Get your entries in!

Just a reminder that all entries for the Ringling Brothers Circus ticket give-a-way must be in by Monday, June 13 by 5PM. 

Get the details here, http://crawfish-tales.blogspot.com/2011/06/give-way-family-night-out-for-greatest.html. 

Give- A-Way: A Family Night Out for The Greatest Show on Earth

What:

Watch out NOLA, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey^® is rolling into town! Crawfish Tales will award two winners with a Family Pack of 4 tickets to the show time of your choice!

BARNUM 200 ^SM, a new jumbo-sized, un-miss-able event celebrating The Biggest Bash in Circus History will be at the New Orleans Arena for seven performances Thursday, June 16 - Sunday, June 19.

From the moment that you arrive, the momentum explodes as The Greatest Show On Earth^® comes to life in a way that can only be inspired by the greatest showman who ever lived.  At BARNUM 200, the funtastic and funbelieveable experience answers “What wonders create The Greatest Show On Earth?”

How To Enter:

To enter, comment on this post and tell me your favorite part of the circus. Is it the elephants, the clowns, the acrobats, the cotton candy?

Tweet or post a link to this give-a-way on Facebook for an additional entry. 

The Circus Experience:

To kick off the The Ringling Bros. experience, a free and open to the public event, the Crescent City Summer Celebration Parade, will be held on June 15 at 11AM at the intersection of Girod Street and Loyola Avenue.

The circus animals will be on parade lead by Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson, along with the show’s clowns and dancers. Guests will also have a chance to win free tickets by catching some of Ringling’s exciting throws!

The parade will begin at the New Orleans Arena and go down Girod Street, left on Baronne Street, up Poydras and conclude on Loyola Avenue. As the parade comes to the end, a “watering” event will be held on Loyola Avenue where spectators will have a chance to see how Ringling keeps its largest and most pampered animals cool in the summer heat.

Bonus: If you have not made plans for Father’s Day. Dad will get in FREE to the circus on June 19^th performances, 1:00 and 5:00PM, code FATHER at the box office.

Deadline: 
All entries must be submitted by June 13. The winner's name will be posted on the blog on June 14. The winner has 24 hours to contact me to claim the prize.

Didn’t Win:

Tickets are $90 (Circus Celebrity), $45 (Front Row), $35 (VIP), $25, and $15 for Reserved Seating. Tickets are available at the New Orleans Arena Box office, online at Ticketmaster.com, or by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000. 

Crawfish Tales Details:
Disclosure – A product was provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the writing of this review; however, opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation

Give-A-Way: Monte's Birthday Party at Hotel Monteleone

Give-A-Way: Monte's Birthday Party at Hotel Monteleone


Winner: Erika Lehmann. Thank you for submitting the most entires! Enjoy Monte's Birthday Party with your daughter!

What:

The Hotel Monteleone's lovable mascot, Monte, is celebrating his birthday! Crawfish Tales has two tickets to give-a-way!

Monte's birthday party will be on June 11 from 10AM-noon at the Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter.

Monte the Lion is one of the most loved – and most cuddly - members of the Hotel Monteleone family. Children attending the party will have the chance to take pictures with Monte on his birthday and play with his mascot friends including Gumbo from the New Orleans Saints, Hugo from the New Orleans Hornets, Boudreaux from the New Orleans Zephyrs, Riptide from Tulane University and Havoc from Loyola University.

A birthday cupcake making station will sweeten the mood along with food, pictures and games. As a special birthday treat, Monte the Lion will premiere his very own children’s book and will sign copies for all party goers.

Didn't win: 
Tickets for Monte's party can be purchased for $25 online.

There is a bonus: Everyone who purchases a ticket will have the chance to win four tickets to “Shrek the Musical” at the Mahalia Jackson Theater and to meet the characters live. “Shrek the Musical” will be in New Orleans May 31 – June 5.

Crawfish Tales Details:
Disclosure – A product was provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the writing of this review; however, opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation

Fighting Hunger is a Family Event

I work with Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana to lead the fight against hunger in 23 Louisiana Parishes.

Louisiana tops the nation with one in four children ages 0-5 who are at risk for hunger. As a new mom, knowing that 1 in 5 kids under 18 struggle with hunger every day just in my own community is devastating. I can’t even imagine putting Baby Crawfish to bed at night knowing that she is hungry or deciding to buy gas to get to work instead of putting dinner on the table.

