SWAGG is a free mobile app (download here) that lets you shop smarter using your mobile phone. Buy, send or swap SWAGG GIFTS and organize your old school plastic gift cards.

For every download of the app between now and Dec. 31, 2010, SWAGG will donate $1 to Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) , up to $125,000.

Clever Girls Collective and SWAGG are sending a pair of movie fans to the Sundance Film Festival! Download the SWAGG app and then visit the Ultimate SWAGG Getaway Sweepstakes site to enter to win a trip for two to the Sundance Film Festival. Entry deadline is January 3, 2011, 11:59pm, PST.

 I loooove getting gift cards.  It’s a card that gives you permission to shop, what’s not to love!  So I thought this mobile app was an ingenious idea, especially with the holidays coming!

Basically, you can use the app on your smart phone (we use it on our iPhone) to buy, send or even swap SWAGG GIFTS and organize your plastic gift cards.  It’s easy to use and quite handy!  You can keep track of everything right on your phone.  Forget cluttering your wallet with tons of plastic cards!  I love it!

Many people think gift cards are too impersonal but I think it’s a great gift.  I love buying gifts for people but sometimes it’s hard to figure out what to get and rather than just guess and end up giving a gift they don’t love, you can give them a free pass to shop for themselves! 

Last year we gave our boys a Wii for Christmas.  We made a really big deal out of it and their responses were priceless.  I will never forget how it felt to literally make their year!  It was the best moment.  We still talk about it and laugh at how they all screamed and jumped and hugged. So sweet.  It really was the best gift I ever gave because of how much the boys cherished getting it. They were truly thankful and appreciative and that just made it all worth while!  I have a video of them opening it and it is hilarious. I won’t share it with you though because I was in my Christmas jammies and have bed head.  I do have some pride, you know.

As the boys get older I foresee buying gifts will get more difficult.  That is when the gift cards will really come in handy!  For now I will enjoy the easiness of making their day with video games and tape.  Yes, I give my kids tape and paper in their stockings and they love it!

I’m pretty excited to share this fun app with you and I hope you take a minute to check it out!  Especially because SWAGG has partnered with non-profit Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C).  For every download of the app between now and Dec. 31, 2010, SWAGG will donate $1 to SU2C up to $125,000. Awesome, right?! Visit the SU2C site for more info!

AND!

Clever Girls Collective and SWAGG are sending a lucky pair of movie fans to the Sundance Film Festival! The sweepstakes is offered exclusively through the Clever 1000, and it has a pretty amazing prize, including:

* 2 night/3 day stay at Yarrow Hotel in Park City Utah (Jan 21 – Jan 23, 2011)
* Ground transportation to and from hotel to airport in Park City, Utah
* Dinner for two at Tao Lounge, including 2 nightclub passes
* All access to The House of SWAGG Gifting Suite
* 2 tickets to a movie premiere on Saturday, January 22nd — movie tbd
* $4,000 value

NICE!  (More info on the Ultimate SWAGG Getaway Sweepstakes)

Learn more about the coolest new app that revolutionizes the whole shopping, gifting, and gift card-organizing experience and Download the SWAGG app to your iPhone or Droid. I was selected for this sponsorship by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses  Blog With Integrity. 

While this was a sponsored post, the opinions are my own and honest, as always!

I have three boys. I think it needs no explanation that they love two things: video games and violence.  I try my hardest to channel the love of those things the best way I can.  I avoid letting them play the really violent war type video games and stick to fiction games like the Lego games. The only thing they are doing is “destroying” legos, not killing people.

So when I heard about the game Battle of Giants – Dinosaurs Strike for Wii. I loved it right away.  A chance for my boys to get out some aggression and “fight” in a video game without pretending to kill people? Perfect.

In this game from Ubisoft, up to four players can customize their dinosaurs and then face off in a fight.  The more you win, the more items you can unlock to customize your dinosaur.

Charlie is showing me how he’s customizing his dino.

 I liked that the boys tended to be up on their feet while they were playing too.

 Here is Charlie giving it all he’s got to get his dinosaur to rebound from a “KO” (knock out for my non-moms of boys).

