As Seen On TV craftacular giveaway
Posted January 4th, 2010 | Filed Under: Blog, San Francisco Chronicle
New flower shirt
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a craft giveaway, and because this is the season when everyone wants to deal with even more packaging, it seems like a good time.
So here’s the deal: I’ll send the winner a free, custom-made kids T-shirt. All you have to do is comment with your favorite As-Seen-On-TV product.
Say what?
Yes, bring me your Flowbees and Veg-O-Matics, your Mr. Microphones and Clappers. I had a story in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Style Section the other day about seeking life change with the help of TV products and I’ll be doing more of them in the future. So I want to hear about your favorite products and whether they actually provide the happiness they promise.
Plus, I’ve been on a hobby horse recently, updating Emmeline’s play wardrobe with some cool new T-shirts. And I want to make a few more. Contest ends Friday.
Now if only I can find a BeDazzler …
44 Comments
The toothpaste dispenser that hangs on the wall will, I’m thinking, save my son’s life now that he won’t be able to use a cubic foot of gd toothpaste daily. I mean honestly, he can only win now. We ALL win.
Holy shit, am I the first commenter? Score one for insomnia!
I need the RonCo Showtime Standard Rotisserie. I don’t like to slave over food, I’d like to just impale my chicken on some metal skewers, set it, and forget it. I also really want the Ronco Six Star Knife Set.
I stay up really late at night and watch a lot of infomercials. LOL
Definitely the “bump it.” What would we do without making our hair five inches taller?
I’ve never bought a TV product before. But I do laugh at Snuggies all the time.
The only “as seen on tv” product i ever bought is quite boring: a remote brite light .It is boring but at least it works. I’ve always thought it’d be funny to try the flowbee, my kid would probably hate me afterwards though.
Our favorite product is the Miracle Blade knives. Strangely, my husband (who is usually immune to TV commercials) got sucked into the infomercial and ordered them while I was gone. We’ve actually used them as saws on plastic and wood before (reenacting scenes from the infomercial) and I can attest that they are actually quite good!
The worst thing I’ve bought from an infomercial is Cindy Crawford’s Meaningful Beauty face lotion. A waste of far too much money…didn’t turn me into Cindy Crawford, surprise, surprise…
I would have to go with the shake weights for men. It brings working out to a whole new level…
http://www.shakeweightformen.com
I would be honored to give you my bedazzler. We bought it when eBay first came on the scene. My husband put his initials “RC” in gold studs onto the back pockets of a pair of jeans. They were hilarious. After a year or so, the novelty wore off and the bedazzler has not been used again.
It works, but it’s disappointing, because it’s basically a stapler that relies on the force of your hand to smash the prongs through the fabric and then bend them down. Seriously, you may have it on permanent loan.
Weight loss cookies?? And you starred in the infomercial as a child?? Tell us more!
All will be revealed.
When I was a kid, my brothers and sister and I bought my Mom the clapper as a gift. We were so excited to give her this great invention. She used it on her TV in her bedroom, and was quite effusive with the praise. And then it blew out the TV! Quite the expensive gift from the kids!
As a kid I loved chia pet. Now they have all kinds. For my kid, I think bendaroos are going to be the item I cave in on. I see myself having lots of fun with them. They’re this weird substance that can be moved around, held in place, mixed and matched and then you get to start all over. I especially like the design that kid did on his scooter where he used bendaroos all over it. Clever.
I want the Magic Bullet blender! I want to make simple sauces for my pasta and great tasting smoothies right in the cup! Pleeeeeeaaaaassssseeee!
Just kidding, I would love a shirt for my sweet baby girl though!
You can get a Magic Bullet at Kohls for even less than the price on TV! Also, no pesky shipping and handling. How do I know? Because my husband HAD to have one. And he uses it all. the. time.
Breakfast fruit smoothies with Pina Colada flavored yogurt? Check.
Milkshakes? Check.
Moscow Milkshakes? (White russian made with ice cream, basically) Check.
Salsa? Check.
And they even have handles so DD can carry her own.
I bought the Clapper for my husband a couple of years ago as a joke. We hooked it up and it worked. The only problem was it worked too well; the lights would be going on and off at pretty much any noise that sounded even vaguely like a clap. So now it’s in a closet somewhere.
I really want the Point n’ Paint; it looks too good to be true and I’m sure it is. But whenever I see the commercial, I feel like reaching for the phone. I haven’t done it yet, though. Wish me luck.
I actually haven’t heard of some of these, and I’m doing lots of research. Lord there are so many!
And Whit, I may take you up that BeDazzler offer. I didn’t know they were still around, or that anybody admitted to owning one …
My parents own a hula chair. http://www.3dhealthstore.com/9-speed-electric-hula-chair.html
I covet a Shark Steam mop. I haven’t made the plunge but it’s really only a matter of time.
The ped egg!!! My heels are finally presentable in the summer time, it’s kinda gross emptying the “shavings” out but well worth it lol
I loved our Magic Bullet! We made all kinds of stuff in there. Unfortunately, we ended up buying ours from someone who had done the buy-one-get-one-free thing from the infomercial, and they wanted us to pay FULL PRICE for it. I dont think so!
Seriously?! Nobody’s nominated the Slap Chop yet?! It has the best line of any infomercial: “You’re gonna love my nuts.” Pay attention at 0:36: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPKtBM99kAc
I’ve always been amused by good ol’ DIDI 7. If a crazed man scratches the bejezus out of your car hood and then you wipe it with DIDI 7, it’s fixed! How awesome! And, I would love a shirt for my baby girl.
