

For Kye's birthday we got him three of their toys: Parum Pum Pum drum, Fish and Splish bath boat, and Times Square. B.toys is a new company and I love that on the facebook fan page they ask for fans input on things! It was neat to finally get to open the toys and check them out!!! My favorite is the drum...it is filled with musical instruments and they are REAL ones! The tub toy is really neat too, it was cheaper than the one we almost bought by Fisher Price and it came with a lot more fun toys! Our least favorite is the Times Square cube only because it didn't come with directions and took us a while to figure out how to open it as well as how to get the batteries in it. I plan on letting the company know about those issues as I'd hate for someone to get that as their first toy by the company then not like them because of those flaws! 

Not only do I like the look of the toys but I LOVE the prices! They were all under $20 each which for baby toys is pretty awesome! I highly recommend checking them out for yourself (I know they are available through target!)

Green "Jungle" Punch

I found this recipe on Cooks and I didn't even test it before I used it for the party! After the party started and people kept telling me how good it was I tried some and yup, it's a winner for sure! And it fits my requirements of being easy and cheap :) It was actually the ONLY thing we "ran out of" during the party and we had to make another batch!

You need:

2 liters ginger ale (when I went to Publix all they had was Diet but it worked and no one noticed!)

1 large container of frozen lemonade

1 large can of pineapple juice chilled (I kept it in my fridge until the day of the party)

1 qt lime sherbet

Obviously I doubled this recipe and I was thankful I did as it ALL got gobbled up! I didn't make the punch until about 10 minutes prior to the party and all I did was dump all the ingredients in the punch bowl and stir it up! Enjoy :)

Jungle Vine

My mom is an elementary school teacher which can be pretty handy when I need creative help! When we decided to do the monkey theme she came up with the idea to make a vine to hang in the house as part of the decorations.

 

If you haven't noticed a theme to my party decorations yet, here it is: CHEAP and EASY! haha! We used brown paper bags (Publix will give them to you for free!). We cut the bags to make them open and long then rolled them up and twisted them to make them vine-like. We attached them together with stables. Then I bought bendable ivy from Hobby Lobby (which was kinda expensive, they were 1/2 off but were still $6 each and I bought two) and we cut it up and wrapped it around random sections. Zach (being 6'5" is so helpful at times!) attached them to the wall in the dining room them wrapped them around the chandelier. They looked better than I pictured in my head and we added a blow up monkey Seth and Crissy let us borrow to hang down from his home!

 

 

Monkey Cupcakes

I opted to do cupcakes for Kye's party because I didn't want to hassle with cutting a cake (I'm awful at it) or worrying with buying silverware. Cupcakes are cute, cheap, easy, and everyone likes them! I hunted online for a monkey type design that wouldn't require a bunch of different ingredients or time. I found the one I used from some RANDOM site and I think they turned out great!

 

I used a box of chocolate cake (I think it's was actually Devil's Food Cake) and milk chocolate frosting (I read that it's better to use the milk chocolate kind b/c it's lighter in color). Then I bought mini-vanilla waffers and Zach cut them in half for me to use for the ears. I used 3/4 of the original sized vanilla waffers for the face. Then all I did was buy black frosting gel and red frosting gel for the eyes, nostrils, and mouth! Very simple and cute! As they sat the waffers actually got soft which people told me made them even better :) 

Birthday Banners

I originally got this idea from Rachael who bought a banner for her daughter's first birthday. You can find banners that look pretty much just like the one I made on Esty! I seriously considered buying one but they cost around $20 each and who wants to spend that kind of money on some paper on a string? I saw on Kelly Brown's blog that she made her own for her daughters birthday and I figured if she can do it then so can I!

While Robyn was a HUGE help with this project I can still walk you through how to make it! You can click on the picture above to make it bigger so you can copy what I did if you want to! I used plain colored card stock paper for the backs of each square and cut them 1 inch bigger on each side than I cut the patterned paper. I actually already had ALL the paper at home left over from my scrapbooking days buy you can find paper pretty cheap at places like Hobby Lobby.

I taped the patterned paper to the plain paper with photo stickers as I think they are SO much easier to work with than glue! I also bought chipboard letters from Hobby Lobby and used the photo stickers to stick them to the patterned paper. I had to buy three boxes of letters in order to get enough of each letter for the banners and I got them on sale 40% off each (sign up for Hobby Lobby emails and they email you a weekly coupon!) and I think they were originally $5.99 per box. Some of the letters had sticky on the back but they still needed to be re-inforced with the tape!

For the ribbon I used the thinnest ribbon I could find and bought it in plain red. I used a cute little hole punch and punched it at each corner then just put the ribbon through and bam! I was done! It's such an easy project that I will probably be making one EVERY year for each child's party (or at least saving the ones I make to see if they fit for a theme later down the road). Here is a picture of the one of Kye's name and I just taped it to his high chair tray!

If you don't use ANY of my other party ideas for your next party, this is the one I'd "steal" if I were you! It was just SO easy and looked SO good!!!