Last night, however, I struck gold. While doing a bit of Christmas shopping at Amazon, I decided to check Kinect availability on a whim. Well, guess what? They had it in stock, and with free shipping to boot!

I’ve actually had pretty good luck snagging hot Christmas gifts at Amazon in the past. You just have to be persistent and check in a few times per day. Nonetheless, I was surprised to see it there. After a quick bit of hand wringing, I added it to my cart and headed to checkout.

While the Kinect ships with a game called Kinect Adventures, I also picked up Kinect Sports. On top of that, I subsequently ordered a copy of Kinectimals for our younger kids.

Anyway… If you’ve been wondering where to buy an Xbox Kinect, now you know where to look… Amazon. Last I checked, they were out of stock again, though you can still get one through one of their third-party sellers for a $25 premium.

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On the off chance that you haven’t heard, Silly Bandz are all the rage with kids these days. We were actually first introduced to the Silly Bandz craze by our preschool and 2nd grade sons this past school year, and they’ve since swept the nation.

While our kids’ obsession has cooled off a bit this summer, I fully it expect things to ramp up again when they head back to school. In fact, many schools have banned Silly Bandz because kids were getting too distracted collecting, comparing, and trading them.

Anyway, I’ve been asked by several people in real life where to buy Silly Bandz, so I figured it might be worth writing something up to post here, as well. But first…

What are Silly Bandz?

In case you haven’t had the pleasure of collecting, trading, playing with, or buying Silly Bandz, here’s the deal:

Silly Bandz are little more than rubber band bracelets that come in numerous colors and shapes. They’re typically sold in themed packs, including the following “official” Silly Bandz packs:

• Alphabet
• Art Fest
• Baseball
• Basic
• Beach
• Fantasy
• Pets
• Princess
• Rainforest
• Rockbandz
• Sea Creatures
• Spring (retired)
• Western
• Zoo

As has been the case with most successful collecting crazes, it appears that these Silly Bandz packs will gradually be retired, thereby further stoking demand.

Not surprisingly, as the phenomenon has grown, a number of impostors have come to market. These are sold under a variety of names, including: Silly Bands, Fun Bands, Animal Rubber Bands, Rubber Band Bracelets, etc. These off-brands have brought with them a number of “innovations,” including tie-dye and sparkly bands.

How much do Silly Bandz cost?

The standard price for a 24-pack of official Silly Bandz is around $5.00. Yep, that’s right. That’s a little over $0.20 for a rubber band. Amazing, huh? Of course, with all the knockoffs that are now available, you can easily find unofficial Silly Bandz for somewhere in the $3-$4/pack range.

Just be sure to double-check the size of the pack you’re buying, as it’s not uncommon to see 12-packs that look like a good deal until you realize you’re getting half as many as you thought.

Where can you buy Silly Bandz?

So… Where can you buy Silly Bandz? That’s almost certainly one of the first questions that will pop into your head when your kids start clamoring for them. As it turns out, you can find Silly Bandz, or a reasonable facsimile, just about anywhere nowadays.

I’ve seen them at Target, Walmart, Toys’R'Us, Learning Express, and in numerous drugstores, grocery stores, and gas stations. Someone even set up a dedicated Silly Bandz kiosk in our local mall. And, of course, you can buy them online, with Amazon.com being a prime source.

If you’re out and about hunting for Silly Bandz, your best best is to look near the checkout — exactly where you’d expect to find an impulse buy!

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Even better, there are a number of Blockbuster Express promo codes out there floating around. What follows is a list of codes that I’ve run across…

Blockbuster promo codes

(updated 11/23/09)

• OCTOBER (One free overnight rental; expires 10/31/09???)
• PTPX91X (One free overnight rental; expires 10/31/09)
• G29RA3 (One free overnight rental; expires 11/04/09)
• GW9RA4 (One free overnight rental; expires 11/04/09)
• GER9A2 (One free overnight rental; expires 11/11/09)
• GSNX9X8 (One free overnight rental; expires 11/15/09)
• PUBLIX1 (One free overnight rental; expires 11/25/09)
• PUBLIX2 (Rent one, get one free; expires 11/25/09)
• NOVEMBER (One free overnight rental; expires 11/30/09)
• GU9SA (Rent one, get one free; expires 12/2/09)
• G29SA1 (One free overnight rental; expires 12/3/09)
• PUBLIX3 (One free overnight rental; expires 12/21/09)
• KIOSK (One free overnight rental; expires expires 2/1/10)

Note that I haven’t tested all of these promo codes (yet), but the ones that I’ve used have worked perfectly. As far as I’m aware, these codes are good at any location so, you may even be able to use the “Publix” promo codes at Blockbuster kiosks in non-Publix locations. Your mileage may vary, but it’s worth a shot.

