Birthday Favorite Things Giveaway (Like Oprah, Only Better!) {Naptime Simple Tips}
Today I am celebrating my birthday Oprah-style. I have collected a whole bunch of my favorite things – both cooking related and otherwise – and am giving them to YOU! That’s right, it is fun to receive presents, but it is more fun to give, I think, which is why this year my birthday is all about sharing some of my absolute favorite items with everyone here.
This giveaway not only marks the “official” launch of the blog redesign, it is also a preview of next weeks Birthday Challenge – the first of many food challenge weeks coming up this year. Next week The Naptime Chef is going to be all about birthday cakes, birthday decorations, birthday party food and just about everything birthday-related under the sun. This challenge is designed to get all of you chiming in the conversation! I am even including awesome birthday tips and recipes from some of the best food bloggers in the biz. You will definitely want to stayed tuned for those.
In the spirit of birthday love this giveaway is going to run all next week along with the daily posts, and the winner will be announced here next Sunday, September 25th. There are multiple ways to win the giveaway, but you’ll have to work for it. I am calling it a birthday challenge for a reason! Come back on Monday for the Birthday Challenge kick-off!
Favorite Things Giveaway!
1. Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros: I’ve long waxed poetic about my admiration for Tessa Kiros and this is still my favorite book of hers. It contains all kinds of gorgeous savory and sweet family recipes from her Italian kitchen, along with musings on family life and sentimental photographs. I can’t wait for you to read this beautiful book and fall in love with the joyful, colorful pages.
2. OXO Good Grips “Be a Good Cookie” Spatula: September is pediatric cancer awareness month and OXO Good Grips designed this limited edition spatula to support the awesome charity Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, which I’ve written about before. I have the regular OXO Good Grips cookie spatula and I absolutely love it. It is simply the best for lifting warm, delicate cookies off the baking sheet. Now OXO has gone and made it even better by having it support this awesome charity!
3. OXO Good Grips Rubber Bottomed Mixing Bowls: I absolutely adore these mixing bowls. The non-slip bottoms are key when mixing heavy batters and they are fantastic for cooking with kids. My daughter sometimes turns them over and uses them as seats, too!
4. Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies: They are my absolute favorite cookies in the whole world and I want to spread the love by sending the winner a bag of them. Baked by me, during naptime, of course!
5. Harney & Sons Paris Tea: Every morning I wake up with a mug of this fine black tea. I love its accents of fruit and caramel and often make iced tea with it in the summer. Please let me send you a tin so it can keep you warm all fall and winter.
6. JMcLaughlin Wax Tote (in Red): JMcLaughlin is my go-to spot for my everyday Mommy uniform. This awesome waxed everything tote is a brand new addition to their collection this fall and it is PERFECT for taking on the go. It will carry everything from wallets to make-up bags to kids toys and then some. I also love this stylish red color which is what I’ve chosen for you. It gives a great pop to any fall or winter outfit.
Rules for Birthday Week Favorite Things Giveaway:
1. Leave a comment sharing a tidbit about your favorite birthday celebration.
2. Subscribe to The Naptime Chef newsletter (upper right hand corner) – I’ll check!
3. Become a fan of The Naptime Chef on Facebook
4. Extra Entry: Share the link to this post with your friends on Facebook and link to @TheNaptimeChef Facebook fanpage
5. Extra Entry: Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter and link to hashtag @TheNaptimeChef
6. Extra Entry: Follow me on Stumbleupon and stumble this entry by clicking the green thumbs up
7. 6 Extra Entries: Write a blog post between now and next Thursday September 22nd about how you celebrate birthdays in your family and include a recipe for a favorite birthday cake or birthday dish and tell your readers about this post with a link back to it. You will be listed in the post next Friday September 23rd as an official sponsor.
8. Contest will run from September 15th at 7:00am through Saturday, September 24th at 7:00am. Winner will be announced on Sunday September 25th at 7:00am. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours a new winner will be drawn. Winner be selected by random.org.
9. Giveaway items can only be mailed within the continental US.
*Giveaway items generously donated by Andrews McMeel, OXO Good Grips and JMcLaughlin.
I share my birthday with one of my sons, so lunch with him is a must (I took him out of school for a birthday lunch every year…) and then a lovely dinner with the whole family, perfect!
