Hostess invites fans to give Twinkies a Minion Makeover

Hostess and Universal Studios Celebrate the Despicable Me 2 release on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD with The Twinkie Minion Makeover Sweepstakes! The Limited Edition Minion Makeover Packaging hits shelves as the holiday season gets underway.

Hostess is inviting fans across the country to kick up their creativity and dress up their favorite golden, crème-filled treats and “Minion-ize” their Twinkies for the chance to win great prizes. Now through January 5, 2014, Hostess lovers can make the season a little brighter by visiting https://www.facebook.com/Hostess and https://www.Facebook.com/Hostess/app_170621563134175 to download a collection of Minion accessories, and make their own Twinkie Minion.  Fans can then upload pictures of their creations to enter to win a daily instant prize, which includes a Despicable Me 2 Blu-ray™ and special offers from Hostess, or the grand prize, which includes a Home Theater System, a collection of 30 Blu-rays and a year’s supply of Hostess treats.

Sponsored post brought to you by Hostess and Universal Studios

Reveiw: Teatro Zinzanni's Family Friendly show Tambourine Submarine

My son and I had the pleasure of taking in Teatro Zinanni's latest family show Tambourine Submarine  this past weekend.   Based upon the Seattle kiddie rock band Recess Monkey's hit song of the same name, Tambourine Submarine is a fun little show that tells  the story of what happens when two sailors crash their submarine on a deserted island.

Here's the thing, Teatro Zinzanni is always a fun time. It's cabaret , mixed with cirque du soleil mixed with comedy and song and it's just a plain old good time!   But what I enjoyed about this show is that in addition to featuring some fantastic adult artists such as ballerina Ariana Lallone and Ben Wendel and Rachel Nehmer of Duo Madrona it also features real kids.

 As an aside, the mother of one of the child performers sat right in front of me (I had an inkling from the fact that she was beaming with pride each time her child performed). At the end of the show I asked her how her child got involved in the show. Had he had years of performing experience, I wondered ?  Surprisingly she told me he'd attended one of the Teatro Zinzanni's summer camps and was later asked to perform and funny enough now says performing is his "calling".

Real kids are what made this show more fun and relatable for my 10 year old.    All the kids were fantastically cute, particularly the little hula performers.  The music was fun and lively and there was so much to see as one can always expect with a Teatro Zinzanni show.  And for you parents that may wonder what's in it for me ?  Well besides your child enjoying the heck out of themselves,  Duo Madrona's acrobatic talent will leave you positively stunned!  But wait, I don't want to be a spolier. Go check out the show for yourself. Tambourine Submarine plays on select weekends through December 15th

At $19 for booth seating and $25 for chair seating (close to the action) I dare you not to have fun!
It really is a wonderful show for parents and their kids to experience together.


Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I was provided with complimentary tickets to the show in order to facilitate this review

Good clean family friendly entertainment at Teatro Zinzanni's King's Wish!

My daughter and I had the pleasure of seeing Teatro Zinzanni’s family friendly program King’s Wish in Seattle this past Saturday.   I’ve been to the evening show before quite a few years back and found it to be positively enthralling.  So frankly this show had a lot to live up to.

How many ways are there to say we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves? I’ll certainly run out before this review is done. 

King’s Wish didn’t disappoint.   The show played well to its target audience featuring such kid friendly fare as “kindie rocker” Caspar Babypants, and two very talented child performers  (an aerialist and a juggler).   

I have to say I love the ambiance.  The tent with its circus-esque decoration and dim lighting lent itself well to the excitement of the show.  The costumes were vibrant, the performers high energy and the staff was highly interactive.  It was good clean silly fun!   We laughed, we gasped  ( the genie and the aerialist were so positively graceful my daughter and I sat in awe) and we applauded our hearts out.  We were entertained from start to finish.  

Check it out for yourself. Teatro Zinzanni's  Kings Wish  runs through June 30th.  At $19-24 per ticket I assure you its well worth it and will be an afternoon you and your little ones won’t soon forget! 

Disclosure: All opinions are my own. We were provided complimentary tickets to the show to facilitate this review

Progresso Light Creamy Potato with Bacon & Cheese & Chicken Pot Pie Soup Review

 I'm a big fan of soup.  After all I live in an area where it's cold,rainy and gray a good 70% of the time and well, comfort foods are a must. And ? Comfort foods that won't expand my waistline well those are even better.  Thus I really wanted to like Progresso Light Creamy Potato with Bacon & Cheese Soup and Chicken Pot Pie style because it's soup and hello?  Bacon! Cheese ! and Chicken Pot Pie!  Unfortunately, that wasn't to be. In general the cream base in the Creamy Potato with Bacon and Cheese lacked in flavor.  I didn't notice any cheese and what flavor I did notice was more "smoke" flavor than it was bacon.
 
On another more positive note their new Light Chicken Pot Pie Style soup scored with the larger vegetable and chicken pieces but again I felt something was lacking in the the cream base. With that said, I'd rate this one a bit higher than the Creamy Potato with Bacon and Cheese.

I'm admittedly disappointed in these soups but not Progresso as they have other great varieties in their light lines (try the Beef Pot Roast).

So my final verdict, I'll pass but... go check them out for yourselves. You may find that your own opinion differs from mine.