Free Gifts Galore at the Ashley Homestore Downers Grove Grand Opening This Saturday at 9:30am

Hey Chicago area readers, this Saturday ChiIL Mama will be ChiILin' at the grand opening event at Chi, IL's newest Ashley Homestore in Downers Grove. The location is 2900 South Highland Avenue, Downers Grove, IL 60515. We're pleased to partner up with them for this sponsored post and have been compensated for sharing this information with our readers. 



Come on out to The new Ashley Homestore in Downers Grove and check off your gift list in style. 

You are invited to celebrate the grand opening of the newest Chicagoland Ashley HomeStore at 2900 S. Highland Avenue in Downers Grove. The festivities begin at 9:30am on Saturday, Dec. 9th and continue throughout the day.

The day will kick off with a traditional ribbon cutting ceremony at 9:30 a.m. The first 100 guests in line will receive a $100 gift cards and the first 200 in line will receive a Bluetooth headsets. Guests will also enter to win over $30,000 in prize giveaways that include a $1,000 Dining Room, $1,500 Bedroom and a $2,000 Living Room and even a $15,000 home makeover. There will also be a prize wheel with spaces for items such as tumblers, wine glasses and chances to enter a money machine.

Making a special appearance will be Kelly Rizzo, the rocker-chic host of “Eat Travel Rock TV,” the popular on-demand entertainment series where she goes behind the scenes with master chefs, rock stars and creative industry heavyweights. Rizzo will get insights from an Ashley HomeStore Lifestyle Expert on how visitors can make their homes ready for the holidays and will share a mocktail recipe.

Refreshments will be served and families will have the opportunity to take their own photos with Santa. Rounding out the entertainment will be face painters, balloon artists and live music from your favorite local radio deejays.

Help Out:
Ashley HomeStores is committed to serving its communities. This location is partnering with Northern Illinois Food Bank of Geneva to accept donations for its holiday food drive. Guests are encouraged to drop off nonperishable food items in special donation boxes.


Please follow the grand opening fun with #myashleyhome.





Disclosure: Once again this is a sponsored post, and I have been compensated for sharing this information with my readers. As always, all opinions are my own.

Tweet Tonight 6/26/15 at 6pm CT For Sweet Prizes and Bring Dreamworks Home to Your Home #HomeMovieParty #ad

HOME from Dreamworks Animation and Fox Home Entertainment is hitting Digital HD this Friday, June 26! To celebrate, we are having a Twitter party with director Tim Johnson! 

Home is where the digital downloads are. Whether you're home or away on summer vacation adventures, you can bring Home with you... DreamWorks' Home that is. Come ChiIL out with ChiIL Mama tonight and tweet along with the hashtag #HomeMovieParty.

Disclosure: ChiIL Mama is elated to partner up with DreamWorks and Think Jam once again. We have been compensated for sharing this info with our readers. As always, all opinions are our own.

When Oh, a loveable misfit from another planet, lands on Earth and finds himself on the run from his own people, he forms an unlikely friendship with an adventurous girl named Tip who is on a quest of her own. Through a series of comic adventures with Tip, Oh comes to understand that being different and making mistakes is all part of being human. And while he changes her planet and she changes his world, they discover the true meaning of the word 'Home.'

DreamWorks is preparing 'Home' for Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on July 28.

Supplements will include: Best Party Ever!; Oh's Shake Your Boov Thing; "Feel the Light" by Jennifer Lopez – Music Video; "Feel the Light" by Jennifer Lopez – Lyric Video; Oh's Boovy Jukebox; Oh's Party Planning Tips; This is Being Boov; Almost Home; Testing Lab; Party Play All; Deleted Scenes; Be an Artist!; and Stars of Home.

Suggested list price for the Blu-ray/Blu-ray 3D/DVD/Digital HD combo pack is $48.99. Suggested list price for the Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD combo pack is $36.99.

Disclosure: ChiIL Mama is elated to partner up with DreamWorks and Think Jam once again. We have been compensated for sharing this info with our readers. As always, all opinions are our own.

WIN a Kindle and More: Join the National PTA’s Family Reading Challenge #FamiliesRead #prizes

ChiIL out with ChiIL Mama and 

the National PTA

for the Family Reading Challenge 

this summer.
Many will WIN an Amazon Kindle, Amazon Kindle Gift Cards and More!

Disclosure: We're thrilled to partner up with the National PTA's Family Reading Challenge and have been compensated for spreading the word. As always, all opinions are our own.

My family is full of avid readers and writers. I've read to my 2 kids daily from before birth to the tween and teen years. Of course they read on their own, too, but I believe you're never too old to enjoy being read to. Even now, at ages 12 & 14, they love to snuggle up on the couch or in a hammock and hear a great chapter book, and I treasure this time too. It's one of the few times we all turn off the cell phones & electronics and slow down long enough to really hang out together. In a few short years they'll be off with their friends more, then off to college, but I know they'll take a lifelong love of reading and stories with them. It's one of the best gifts I can possibly give them.  

As if reading together isn't reward enough, the National PTA is giving away sweet prizes to encourage families to read together throughout July! Click here to sign up and get all the detail including fun activity ideas to pair with your summer reading.

Reading together as a family is a shared adventure and a chance to talk about characters and plots. My kids geek out on meeting authors and collect and treasure their signed books. Now that my kids are older we're into middle grade and adult fantasy chapter books that the adults in our family are enjoying as much as the kids! It does my soul good to hear the kids beg for "just one more chapter", over and over again as the plot thickens and the pages end in one cliff hanger after another.

Here are a few of our favorites to get you started. We highly recommend author Cornelia Funke for Igraine the Brave, the Inkheart series and the Reckless series. She has excellent books for young and middle grade readers through adults. 

Great Cornelia Funke picks for elementary readers:

My kids loved the book Igraine the Brave so much they named our dog for the protagonist. Igraine the Brave (AKA: Iggy Pup) is 4 now and embodies all the grrrrrrrl power awesomeness of Cornelia Funke's unconventional heroine. 

The Thickety (books 1 & 2) by J.A. White are other new favs of ours.

We're now working our way through all the Tolkin books and the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. 

ChiIL Mama will be rocking the PTA Family Reading Challenge this summer... will YOU?!

 ChiIL out with ChiIL Mama and join this awesome campaign to inspire families to keep learning alive by reading great books together.

Families can participate in the PTA Family Reading Challenge—and win great prizes—by sharing photos, videos and memories that demonstrate how and why reading together is a fun and treasured family activity.

What’s next?

1. Take the challenge then tell your family and friends.
2. Start reading! Visit our Family Reading Ideas page for inspiration and FAQ page for more challenge specifics.
3. Share your progress using #FamiliesRead on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to be entered to win prizes.

Happy reading!

Disclosure: We're thrilled to partner up with the National PTA's Family Reading Challenge and have been compensated for spreading the word. As always, all opinions are our own.