From Hip To Housewife

I LOVE swag.  Who doesn’t?  It’s free. It’s usually fun. And did I mention it’s free?

But I wonder if I’ve let it get out of control.

I know, I know.  This coming from a woman who gave away a GINORMOUS swag bag at the KidzVuz event we held with The Big Toy Book at BlogHer 11 last weekend in San Diego..

And I got plenty o’swag too.  From little cute things, like a strawberry shaped re-usable shopping bag from Shari’s Berries (which I love), to the Sinusense sinus cleaner-outer thing  from Waterpik that I’m hoping will help out my perpetually clogged daughter, to cool stick-ums from 3M that will let my daughter keep her Glee wall without messing up my paint job, to the holy-crap this stuff actually works Eye Know Eye cream from Mama Mio.  Which, I will gladly pay for when it runs out…because it’s just that good.

I won an absolutely gorgeous Stella and Dot necklace at the MomTrends Fashion File party. And since I never win anything, I then spent the rest of the evening annoyingly showing it off to total strangers.  The Redakai cards I got for my son (from my own party!) are sure to be a hit, and the Shanesware jewelry will thrill my daughter. I swear that my Oscillococcsinum samples from last year’s BlogHer saved me from a house full of sickies over the winter.  And you can bet I took more this year. I got geekily excited over a power strip  and a etyomic Blue Tooth head set from Clever Girls. And I’ve already bought Sabra Hummus and Stacey’s chips with my coupons. Seriously.

I honestly don’t know if I could list all the stuff I got at BlogHer.

And I love it all .  And I’ll use it all.  And I’ll write more about it (especially that eye-cream, since it also comes with facial exercise routine (seriously!) that I’ll have to try and get back to you on.)

But here’s the thing: It’s kind of  excessive, and a bit…icky.  I feel a little cheap. And I wonder if there’s a way to cut down on the swag, and turn it into charity. (more…)

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