Oh, and one more thing… Yes, it seems that you can use these codes more than once as long as you use a different credit card — or at least that’s how it’s been working so far. Once again, YMMV.

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Halloween costumes 1997-present

• Achilles (the Greek hero)
• Anakin Skywalker (you know, the young Darth Vader)
• Batman (sorry, no Robin costume)
• Bob the Builder (yes we can!)
• Buzz Lightyear (of Toy Story fame)
• Clown (just a plain old circus clown)
• Cowboy (just a random cowboy costume – giddyup!)
• Dalmatian (of 101 Dalmatians fame)
• Darth Vader (oh, Anakin, what have you become?)
• Dinosaur (a Pachycephalosaurus to be exact)
• Frodo (Baggins, that is… from Lord of the Rings)
• Harry Potter (complete with the scar, glasses, wand, etc.)
• Indiana Jones (this was old-school Indy)
• Ironman (I am Ironman)
• Jack Bauer (from 24; for the older set)
• Jurassic Park Ranger (in honor of the original Jurassic Park book/movie)
• King (just a plain old medieval King costume)
• Little Devil (this was a toddler costume)
• Luke Skywalker (he used to bullseye womp rats in his T-16 back home…)
• Ninja (including nunchucks, but minus the throwing stars)
• Pirate (just a random pirate costume)
• Pirate (Jack Sparrow in particular)
• Power Ranger (can’t recall the details, but it was a red Power Ranger)
• Pumpkin (this was a baby costume)
• Rescue Hero (in honor of the Fisher-Price Rescue Heroes toys)
• Riddick (from Chronicles of Riddick)
• Spider Man (minus the spider webs)
• Star Wars Clone Trooper (Commander Cody)
• Star Wars Clone Tropper (Captain Rexx)
• Super Man (complete with Super Man muscles)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (complete with a TMNT shell on his back)
• Wolverine (of X-Men fame)
• Zorro (he left his mark all over the neighborhood!)

If you’re particularly astute, you might have noticed that this list includes more costumes than we’ve had Halloween-years across our four boys. The reason for this is that, in some years, they’ve worn one costume to school and a different one on Halloween night. Also note that this list also includes the four costumes to be worn for Halloween 2009.

Please chime in and let us know what Halloween costumes your kids have worn.

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Part of this has been due to the high cost of movies, but mainly it’s been due to the continual presence of young kids running around our house. Now that our youngest has reached an age where he can sit still a bit more than in the past, we’ve started going to movies again. What follows is a ranked* list of movies that we’ve seen this summer. These rankings reflect my own not-so-humble opinion, whereas the star ratings are taken from IMDB.

1. Iron Man (8.2 stars)
2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (7.1 stars)
3. Kung Fu Panda (8.1 stars)
4. Speed Racer (6.6 stars)
5. WALL-E (9.2 stars)

A few notes: Son #1 largely agrees with these rankings, though he puts Indiana Jones ahead of Iron Man. Kung Fu Panda was very fun, and loved by all. Speed Racer was particularly well-loved by Son #2 (eight years old) and Son #3 (six years old). Pretty much all of us found WALL-E to be a bit, well… Boring. It was interesting to a point and I wanted to love it, but it ended up being little more than one of those Pixar shorts that they run before the main attraction, except that it seemed to run on forever.

Next up… We’re looking forward to seeing both Get Smart and Hancock in the near future.

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While we’re very happy with our Blockbuster Total Access subscription, nothing beats an occasional trip to an actual movie theater. What follows is my best attempt at compiling a list of these offers.

If your favorite theater isn’t listed, you might want to call them and ask if they offer anything like this. I tried to catch most of the major chains, but I’m sure I missed some – if so, feel free to let me know and I’ll update it. Also, some chains might not have posted details of their promotions yet, as it’s still a bit early. With that said, here we go…

» AMC Summer Movie Camp
$1 movies for charity, Wednesdays at 10AM from June 25th – August 6th (in most markets). Group tickets on sale starting June 18th.