Happy Birthday, honey! What a fantastic giveaway. My favorite birthday activity is TRAVEL. I always ask for no gifts… just a simple trip to say, Italy or Spain. 😉
Happy Birthday!! My favorite birthday celebration tidbit is to keep it simple! I’ve learned over the years of overdoing my daugter’s birthday that it’s important to keep it as stress free as possible!
happy happy birthday!! my favorite thing about birthdays is spending time with family and lots of homemade cake. it doesn’t get much better 🙂
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I love sharing my birthday with my boys! They always find little ways to surprise me with things throughout the day…. Having my husband and son bond over making dinner for me and my birthday cake just melts my heart!!!!
Well, as far as birthdays go, our family’s front loaded all in February and March. All four grandchildren were born in those two months, so birthdays in my family are all at once. I like my kids’ parties to have some homemade element, usually the cake/cupcakes. I think the favorite party we did for our elder son involved doing “rocket launchers” from Ask This Old House. We made six of them beforehand, and launched 2 litre bottle rockets in the park next door. The kids had a blast.
My birthday is December 31st so every year is a great celebration! :o)
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Happy Birthday.
I have enjoyed most all of my birthdays. Especially about 7 yrs ago I was traveling with my father. What a great time we had. But it was nice when I came home and was able to spend some time with my husband.
My birthday was just 5 days ago too and I was able to spend it with my husband and family.
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Oh, what a great giveaway. The bag, the bag, I love the bag. My favorite way to spend my birthday is at home with my family, which is boring, I know, but in these days of busy schedules is certainly a special event. (Already subscribe, already a fan.) Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
This year on my birthday I had a two-week-old baby, so the celebration was somewhat subdued. But usually, I like to get a babysitter and have a date night with my husband at a trendy new restaurant.
Happy Birthday!!!! We love birthdays in our home. We celebrate by inviting family and friends over. We all love to cook, so the grill is always fired up and homemade cupcakes are made together with he kids. I usually let the kids make me special cupcakes for me on my birthday…what mom wouldn’t love that???
Happy Birthday! I love celebrating my birthday with friends over a quiet dinner. This year was especially good as my friend made me my favorite breakfast for dinner… Pumpkin Waffles…a little spot of sunshine for a January birthday. I think it will become my annual birthday ‘happy meal.’
looks GREAT around here – so fresh! I love the design.
is it YOUR birthday or the blog? 🙂  my birthday is later this month – and what a great gift THIS would be… 😉
one of my favorite recent birthdays – last year we went to Vegas for a 5 day celebration – of spa and food! we didn’t even gamble once (well, I think Jason did one night!) and we made reservations at some of my very favorite places to eat. then I basically LIVED at the spa. 😉Â
…we have some fun plans for this month’s birthday too.
My fav birthday celebration is when hubs took me away for the weekend and surprised me by asking me to marry him! 🙂
Happy Birthday! Mine is tomorrow and we will be celebrating in my favorite way – going out to a “special occasion” restaurant (one we can’t afford to eat at regularly) with friends. This year, it’s a newly opened Italian place that is all the rage. I am a follower on FB and an email subscriber.
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I love the actual act of blowing out the candles.Â
My favorite birthday activity is baking my own cake–really, I consider it a really fun thing to do and it is the only time I ever make a cake.Â
Well, this year was lousy, being sleep-deprived, taking care of 2 kids, and the hubby away at business school – I had to buy a piece of cake for myself! But the year before, I satisfied a culinary wish by going to one of the best restaurants in Chicago, Tru. It was a fantastic experience with stellar service and probably the best overall meal of my life. We capped it off with drinks at the Peninsula Hotel bar and a night at the wonderfully unique Blackstone Hotel. Thinking back now, I should have appreciated it even more at the time. Happy birthday – I hope yours is wonderful!
I love NOT cooking and being surprised. But neither actually happens. However, my b-day is next Sunday and I’m always hopeful!
My birthday is New Years Eve so it is never difficult to find a celebration!..I must say my favorite part is the midnight kiss!
Corinne
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Corinne
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Corinne
My favorite birthday celebration? Summer food, since my birthday is in July. My mother would make us birthday dinners so when I was young, I asked for spare ribs. Then, when I got older I asked for steamers and when I finally wised up, it was lobster!
