More Family Fun with Tropicana

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Tropicana.

You could win a $50 Visa giftcard, keep reading to find out how to enter!

The Basics Juicy Rewards is a great program from Tropicana that helps you save on the stuff your family loves to do, just by buying stuff your family already loves -- orange juice. Each specially marked carton of Tropicana Pure Premium or Trop50 has a special code that you enter online to get Juicy Reward Points. You can redeem Juicy Reward Points for discounts on fun activities and gear (for more information, check out the Juicy Rewards official site). As a BlogHer Juicy Insider, I get to try out some of the activities that you can redeem discounts for, and tell you all about it. The Bongga It's our second month as Juicy Insiders, and we've been having more fun than ever! So what else have we been doing with all those points? Check it out all the Juicy Fun we've been having: Indulging our Inner Carnivores I was so happy to see that the Juicy Rewards program now includes discounts on dining! One of the things we love to do as a family is eat out at restaurants. A couple of weeks ago I was craving roast beef, so I took the kids to Arby's and used 2 Juicy Rewards points to get a Buy-One-Get-One-Free deal on a Beef 'n Cheddar Sandwich and a Chicken Sandwich:
They were delicious, and yes, a little bit naughty, but fortunately Arby's had a huge, clean and empty play area so my kids burned up all the calories they consumed by running up, down and through the mazes of tunnels and slides. They had a blast, and I got a relaxing hour to myself to read the paper and surf the web (I'm still working on burning those extra calories, but that's another story!).
The Juicy Rewards dining discounts aren't just for fast food restaurants, either. They've signed up Indian restaurants, Mexican taquerias, Italian restaurants, Thai restaurants, French bakery cafes are more! Alfie and I are on a campaign to get the kids to expand their culinary horizons, so we're so excited that all these new dining discounts have been added so we can save some money when we go out to eat. Celebrating Earth Day, Every Day April was Earth Month, so I was happy to celebrate by donating some of my Juicy Rewards points to Tropicana's Rescue the Rainforest program. Every Juicy Rewards point you donate will save 33 1/3 square feet of rainforest! I've donated 25 points so far, and I expect to donate many more between now and November 15th (when the Juicy Rewards Program ends). Prancing down the Red Carpet My kids are really sensitive when it comes to watching movies, so we haven't taken them to movies too often. But they're older now. They're no longer so afraid of sitting in the dark in front of that huge, intense movie screen, and there are more movies that they can handle without quaking in fear or dissolving into tears, so this year we've started going out to the movies as a family. But isn't it awful how just a simple family activity like going to the movies can get so expensive? So when Juicy Rewards featured a Buy-One-Get-One-Free Fandango movie ticket deal as their Deal of the Day a couple of weeks ago, I knew this was a Must Do. How often do you get discounts on movie tickets?! We redeemed the coupon to watch the DisneyNature film "Oceans", and it was Amazing with a capital A. It's the kind of film you simply must see on the big screen because even a 42-inch home tv doesn't do the scenery justice. Thanks, Juicy Rewards, for helping us save on a night at the movies!
The Blah That BOGO Fandango movie ticket deal was so popular that the Juicy Rewards servers must have gotten overwhelmed with the traffic. The site hung multiple times that day, and I was one of the unlucky people who experienced all kinds of glitches when I logged on and tried to redeem my Juicy Rewards points for discounts (site hanging, multiple error messages, points getting deducted multiple times, etc..). It took me almost an hour to redeem that deal! Even worse, I (along with many other Facebook fans) wrote on their wall to inquire/complain, but no-one from Tropicana responded! It was a frustrating experience -- but there's a happy ending to this story. I called their customer service line and got an instant response. Their representative restored the Juicy Rewards points that were erroneously subtracted, immediately and without giving me any trouble. I was impressed with how well they handled it. I also got multiple emails apologizing for the lack of response, and it looks like Tropicana is now really proactive when it comes to responding to comments and suggestions that get posted on their Facebook page. It's really good to see that they do respond to customer feedback and learn from their experiences. The Bottom Line Tropicana's Juicy Rewards program is getting better and better. They're adding new discounts all the time and they're stepping up their IT and customer support to handle the increased traffic from their thousands of new Juicy Rewards fans! I can't wait to see what new discounts they come up with! Register with and Tropicana Juicy Rewards and get one additional Juicy Rewards Point for free! To get you started, BlogHer and Tropicana have teamed up to offer new Juicy Rewards members a bonus Juicy Rewards point! How great is that: you get one step closer to redeeming a Juicy Reward, at no cost to you. To get your bonus point: 1. Go to http://www.tropicana.com/ 2. Set-up your Tropicana Juicy Rewards account (just take a minute!) 3. Visit the "Enter Codes" page within the site and get started with BLOGG-HER11 * *Note* This one-time use code is valid for new accounts ONLY. Must be entered within 6 hours of creating your account. Win a $50 Visa Gift card! One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will win a $50 Visa gift card courtesy of BlogHer. To enter, leave a comment on this post and share your favorite family restaurant. Extra Entries For extra entries, you can do any or all of the following, (you can only do each extra entry once; please leave a separate comment for each extra entry): 1) Write this on the Bonggamom Finds Facebook Fan Page (leave a comment on this post with your FB id): I joined the 4th $50 Visa giveaway on Bonggamom Finds! http://ow.ly/1NdJr 2) Write this on the Tropicana Facebook Fan Page (leave a comment on this post with your FB id): Hey Juicy Rewards fans, there's another Juicy Rewards post and another $50 Visa giftcard giveaway on Bonggamom Finds! Anyone can enter at http://ow.ly/1NdJr, ends 5/31. 3) Tweet this (leave a comment on this post with a link to your tweet): See what @bonggafinds is doing w/ her Juicy Rewards Points & enter to Win a $50 Visa giftcard fr @blogherdeals! http://ow.ly/1NdJr #giveaway Maximum of 4 entries per person. This giveaway ends at midnight PST on May 31, 2010; I will draw a winner at random on June 1 and post the winner's name in the comments section after the winner confirms acceptance. Click here for complete giveaway rules. For more information, check out the Juicy Rewards official site. And don't forget to visit the rest of the BlogHer Juicy Insiders' posts (links are on the BlogHer.com special offers page )-- you'll have 7 more chances to win! Disclosure: I am being compensated for my participation in the BlogHer Juicy Insiders program. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.

