***The Tickle Me Tubies 1 Year Giveaway is officially CLOSED! Winner will be randomly drawn and contacted shortly***

Well it is finally time to start the giveaway! We are quite sorry for the delay-unfortunately Laura had some unexpected urgent health issues come up, and, as many of you well know, all plans just went out the window! But we are finally ready to start! Excited? We are!

6 days from today (so on September 9th) it will be one year since our Etsy shop opened. Over this past year it has grown so much bigger than we ever pictured. We have had over 150 orders and sold hundreds of items! So this month we’d like to celebrate with all of you with an awesome 1 Year Giveaway!

What’s it for you ask? Well it will be for an epic Tickle Me Tubies mystery box full of items made just for you. Possible items to be included (not everything here may be included, and items are not limited to this list)  are tubie pads, tubie clips, trach pads, masks, a gown, Farrell bag covers, or that one thing you have always wanted. Now some of you may be thinking that most of those items don’t really apply to you, and that’s fine! Because once we pick a winner we will contact them/their family/friends and taylor the box just for them-so you don’t have to have a feeding tube or any other medical device. And, if you don’t have any medical problems, you are more than welcome to enter and then have the box made and sent to a friend or family member who you think would love it! So don’t hold back-everyone can enter!

On that note, all costs, including shipping will be covered in the U.S.. Those who are international enter are still more than welcome to enter but will need to pay the shipping difference (will we cover the shipping cost as if it was to a U.S. state and you would pay the rest of the shipping.

Winner will be chosen randomly through Random.org. Originally this giveaway was planned to start on September 1st and run through the end of the month. Because it got delayed, we will add 2 more days, so it will end October 2nd instead.  And be sure to keep an eye out because we just might run a few smaller 24 giveaways this month for things like exclusive discounts and store credit!

Well now that that’s out of the way, on to how to enter! There will be quite a few number of ways to enter throughout the month. Today we are starting with just the blog and Etsy related ways to enter and we will post more ways to enter as we go along. We will also edit this post to include the complete list so if you join a little late you can catch up! Here we go:

Follow the blog! This one will give you 3 entries! If you are already following us, just let us know either in the comments of this post or through the contact form and we’ll give you the entries.

Like this post below and comment when you do (within the blog-1 entry)

Share this post on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and/or WordPress (reblog) and comment below (or email us at ticklemetubies@mccleskeyteam.com/use the contact form) with a link to your share post or a screen shot of the post so we can see it too when you do (1 each-share once to each site, so you can share to all four and get four entries but, for example, sharing to Facebook twice will get you one entry)

Review one of our products on Etsy HONESTLY. You will receive an entry regardless of whether your review is one star or 5. Comment, email, or use the contact form when you do! (no limit, but Etsy does give a window during which you are allowed to review and item you have purchased)

Place an order! Each order will receive and entry for this entire month.(note that because of the ongoing unexpected health issues, current processing time is set to 1-2 weeks-hopefully it won’t be near that long, but we are unsure at the moment how long it will be)

Follow us on Instagram (if you already follow us, just leave a comment to let us know and you’ll gain an entry)

Like the “Giveaway Post #2” Instagram post

Tag a friend on that same Instagram post

Repost the Instagram picture with the hashtag #ticklemegiveaway and tag us: @tickle_me_tubies

Like the “Wrapping Up” Facebook post

Share the “Wrapping Up” Facebook post

That is it for today, but like we mentioned above more ways to enter will be coming throughout the month! (And if you follow the blog you won’t miss out on any of them!)

School is starting, temperatures are just starting to wind down in some places (not here!), and for many of you the anticipation of fall is creeping in. For some things start to calm down from the eventful summer, and for others the long lazy summer days are over as school kicks into gear. It may seem from the outside that we’ve been a little quite around here lately, but in fact it has been quite the opposite, and we have lots more to come! (Including, *gasp,* a giveaway! More info below)

So what exactly have we been up to? Well, one of the most exciting things that happened recently was the design and receipt of a new little card, pictured to the left. These cards have been in the works for a number of months now and we are super excited to finally have them. The front of these cards, as you can see, just gives a short and simple explanation of what our tubie clips are and how to use them. (If you don’t know what our tube clips are, we encourage you to check them out!) The back gives a quick explanation about how to open and close the clips in both the plastic and metal styles.

Wondering why something so small has us so excited? Well, if you recently ordered a tubie clip for the first time you might have already received one of these, and certainly part of their purpose is to help first time clip users fall in love as much as we have without any hiccups when it comes to things like figuring out how to open and close their clips. But their bigger purpose is actually to allow us to donate tubie clips, which is what we’ve been so excited about! You see, because our tubie clips are entirely unique to us, it’s a bit tougher to just hand them out and expect someone to know what it is and how to use it. Now, problem solved! And we’ve already put them to use in donations: we recently dropped off  two baskets of tubie clips and pads in the GI (gastroenterology)  and IR (interventional radiology) departments of Texas Children’s Hospital (our local pediatric hospital), as well as in two recent donation packages which you can see below!

Sent to Love Packages

Sent to Boxes of Hope and Joy

These are pictures of two different donation packages we were able to send off earlier this month and, for the first time, each contains 8 tubie clips as well as 15 tubie pads, 2 masks, and a tubie or central line bear. The first (left) package was sent out to a non profit called Love Packages run by a teen who sends out care packages to children and teens with life altering illnesses. The second (right) headed off to a little organization called Boxes of Hope and Joy that sends out care packages to kids ages 10-17 who have chronic illnesses. As always, these are awesome organizations and we encourage you to find out how you can get involved and help them out too! If you ever need help contacting them or want help finding more organizations to donate items to you can feel free to contact us and we will be more than happy to help you out.

