How do you treat a faraway friend to lunch in their city, or an appointment at their favorite nail salon, or a gift from their local boutique?  In today’s world of ubiquitous gift cards,  there’s something much more personal – Giftly.  With Giftly, you can send your friends a gift card to any local business in their area.  There’s no need for a gift card because gifts are delivered and redeemed via their mobile phone.

Best of all, Giftly is best for giving last minute gifts this holiday.  Shop all online, save yourself a trip out, and still give your friend a truly personal gift.

Finding toys that engage kids’ creativity and imagination are hard to find in a marketplace filled with video games and battery-operated learning gadgets. Ugh. What happened to good old-fashioned arts and crafts, hands-on exploration, and learning from imaginative play?  One of the best gifts we’ve seen for kids this year is a monthly-delivery of a Kiwi Crate.

Kiwi Crate is a monthly gift subscription ($19.95) where your child will receive a Kiwi Crate project box filled with materials and instructions for wholesome engaging projects built around that month’s theme.  Monthly subscriptions are available for 3, 6, and 12 months. Visit Kiwi Crate to see samples of past monthly themes – from dinosaurs, to gardening, to colors.

Kiwi Crate could quickly become the favorite gift idea for grandparents shopping for their grandkids.

If you’re still wondering about what kids love, definitely check out Geek Dad’s five best toys of all time.

Sometimes the simplest Halloween costumes are the most impactful, and just imagine the costumes that can be built around these limited edition animal masks handmade by New York-based artisan, Amelia McIsaac.  With wool sheared from McIsaac’s own sheep and then dyed using plants grown in her garden, you can choose from five animals – coyote, owl, fox, chicken and bear (looks like Pooh, doesn’t it?).  Only 50 of each style were made exclusively for Kalon Studios, so hurry and grab yours quickly.

Handmade Animal Halloween Masks  |  $36 at Kalon Studios

Pottery Barn Kids 2011 Halloween collection is now live on their site with costumes, decor, gifts and books.  But make sure you check out our favorite section – their large collection of Halloween treat bags ranging from $10 to $22.50.

Not sure of your Valentine’s gift yet?  How about a customized illustrated portrait art from Anna Bond of the Rifle Paper Co?  Your portraits and name are hand-painted into this lovely heart print for $250 – just in time for Valentine’s!  Also available in a floral design.

Sure there’s kids’ Valentine’s Day cards at the drug store, but customizing cards add a special touch.  Check out the handpicked kids’ Valentine’s cards at Nouncee.com.

Absolutely love Pinhole Press’s 7-photo accordion holiday card.

Here it is, the ultimate Christmas gift for dads who love their toys – the Parrot AR.Drone.  Let’s sum this up quickly because it shouldn’t take any longer to convince you that this is the dad toy of the year.

1. Remote controlled by your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad
2. Helicopter – actually a quadicopter – four blades
3. Fly solo or battle with friends
4. On-board camera that transmits to your iPhone or other Apple device

That’s it.  Now, wives, go out and get one for your man.

Parrot AR.Drone |  $299 at Amazon.com

We’re happy to bring you a holiday giveaway from stationery design shop, Hello Lucky. The prize for one lucky winner will be 50 personalized digital holiday cards ($145 value).

This year, Hello Lucky has introduced a new expanded selection of holiday cards – from holiday photo cards, to family newsletter designs, hometown holiday cards, Christmas and Hanukkah cards, and special order letterpress cards.

There are 3 ways to enter.  Do all three to get three entries in our random drawing.

1. Browse Hello Lucky’s new collection of holiday cards, then let us know your favorite design in our comment section below. Remember to leave your email address.
2. “Like” the Facebook Page for our new family stationery site, Nouncee.com
3. Join our newsletter.  If you are currently receiving Coochicoos updates, you are already entered to win.
   
   Join our mailing list to enter: 

Winner Update: Congrats to subscriber Erin D. of New Jersey on winning our Hello Lucky holiday card giveaway!

The Details:

• Join our mailing list once and you will be entered to win all future giveaways.
• Your email subscription must be VERIFIED and ACTIVE at the time of the drawing.
• Entry deadline will be November 10 at 11:59 PM PST. One winner will be selected in a random drawing using random.org as our selection tool, and notified via email.
• Your contact information will never be sold to or shared with another party for any reason. You may choose to cancel your email subscription at anytime by simply following the links at the bottom of the email message.
• Click to see more rules details.

Welcome to Nouncee – our new website that offers you a tightly curated selection of baby and family stationery from top online printers.  At Nouncee, you can see and shop the best designs all in one site.  We’ve sorted through the thousands of choices online to find our picks for holiday cards, baby birth announcements, baby shower invitations, and much more.

We started Nouncee because we feel that you don’t need more choices, but better ones.  Now you don’t have to jump and shop from one online site to another.  Just start at Nouncee to see the hottest and latest designs, and save time.

Plus, we have a constantly updated Coupons and Promos page to help you save money when you’re ready to buy your personalized stationery.

Here’s some quick holiday card shopping links to get you started -

• Non-photo holiday cards
• Religious Christmas cards
• Holiday cards under 89 cents
• Hanukkah photo cards
• Holiday newsletter cards

Stay in touch with us on Nouncee’s Facebook and Twitter page to get the latest on new designs and money-saving coupons.