My boys are ages 5, 7 and 10.  They figured the game out very quickly and had no problems understanding what to do.  Even my 5 year old who can’t read yet figured out what to do without help.  Our 12 year old neighbor came by and played with us and he thought the game was fun and challenging, even for him!  So I was happy to see that the game can be enjoyable for such a wide variety of ages.  My younger boys did seem to enjoy the game the most though.

I had to pry the controllers out of their hands at bedtime and they laid in bed talking about the game. So I think that pretty much spells success! 

Battle of Giants – Dinosaurs Strike for Wii by Ubisoft is available just about anywhere.   You can get it at Amazon.com for only $28.99 and it qualifies for free shipping!

Thanks so much to Ubisoft for sending us this game to review.  It came just in time to wrap up and give to Chandler for his 10th birthday! (Shhhh, don’t tell him!)

• While Ubisoft provided me with this game to review, the opinions I’ve expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Ubisoft, Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.
• My Amazon links are affiliate links.

Thanks to American Express for sponsoring my writing today about small businesses.  American Express is presenting Small Business Saturday, a way to honor the local merchants who are the backbone of the economy, this Saturday, November 27.  They’re offering statement credits to people who shop at small businesses, advertising for small-business owners, and donations to Girls Inc. for “Likes” of the Small Business Saturday page on Facebook.  Join the celebration by clicking the “Like” button and then visiting the Facebook page to learn more about the program and read the terms and conditions that apply. 

When I was asked to highlight American Express’ Small Business Saturday, I was all YES.  I much prefer to shop and dine at local businesses than big box stores and chain restaurants.  

The small business I want to share with you today is from my husband’s home town – Massena, New York.  It’s where we met, fell in love, got married and had our first son.  It’s a special place to us for sure and full of so many memories!  My very good friend (and Bellaziza’sFavorites.com buddy!) Crista and her husband made the daring move one year ago to purchase a failing restaurant in Massena.  It was a great deal but a scary proposition at the same time as they knew they faced an uphill climb in order to resurrect it.  They believed in their vision and knew that with lots of hard work, smart marketing through social media and of course their amazing homestyle Italian cuisine, it could come back better than ever.  It was a big undertaking like all small business ventures are, but only a year later with tremendous community support, Italian On The Run is a booming local success story and better than ever! 

Italian On The Run offers superb homemade Italian cuisine to their loyal customers.  Although many people do dine in, they are primarily a take out and delivery place that focuses on quality… but with convenience.  Forget about just your standard pizza and wings (although they are amazing in their own rite!) “IOTR” has an impressive menu that would rival many fancier places.  They have a great variety of gourmet pizzas like the new Mediterranean Chicken Pizza, and their most popular, Buffalo Chicken Pizza made with their homemade Buffalo wing sauces!  Beyond mouthwatering calzones, strombolis, subs, salads, and gourmet pasta dinners, they have the most exquisite homemade desserts around, fresh and made from scratch!   Our pick?  The Italian Cream Cake and the Cannolis.  OMG.

Thanks to Crista’s entrepreneurial genius and social media suave, Italian On The Run has brought a major Facebook explosion to Massena!  As her and other small businesses work hard to connect within their community, customers are “liking” their way through the small town of Massena at a record pace!  Liking IOTR’s Facebook Fan Page is all the rage right now too. 🙂 Crista offers Facebook specials and hosts giveaways regularly which keeps things fresh and their fans always coming back for more!  Go ahead and LIKE them too! Once they get to 2,000 fans, amazing things are gonna happen and they’re less than 50 away!!  That’s pretty amazing if you ask me!  While you’re at it, go ahead and follow IOTR on Twitter too!

At Italian On The Run it’s not all about them, and they know it.  They are very community focused and create as many collaborations as they can with other local small businesses.  IOTR is diving into Small Business Saturday head first by posting about many of their fellow small businesses on their Facebook page to try to lead their almost 2,000 local fans to other local small businesses on Facebook!  Is there anything better than a small business supporting other small businesses?!  I think not.

Make it a point to visit as many small businesses as you can on Saturday, November 27th.  American Express is ready and willing to reward you for doing so too, so check out the links below and LIKE Small Business Saturday on Facebook!

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

*Disclosure: While I was compensated to write this post, all opinions are 100% honest and mine! All mine!*