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Having Big-time Family Fun on a Small-time Budget

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Tropicana.

You could win a $50 Visa giftcard, keep reading to find out how to enter!

My kids are only 6 and 9 years old, and already the flight from our nest has begun. It seems like every week I'm fielding invitations from their friends to spend some time at their house for playdates, or sleepovers, shopping trips and excursions to museums and beaches. I'm happy that they're well-liked and well-behaved enough to get all these invitations, and many times I'm happy to send them off with $20 in their pockets and a promise to reciprocate -- but there are times when I have to tell their friends, "Sorry but we're planning to have a family outing that day". I can't stop my children from growing up, experiencing new things and giving them their independence, but I can and do make sure they have a happy, solid family to return to. I firmly believe that The Family That Plays Together, Stays Together, so I like to schedule family outings two or three times a month. I'm always on the lookout for fun, memorable experiences we can enjoy together, as a family. We are lucky to live in an area that has such a wide variety of things to do, all within a short drive of each other, many of which are extremely kid-friendly -- but they can also be expensive. Going to amusement parks or state fairs or shows can cost over hundreds for the whole family! We just don't have that kind of budget, so I try to look for free or low-cost events. Here are five things I always do to stretch our family entertainment budget: 1) Look for free events There are free family events in practically every city in the US -- the key is knowing where and how to find them. Always check out your local library or civic center; just a few examples of fun, free family activities your city might offer are children's parades, 4th of July parades, or puppet shows. Civic organizations also sponsor international cultural days (like the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival, Brazilian Samba or Cinco de Mayo celebrations) and other events. Check out your local paper or entertainment magazine, or go online to find out what's happening in your area. Trust me -- I've been writing about local kid-friendly attractions and events for two years, and there hasn't been a weekend where I haven't found at least one fun, free, family-friendly event. 2) Check out your local parents club I joined our local mother's club to meet new parents, find playgroups our kids could join -- and to enjoy their awesome parties! For just a $40 annual fee, members get all kinds of amazing perks: Our mothers club holds amazing Halloween parties, Valentine's parties, Easter parties and winter holiday parties with goody bags, kids entertainers, pizza and crafts, all for free! We always look forward to our Twins Club's annual Ice Cream Party -- we gather at a local park for pizza, soda and make-your-own ice cream sundaes, complete with candy toppings, waffle cups and cones and four kinds of ice cream! They also hold special classes at science museums and outings at jumpy house places or zoos for smaller groups, again for free -- you just need to make sure you sign up before space runs out. There's probably a local parents club near you that offers similar, low-cost or free activities the whole family can enjoy.

