June Fete--A Daytrip for a Good Cause

The June Fete will be held June 10-12, 2011 in Huntingdon Valley, PA.  The June Fete is more than a carnival. 

For over 95 years, this local fair has been raising money to support Abington Memorial Hospital.  What makes this fair different than others?  For starters, there is a three-ring Horse and Pony show.  The June Fete takes place on 41 acres, plenty of room for people, horses, rides and fun!

Although my kids love to watch the horses, the thing they love most is the Village Fair.  The Fair includes rides, face painting, food (and more food!), and live entertainment.  They are scheduled to have a fireworks display on Friday night and there's BINGO during the day.  There's definitely something for all ages at The June Fete.

Entrance to the Village Fair and Horse and Pony Show is $4.00, Children 5 and under are FREE.  You must purchase tickets for all rides and attractions.  You can also purchase a $35 megapass for unlimited rides.  Parking is FREE.

Finally, on Sunday June 5th, you can show your support at the 5K Run/Walk and 1.5 mile Fun Run for Kids.  The Run/Walk starts and ends at Penn State Abington Campus.  Prizes are awarded in various categories.  Participants in the Run/Walk will receive 2 FREE tickets to The June Fete Village Fair.  Check out their website for registration information.

Volunteers are needed for all events.  If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out this form.

Mark your calendar, come out to have fun, and help support Abington Memorial Hospital!

Dutch Wonderland....A Kingdom for Kids

This weekend I'm heading on a daytrip to Dutch Wonderland with my daughter's Brownie Troop.  If you have young kids, and have never been to Dutch Wonderland, make plans to go. 

Dutch Wonderland calls itself a "Kingdom for Kids" where "firsts happen".  It's a theme park in Lancaster, PA with over 30 rides, including 2 roller coasters and a water play area.  It's a great place for your child's first roller coaster ride, first water slide, or first sky bucket ride.  They have live entertainment (don't miss The Adventures of the Frog Prince water diving show!) and you can even see Thomas the Train!

Dutch Wonderland's season runs through mid-October, but they also have special Halloween events and a Winter Wonderland.  Opening late May, they have Duke's Lagoon, a water play area with kid-sized slides.

Dutch Wonderland offers a combination ticket with nearby HersheyPark.  The parks are about 30 minutes apart from one another.  This would be a great overnight trip, especially if you have kids of varying ages in your family. 

Celebrating a birthday during your visit?  Kids of all ages can stop by Guest Relations and get a special button to wear so everyone in the Kingdom can acknowledge your special day!

Dutch Wonderland is a family friendly, fun place to visit.  I hope Mother Nature gives us a little break and holds the rain off until the end of our visit, but I look forward to spending a fun day with my family, as well as our Girl Scout "family".

Have you ever used ArtsCow?  They are a great site for creating photo gifts.  This isn't your ordinary photo gift site.  ArtsCow offers all kinds of photo gifts. They have bags, books, cards and cases.  They offer jewelry, clocks, mugs and umbrellas.  You name it, they seem to offer it.

Some tips:

1.  Shop when they offer deals that include shipping. They do this often, the products offered change about every month.

2.  Order early! The items ship from Hong Kong and can often take weeks to arrive here.

3.  They seem to prefer a gmail account. Many providers will send ArtsCow emails to spam folders, or not deliver them at all. I set up a gmail account just for my ArtsCow mail and then have it automatically forwarded to my regular email account.

4.  The website is not the most user friendly site around, but the prices make up for any trouble. Once you get the hang of it, it's really very simple.

5.  "Like" them on facebook.  They often put deals up on their facebook page that you might not otherwise ever hear about.  (Unless, of course, you check out my Photo Fun section of the blog.)

Right now, ArtsCow is offering an awesome sale!  Through May 16th, you can get 25% off any item (excluding prints) AND shipping is FREE!  This deal doesn't come up often, although it's not the 1st time I've seen it.  Start thinking Father's Day now.  Use code 25LESSALL to get this great deal. 

I made a small bag for myself (and all my relatives) before the holidays and I use it as my wallet. I'm not exaggerating if I tell you that EVERY time I take out my wallet, someone comments on how great it is.  Now, it has a photo of my 3 girls on it, and I know they are beautiful, but, it's really a nice little bag.  When I tell people how much (I should say how little) I paid for it, they can't believe me. 