» Cinemark Summer Movie Clubhouse
Ten weeks of kids movies on weekday mornings. All ten movies can be purchases in advance for $5 (total) or you can purchase tickets for each show at the box office for $1/each. Runs for 10 weeks, dates have yet to be announced.

» Classic Cinemas Wednesday Morning Movie Series
G and PG rated movies for just $1 on Wednesday mornings at 10AM for nine weeks from June 11th – August 6th.

» Clearview Cinemas
Eight weeks of family films. Free admission, every Thursday @ 10:30AM starting June 26th.

» Cobb Theatres
Advertising free summer kids shows, but you need to click through and select your local theatre to get details.

» Georgia Theatre Company
Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 10AM from June 10th through July 31st. Admission is free, kids soda and popcorn available for $1 each.

» The Grand Theatre
Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 10AM throughout the summer. Details vary by location, but prices appear to be in the $2-$3 range and include popcorn and a soda.

» Kerasotes Theaters Summer Movie Program
Six weeks of summer vacation movies on Wednesdays and Thursdays from June 18th – July 31st.

» Malco Theatres
Kids summer film fest. No real details available other than contact info for participating theatres.

» Marcus Theatres
“Kids Rule” summer film series from June 18th – August 14th. Wednesday and Thursday mornings at 10AM (except July 2/3). All seats $2.50 w/free popcorn.

» Regal Cinemas Free Family Film Festival
Select G & PG movies start at 10AM each Tuesday and Wednesday during the festival. Admission is free. You can check the movies as well as a list of locations, dates, and times by clicking through and selecting your state.

» United Artists
Participating in Regal Cinemas Free Family Film Festival (link leads to Regal announcement).

» Edwards Cinemas
Participating in Regal Cinemas Free Family Film Festival (link leads to Regal announcement).

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» Elf
» How the Grinch Stole Christmas
» Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
» Frosty the Snowman » The Santa Clause
» Santa Clause II (Note: we haven’t seen Santa Clause III, but I bet we’ll like it)
» Home Alone
» National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (Warning: crude humor and language)
» A Christmas Story
» The Little Drummer Boy
» A Charlie Brown Christmas

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» From the Archives (September 23rd – September 30th)

Cheers
Everybody Loves Raymond
Frasier
Friends
Home Improvement
How I Met Your Mother
Just Shoot Me
Malcolm in the Middle
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Spin City
Still Standing
That 70′s Show
Two and a Half Men
Yes, Dear

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Looking for a fun and (potentially) cheap late summer/early fall diversion? Then look no further than your local State or County Fair! I just ran across a website that has compiled a huge list of links to fairs from across the country. While I’m sure they’ve missed a few, it’s really quite impressive.

Although we used to go to the State Fair every year when I was a kid, we haven’t been as good about going now that we have kids of our own. In our defense, a big part of this has to do with variation in the quality of fairs from one locale to another. In some places, they’re great community gatherings. In others, well… Not so much.

I grew up in the midwest, and we had one of the top State Fairs in the country. It was huge, well organized, and they had tons of fun stuff. And I’m not talking here about the Midway. Rather, I’m talking about tractors for kids to climb around on, all kinds of interesting livestock, free music performances, local fish and wildlife exhibitions, excellent mini-donuts, all the milk you could drink for a quarter (yes, really), gigantic turkey legs, etc. That’s what kept us coming back.

But that was three states ago. To be perfectly honest, our most recent State Fair experience was rather depressing, and we’ve never really felt like going back. That being said, we’ve never been to the Fair in our current state, and I just learned today that it’ll be taking place in a bit over a month. Unfortunately, it’s a couple hours away. Nonetheless, it might be worth a road trip to check it out.

As for you, I highly recommend that you check the list and see if there’s anything interesting going on in your neck of the woods.

[Photo Credit: boeke]

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From the signup page:

CALLING ALL KIDS AGES 5 – 12!

Receive a FREE Sample with Genuine K’NEX Bricks. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limited to one per household while supplies last. Send us the name of the last brick building set you received, including sets from LEGO ®, MEGA BLOKS ® or any other brick building system, and we’ll send you a free K’NEX sample with Genuine K’NEX Bricks. Enter now… start by filling out the form below!

While they’re not Legos, they’re free. And free is good.

If you’re a die-hard Lego fan and won’t settle for anything less than the real thing, don’t forget that you can snag cheap Legos in bulk on eBay.

[Via: Mallory by way of Want Not]

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