Every October we visit a pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay. Because we go with our twins club, we save 50% off admission and unlimited rides bracelet. And because it's a package deal, the kids even get a cookie and a small pumpkin to take home.

3) Buy museum family memberships. If you have a favorite museum or zoo that you find yourself returning to time and again, consider purchasing a family membership. In many cases, you can recoup the cost of your membership in as little as one or two visits. Many of these memberships also offer discounts on other museums, food purchased in their cafeterias and on souvenirs at their gift shops (actually, another way to save is to warn your kids beforehand that you won't be splashing out for souvenirs!). To stretch out the number of visits we can enjoy, I usually buy membership in July -- that way, it runs until July of the following year, and we get two summers worth of visits to the museum!

A couple of years ago we splurged on a family membership to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We recovered the cost in just two visits, and we visited the aquarium so many times that we didn't even feel the urge to go back for quite a while. I think it's time to splurge on that family membership again.....

4) Take advantage of Free Admission Days. Many museums hold free or $1 admission days once a month. Yes, they tend to be more crowded than on other days, but you can work around that by arriving at the museum exactly when it opens. We've discovered quite a few family favorites that way -- the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Happy Hollow Zoo in San Jose and Coyote Point Museum, for instance. The kids adore these places! 5) Look for coupons and discounts. Why pay full price for admission to a museum or event if you can get a couple of bucks off just by clipping a coupon? When you multiply that by five, it adds up! You can check out the coupon section of your local newspaper or entertainment magazine, ask your local parents group or auto club if they offer any discounts -- or better yet, join Tropicana's Juicy Rewards program. The program offers discounts at over 20,000 establishments nationwide. You can save on food, drink, equipment, lodging, admissions and family entertainment just by buying Tropicana products, collecting the Juicy Rewards points on the cartons and redeeming them for discounts. Check out my first Juicy Rewards post for details on how the program works, and check out my second Juicy Rewards post to see some of the fun ways you can save with the Juicy Rewards program. It's a great way to stretch out your family entertainment budget! Register with and Tropicana Juicy Rewards and get one additional Juicy Rewards Point for free! To get you started, BlogHer and Tropicana have teamed up to offer new Juicy Rewards members a bonus Juicy Rewards point! How great is that: you get one step closer to redeeming a Juicy Reward, at no cost to you. To get your bonus point: 1. Go to http://www.tropicana.com/ 2. Set-up your Tropicana Juicy Rewards account (just take a minute!) 3. Visit the "Enter Codes" page within the site and get started with BLOGG-HER11 * *Note* This one-time use code is valid for new accounts ONLY. Must be entered within 6 hours of creating your account. Win It! One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will win a $50 Visa gift card courtesy of BlogHer. To enter, visit the Tropicana Juicy Rewards page, then come back here and share a tip on how to have big family fun on a small budget. Extra Entries For extra entries, you can do any or all of the following, (you can only do each extra entry once; please leave a separate comment for each extra entry): 1) Write this on the Bonggamom Finds Facebook Fan Page (leave a comment on this post with your FB id): I joined the $50 Visa giveaway on Bonggamom Finds! 2) Write this on the Tropicana OJ Facebook Fan Page (leave a comment on this post with your FB id): I went to Bonggamom's latest Juicy Rewards post and entered to win a $50 Visa giftcard! Anyone can enter at http://ow.ly/1Gl2Z, ends 5/16. 3) Tweet this (leave a comment on this post with a link to your tweet): Share your money-saving tip on family fun w/ @bonggafinds & enter to Win a $50 Visa giftcard fr @blogherdeals ! http://ow.ly/1Gl2Z #giveaway Maximum of 4 entries per person. This giveaway ends at midnight PST on May 16, 2010; I will draw a winner at random on May17 and post the winner's name in the comments section after the winner confirms acceptance. Click here for complete giveaway rules. For more information, check out the Juicy Rewards official site. And don't forget to visit the rest of the BlogHer Juicy Insiders' posts (links are on the BlogHer.com special offers page )-- you'll have 7 more chances to win! Disclosure: I am being compensated for my participation in the BlogHer Juicy Insiders program. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.

