Tropicana Juicy Rewards Program!

One of the cool things about being a blogger is all the programs I find out about that I must have missed otherwise. The Tropicana Juicy Rewards Program is like that-if I hadn’t been approached by Tropicana to be one of their “Juicy Insiders” I might have missed it!

So what is the Juicy Rewards Program, and what is this whole “Juicy Insider” thing about?

Well, if you buy Tropicana orange juice you may have noticed details about the new Tropicana Juicy Rewards Program on the containers recently.  Tropicana wanted to help families out in these uncertain economic times, so they created a program offering easy and significant savings on things families already do and buy.  One carton of juice is worth up to $15 in savings.

Now you know me, I’m not brand loyal about many things, and to be honest I rarely buy orange juice.  But I know orange juice is one of those things that some people are very very particular about.  If you are already a Tropicana customer, then you really shouldn’t miss out on this program.  If you aren’t, then keep your eyes out for coupons and sales!  Even without purchasing a single container of juice you can use the special code at the bottom of this post for 1 free point.  That is worth about $5

So as a Juicy Insider I get to be sort of a beta tester and ambassador for the program.  Tropicana and The Motherhood provided me with some points and a Visa giftcard to use for the outings.  My first task was to register for my juicy rewards, search the offers and then take the family out using 3pts or so.

Registering was easy-just some basic data entered in at the Juicy Rewards website and I was good to go.  Once I was in the system I could search the database by zipcode, distance and then further narrow it down by other critera such as type of activity or point range.  I chose to check out everything within 50 miles that was in the 1-3 point range.

Most of the activities offers were of the “buy one admission get one free” variety.  I was looking for a fun Sunday afternoon family outing that I didn’t have to drive to far for, and settled on one of the two local roller skating rinks that were listed.  After visiting the website of “The Skate Estate” in Vestal, NY I chose it over the other option~mostly because I was curious to see their waterslide & mini golf facilities for possible future outings (those are currently closed for the winter).

I printed out two coupons for “1 free admission with an admission at regular price” using a total of 2 Juicy Rewards points.  Once you print the first coupon it has you give a second name of an adult over 18 for the second coupon.  Of course I used Yankee Bill’s name:)

Then we headed into town!  We didn’t tell the kids what we were doing, just that we were going to do something fun as a family.  You should have heard the wheedling from the back of the car. . . “Come on Mama, tell us!”.  The guess varied from Chuck-e-Cheese’s to bowling.  When we turned onto the road that the rink was on Princess saw a sign and finally correctly guessed where we were going.

Once we got inside I presented my tickets to the teen at the register.  They looked completely confused and told me that they didn’t know what to do with a coupon, but wait, they’d get the manager.  The manager looked over the coupons carefully “I didn’t know we were doing this.” he said with a bit of confusion, but then rushed to assure me that they would take them.

He also said that technically they were only supposed to redeem one, but that he’d redeem both.  If he had been a stickler about it I would simply have redeemed one for myself & Buddy, then had Yankee Bill as a completely separate transaction with a different credit card (or cash) redeem the other for himself & Princess.

This rink charges $5 per admission during family skate hours, and $3 per person for skates (which were not included in the coupon) So we spent $22 and saved $10 on our outing.  If any of us had owned our own skates or rollerblades we could have brought those and saved a bit more.  Also if we had timed our outing to fall on one of their special deal times we could have gotten a free fountain drink & popcorn with our admissions.

Skating was, well, interesting.  I haven’t been on skates in close to 20 years, and I think it’s probably been almost 30 years for Yankee Bill.  Luckily it’s like riding a bike-you pick it back up in a flash.

What I wasn’t prepared for was how difficult the kids would find it.  I don’t remember learning how to rollerskate-so it must not have been a traumatic experience.  I knew the kiddos would have a bit of a hard time, but I thought after a few minutes they would pick it up.

uh. no.

The skating rink did have these cool plastic things you could hold onto for balance & skate around with, and we all rented the old fashioned style skates (which feel more stable tome) as opposed to the blades.  Still-there was much falling over, crying and frustration.  Buddy had it after about 20 minutes, even with me pushing him around so all he had to do was hold onto the plastic thing. That really started working my back after a while, let me tell you!

Princess really had a meltdown after falling and hitting her head.  She was convinced that “everyone” was looking at her. (trust me, noone cared).  So I took her hand and we skated some more-I was giving her tips like “keep your feet no wider than your shoulders” “this isn’t like walking-your feet go ahead of you when you walk, they push behind you and to the side to skate” “remember how hard balancing to ride your bike was at first? But then once your body finally figured it out you didn’t have to think about it any more. Skating is like that-it will get easier” .  As we worked our way around, and I physically hauled her up a couple times to keep her from falling, her confidence grew.

Near the end she was doing pretty well, although Buddy was done for & Yankee Bill had already taken his skates off & was sitting waiting.  I finally had the chance to whip around the rink a couple of times on my own at speed.  It was pretty fun!  When I told Princess it was time to leave she was disappointed~she wanted to stay!

Despite the unexpected difficulties with skating, we had a good time!  Because of the points we got out for a family activity that we might not have tried otherwise, and now the kids are asking for roller skates to use in the driveway.  Wait, does that mean this actually wound up costing me? I’ll have to keep my eyes open at the thrift stores for skates

To use your own Juicy Rewards just keep your eyes out for the info on the Tropicana containers!  You can also use the code MOTHE-RHOOD within 6 hours of registering for Juicy Rewards (even if you don’t have any other points to register yet) and you’ll get one extra bonus point worth $5 in savings immediately!  This code is valid for new accounts only.  You can only use it once, and it must be entered within 6 hours of creating your account.