We celebrate our birthdays for an entire week. Â Each day is something a little special. Â One or two night’s is always the birthday person’s choice dinner- whether at home or out!
I always remember my best friend, Amy, whose birthday was the day before mine. I lost her 10 years ago to ovarian CA. I try to appreciate the gift of yet another year in my life on my birthday.
We make a special cake with a recipe handed down over many generations, we call it Grandma’s Devil’s Food Cake. It even gets sliced in a special pattern! I will post the recipe on my blog!
Happy birthday! I love for the birthday person so pick dinner … my night generally involves something with extra cheese or something equal bad for me!
My husband and I have birthdays just 2 weeks apart in the summer. Our favorite way to celebrate is by going out of town. Whether it’s camping or sightseeing, we love to travel.
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I love to get a massage and go swimming on my birthday!!
Happy, Happy Birthday! I’m so glad you were born.
Happy, Happy Birthday! I’m so glad you were born.
That tidbit would be chocolate bundt cake as a child. No frosting, just cake. Maybe powdered sugar…
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My favorite bday activity is when my HUSBAND plans something for us….all on his own!
I love birthdays, but my hubby could care less. Our tight budget doesn’t allow for lavish gifts, but we always celebrate with food– I usually pick carry-out when the kids have gone to bed, my hubby likes to sneak out for a good dinner, and my son (turning 4 this month) always wants ribs. He even chose them for his second birthday, yelling and pointing into the butcher’s case at the grocery store. He’s lucky I love him because my morning sickness makes me wanna puke at the smell of pork, but I’ll suck it up for my baby 🙂
Happy Birthday! I just celebrated mine this week too. I don’t need gifts, just some “me” time getting a pedicure.
Happy Birthday!
Great giveaway 🙂
My favorite birthday celebration is when I get to spend the whole day with my family, parents included. Â That is when the fun memories are made.
Happy birthday! my favourite activity is anything alone, no kids involved. Just a few free hours by myself is heaven!
Because my birthday falls on or near Thanksgiving, I love having pie instead of cake with my celebration! Â I also believe in “Birthday Weeks,” Â to celebrate for an entire week instead of just one day! Â There are so many things I love about the people who are close to me, and taking a week to show them how special they are is the least I can do!
Also, I love being the first one to wish my beau a happy birthday by softly singing in his ear at midnight. Â Today’s his birthday and he got to hear my off-key song this morning!!
Happy birthday! Love your blog, can’t wait to get your cookbook! My favorite birthday celebration was my son’s first birthday party this last August. I made a paper lantern “chandelier” to hang over his high chair. It looks so cute in all the pictures!
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Hi! My birthday is 2 days after Valentine’s Day, so my hubby and I always cook on Valentine’s Day and then go out to a romantic dinner on my birthday. A long slow meal with him is by far my favorite thing in the world.
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My favorite thing to do on my birthday is have my kids cook me breakfast in bed and have them make me my gift! Nothing fancy just something simple!
My favorite birthday celebration is staying home and spending it with family and friends along with a great dinner and my moms fabulous apple pie instead of birthday cake!
Happy Birthday. Â My husband works out of State and so I’m pretty much a Single Mom and we have a tight budget so for my Birthday… I take my little girl to all the free B’day dinners in the area and we share the B’day dessert. Â Her B’day is two weeks prior to mine so we can often combine the free B’day dinners. Â It’s our chance to hang out together and have a little Mom and Daughter time and pretend we have the money to go out all the time. Â This lasts for about 1-2 weeks until the Birthday specials are over and she enjoys that we got to celebrate my Birthday together.
I have the same birthday as my oldest brother (14 years apart!) and it is in January when it is very cold so our birthdays are always very family based with lots of food and I ALWAYS bake the cake!!!! 🙂
hi Kelsey — when I turned 50, I hired a boat captain and went out on the CT River with three galfriends. We started the day w/scones and champagne, had lunch at a restaurant on the river, and ended the day amoored to a dock in Old Saybrook, w/cheese, crackers, and frozen daiquiris. Oh, and the weather was perfect, too!
p.s. I’m already a newsletter subscriber and already liked you on FB, but I tweeted, Stumbled you, and posted this link on my FB page. 🙂
Happy b’day!
