Over Christmas, my sisters and I were flipping through a stack of catalogs that my mom had (she gets so many random catalogs) and my sister mentioned she really wanted to try the Kinetic Sand from UncommonGoods.
I had never heard of Kinetic Sand or UncommonGoods, so I thought it was funny when I came home a few days later to an email from UncommonGoods asking if I wanted to try Kinetic Sand. I said, “Sure!” and was suddenly face to face with sand on my table: 
It’s quickly become one of Gabe’s favorite toys (he’s played with it every day since it came) and is awesome for several reasons:
– It’s not messy. I cannot emphasize this enough. There is no residue on your hands, the table, anything. And it doesn’t get mashed into the carpet and dry – because it’s always dry!
– Open-ended play. I like to have toys for Gabe that can do lots of different things. He can make robots, roll out some “pizza dough,” or cut out cookies.
– It’s magical. It’s sort of soothing to let it drip through your fingers. And it FEELS like sand and is 98% sand but sticks together but not to you and HOW DOES IT WORK?
– Adults love it, too. Maybe more. Lest you think this is only for kids – NOT AT ALL. There have been a few nights where Mike and I played with it after Gabe went to bed because then there was no one around to destroy our beautiful works of art.
(He’s probably about to destroy my beautiful stars.)
(Fun for the whole family AND our friend! Wine isn’t included.)
Wanna try? I’ll buy you some.
UncommonGoods seems great for unique gifts – lots of quirky, interesting things to choose from. Lots of stuff is even handmade (those shark slippers – HA)! I know I’ll be checking out this page before Mike’s birthday this summer since I never have good ideas for him. (If we were Valentine’s Day kinda people, I might even get him something fun sooner.)
A few things impress me about UncommonGoods (namely, that they pay their lowest paid seasonal employees start 50% above minimum wage) and I like supporting companies doing cool things, so I am going to use my own personal monies and get one of you guys a kilogram of Kinetic Sand for your very own. (Only for residents of the contiguous United States. Sorry, guys, shipping is expensive otherwise!)
I’m just going to keep it open until Friday (uh, let’s say 10 pm EST on January 31, 2014 to be all official), so if you want to try it – leave a comment letting me know something good that’s happened to you this month. I feel like January needs some more happiness, you know? Let’s do that.
UPDATE!
We have a winner!
And looks like Trisha deserves it! A distraction for the older boys?
We celebrated Baby’s 1st birthday this month. This looks awesome. We are always looking for items that are fun but not messy (I’m lookin’ at you, Play-Doh!).
We moved into our new house this month!!
Something good that happened to us this month was a huge family trip/reunion to the Philippines. My native New-Jerseyian 2 year old got to play on the beach in January, we missed the first polar vortex! Sand is his absolute favorite so this kinetic sand idea is really intriguing.
We adopted another dog as a playmate for our 6 year old dachshund-lab mix.
I made some banana chocolate chip muffins!
I’ve seen this sand in a museum store, and it IS really great.
We threw my dad a surprise 65th birthday party–so it didn’t really happen TO me, but being able to do that was a blessing for sure. :)
I am one day away from finishing Whole30, which has been on my list of things to attempt for about two years. Finishing will be GOOOOOD. (Because bread is good. And I miss it).
My ten-month-old finally cut his two top teeth!! This is GREAT news :)
Not entering because I’m from Canada, but this stuff looks awesome!!!
hmmmm. Something good that happened to me this month:
i’ve been toying with Project 333 and have cleaned out and donated bags and bags of clothing, shoes, purses, and jewelry. And we made a big hit on paying back a debt.
I met my boyfriend’s 5 year old son and we’re having a great time getting to know each other- he told me the other day he thinks I’m a cool lady :) It melted my heart!
I want to play with Kinetic Sand! Best thing this month was a snow day! :)
Fun!! Rowan would love this stuff! Hmmm something good… Considering I have a 5 week old, I’d say being able to drink wine again now that I’m not prego is something good this month. (I’d say I had a baby but that was last month.)
Oh my gosh my scientist husband would LOVE this stuff. Hmm, a good thing that happened in January. Well, it’s been kind of a tough month, but seeing all my friends come together to support a close pal has been a blessing in disguise.
Oh that looks like fun! And I didn’t know Uncommon Goods was such an awesome company – I’ve browsed a lot on their website, though never ordered anything.
I got engaged this month!
The high school gymnastics team I coach beat our biggest rival for the first time in 10 years (and stopped their 10+ year winning streak in the process). It was very exciting and I’m so proud of my girls!
I am on maternity leave this month and that (and spending time with my new baby and my two year old) is very good!
I got a much deserved raise! Yay for me and 2014!
I’m going to be proactive and hope my good thing is passing the 28-week glucose test! I took it this morning so I don’t know yet:)
Had a great birthday!
this sand looks straight up magical.
as for my good thing this month, my good friend Zoe was in town and spending an afternoon at the zoo with her was exactly what my soul needed. also i discovered fig butter, and my life was changed for the better, ha.
This is so cool, I’ve never heard of the company either but will check it out now. The best thing that has happened to me so far this month is getting a parking spot closer to work so I don’t have to walk as far in the brutal temps we’ve been having.
