A couple of months ago I was watching YouTube videos on my mommy channels and I saw a couple of moms exchanging "Mom & Tot Boxes" and I thought what a cool idea!  I decided to parlay it into my Twitter following and a couple of my blog moms that I had gotten close with.  A total of four blog moms including myself decided to join in...Growing Up Madison, Me and My Mini Me and my partner Pink Candy and Stilettos!

The rules for the swap were just a couple:

• Even number of participants, this way no one was left out
• Each blogger had a budget of $40 to get all the items, this did NOT include shipping
• Packages should be mailed in September, we are hoping to make this a quarterly thing and add in more bloggers!

We decided to focus our boxes on our toddlers Morgan (Pink Candy and Stilettos) and Hannah (The Real Housewife of Caroline County), I had never really bought for a boy before and she had never really bought for a girl so it was the perfect set!  Hannah LOVES all their items!


Included in our package from Morgan were all the items they range from a cup with a non-removal straw (plus for mommy), flash cards since we are getting more into educational things now, coloring books with crayons, some Disney dolls, books, bubbles AND a Barbie play dress!!

As soon as Hannah saw the box she was so eager to open it...like a kid on Christmas!  The first items Hannah got into were of course the coloring books and reading books.  We did already have a couple of the books but it was perfect timing because they've kind of been read to death so I can replace them with the new ones Morgan sent us and they won't be missed! 


Next up were the dolls with the Barbie dress up gown..."ohhhh nice" is all Hannah kept saying, she really, really liked it! Hannah's younger sister Savannah likes the dolls too so they will serve a double purpose!


Then we have the flash cards and cup that reads "Hannah" on it, I love that this cup has a wider bottom to the straw so Hannah can't rip it out of the cup.  It still can spill but we only ever give her water so a little water won't hurt anyone!  Don't worry about her face in these photos she was totally over me taking pictures and absorbed in Sesame Street...apparently I didn't do a great job of getting all the yogurt off her face either (oh well, that's mom life).


Last but not least Morgan included a little something for this mommy...a planner!  I probably (no I really) need one of these!  Everything is going in this, thank you Morgan!


I really enjoyed doing this swap and I know that the other ladies that joined in enjoyed it as well!  We are hoping to make this a quarterly thing so I look forward to adding other moms into the mix...who doesn't love getting a package in the mail??  Definitely check out the other 3 ladies and their box swaps and share the love!!

I'm really excited about this new venture, I'm working with Growing Up Madison, Pink Candy & Stilettos and Me and My Mini Me on a fun and interactive way to join mom bloggers and their kids together!

So my idea was a Mom & Tot Box Swap, this means that once every quarter (our first box will be in September) each mom and toddler will receive a box from another mom and toddler with all sorts of goodies in it for them.  For example in September Morgan and Hannah will be box swapping, so both mom and toddler will put together any items within our budget ($40) for just toddler or mom and toddler.  Items can range from educational items to books, arts and crafts to clothing/accessories, food can even be included if it's perishable and will ship well.  If each mom wants to include an item(s) for each other as long as it falls into the budget that's totally fine too.

Another twist on this to help fit into the budget is if you have anything laying around, a old baby shower gift or a birthday gift you never used or something along those lines you can include it and it won't go towards your budget (handy for moms like me who get products that sometimes I end up not liking/using). 

I thought this would be a fun way to each out to the moms that I know through blogging and Twitter, we can get to know each other through these boxes and our kids get presents at the same time...very cool! 

The only condition of the box swap is that we blog about what we received in our box...the good, the bad, the not wanted. 

I'm already prepping and getting things ready for our first box to Morgan! We're very excited and hope that he and mom enjoy what's inside...we especially look forward to their post on what they received and how they are liking it.

If you are interested in joining in on this definitely let me know...we do need equal amounts of moms to do this (2, 4, 6, 8...etc) so that everyone receives a box but I think this is going to be a fun project even if it only happens once!!! Stay tuned for our post on what we get and I will also be linking all the other ladies posts once they have them as well!