Give ArtsCow a try.  It's a small investment for a very personal gift.  And, my Photo Fun section of the blog always has a list of all of ArtCow's current deals.
For convenience, here are the current deals that include FREE shipping:

Choose from a variety of stationery items. Small memo pad is $2, Large memo pad $3-5. Use code PADNBOOK by May 18th.
Set of 4 individually designed coasters for $3.49. Use code 4COAST349 by May 20th.

Custom printed pencil case only $5.99. Use code PENCASES by May 25th.
Get 2 custom throw pillow covers for $8.99.  Use code  THRPILLOW by May 29th.

Shop with Ebates and get cash back for shopping online

Ebates is an online shopping site that offers cash back for shopping at the stores you love most. Sign up for Ebates and visit their website everytime you shop online. On the Ebates site, search the store you want to shop from and click their link to get to the store you love. The Ebates site will tell you how much cash you will get back for your shopping.

For example, if you want to shop at target.com, visit eBates.com, search for Target, and follow the link to get to target.com. Ebates will refund you 3% of your purchases at target.com. Ebates offers cash back at over 1000 online retail stores. Cash back varies from store to store. You can even get cash back through Ebates when shopping eBay and Groupon! 
Right now Ebates is celebrating their 12th birthday, and offering bonuses to shoppers. 114 stores are offering 12% cash back on your online purchases!


Want to shop at Shutterfly? Shop their special offers and get 12% cash back on top of the sale prices! All you have to do is go through the Ebates site before you visit the retail site you want to shop from. 


So, what happens to the cash back you earn on your purchases? The choice is yours. Ebates will mail you a check, deposit into your PayPal account, or donate it to your favorite charity.
 
Want an extra bonus?  Sign up now and receive $5 in your account.  It's that easy!

Wow! Great promotion when shopping at Gap

Gap is offering a great promotion.  If you spend a minimum of $15 (I believe this is an in-store only promotion, but not certain), they will give you a certificate for a one year subscription to Lucky Magazine.  Don't care for a subscription?  You can choose a $12 refund instead!  Click here for more details. Must submit request for subscription/refund by June 10th.

In case you missed it...

I've been putting a lot of deals on my Deals and Daytrips Facebook page.  Here's a summary of some of the deals currently going on, in case you missed it.



Happy Tymes in Warrington, PA is offering $30 worth of tickets, tokens and bowling for only $15.  Plus, you will have until May 31, 2012 to redeem your deal.

Spend a day at a Camden Riversharks game.  Get 2 100-Level tickets in the 2011 season for only $13. Family friendly attractions include Friday night fireworks, kids run the bases on Saturdays and free ice cream for kids on Sunday Sundaes.  Buy more than one deal and take the whole family!

Winkflash is running a great deal on photo books through May 12th.  Their flat rate book sale means you can make a book up to 100 pages for the same cost as a 20-page book.  Use code ALLBOOKS.  Extra pages are regularly $1 each, so this can save you up to $80!

Here's a deal you can feel good about.  Spend $10 to plant $20 worth of trees in Haiti.  Plant the trees in honor of someone special.

Hosting a birthday party?  Rent a moonbounce for only $195 for a full day rental.



Do you love the arts?  Get 50% off a One Year Membership to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.  Select from an individual or family membership.

Snapfish is offering free shipping on orders of $20 or more through May 31st with code 2011MAY.  Or, Snapfish is offering a sale on prints. Get 100 4" x 6" prints for just $10, shipped. Use coupon MOMDAY100 at checkout, now through May 11th.



Finally, get free books for your 5-12 year olds.  Have your child complete the math and/or reading worksheets to earn free books from Kumon and Scholastic.  Offer ends 10/15/11, or when all books have been awarded.

Ready or Not, Mother's Day is Here!

There's only one more day before Mother's Day.  In case you haven't made plans for the day, I thought I'd recap some of the deals being offered.

Take a daytrip to the Adventure Aquarium.  NBC 10 is teaming up with the aquarium to offer $10 admission tickets on Mother's Day.  You must buy these tickets in advance, online. 


Order Mom a FREE photo collage from Walgreens.  This offer expires at midnight on Saturday, May 7th.  You can pick it up at your local Walgreens Sunday on your way to visit Mom.  Use code FREECOLLAGE.


Head to Neshaminy Mall for their gift certificate deal.  Shop Saturday May 7th.  Take your receipts totalling $75 or more to the redemption counter and receive a FREE $10 mall gift card.

