This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Arbor Mist
My friends and I love game nights, especially in the winter. Just picture it: it's a Saturday night, it's cold outside, the fireplace is going and there's nothing nicer than having some friends over to shake off the work week, relax and engage in some friendly competition.
That's why when I got this assignment to put together a party theme basket including Arbor Mist's sparkling wines, Raspberry Sparkle and Peach Sparkle, and using a $200 Visa gift card, I knew my theme would be a game night.
When my friends and I do a game night, we don't generally have dinner but we have lots of appetizers and snacks, and for later in the evening, desserts and coffee. And when it comes to the games we play, we're pretty old school. Scrabble, Sorry, Trouble, Taboo, Risk--you name it.
Once in a while we'll even play cards and our favorite is an old one that my friend Lucy's mother taught
her in Ecuador called Quaranta. We sometimes try to keep her mother from playing though because when she does, she's merciless. You think she's this sweet little older lady, but when she's playing Quaranta, we call her Shifty Madonna.
When I was putting my Arbor Mist party basket together first I started with some bottles of Raspberry Sparkle and Peach Sparkle from my local liquor store. Then I went over to Trader Joe's because they have great hot snacks you can just pop in the oven. They also have fabulous crackers, salsas and dips so I stocked up on those as well.
Since I'm a big Starbucks fan, I got a Starbucks gift basket that was on sale at Staples and voila: I had a basket, coffee and plenty of cookies to snack on later in the evening. (photo above and right)
Because Legal Eagle and her husband The Architect came over last weekend for a visit, I decided to do a little Arbor Mist taste test before our upcoming game night. Since this was the first time I was tasting Raspberry Sparkle and Peach Sparkle also I thought it would be fun to see what we all thought.
I had the bottles all chilled when my friends got there and they were eager to join in. I poured the Peach first and we all took sips. I expected something that was either too tart or too sweet but I was pleased to find that the peach flavor was very light, fruity and went well with crackers and cheese.
Legal Eagle and The Architect agreed. Then we cleansed our palettes with some more munchies and sampled the Raspberry Sparkle. For me that had a bit more of a kick. Not better or worse than the peach but stronger.
Legal Eagle agreed with me and said she preferred the raspberry. Her husband and I both preferred the peach. When I asked them if they thought the Arbor Mist sparkling wines would make a great addition to our upcoming game night, they both thought it would.
Now you too can plan your own game night by winning a $100 Visa gift card from Arbor Mist. All you have to do is tell me in the comments below what your favorite games are for a game night with friends or what your favorite games were as a kid.
Very Important: this giveaway is open to US residents, aged 21 and over so you must also include your date of birth (day/month/year) in
your comment to be eligible for this contest.
You have until 12/31/09 at 5PM PST to enter and here are the rules:
- No duplicate comments however you can submit two additional entries by doing the following:
*Link to this post on Twitter and leave your Twitter link in the comments here.
*Blog about this post and contest and leave a link to your post in the comments here.
- Winners will be selected via random drawing and will notified by e-mail.
- Remember, you only have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
You can read all the official rules here:
See what the rest of the BlogHer reviewers said about Arbor Mist, and if you leave a comment on each of their posts, you'll have 8 chances to win a $100 Visa gift card.
Be sure to check out Arbor Mist at their official site, become an Arbor Mist fan on Facebook, take a break at the Refresh Your Fun blog, and follow Arbor Mist on Twitter.
Be sure the the e-mail address you leave is correct because that's the only way I'll have to contact you if you win.
Good luck!
Megan of Megan's Minute
