Giveaway: Strawberry Shortcake Movies

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a copy of Strawberry Shortcake's "Berrywood Here We Come" and "The Glimmberberry Ball Movie" for review purposes. I received no compensation, and all opinions expressed are my own.

I remember Strawberry Shortcake from when I was a child. In fact, the first thing I ever saved my money for (from my palty allowance!) was the butterfly that Orange Blossom rode, Flitter-Bit (not to be confused with her small pet Marmalade). I still remember the trip to the White Plains Mall to buy the $7 toy.

I loved the dolls, and the song is now going through my head just thinking about them. They were so sweet and fun - and the little personalities that they created to fit their names were hilarious. I think I had almost all the dolls and their accessories, including Strawberry's house (which was a strawberry, as was the trolley).

The fad of Strawberry Shortcake faded as I grew older, but it has been revived in the past several years. Granted, the characters no longer look quite the same as they once did. Their makeover has given them a far more sophisticated (and, granted, modern) look, but their relatively innocent exploits continue.

There are quite a few movies that have been created for Strawberry Shortcake over the years, and two more have just been released: Berrywood Here We Come and The Glimmerberry Ball Movie. As always these movies aren't just cute and sweet, they have a moral to them that helps teach a life lesson that I'm working on reinforcing at home.

The wee ones have added these movies to their collection of acceptable movie viewing, and they are thrilled. The first time we popped one in, they sat still and silent throughout - even Mister Man loved them, although he later told me that they weren't quite as cool as Legos.

In Berrywood Here We Come, there are two parts to the movie, which makes it great to either watch the whole thing or just part one or part two if we're short on time. In the first part, Strawberry Shortcake heads off to Berrywood with her friends to go visit a friend - appropriately named Limelight. Limelight is a movie star, but the life they are expecting to see isn't exactly there. Limelight is not happy because she doesn't feel like she's successful. Strawberry Shortcake to the rescue! The moral to the story is that everyone is special and can be a star, and of course Limelight's movie is soon a smashing success.

In the second part, Strawberry and friends head back to Strawberryland and want to make their own movie. They reopen a local theater to do so, and the evil Pie Man (one of my favorite characters, especially with his twisty mustache!) appears. He decided he wants the theater, and Strawberry and her friends have to find a way to thwart him - and of course they do. Along the way, they learn the lesson from the story: if you have a problem, talk about it.

The second movie is one part, so we need to make sure we have time to watch it - although it's still just over an hour long. The Glimmerberry Ball Movie is a mystery, so Little Miss was a little bit scared, but she was fine. I have somewhat sensitive children.

In the movie, there is a Glimmerberry Ball to celebrate winter. It becomes somewhat sad when someone destroys all the decorations that Strawberry and her friends created, but they solve the mystery, and all is well again. The moral to this movie is again the importance of friends working together as a team, which is something that I love to encourage.

In addition to the movies, they have some special features, too. There is a sing-along available and a read-along storybook as part of The Glimmerberry Ball Movie, and both movies include printable coloring pages - and we can never have enough coloring pages around here. With Little Miss learning Spanish, I love that these movies can be watched in Spanish, too - although we'll wait until she's a little more profficient before doing that.

These movies were released last week, so you can buy them now! Or you can be one of my lucky readers to win your own copy. I have a copy of each movie to give away, and two readers will win one of the movies - first winner wins their choice and the second winner receives the other movie.

So what do you have to do?

First of all, let me stress that you must follow all the rules. If you do not follow the rules, your entry will not count!

This contest is open until Wednesday September 24 at 7pm CST. I must have a valid way to reach you, so leave me your email address in your comment or be sure your profile has your email address visible. No duplicate comments will count. This giveaway is open to US residents age 18 and older. Winners will be selected via random.org and must respond within 48 hours of being notified by me or I will select a new winner.

Mandatory Entry: Who is your favorite character from Strawberry Shortcake and why?

Bonus Entries (leave a comment for each entry - if you put it all in one comment, I'll count it as one entry):

1) Earn one additional entry for following me on Twitter and tweeting this contest (leave a link to your tweet as your comment).
2) Earn one additional entry by following this review blog publicly via Google Friend Connect.
3) Earn one additional entry by following my “regular” blog Honest & Truly! publicly via Google Friend Connect.

Good luck!