Love the giveaways!  My favorite birthday was a weekend family trip to Asheville, NC where we went to my favorite restaurants, Biltmore, Pack Place Science Museum, and stayed at the Grove Park Resort.  Nothing like a trip to the mountains in the fall….and a spa day for mom at the resort doesn’t hurt either!
Also, I just joined Stumble Upon and will share and tweet.  I am already a subscriber and reader/fan!
Happy Birthday!! Â I love your BLOG!! Â My favorite birthday was when I lived in another state and my fiance (now husband) Â came for a surprise visit. Â I was talking to him on the phone thinking he was at home and then there was a knock on my door and I opened it and he was standing there still holding the phone in his hand. Â I am so glad I didn’t have to spend my birthday alone!
Watching my kids blow out the candles!
Happy (belated) Birthday! Great giveaway! I love Tessa Kiros, too! For birthdays, I like to have dinner parties, a potluck, or just get together or go out to eat with friends 🙂
Favorite? Cake, of course! Nutella layered cake 😉
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Happy Birthday! My favorite birthday… well, even though it didn’t go to plan and I was pretty frustrated at the time, I’d have to say last year. Hubby and I walked 10 miles one night through midtown and downtown Manhattan, photographing along the way.Â
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Happy Birthday! I still remember the wonderful time with my mom and dad. We went out to a movie, and then to dinner, even though my father was in a wheelchair. Those were special times. Thanks to you, for making this giveaway possible! 🙂
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My favorite birthday activity is cake. I look forward to it every year.
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Happy Birthday! Can you imagine if all your favorite bloggers had such great giveaways on theirbirthday? This is so nice! My favorite birthday memory is the time I had a my own fireworks display… that was a long time ago!
my favorite part of birthday celebrations is spending time with loved ones and doing the shopping for a gift, or making it as the case may be! The most thrilling parts, bar none!Â
I subscribed to your blog and I’m excited to get your posts! I’m always looking for fun new blogs to read! Check out mine too if you like! 🙂
Following you on Stumbleupon! How cool! … I’m hooked on SU! ..
My favorite birthday celebration was when I turned 5 and loved everything Strawberry Shortcake. Â I was raised by a busy working single mom, but she made me a Strawberry Shortcake house cake – painstakingly pieced together from strawberry sheet cake rectangles and held up with frosting and toothpicks. Â There were even little candy circle stepping stones making a path to the door. Â It was completely mind-blowing to me then, and still is a very special memory to me now. : )
My favorite thing to do for my birthday is get all fancied up and go to the best restaurant we’ve heard of lately. Â I always get great ideas for things to make!
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I hope your birthday was extra special! My family usually takes me out to a fancy dinner for my birthday which I really enjoy! Great giveaway.Â
My  favorite birthday celebration is making my and my family’s favorite treats.Â
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Happy Birthday! What a fun way to celebrate. My favorite birthday celebrations are always the simple ones at home with my family.
My mom was the ultimate birthday party planner, she made cakes shaped like angels, lady bugs, trains, guitars…Â now that i make my own confections, i opt for something like a lemon tart–for me, the sweets are always in the center of a birthday celebration!
My favorite Birthday celebration is when my mom gets to spend the day with me and my family. She knows all my favorites and makes them just like when I was a kid. I even get to help her make stuff still (and lick the bowl).Â
Now, I do the same with my kid. She gets to stir the batter and lick the bowl.
We also enjoy the one new toy we get. Each person on their birthday gets to shop for one new item for themselves.
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Ok, I did all I could to enter! I love your site so far, and I can’t wait to explore it more thoroughly! 🙂Â
Thanks Babs, and welcome! 🙂
My favorite birthday celebration is our household tradition of having birthday cake for breakfast.  My little girls (6 and 4) have always LOVED waking up to birthday cake and presents on the table, covering their faces with frosting and ripping open packages before they’ve even shed their footie pajamas for the day.  What a way to start the day, right?  🙂  megancrose at gmail dot com
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My favorite Birthday celebrations is spending great times with family and friends!