I started a new position at work that’s a wonderful fit for my talents and abilities and it came with a raise, so, yay!
We paid off Mike’s UD school loan!! WOOOT WOOT :)
I can’t wait to check out UncommonGoods after sharing my highs for the month, which ironically happened on the coldest days of the year! I had two days off of work after the new year due to cold weather, and then this week my husband (who is in grad school) had two days of classes canceled due to the cold, leaving us with extra time to keep warm together :)
You are awfully generous! There’s a store at that mall near us that sells something similar and my husband can’t resist poking at it every time we walk past. I’d love to see what my 3 year old nephew would do with it, so if I win I’m giving it to him. :-)
My good things: left a job I hated, started a new one that I’m liking.
I got a raise at work!
I love Uncommon Goods! I bought my mom the Buddha bowl for her birthday a couple of years ago and I’m always tempted to buy the F-bomb paperweight for a few people I know, LOL (but I haven’t yet).
That kinetic sand looks like something that’d be cool to bring to work, ha ha!
A happy thing that happened in January is I have slowly been decluttering and cleaning up small areas in my house. Certain corners looking good… but plenty more to do.
We had our housewarming party. Better than that, though, we have no more scheduled parties to attend or host! The holidays are over! Time to finally relax in our new little apartment :)
I got to have my first ultrasound for this pregnancy, which is always a high point in the first trimester.
Love Uncommon Goods! I gave my traveling obsessed brother in law and his wife the scratch off world map. Great gift! Something good this month was…we said goodbye to 2013. Good riddance!
Fun! My good thing this month was finding out our 2nd baby, due in June, is another boy! :)
Hmmm…something good that’s happened this JANUARY…I have started feeling my baby moving!! :) That’s pretty awesomely good.
My four month old baby girl started interacting more this month: lots of smiles, giggles and shrieks of joy. :)
That looks really neat!
My baby boy started walking this month!!! That’s been amazing :)
Sounds like fun!
something great has been four cold/ snow days = extra time home with my darling baby girl!
I kind of really want to win this. When you tweeted about it I looked up a video on YouTube and was amazed! Reminds me of that corn starch & water we used to play with as kids. Now it’s liquid now it’s not.
January… I started trying Pure Barre classes so that’s been fun!
I’ve always been intrigued by this stuff! It’s crazy and mind blowing and super fun!
The best thing that’s happened this month… My 18 year old sister and I, after roughly 5 years of issues, are very much on the road to reconciliation. Very much happy to have my (first) little sister back.
The best thing to happen to me this month is that my boyfriend and I celebrated 5 years together. It has been an amazingly fast and wonderful 5 years!
We’ve got sensory issues, so I’m super excited to try this out! Thanks SO much for the generous offer!
Great thing: Our 5YO son with autism started singing the prayer with us at dinner. So very special!
Best thing that happened this month? I had my third baby boy! :-) Yeah, that was pretty cool. Almost as cool as this kinetic sand!!
I got to spend a week with my family in warm weather AND miss the polar vortex & snow!
We found out that my dad, who has been in the hospital since just after Thanksgiving and almost passed away twice, is getting stronger and gets to come home in a few weeks!
Baby has exploded developmentally recently–how amazing to watch her personality develop and interact with us.
Husband and I went on a hike (first time after we had our baby) on our anniversary! twas awesome!
That looks awesome!! :) My husband took off a couple weeks of work and has been working on home improvement projects. Woo – always a good thing!!
I found out that I’m going on a medical mission trip to Senegal in June! :)
I love UncommonGoods! So many fun things in their catalog! In January, we celebrated my hubby’s birthday, and had a 1st birthday party for my daughter; yay for birthdays!
My husband and I celebrated 7 years of marriage on Jan. 27th :)
My youngest son finally got his sleep study done for sleep apnea, and he did amazing. Just waiting for the results :-)
Oh, that’s a tough question! Two great things happened this month: we celebrated two years with our sweet boy AND Geoff and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. I loved throwing D’s party and celebrating his awesomeness, but our anniversary this year was just so nice. It was a near perfect weekend and I’d go re-live those days in a heartbeat.
I started baking again!
My newborn started smiling and laughing as she interacts with us.
I was able to hear my mom speak and laugh again over the phone! (She’s being treated for laryngeal cancer.)
New dog! New dog! New dog!
I ordered my brother’s Xmas gift from Uncommon Goods and was intrigued by the Kinetic Sand when I was flipping through the catalog. (Still don’t know why I got the catalog but I’m glad I did because I had NO IDEA what to get him.)
Something good in January? Wow. Um. January kind of sucked a lot of balls, especially health-wise. But none of us got a stomach virus, so that’s something?
Oh! Kaylee started crawling and babbling in a way that is more communicative than just babbly. Both of those things are pretty awesome.
The sand looks so fun!
My 5YO son with autism (who is verbally limited) started singing the meal time prayer with us as a family. Super special!
My iron supplements arrived! Hopefully anemia-induced exhaustion and having to stop halfway up the stairs to breathe will start to go away now!
My baby started gaining 6 oz/week instead of 4 oz/week and I’m slowly regaining confidence in my ability to nourish him.
Hubby and I finished a coffee table from an Ana White design! I love finishing projects :) If only we had time for more :)