Back to School With Funky Monkey Fruit Snacks

I asked our followers on Facebook and Twitter what types of foods they associate with 'Back to School', or what kinds of foods they tend to stock up on this time of the year, and the answers I got were very interesting.

Some suggested healthier snacks like fruit, cheese, veggies, fruit leather and trail mix, and others suggested more convenient, individually packaged products like gummy snacks, bagged chips, cookies, and "Little Debbie" type snacks.

I would love to say that my kids would love to snack on nothing more than carrot sticks and ranch dip, but unfortunately, that's not the case. Sure, they love fruit and other healthy stuff- but they really think that the sweet stuff is more fun. Back to school snacks are completely and utterly frustrating for me, because deep down I do want to give them healthier snack options. Last year I fell in love with a couple of companies that provided healthier options for the kids, (like LesserEvil and POPchips), but when it comes for something sweet or fruity, we look for Funky Monkey Fruit Snacks.

There are three servings of fruit in every ounce of Funky Monkey fruit snacks, and they satisfy the crunchy and sweet cravings all at the same time. The fruit is uniquely freeze dried to maintain and preserve almost all of it's natural nutrients and flavor. Other fruit "snacks" on the market are usually concocted with high-fructose corn syrup, additives or preservatives, as well as other chemicals and sugars- whether they're dried fruit, leathered fruit, fruit cups, or gummy-fruit products.

 

Funky Monkey fruit snacks come in seven different assortments- Bananamon, Carnival Mix, Jivealime, Purple Funk, MangOJ, Pink Pineapple and Applemon. Funky Monkey snacks are 100% natural, vegan, raw and certified Kosher; they do not contain gluten, wheat, dairy, peanut and tree nut, meaning they are an excellent option for people with food allergies or celiac disease. Recently, Kids with Food Allergies, Inc. named Funky Monkey Snacks in its 2010 list of Allergy Friendly Foods for Kids. (Even their manufacturing facility is free of the top 8 allergens!)

As a mom, I love the fact that I can pull up the nutrition info on ANY flavor snack pack right on the Funky Monkey website. I also love that I can put a handful of these in the kids' lunch box and they eat every bit. The kid in me loves the sweet and crunchy flavor combinations in each and every bag! My favorite to date is the Purple Funk, but the kids really loved the Bananamon and Applemon flavors.

Funky Monkey snacks are starting to pop up on the shelves of many popular retailers, including Target, Whole Foods and Kroger, but are always available online directly through Amazon. Because of the fact that Funky Monkey is much easier to find than it was last year, we have officially named Funky Monkey Fruit Snacks one of our 4BabyAndMom MUST HAVES!

Our friends at Funky Monkey want to offer one lucky family their chance to go Back to School with Funky Monkey snacks in their packs! One lucky winner will receive a total of 7 bags (one of each flavor) of Funky Monkey Fruit Snacks!

This giveaway is open to residents of the US. This giveaway will end on August 31, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. The winner will be chosen using Random.org, and all winner information will be posted on our WINNERS PAGE and on this post. Please include a valid email address in your comment. If I cannot find a way to contact you I will not. I do try to email all winners, but due to the volume of giveaways offered on our site, delays can be expected. If you catch your name before I email you, please feel free to contact us first. :) Any unclaimed prizes will be redrawn accordingly and at the discretion of 4BabyAndMom. This product was provided to me at no cost by Funky Monkey to facilitate a candid review. As always, what you have read is strictly the opinion of 4BabyAndMom. Your opinions may differ.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNER!

Please refer to our WINNERS PAGE for more information on how to claim your prize.

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Funky Monkey Fruit Snacks Review and Giveaway!

"All natural, 100% real fruit, organic, no sugar added, 3 servings of fruit in every ounce of Funky Monkey Snacks" are all of the key phrases that caught my attention while searching for healthier snack options for my children.

I found it hard to believe that there really was a snack on the market that was made of *just* fruit that satisfied the urge to crunch. I was truly expecting more of a chewy fruit, like that in trail mix. When we received our samples of Funky Monkey Snacks, I was excited to tote them with us to VBS and to the beach. They never made it to either, because the kids raided the bags completely!

We ended up opening the Bananamon and Purple Funk bags first. The Bananamon is a curious combination of freeze dried bananas and cinnamon. The Purple Funk snacks are organic bananas with acai berries. Although both packages were primarily bananas, they were two totally different experiences!

The next day we opened the Carnaval Mix and the Jivealime bags. The Carnaval Mix contains organic bananas, pineapple, raisins, papaya and apple. It was very sweet and refreshing, and the kids loved the variety of flavors, shapes and colors. The Jivealime snacks are freeze dried organic pineapple slices and pieces, with lime juice. Definitley an interesting combination that I liked a little bit more than the kids did. The kids chose the Bananamon and Carnaval Mix as their favorites, while I preferred the Purple Funk and Jivealime flavors instead.

Funky Monkey Fruit Snacks are packed full of health benefits and flavor, and will definitely be a part of our Back to School & after school snack menu!

Want it?
Head over to FunkyMonkeySnacks.com and find out more about their products and purchase them online from Amazon.com.

WIN IT!
Our friends at Funky Monkey have offered one lucky winner their chance to score a CASE of Funky Monkey Fruit Snacks. That's a variety of 12 of their super yummy, crunchy flavors!

Here's How:
Head over to Funky Monkey, and create your own Funky creation in the Looney Lab. Let me know what you've created, and which flavor mentioned above you look forward to trying the most!

Extra Entries:

• Become a FAN of 4BabyAndMom and Funky Monkey on Facebook. Leave a message/comment on both walls, and then tell me here!
• Find a store near you that sells Funky Monkey Fruit Snacks. Include the details from the Funky Monkey Site.
  
• Grab a Back to School Bash Button and add it to your sidebar (3 Extra Entries!)
  
• Subscribe via e-mail. Your email must validate or it will not count, & your comment will be deleted. Please include email in your comment.
  
• Follow 4BabyAndMom and Funky Monkey on Twitter and tweet about this review & giveaway. You may tweet something on your own or R/T: "Win a Case of FUNKY MONKEY fruit snacks for Back to School! Organic, Fruit that Crunches! @4BabyAndMom http://bit.ly/NKIut #B2SBash Ends8/29" Leave the link to EACH tweet in your comment, please. (Up to 3x/day, please!)
• Post about this giveaway on your blog, website, or Facebook page! Please include a link to both 4BabyAndMom and Funky Monkey. Please leave the link to your post in your comment.
• Follow 4BabyAndMom on Blogger publicly
  
• Subscribe to our RSS feed
• Email at least 3 of your friends and CC 4BabyAndMom [at] gmail [dot] com
• Fave this post on Technorati and leave comment with your ID/link.

This giveaway is open to residents of US & Canada and will end on August 29th, at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org. Special thanks to Funky Monkey for sponsoring this giveaway and for joining the Back to School Bash!

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