Roxy Saves: Coupon Promotion Codes for Favorite Online Retailers

It feels like holiday music on the radio and holiday shopping get started earlier every year. While one of my sisters has everyone's Christmas gifts purchased, wrapped and ready to go by the end of July, I tend to wait until Thanksgiving and the chill of December put me in a festive mood for holiday shopping. Every year, Rex, London, Maddie and I spend one December Sunday shopping in our old West Village neighborhood in Manhattan, and one day exploring our favorite shops in Lambertville, New Jersey and Newhope, Pennsylvania. Shops in nearby Bernardsville and Chester frequently offer up just the right unique gift for Grammy, Aunt Veg, PostBoy and MathGirl. For power shopping, though, there's nothing like online shopping, starting around Black Friday and waiting for the coupon and promotional codes to pour into Roxy's e-mail bag.

As part of our new Roxy Saves feature, I'll be sharing the best ones with my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers over the coming weeks, starting right now:

Maddie just got a beautiful new winter coat from Mini Boden, and Johnny Boden wants you to save $20 when you spend $80 or more, plus free shipping and free returns. I couldn't find a coupon code but this link seems to take you there. Valid until 11:59pm on Sunday, November 30, 2008.
I use Kodak Gallery to archive and print all of the thousands of photos I take of London, Maddie, and our family's adventures, and I've found that if I wait long enough, there's always a way to save big on prints, holiday cards, and photo gifts. Right now through Thanksgiving Thursday, November 27, 2008, use coupon code TURKEY30 to save 30% when you spend $60 or more on photo gifts site-wide at KodakGallery.
Particularly for pre-schoolers, but even as kids get older, Halloween can be a year-round celebration. London and Maddie and their friends love to dress up – as princesses, pirates, and pop stars – so I always wait until after Halloween to stock up on costumes and wigs for holiday gifts and winter birthday parties. Now through 11:59pm on Saturday, November 22, 2008, use coupon code 20offsale to save 20% off already marked down sale items at BuyCostumes.com. I just bought a Yoda costume for an upcoming birthday party and saved ten bucks.
It's no secret that London and Maddie love their American Girl dolls. They can play together for hours at a time, inventing their own stories about American Girls like Felicity and Elizabeth, Samantha and Nellie, Molly and Emily, not to mention the Bitty Twins. We have Ziplocs filled with American Girl outfits, and it seems like someone is always changing from nightgown to ball gown or riding outfit and back again. The dolls, outfits and accessories are pricey to begin with, but shipping seems to get me every time, so I was thrilled to see a coupon code (GIFTSHIP) for free shipping on every American Girl order with no minimum purchase now through Tuesday, November 25, 2008.
While there are plenty of parents who have had enough of Disney for a lifetime, my girls started out as toddlers adoring the Disney princesses, have grown up with Disney, and continue to enjoy Disney movies and their friends from the Disney channel – Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers, the Suite Life of Zack & Cody, and of course, High School Musical. Use coupon code HOLIDAY25 to save 25% off sitewide on Disney.com through Friday, November 30, 2008.
Look for savings of up to 40% on designers and use coupon code SAKSFS at Saks Fifth Avenue to get free shipping on orders of $200 or more, now through Sunday, November 23, 2008.

Halloween Is On Its Way, but London and Maddie Have No Costumes!

Halloween, the masquerading time of the year, is almost here. Rex, London, Maddie and I all love Halloween and we take it very seriously with our family's participation in the Bay Head Halloween Parade, which happens every year on the Sunday before Halloween (even if Halloween falls on a Sunday). This year the parade is scheduled for Sunday, October 26th, which leaves us with about 45 days to plan our costumes.

Last year, London dressed up as Hannah Montana; Maddie was her little known sleeping beauty of a sister, Aurora (Montana); Rex was Maddie's handsome prince; and I was Maleficent, the wicked 13th fairy who was not invited to Aurora's christening. I threatened to re-use my costume at my niece Candy's black tie wedding.

The year before, London was the Little Mermaid, Ariel, as a bride; Maddie was Little Red Riding Hood; I was Little Red's Grandmom; and Rex was the Big Bad Wolf. You can see Maddie holding our family trophy in the photo on the left.

This year, Maddie had hoped to be Binah, one of Madonna's English Roses, but it proved too difficult to enlist four of her friends to be the rest of the English Roses, so we're back to square one. I thought it would be fun if they dressed up as London and Maddie from the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, but it turns out they don't make Suite Life costumes, only pillowcases! Now I'm sure my blogosphere buddy LadyJava would approve of the pillowcases over the girls' heads for blog photos, but I'm not sure about trick-or-treating! Even without the pre-packaged costumes, I still like the idea, so we'll have to check out the halloween costume stores to see if we can pull London and Maddie's outfits together.

The girls found grown-up Barbie and Ken costumes in one of the catalogs, and they're trying to talk Rex and me into it...believe it or not, it's not much of a stretch for either of us...Rex thinks he might even have some of his own clothes from the 70's that would work.