Now that we’ve covered the highlights of this past month, we’re sure you’re dying to hear about the giveaway we hinted at earlier! Well today is not the day we announce the details, but we did want to give you a heads up because it will be EPIC and we don’t want you to miss out! So watch for a new post here tomorrow, September 1st that will contain all the info you need to enter. There will be multiple ways to enter here, on Facebook, and more so you might see some posts pop up elsewhere with directions to enter on those sites but the post here will contain all the info you need and the complete list of ways to enter. Also we do want to take a moment to point something out-you won’t need to have a feeding tube or any kind of medical device to enter! You’ll get more details tomorrow on the prize but we want to make that clear from the start so you don’t miss out just because you think you have to be a tubie to participate. Also, the giveaway will run the entire month of September, so no need to be left out if you have a crazy day tomorrow and, say, chase Pokeman until 1 am. 😉 Just kidding, but this is a stress-free super fun giveaway that you won’t want to miss!

Until tomorrow,

~Tickle Me Tubies

(Laura) I never used to quite understand why so many businesses had a “mission” or “purpose.” They didn’t always feel sincere, and I thought a business was a business, and that was that. But over the past months I have come to know I was so very wrong, and today I’d like to share with you a little about the passion and the purpose behind Tickle Me Tubies: Putting the ME in Medical.

Recently I woke up to this review and had tears in my eyes by the time I was done reading it, because this is why I do what I do. This is why Tickle Me Tubies began! And I want to express that to all of you.

Here’s what it says: “Absolutely life changing honestly! I have only been using it for a day and already my tube sight is much happier and has stopped bleeding. I guess I’m a bit clumsy with my tube. I always seem to be getting it caught on things or forgetting I’m hooked to it and walking away from the pump. Needless to say my tube sight was not happy. Even just wearing the pump all day puts a lot of gravity on the tube. But today every time I accidentally tugged it the force went straight to the clip instead. No problems! Love it! As you can see I am using it to hold the IV tubing too. Just genius!”

It was accompanied by this lovely comment on one of our Instagram posts: “I just got mine in the mail today and could cry! I can already tell this will be life changing. I’m a bit of a clumsy tubie.”

“Putting the ME in Medical”- our new mission statement. Yes, we have a mission statement, because this is more than just a business. This is a passion. A love. And it has a purpose. Everything we do is all about taking back the medical. It’s about giving you the power to say, “This doesn’t have to be this way! I can make it better!” And giving you the opportunity to take back the things you have lost to the medical world. It’s about you taking back your life by making this world a little more you and bringing comfort to the often uncomfortable.

However unusual and small it may seem, I truly believe a tubie pad, or clip, or mask, or anything else can be life changing. Because suddenly, you get to choose. You get to choose comfort, and you get to choose character. You get to make something a little less medical and a little more you. And this is why I put so much emphasis on donating items-because I want everyone to have this chance. Because, however small, it makes a difference.

So today, we’re giving you back the power. In a life and world where so much seems out of control and foreign, we want to give you back the power to truly put your ME in medical.

Well it’s that time of the year again! The days are getting longer, and the hotter it gets the more a lot of us feel like sleeping off those summer days. Or maybe you’re like us and get that extra boost of motivation to stay busy! Either way, we’ve got some insider news, coupons, and more to share with you. And yes, that’s right, we did say insider-anyone following our blog posts got an email when this one went out. Why is that important? This post contains our July 4th coupons-and they got posted here a day earlier than anywhere else! Which means following our blog gives you first pick when it comes to items that go especially fast when we are having a sale. So let’s get down to it!

We know all this talk about coupons has you excited, but first we’d like to take just a minute to catch you up on what’s been going on around here. We recently got an Instagram account in addition to our Facebook page and Pinterest accounts, but it’s a little unique for us: it gives a fun behind-the scenes type look at what happens before our products get to you! You can find us by clicking the link at the bottom of every page or look us up @tickle_me_tubies.

During the month of June, we were able to send out not one, but two donation packages! We pulled together some items for two wonderful organizations and we’d like to give them the spotlight for just a minute.

First up was this lovely bundle we sent off to Sunshine Packages! We sent off 20 tubie pads, 3 child sized masks, 3 adult sized masks, and a teddy bear that we added a port (type of central line) and an NG/NJ tube.

In case you don’t know who they are, Sunshine Packages is a small organization run by a teen girl who sends out care packages, boxes of sunshine, to children and teens facing life threatening illnesses requiring frequent medical treatment. They run purely on donations so they are always in need! They accept donations of toys and other items to include in the packages as well as monetary donations to cover the cost of shipping each package. To learn more about them, donate, apply for a package, or just leave an encouraging note, you can find them on Instagram @sunshinepackages and visit their website: sunshinepackages.yolasite.com.

Our second donation package this month went out to the Bohring-Opitz Syndrome (or BOS) Foundation. The BOS Foundation works to raise awareness and promote research for BOS, as well as providing support for individuals with BOS and their families. BOS is an extremely rare genetic condition. It can cause many symptoms, including feeding and GI issues which put many on feeding tubes.

We were very excited to get to send off 35 tubie pads as well as a NG/NJ tubie bear and a G tubie bear for them to distribute to patients currently dealing with BOS.

There has certainly been a lot of excitement around here! We have our first masks available with colored elastic ear loops and have made quite a few new tubie clips available for purchase. But the excitement doesn’t end here! In honor of July 4th weekend coming up we have two coupons now available! Please note the limit is one coupon per purchase. Both coupons start today, June 30th, and expire at 11:59 pm CST on July 6th, 2016. So here they are: you can use coupon code 4JULY16 and receive 10% any purchase of $8 or more (not including shipping), or code JULY4TH to receive $4 off any purchase of $30 or more (before shipping).

Enjoy & happy shopping!

~Tickle Me Tubies