We were so excited to get a chance to try chocolates from Sucre. Who doesn’t love a good chocolate? But beyond the chance to eat something yummy, we were impressed that Sucre is helping animals by donating part of their holiday proceeds to the LA/SPCA. Good food that also helps animals? Top notch in our book!

And, they are offering our readers a special discount too ($10.00 off orders over $70! Code: SUCRE).

Sucre is a New Orleans based confectioner known for their delectable, hand-crafted artisan chocolates as well as their scrumptious pastries and macaroons, which are even Oprah-approved. They are located in the heart of the Garden District on Magazine Street and in addition to their home-made and hand-crafted chocolates and pastries, Sucre offers a variety of gelatos as well as gourmet coffees and even champagne for in-store guests.

In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, the LA/SPCA located in New Orleans was devastated. They’ve been rebuilding and are currently running, but they aren’t nearly at the capacity that they were prior to the storm. Thanks to Bon Bon, the Sucre Spokes-dog, this holiday season, in the spirit of giving, Sucre has paired up with The LA/SPCA and a portion of every dollar spent online at Sucre will go directly to benefit the LA/SPCA. Bon Bon wants to help save her friends at the LA/SPCA and we want to do our part!

Isn’t Bon Bon an adorable “Spokes-dog”? We love that Sucre is taking Bon Bon’s advice and helping homeless animals during the holidays.

We were lucky enough to get a chance to try some of their chocolate for ourselves. WOW! We were sent holiday chocolate truffles called the Sugar and Spice collection, and a chocolate bar that had candied rose petals and Sicilian pistachios.

I am pretty new to the wonderful world of chocolate (my parents thought I was allergic, so I didn’t eat chocolate until I was in my 20s), and the chocolate that I have had is mainly the run of the mill kind you get at the local grocery store. Well, I must say that my husband and I are totally and thoroughly spoiled now. Chocolates from Sucre are gourmet, handmade, and totally decadent. They are by far the best chocolates my mouth has ever had!

They were also gone in an instant. Our favorite had to be the holiday truffles. Just look at how gorgeous they are:

They featured gingerbread, egg nog, and candy cane flavors. It is hard to pick a favorite, they were all so tasty. I especially liked the gingerbread though, it was really soft with a milk chocolate shell. The candy cane has a white chocolate shell, and the egg nog features dark chocolate.

Sucre makes some other tasty treats as well, including handmade vanilla marshmallows, and even drinking chocolate!

The chocolates come shipped to your home, packaged with care. There were even cooling gel packs in the box to keep the handmade chocolates fresh, and to protect from melting. Our chocolates arrived in perfect condition, and quickly too. The uniqueness of the flavors and the great packaging make them wonderful holiday gifts for anyone on your giving list.

The special holiday treats are available now, and remember, you can get $10.00 off orders over $70 when you use the code: SUCRE!

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If you are looking for a fun way to surprise someone this holiday season, be sure to visit the Sock Grams website! We were lucky enough to get a fun pair of socks from Sock Grams to review on this site (see review here), and totally loved them.

They offer all kinds of socks for men, women, and kids at Sock Grams. There are a lot of really fun holiday themed designs for the holiday season.

Sock Grams come in a fun, bright envelope, so you know that something special has arrived in your mailbox before you even open it and see what is inside. You can also send a special message along with the socks.It’s a great gift idea, especially for those who may not live nearby, but also a fun surprise for those who live close by as well. Who doesn’t enjoy getting something exciting in the mail?

They offer socks for all occasions, including Thanksgiving! So, if you are looking for a fun and unique way to give a gift to someone this season, be sure to check out the selection of holiday socks. It will be a gift to remember.

Sock Grams are one of many great companies featured in our Holiday Gift Guide. To see more gift ideas, visit our guide, and keep watching for more gift guide posts.

There is just something about the story, The Nutcracker, that makes it feel like Christmas. It has been one of our favorite ballets since we were young, and the one we try to see live when we get a chance. Recently we got a copy of a DVD called Prima Princessa Presents The Nutcracker. I think that it is a great way to introduce the ballet to the little girls in your life.

Join Prima Princessa, the adorable cartoon fairy ballerina princess, as she takes you on an amazing Christmas adventure filled with snow fairies, toy soldiers, sugarplums and sweets galore!

