**CLOSED** Bumblebee Baby Prize Pack Review & Giveaway

I am very excited, my faithful readers, to present yet another exciting review and giveaway for you!  This time, I was pleased to partner with another terrific Canadian enterprise--Bumblebee Baby, a gorgeous little online boutique based out of my hometown! The owner, Sonya, has been amazing to work with. She was so friendly and personable over email that after a few rounds of messages back and forth, I almost feel like I've met her in person! Her customer service was honest and helpful, and I always got emails back from her the same day--if not within a few hours!

Bumblebee Baby centers around providing earth-friendly baby products. Of course, cloth diapers are one of their focal points since, as we all know, cloth diapering is one of the best ways to keep unnecessary and unhygeinic trash out of landfills. Apart from their gorgeous fluffy inventory and accessories, Bumblebee Baby also carries plenty of items for mom, the nursery, the laundry room, as well as for kids and babies, of course. They have a quality selection of items for nursing, teething, eating, drinking, and more.

Up for review, Sonya passed along to me a One Size Blueberry Minky Bamboo Pocket Diaper. This is essentially the same as Blueberry's regular minky pocket diaper, except rather than having microfleece as the inside liner, this diaper has a liner made from a bamboo viscose blend. I had never used bamboo before and was very curious to see how it held up against the microfleece varieties that I was used to using. First, I prepped the bamboo by washing it separately from my other diapers (I washed it with baby laundry) in case any natural oils came out during the prep washing. I also washed this diaper 2 or 3 times before I had Aurelia wear it. The danger of using bamboo, cotton, or hemp before it has been properly prepped is that the natural oils can cause repelling problems.

I have to say, the bamboo didn't exactly perform as I had hoped it would. Because it is so eco-friendly and natural, I was hoping that bamboo would be an absolute magic material because it is just so much more environmentally friendly than fleece (and it's always nice to think of something natural sitting up against baby's skin, too). Although I wouldn't say it had any repelling problems (we never had a single leak!), I would just say that, even when stuffed or double stuffed with microterry/microfiber inserts, the bamboo just did not wick moisture away from Baby's bottom nearly as well as the synthetic microfleece typically does. I found that Baby's bum was quite damp every time she was finished wearing this diaper, and that led to a little redness developing (nothing that a little naked time didn't remedy, though!). I did find, though, that simply laying in a cheap fleece liner on top of the pocket helped considerably (although, to many people, this might defeat the purpose of purchasing bamboo).

The design of the diaper itself though was fabulous. Though the minky is a little bulkier than its PUL counterparts, it makes up for that in how adorable and cozy it is. All the Blueberry prints are very cute, but I chose this "Winter Sage" print because I thought it was something really different from what else is out there. After many washes, the diaper was still soft and cozy, and it is definitely cute enough to wear pantless around the house (or even out, under a dress, when summer comes). The waistband fit flat and neither gaped nor dug in anywhere. The leg elastics were comfortable and never let a single leak through!

I also have to point out the design of the inserts as I've never come across any like these before. With all their pocket diapers, Blueberry includes one standard microterry insert as well as one extra long insert (pretty much the length of my entire arm). This long insert doubles over itself and snaps on one of two snaps to make it either a medium or a large insert, depending on the size and weight of your baby. I thought that this is a really clever way of providing adjustability in an insert. It sits nice and flat in the pocket too, and doesn't bunch.

Overall, this is a very cute, "special" diaper in my stash, and I'll continue to use it, especially for shorter, daytime wearing, and especially with a little boost from a laid-in fleece liner.

The second item that Sonya passed on to me to try is quite an intriguing item!  This "Wee Be Gone" patch by Weehuggers promises to help remove some of the stink from your diaper laundry.  Here is a more detailed description of this unique product from the Bumblebee Baby online shop:

Washable and infinitely reusable, this embroidered patch will absorb the organic compound "Trimethylamine" - an ammonia-like gas present in soiled diapers. The patches will also help to eliminate stink from gym clothes (perspiration), wet bathing suits (fungi), or even decomposing garbage (for those "oh, did I forget to take that out of the bag?" moments).  Wash the patch with your regular laundry to renew its odor-neutralizing properties. The patch works best with ammonia odors and is not recommended for heavy duty doodie smells. For best results, remove the solids from your soiled diapers. 

When I first read that this was a "patch", I imagined it to be tiny, like a large postage stamp.  When I got it, I found out it was actually bigger than my hand (which in my mind seemed to convince me that it might work even better).  There was no real "scientific" way to test this product's claims other than to do a very disgusting, mommy-like thing.  I opened my dirty diaper pail and took a big whiff!  Ha!  I then "installed" the patch by duct-taping it to the plastic pail liner, underneath my breathable pail bag.  You could also fasten it to the underside of the lid if it sticks well.  I left the patch in for a day or two, until it was laundry time.  I then plunged my head in there for another big sniff.  Nothing glamorous here, folks!

Now, it was probably a terrible week to do this oh-so-scientific experiment as we are also just introducing Aurelia to solids, so things have taken on a bit of a funky odor.  As the website states, you definitely cannot rely on this patch to remove "heavy duty doodie smells".  However, I didn't smell any of that lingering urine-ammonia smell that can become quite familiar.  I also found that this actually did noticeably remove some of the odor that even plenty of baking soda couldn't help with my plastic pail liner, which seems to absorb some of the stinks.  So, overall, for $9.95, I think this is a neat little thing that is worth it, especially since you can launder it to "renew" its properties.

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BUY IT:
Head over to Bumblebee Baby to purchase your own Blueberry Minky diaper or Wee Be Gone patch!

WIN IT:
Bumblebee Baby is generously offering one lucky reader a prize pack of the same two items I got to sample--a Blueberry Minky diaper (in your choice of regular or bamboo material, as well as your choice of in-stock pattern) AND a Wee Be Gone patch!


GIVEAWAY ENDS 3/2/11 at 11:59 PM MST
OPEN TO THE USA & CANADA
Please read all the Giveaway Policies and Rules before participating.
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Final details: I received no financial compensation for this review or giveaway, though I did receive the sample item free of charge. All opinions shared are my own, and I was not persuaded to share anything other than my own thoughts. This giveaway will end on March 2, 2011 at 11:59pm MST and is open to residents of Canada and the United States only. Winner will be chosen randomly using random.org’s services. The winner will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to reply before a new winner is chosen. The prize will be supplied and mailed out to the winner by the sponsor of this giveaway.