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Introducing Tropicana's Juicy Rewards program

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Tropicana.

Are you a family that

1) Loves orange juice?
2) Loves to do fun things together?
3) Loves to save money?

I was recently invited to become a BlogHer Juicy Insider for Tropicana's Juicy Rewards program, which allows families to enjoy all three items on my list -- and I'm raring to start! I hope you'll join me and my family as we explore all that Juicy Rewards have to offer.


The Basics
Juicy Rewards is a great new program from Tropicana that helps you save on the stuff your family loves to do, just by buying stuff your family already loves -- orange juice. As a BlogHer Juicy Insider, I get to try out some of the activities that you can redeem discounts for, and tell you all about it.

Here's Tropicana's description of the program:
Tropicana Juicy Rewards™ is a unique program that will help families get more from their juice with 20,000 ways to save on healthy family activities, experiences and products.

Consumers who purchase Tropicana Pure Premium® or Trop50® can enter codes online at Tropicana.com and start saving immediately on thousands of healthy pursuits. Just one carton of orange juice is worth up to $15 in savings and a carton of Trop50 is worth up to $30 in savings.

Tropicana Juicy Rewards delivers with 20,000 ways to save on fun, healthy pursuits the whole family can enjoy together. Examples include savings on: Norwegian Cruise Line, adidas fitness gear, TaylorMade golf equipment, and savings on activities and lodging in Yosemite National Park. In addition, there are thousands of local rewards like discounts from theatre tickets in Chicago to aquarium admission in San Francisco.


The Bongga/The Blah/The Bottom Line
This is a great rewards program for parents looking to save some money on some really fun things to do! It's really easy to accumulate points since all you have to do is buy Tropicana Pure Premium or Tropicana Trop50 products specially marked with the Juicy Rewards logo. They'll have codes printed on them like in the photo below:



Then you use your points to redeem coupons for discounts at different stores, entertainment places, museums, health and fitness services, and more. There are literally thousands of ways to redeem your rewards points , so you'll probably be able to find a discount that works for you, no matter where you live or what you and your family like to do. I did a quick scan of discounts you can redeem, and after just a couple of minutes I was able to find over half a dozen that I'm dying to use! Here my top choices so far:

* Get 4 free Stay-N-Play Passes with a 1-night stay at a Yosemite DNC Park & Resort property (9 points)

* Buy one get one free admission to San Mateo's Coyote Point Museum (1 point)

* Buy one get one free gallery admission to San Jose's Tech Museum (1 point)

* Buy one get one free admission to Alameda's USS Hornet (2 points)

* Buy one get one free round of Mini Golf at Redwood City's Malibu Grand Prix (3 pts)

* 20% off off admission to Monterey's MY Museum (5 pts)

* 50% off up to two admission tickets to Oaklang's Children's Fairyland (1 pts)


That doesn't even include all the discounts you can get at furniture stores, sporting goods stores, day spas, gyms, and so many more. Really, there are so many ways to save with Tropicana Juicy Rewards that I can't put it all in one post! Over the next few months I'll be posting about how we actually redeemed our rewards points, what I like and don't like about the program, and all that good stuff.



Register with and Tropicana Juicy Rewards and get one additional Juicy Rewards Point for free!
To get you started, BlogHer and Tropicana have teamed up to offer new Juicy Rewards members a bonus Juicy Rewards point! How great is that: you get one step closer to redeeming a Juicy Reward, at no cost to you.