Get on your pretty tutu and get ready to dance with the San Francisco Ballet as they perform excerpts from their world famous ballet “Nutcracker.” Between acts your kids will get up off the couch and dance along as they learn real ballet steps demonstrated by students from the School of American Ballet, the official academy of the New York City Ballet. Your girls will not only get to see ballet, but they will get to try some moves themselves as well. Imagine the fun you will have watching them too!

“Prima Princessa Presents The Nutcracker” is the second show in the Prima Princessa Presents series, which is designed by two stay at home mom-entrepreneurs on a mission to bring the beauty and magic of ballet into the lives of children everywhere.

Prima Princessa Presents The Nutcracker would make a great stocking stuffer, or pre-holiday gift for the girls in your life.

This post was written as part of a program for Family Review Network and Prima Princessa, who provided the DVD for review.

VeggieTales has done it again! Just in time for Christmas, a new VeggieTales story, Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving. With all your favorite characters, and a new Silly Song with Larry called “Donuts for Benny”, the story is perfect for the holidays. There is even a new character, Nicky the Pepper, the first new VeggieTales character in five years!

We have always loved VeggieTales, especially the Silly Songs, but most of all because they always present good stories in a fun way. This story was great, with a message about giving, not just at the holidays, but all year long.

Laura Carrot’s Christmas stocking might be empty this year because her dad is in danger of losing his job. While Larry thinks a letter to the North Pole should fix the problem, Bob knows what will really help … and tells the story of a little boy named Nicholas who made a discovery in Bethlehem that changed Christmas forever. But what did Nick learn and how can it possibly help Laura and her family?!

To help promote this new story, and in the spirit of giving, there is a special offer! Those who purchase the Saint Nicholas DVD will receive a FREE VeggieTales DVD to give to a friend in need! Through this offer inside the DVD, you can log onto a special website and select a free VeggieTales DVD to send to a friend with only $2.99 shipping and handling.

In addition the the feature, the DVD also includes:

• “Give This Christmas Away” Operation Christmas Child music video
• Behind The Song with Matthew West and Amy Grant
• Art Gallery
• Audio Commentary
• Sing Along with Larry
• Discussion Guide
• Family Activity – “Bob & Larry’s Sugar Cookies”
• VeggieTales: St. Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving Not Rated-45 minutes-Color-5.1 Surround Sound-English & Spanish Subtitles-Close-Captioned

We think this would make a great gift (maybe an early Christmas present so you can watch it during the season)! You can buy Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving, as well as other VeggieTale goodies by visiting the Big Idea website.

Also, we think it’s great that they have partnered with Operation Christmas Child, a project of international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, is the world’s largest Christmas gift project. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has hand delivered more than 69 million gift –filled shoe boxes to needy children in more than 130 countries. In 2009, the project hopes to collect and deliver 8 million shoe box gifts. For more information on Operation Christmas Child, visit: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/OCC.

This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program for Big Idea, who supplied the DVD for review.

Just one more reason I really wish that I had an iPod Touch! Fun and helpful applications!!

If you love shoes, then this is an app for you. Shoebuy.com just made shopping for shoes a whole lot easier. It’s a free app for your iPhone or iPod Touch that lets you shop for shoes via Shoebuy.com. They offer more than 900 brands and hundreds of thousands of styles of shoes to choose from. The Shoebuy app lets you search, browse, shop, read reviews, and make purchases right from your phone.

• Free shipping and free return shipping
• 100% price guarantee
• No sales tax*
• Ability to share your finds instantly via Facebook, Twitter or email
• Customer reviews
• Search filters

“Our customers are savvy and enjoy great convenience, so this is another way we can expand our business to let them have the shopping experience they desire,” said Scott Savitz, Founder and CEO of Shoebuy.com.  “At Shoebuy.com we are always listening to our customers and using their feedback to drive innovation.  We have loyal customers and the iPhone app allows us to be there for them, on the go. Not to mention, it’s great when you’re waiting in line or riding the train to work.”

So, if you are lucky enough to have an iPhone or iPod Touch, be sure to check out the free app and let us know what you think! It sounds like a great idea to us!

*No sales tax does not apply to orders shipping to New York State.*