As part of a new blogger program, Borders gave me 100.00 to spend in their store. I was overwhelmed by the kindness the manager showed me. I showed up expecting them to already know I was coming and my lifeline known as my phone was accidentally left at home. So when I showed up and they looked at me like I was crazy, the manager let me use one of their computers to get on the internet. I was able to find the contact information of the PR rep that set everything up for me. We called her and everything was taken care of in seconds.

Huge thanks to the manager of the Redmond Borders; because if she had told me no, I would have either had to go all the way home or to the library to print off the information I needed. I didn’t tell my husband this story because he would have laughed at me for not taking all the information with me in a hard printed out copy.

You know, it’s hard enough to get out of the house with the kids, diapers, snacks, wallet, without forgetting my brain.

My husband’s gift was the easiest. I knew exactly what I wanted to get him and I”m not going to post it on the off chance that he takes a look at this post. He said he wants to be good since it’s his only present.

I spent the rest on the kids even though, I could have picked up a few things for other family members. I’m trying to go though my family members and make sure I have what each one needs.

Sister 1 Movies

Sister 2 Movie Theater Gift Card

Sister 3 Husband took care of it (she does read my blog so I can’t say)

Mom and Dad 1 – gave them a laptop (so they don’t get anything else, maybe a photo book)

Mom and Dad 2 – photo book,

The kids were hard because there was so much to choose from at Borders. The above photos are what you might expect before they added an entirely new toy department.

With about four aisles of toys to choose from Borders has become a toy boutique. The employees upstairs were not quite as helpful as the manager and the cashiers. I really could have used some help carrying my load downstairs to the only register. I feel like if I had been at a boutique that they would have carried all of my stuff to the register for me. It was hard to corral my kids, with my arms full, but other than that the experience was great. I mean the price difference makes carrying my own toys to the register worth the struggle.

In addition to so many name brand toys and books to choose from (all of them being learning and education aids for all ages) They have a table set up where kids can read and on the other side of the tower there was a play table for children. That is a lifeline to a mom that has to do her shopping with her children with her.

Many of the items I purchased were on sale. They had buy one get one half off of all Melissa and Doug items and their clearance was buy two get one free. So I was even more attracted to their clearance than all of the new toys they had. I came home with quite a hall of goodies. Knowing me, we’ll donate half of it. We’re going to have to empty out my closet before my surgery and figure out what is getting donated and what is going under the Christmas tree. Christmas might be upstairs in my bed this year.

Borders was kind enough to not only pay for my shopping experience but they want to provide one for two of my readers.

To Enter:

## Required### Visit Borders Kids Toys and Games and comment back with the toy or game you remember playing with as a child and why it’s still a good choice today

optional

Follow Borders on twitter  and tweet out your toy choice @borders.

Extra Entries after required:

Advertise this giveaway on any giveaway site and tell me where you advertised it. 10 Extra Entries
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Tweet the giveaway (every time you tweet you get an entry) Link to the giveaway please!!! 
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The contest will run until November 30th 11:59 pm Pacific. The winner will be selected by www.random.org. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.