My favorite birthday memory, is when I turned 40. I was sure everyone was going to “Get” me. I worked at the Post Office at the time,never thought anyone would come there and “surprise” me. I got back from delivering my mail, my mail case is draped in black, a small birthday cake on the table. When I turned around, my folks (who traveled 6 hours to be there) my kids and hubby, yell “surprise.” All the effort that went into getting that set up, getting permission from the Postmaster and my supervisor. It’s one of my fondest memories. When I got home, they had the house draped in black, neighbors were grilling some burgers, it was just a really great birthday!!!
this year i get to fly to seattle to spend my hubby’s birthday with him(he’s away on the job)- i love getting to be the birthday present
My favorite is when my whole family gets together. It usually turns into a birthday/reunion type of thing…but it’s so much fun.
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Birthdays are even great when you are over 60 if you can celebrate with friends. The kids are out of state but we still manage to party and enjoy all of our dear friends. Cake would be chocolate of somekind. We have a local restaurant 2510 which has the best choc. cake. Somehow last week our daughter in Ct . managed to have one delivered to our dinner by calling a friend and working out details. That ranked pretty high on celebrations. Â
We had a great time celebrating my daughter’s second birthday last December, my favorite part was obsessing over all the food. We had a snowman theme and I came up with all kinds of snow and snowman foods. A snowman shaped cake made with a snowdrift cake, snowball rice crispy treats, etc. Lots of fun.
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my Blog’s FB has a couple of links back to this post, sharing your giveaway, I hope many of my readers are entering! 🙂
[…] who shares my birthday month is Kelsey, and she is celebrating with a great giveaway of her favorite things! I like her even more now that I know we share a love of Harney & Sons […]
I completed #7 ! 🙂  here is my post:
http://spabettie.com/2011/09/21/raw-apple-cobbler/
happy birthday!
On my 29th birthday, my husband and I celebrated on a Rhine river cruise of Koln, Germany. It was also fun to celebrate with some local beer and Milka chocolate. 🙂
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My favorite birthday celebration was last year when my kids threw me a surprise party
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[…] This post was inspired by The Naptime Chef, who is hosting a birthday palooza with daily posts for one week on all things birthday related! As a part of next week’s birthday challenge, she is also hosting a giveaway – and there is still time to enter! Head on over to see what’s cookin’ in her kitchen during naptime by clicking here! […]
I recently posted about a fabulous birthday cake we bake for birthdays in our family and linked back to you – but not sure if you got a trackback or pingback… if not, it is here!
http://acookingmizer.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/birthday-bliss/
My favorite birthday celebration was this year! I turned 30 and had two amazing celebrations. One was a three day getaway with my sister in Vegas and the second was a party with 30 of my closest friends at one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago – Piece! Both were amazing! I have a feeling turning 31 may not be as exciting… 🙂
You get to a certain age and you really don’t celebrate birthdays in a big way. Â At least I don’t. My favorite birthday memories is when I was a young girl, I think turning 8 or 9. My mom got be a cake with plastic horses and fences on it. Â I thought it was an awesome cake. Â
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opps, last post got messed up! My mom and I have birthdays one day apart…every birthday for me has been wonderful because we celebrate together!
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[…] forget BIRTHDAY WEEK on The Naptime Chef! This is my final birthday week post; see below for Birthday Favorite Things Giveaway […]
Taking the day off of work – because, really, who wants to work on their birthday, sleeping in (until 7:30) working out, walking my dog, enjoying my coffee at a leisurely place. Lunching with friends and a dinner prepared by my wonderful husband. And amaretto pound cake. Perfetto.
I think my favorite birthday celebration was my daughter’s first birthday last year which we celebrated with her cousin who is only a month younger! She was so excited to have everyone around and couldn’t wait to dig into the yummy Neapolitan cake. It was just such a fun celebration!
We have birthday week. We join up with my brother & sister in law for dinner, get pedis, enjoy massages, pretty much doing whatever the birthday person wants to do! Love it!!!! #1 complete
My favorite birthday of memory was the one when my husband proposed! Â He did it at my karaoke birthday party in front of all of my friends and family. Â Oh, what a night!
My favorite birthday moment was this last year when my 3 year old really understood that you’re extra special on your birthday. I got more cuddles, hugs and drawings than I knew what to do with! Birthdays aren’t quite what they used to be, but this makes it pretty special!
Well, and to be totally honest here, my 21st was pretty awesome, too. Oh, a different lifetime….
Happy birthday!
[…] who shares my birthday month is Kelsey, and she is celebrating with a great giveaway of her favorite things! I like her even more now that I know we share a love of Harney & Sons […]