My five year old son, Max, is a true aficionados when it comes to infomercials. He has a whole list of things I need for my birthday (perfect brownie pan, big top cupcake pans, aquaglobe,…). Before Christmas he asked me if we could turn on the TV so he could watch the commercials and infomercials to figure out what to put on his Christmas list. He said we could just “fast forward through the show parts”. Anyway, for kids the must haves were Aquasand and the Wonderwand. They make that Aquasand look so “contained”. When they were done playing with it (15 minutes) there was sand everywhere! Santa sent a note that the Wonderwand had a malfunction but will arrive at our house sometime over the next 4-6 weeks. We will see how long the excitement lasts with that one.
i’m going old school. FLOWBEE…enough said.
I have to chime in with another vote for the magic bullet. It gets used every day in our house. Smoothies, grinding nuts and seeds, making hummus and even ice cream (Frozen berries, milk or cream and presto mmmmm delicious)
I can’t believe no one mentioned the Craftmatic Adjustable Bed. Or the Sleep Number Bed. Both are hilarious. The old people in the Craftmatic commercials always look so thrilled to have that boring bed…
Guys, we forgot the tiddy bear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMQ3B1svIQo
It’s really too bad i can’t find the video of the sumos wrestling on the aerobed, THAT was great tv.
In college my mother gave me a Snackmaster, which is this single sandwich press that heats and grills your sandwich - the 90’s version of the panini press. I still have it, will never give it away and I even have a few of the recipes memorized. My favorite was “Cherry Pie” - take two pieces of white bread (Wonder Bread works best) and slather with butter, then scoop cherry pie filling onto one side of the bread and then press down with another piece of bread. It sealed the cherry pie filing inside the bread and sweet jeebus, it was like cherry pie! Oh so good and so trashy at the same time! I made my own recipe that my roommate called the Amanda McMuffin where you place bread in the Snackmaster, top it with a scrambled egg and a slice of cheese, press into the snackmaster and it makes an egg mitt or as my old roommate called it, an Amanda McMuffin. That sounds downright dirty now that I write it out. Now I think I may serve these for dinner to my 4 1/2 year old, he would love it!!
Rookie Mom, if Mike doesn’t want it, can I have your Bedazzler? Please?
Hey, hands off my bedazzler!
Absolutely the Sham Wow. It works great under any messy watery kid’s projects or toys on a table top or floor. (hot wheels color changers) Also great on the frequent spilled milk and even the leaky fridge.
Though aqua globe gets an honorable mention because our one plant would be dead without it.
[...] admit I’ve been on a horrible, rotten, no-good As-Seen-On-TV kick recently, searching for the next miracle product to do more stuff in half the time. Deep down, I [...]
ch-ch-chia!!!
Sham-wow hands down–it’s a mesmerizing commercial, and caters to my OCD-inspired need for an object that in one huge wiping motion will make all life’s messes go away–quickly, wow, just like THAT.
I am completely unimpressed with the ShamWow. It takes forever to absorb anything, and it never really dries. The Mighty Mend-It is a total rip-off too (get Gorilla Glue instead), which makes me loath to try the Magic Putty. An ex got me the Aqua Sand once to try to win me back, and it was actually a sweet gesture (he noticed and remembered that I said it looked cool), but it did not work. The gesture, that is; the sand was fine. I bought a set of knives off TV, Swiss something or other, and they’re still cutting my vegetables 15 years later, so I guess they’re fine too. I think the product I’d most like to try that I see on TV ads is the vacuum bag storage thing. My friend has one and she packs all sorts of costumes and clothes away.
My daughter is a 2T, but my niece is a 3T, and we could do a hand-me-up if we got the t-shirt…
The PedEgg fascinates me, esp. this winter as my feet are so dried and cracked - but I’m too embarrassed to actually buy one and see if it works.
I’d love one of your cool hipster shirts for my 3T son who normally only gets hand-me-downs - or maybe I’ll even get off my tush and make him one. Or not.
I got the snuggie but it wasn’t as soft as I had hoped. my green containers are great. Kind of like the green bags which work but hard to clean.
The perfect brownie pan looks cool. Oh I LOVE the Hercules Hook. They are great!
I usally wait for these things to go to Bath bed and beyond so I can use their 20% coupon.
Hmmm, where do I start?
1986 with the Chia Pet that grew some type of mold.
1992 I had a smart Clapper in college. One clap operating my Whitesnake CD, Two Claps turned off the lights. It never worked with the ladies. I guess they didn’t like Whitesnake.
1999 - I bought my wife a BeDazzler off Ebay. She used it on some jeans and never wore them.
Just last year, the BEST gadget — “Air Hog” mini-helicopter. On the second flight it got stuck on the roof of the house.
It’s still up there.
The Perfect Pancake Maker. My husband insisted on it. Said it would make Sunday morning pancakes easier. It was buy one get one free - which to a normal person would signal ‘hey they have way too many of these and no one is buying them’ - but not my husband. He had to jump on that deal before it went away. So now we have not one, but two Perfect Pancake Makers, both of which take up room in my pantry and are NEVER used. Turns out the good old fashioned way of making pancakes is just fine.
we have the food saver, and it works and we love it. we buy fish at the beach, vacuum seal it for the freezer, and it’s so fresh when we cook it later. awesome product.
I closed the comments on this one Friday night — will announce the winner soon. Thanks to all for the great comments!
Mike
[...] note, I had an essay on KQED Radio this morning about finding happiness through the use of as-seen-on TV products. [...]