To get your bonus point:
1. Go to http://www.tropicana.com/
2. Set-up your Tropicana Juicy Rewards account (just take a minute!)
3. Visit the "Enter Codes" page within the site and get started with BLOGG-HER11 *

*Note* This one-time use code is valid for new accounts ONLY. Must be entered within 6 hours of creating your account.


Win It!
One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will win a $50 Visa gift card courtesy of BlogHer. To enter, visit the Tropicana Juicy Rewards page, then come back here and tell me one Juicy Rewards discount that you'd like to redeem!

Extra Entries
For extra entries, you can do any or all of the following, (you can only do each extra entry once; please leave a separate comment for each extra entry):

1) Become a fan of Bonggamom Finds on Facebook AND write on my wall to tell me you've joined the Juicy Rewards giveaway! (leave a comment on this post with your FB id).

2) Tweet this (leave a comment on this post with a link to your tweet):

Go to @bonggafinds Juicy Insiders post and enter to Win a $50 Visa giftcard from @blogherdeals ! http://tinyurl.com/yzndxrl #giveaway

Maximum of 3 entries per person. This giveaway ends at midnight PST on April 14, 2010; I will draw a winner at random on April 15 and post the winner's name in the comments section after the winner confirms acceptance. Click here for complete giveaway rules.

For more information, check out the Juicy Rewards official site. And don't forget to visit the rest of the BlogHer Juicy Insiders' posts (links are on the BlogHer.com special offers page )-- you'll have 7 more chances to win!




Disclosure: I am being compensated for my participation in the BlogHer Juicy Insiders program. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.

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I'm a BlogHer Juicy Insider!

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Tropicana.

Alfie swears I'm the only person he knows that refuses to buy anything or go anywhere unless I have a coupon for it. Well, what of it? Doesn't it make sense to avoid paying full price for something if there's a discount available. Anyway, I know I'm not the only discount-lover out there!

That's why I'm all juiced up (yes, pun intended!) to announce that I'm participating in BlogHer's Juicy Insider Program! We're helping spread the word about Juicy Rewards, a great new program from Tropicana that helps you save on the stuff your family loves to do, just by buying stuff your family already loves -- orange juice. For the next couple of months I'll be trying out some of the activities that Juicy Reward members can enjoy, and telling you all about it! Watch this page for more posts about how the Juicy Rewards Program works, what fun things my family is enjoying with the Juicy Rewards points we've accumulated, yummy orange juice recipes and more.





For more information about the program, check out the Juicy Rewards official site. And don't forget to visit the rest of the BlogHer Juicy Insiders' posts (links are on the BlogHer.com special offers page )-- twice a month, each BlogHer Juicy Insider will be choosing 1 winner for a $50 Visa gift card. That's 16 chances to win per month! Click here for complete giveaway rules.

Post 6: See what kind of summer fun we're having with our Juicy Rewards Points (and enter to win a $50 Visa gift card from BlogHer).

Post 5: Try my friend Jill's amazingly Light and Luscious Coffee Cake, made with Tropicana OJ! (and enter to win a $50 Visa giftcard from BlogHer). This giveaway is now closed, go to Post #6 for the sixth Visa giftcard giveaway)

Post 4: See how we've been having even more fun with our Juicy Rewards Points (and enter to win a $50 Visa giftcard from BlogHer). This giveaway is now closed, go to Post #5 for the fifth Visa giftcard giveaway)

Post 3: Read about ways my family and I save on all kinds of family fun (and enter to win a $50 Visa giftcard from BlogHer) this giveaway is now closed, go to Post #4 for the fourth Visa giftcard giveaway

Post 2: See how we've been using our Juicy Rewards Points (and enter to win a $50 Visa giftcard from BlogHer) this giveaway is now closed, go to Post #4 for the fourth Visa giftcard giveaway

Post 1: Learn all about the Tropicana Juicy Rewards Program (and enter to win a $50 Visa giftcard from BlogHer) this giveaway is now closed, go to Post #4 for the fourth Visa giftcard giveaway







Disclosure: I am being compensated for my participation in the BlogHer Juicy Insiders program. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.

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