Good nutrition has such an important role on a child’s physical, behavioral and mental health. For just $5 you can join the fight.  Second Harvest Food Bank is hosting the second annual Rubber Duck Derby on Sunday, May 22 on Bayou St. John at 3:45PM.

10,000 rubber ducks will race to the finish line to help battle the everyday disaster of hunger in our community.  The derby is a fun day for the family and quite a spectacle to see!

Right now as the price of gas rises and as kids who usually receive free and reduced lunch are getting out of school, additional strains are being placed on families already struggling to meet daily needs.

Those families as well as the families facing the flooding from the Mississippi River will turn to Second Harvest Food Bank. Please help Second Harvest by participating in the Rubber Duck Derby. Ducks can be purchased for just $5 online at www.no-hunger.org.

Bottles Up!

So Brett Anderson at the Times Picayune has red beans and Tom Fitzmorris has stars, but Crawfish Tales has bottles!

As one of the most popular posts so far on Crawfish Tales, Are You or Aren't You, has prompted me to keep a log of the most baby friendly places in the Greater New Orleans area. Tell me where are your favorite places and why, or who needs a little improvement to make baby the most comfortable there.

Rankings will be listed by bottles, four bottles is the top score meaning that the welcome mat is out for baby. Let's give credit where credit is due.

When you are out and about check out the place. Is there a kids menu, highchairs, a changing table, can you fit a stroller through the aisles, what is that key element that makes it baby friendly for you.

Email your rankings and comments to crawfishtalesblog@gmail.com.

Battling The Diaper Need

Can you imagine not being able to go to work because you can’t afford to buy diapers to send your child to nursery school? Can you imagine cleaning used diapers because you can’t afford new diapers?

1 in 3 American moms struggle with diaper need. Of course this tears at a mother’s heart but the baby also suffers. If mom can’t provide a new clean diaper this means that baby is kept in wet, dirty diapers for extended period. Through research Huggies has found that as a result, these babies are more likely to experience signs of irritation and discomfort, cry more, and suffer from worse diaper rash.

“Imagine everything it takes to be a mom. Now imagine it without diapers,” Huggies.

The Huggies Every Little Bottom campaign which is designed to combat the diaper need has donated over 22.5 million diapers so far. With the average infant using 6-10 diapers a day totaling about $75 a month this is a strain on families especially now as gas prices are soaring and food prices are rising.

At the recent Mom 2.0 Summit held in New Orleans, Huggies was on the ground informing moms about the program. Moms that retweeted about the Huggies Every Little Bottom campaign helped to donated over 3,000 diapers to babies in need in the New Orleans area through Second Harvest Food Bank.  

Please join them by supporting the Huggies Every Little Bottom campaign. Learn more about the program or donate diapers. 

Baby Book as a Travel Guide

As a baby gift, I received the New Orleans baby book by Lil Squirts. The book was done by a local company to highlight a baby’s firsts, New Orleans style. The pages include first trip to the Audubon Zoo, French Quarter Fest, Mardi Gras, City Park, Café du Monde and even my first evacuation.

 Hubby and I are having way more fun completing the pages than Baby Crawfish is I am sure. We are experiencing the city as tourists in our own town. We are making our way through the pages and doing some things for the first time ourselves. We have taken her to the lakefront, the Audubon Zoo, Oak Alley Plantation, Southern Yacht Club, LSU, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the Racetrack and she is only 6 months old.  I am sure when she is older we’ll have to do it all over again so she can actually remember.

Almost every weekend we are doing something new and completing a new page. We are having fun experiencing things as a family. As parents we are working out the kinks in getting around with a baby. At Oak Alley we fed Baby Crawfish just before the mansion tour began. Our thought was that she would be full and quiet on the tour. In reality it gave her a full belly and when the Baby Bjorn is tight around her belly it turns in to spit up. Normally this would be no issue, but around 200+ year old antiques…nightmare. I was so worried the whole tour but lesson learned.

photo by Hubby

This past weekend we went to the Audubon Zoo. Both Hubby and I have so many great memories there from our childhood so we became members. The membership gives us unlimited visits to the zoo each year so we can go for an hour or a day. Baby Crawfish got to feed a giraffe, which we called Sophie (see old post for background, http://bit.ly/g9Fvay). She also made friends with an alligator.

photo by Hubby. No the picture quality is not bad, the alligator just keeps a messy room.

As summer is kicking off I invite you to introduce your baby to her city. Do what the tourists do and go where they go. After all they are getting to experience the best of the city. Be a tourist in your own town.