Ride the Ducks is offering moms a free ticket on Mother's Day with the purchase of another ticket.  Must present this coupon.

Go to Famous Dave's for some BBQ.  Mom will receive a card for her next meal FREE.  More details here.

Bring dinner home.  Boston Market is offering FREE family size dessert with a family meal purchase.  Valid through May 8th.

Take the family to Sahara Sam's Oasis, Indoor Water Park.  Moms splash FREE with another paid admission.  More details here.

Need to send MOM a gift?  Better late than never!  Check out some photo gift ideas here.

Whatever you do, have a great Mother's Day!

Conf code: GSDNXCN18523963

I'm new at this...

The Deals and Daytrips Blog is into it's 2nd week of life.  I'm so glad that you've decided to join me on this new journey.  Maybe I spend too much time online, maybe I just know where to look, but, I've found I have a knack for finding deals and events in the Philadelphia area.  And, at the encouragement of my friends, Deals and Daytrips was born.

I'm still trying to figure this whole blog thing out.  I hadn't planned on starting a blog.  I hadn't given it much thought and planning.  I just did it one night when the hubby was out and the kids went to bed.

Here's what I've done the past two weeks.  I started this blog, which you've already found.  Then, I started a facebook page for the blog.  Please visit the facebook page and "like" it, if you haven't already done so.

I think the facebook page is the best place to get quick online deals, such as Groupon.  These deals generally only last 24-48 hours and then they are gone.  There are a LOT of these deals.  I think when it rains, it pours.  I try to sift through the deals before posting them.  There are a lot of deals for spa treatments and cafes I've never heard of, but I try not to bombard the page with those.  I look for deals that fit my life, and I hope will fit yours.  I look for movie tickets and family outings, and LOVE when the occasional deal comes up for a national site like Amazon or eBay.  If you're looking for something that you don't see, please ask.  Just because I didn't post it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Back to the blog.  I have a lot of ideas for the blog, but I'm taking it one day at a time.  I will post special events on the events page, and long-term deals on the deals page.  I will blog about the daytrips I take, and maybe even some of the daytrips that I keep meaning to take, but haven't gotten to yet.  (I promise, kids, we WILL go to the Crayola Factory!)  On the homepage of the blog, at the very bottom, you can subscribe via email.  If this goes as planned, you should receive email notification whenever I make a new blog post. 

Thanks for being here with me from the very beginning.  Please email me at dealsanddaytrips@gmail.com, or leave a comment on the blog or facebook page if you have any suggestions.  Until next time.....

Linvilla Orchards: Worth the Daytrip!

Linvilla Orchards, in Media, PA,  is a 300-acre farm that is jam-packed with fun for the family.  They offer pick your own strawberries, peaches, pears, apples, vegetables, and MORE! 

Picking your own fruit/vegetables is in itself a fun family day. But, check out their special events calendar for one of their many festivals.  Our family visited in August during the Peach Festival.  There was live music and entertainment all day long.  My kids met Spongebob Squarepants and Barney, which made the day even more exciting for them!  My oldest participated in a bubble gum bubble blowing contest with her friend--priceless fun.  We took a hayride (free) and picked plenty of fruits and vegetables (pay per pound).  During the festivals, Linvilla Orchards will offer additional entertainment (pony rides, train rides, face painting) for a fee.

The Linvilla Orchards playground can't be beat!  This playground is filled with climbing structures and slides for all ages.  Have I mentioned the animals?  The Linvilla Orchards farm features deer, sheep, goats, various birds, horses, etc.  It's like a small zoo!  (Tip:  Bring carrots to feed the goats. I never seem to remember to do that!)  Have I mentioned admission is FREE?!?!  They do ask for a small donation for entrance to the playground, but Linvilla Orchards is a great, low-cost, family daytrip.

The Farm Market at Linvilla Orchards offers a bakery, fresh fruits and vegetables, and many gourmet specialties.  When you're done shopping, check out their website for some yummy recipes using the fresh ingredients from the farm.


Thinking ahead, Fall is a  great time to visit Linvilla Orchards.  The Pumpkinland scarecrows are larger than life!  They also have pumpkins of all shapes and sizes for purchase.  This is one of my favorite fall photo places to visit!

Linvilla Orchards offers year-round fun.  From the Spring Flower Festival to Christmas Around the Farm, there is something for everyone.  If you've never been to Linvilla Orchars, put this one on your must see list for 2011.