For more information about Tropicana you can:

• Become a FAN of Tropicana on Facebook
• Follow Tropicana on Twitter
• Follow the hashtag #TropicanaOJ on Twitter for all the latest happenings with Juicy Rewards.
• Check out the Tropicana Website and of course  sign up to start tracking your Juicy Rewards.

If you’ve had any experience using the Tropicana Juicy Rewards program I’d love to hear about it!

Disclosure: I am a Juicy Insider with The Motherhood on behalf of Tropicana. I was given free Juicy Rewards points and a giftcard to cover my reward redemption costs while participating in the program. While I have been compensated for my time and efforts in this project, my opinions are 100% my own.

Frugal Summer Fun for Kids Part II

Ah summer! There are so many fantastic things for kids can do in the summer.  As I talked about in in Frugal Summer Fun for Kids Part I the backyard can be a wonderful place full of inexpensive fun. . . .

Until it rains and you all are stuck inside for a week.

Or like my sister you live in the south where the weather is over 100 for days on end.

Sometimes you need some exciting activities that take you out of the house, but into the air conditioning!

Read a Book! Take kids of all ages to the library and check out some new books, videos or games.  See what kind of summer reading programs your state offers-just google “summer reading program (state)” and you’ll pull up plenty of information. The one here in NY is always themed for the whole state.  Most of these programs reward children & teens with a prize for books read.  Libraries aren’t the only source of reading programs. Barnes and Noble and Scholastic also have programs.

Watch a Movie.  Of course you can grab a DVD for free from your local library, rent a recent release from your local Redbox or subscribe to Netflix. . . but why not get out of the house, make it an event and enjoy some free air conditioning.  Most cities have a discount or dollar theatre that you could enjoy-but even better are the various FREE movies that are being offered to kids around the country.  Regal Cinemas and AMC Theatres both offer a free summer “movie camp” in select cities (see if they include yours!) and Cinemark offers a “10 Movies for $5″ deal.

Learn Something New. There are lots of national retail establishments that offer free classes for kids during the summer.  Bass Pro Shops are offering a full range of free seminars and classes  in their “Bass Pro Family Summer Camp“.  Apple is offering free apple computer classes this summer (wish I was young enough to take those!).  Micheal’s craft store has “The Knack”-a website designed for family craft fun that also lists their in-store free family events.  Check out your local library, community college or state park for free classes and activities that may be offered. Our library has craft classes for teens & tweens and basic computer classes for all ages. BCC (Broome Community College) offers a full slate of summer continuing education classes such as photography, herbs, gardening, photoshop & yoga. These classes aren’t free, but are reasonably priced and may be just the thing for a bored teen.

Hit the Lanes. Have you heard of the “Kids Bowl Free” program? This was a new one to me. . . You register on the site and kids can bowl 2 free games every day, all summer!  Adults can register and pay a one time fee for an all summer pass so they can play with the kids if they like.  I’m actually really disappointed that there are no bowling alleys near me offering this program.

Go to the Museum. There are many free and inexpensive museums out there.  I may live in a very small town, but within a 30 min drive we have a model train museum, an antique car museum, several art gallery/museums and a science museum.  Most of these have either nominal charges or are free to the public.  Target is sponsoring some free museum days nationally, as does Bank of America (must be a customer)-check and see if there are any in your area! Additionally in more metro areas museums may have free days, either monthly or annually. Do a google search for free museum and your town/city to see what pops up!

Next time (next week) I’ll share with you some fun indoor activities that you can do at home.  You can also read all about my fun outdoor ideas in Frugal Summer Fun for Kids Part I, or listen to all the fun summer ideas that Lynnae and I came up with on our Frugal Coast2Coast show about Summer Fun

Do you guys have any other great inexpensive fun ideas that will take you out of the house in the summer?

Best Of-Jello Jigglers Recipe, Fun, Frugal Junk Food

This is a best of repost from January of 2007. I am reposting it for inclusion in the final week of the “Frugal Food Series: Everything Else”.

Well, Buddy has snack today at preschool, a fact that I totally forgot (despite having written it on our nice new calendar-as Yankee Bill says, writing it down only helps if you look at it) until our very helpful preschool teacher called and reminded me yesterday. (Thanks Laurie!)

I looked around the house to decided what to make. Baking was out since I had decided to self clean the oven and it was at about 500 degrees until past 6 pm last night (oops!). So I decided to make Jello Jigglers. (Bet you couldn’t see that coming from the title of the post or anything. . . .)

The great thing about Jigglers is that they are inexpensive, can be made “healthy” with the addition of juice, and have that sort of “plastic” junk food quality that kids seem to like (look mom, it’s day glo orange!). Also, since they are so much more solid than regular jello they hold up at room temp and can be taken on picnics etc without having to worry about refrigeration.

Since I usually buy the generic brand gelatin (and the store brand boxes don’t have the recipe on the box), I figured I’d be dual purpose and print the recipe here. This way I can share it with my readers and have it accessible for the next time I need it.

Last night I did a small batch to fit in a 8X8 pan-I’m filling out the jiggler snack with some pretzels and juice. So that is the size this recipe is for.

2 pkgs of instant jello (regular sugar kind-4 servings each)
1 1/2 cups of boiling water or juice

Combine the boiling water and jello and stir for 3 minutes. Then pour into an 8X8 pan and let set in the fridge for several hours until solid. To release from pan, dip the entire pan into hot water for a few minutes (obviously this means to just get the outside hot, not to get the water on the inside) then slide the sheet of jigglers out. They always say that you can cut it into shapes with cookie cutters, but I have always just made plain old cubes.

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