Avery Gift Basket Review & Giveaway!

As the end of the year approaches, a new school term emerges for many!  That usually means new supplies, clothes, etc.  This year, Avery Dennison has you covered (worldwide)!  Avery has come out with a number of innovative products to make school and office supplies both useful and fun.

Avery is proud to be a new participant in the Box Top for Education Program.  This program offers you the chance to save money for the school of your choice whenever your purchase or win Avery products!  According to Avery's current PR representative, "To date, over $300 million has been raised for schools nationwide through the Box Tops program. Avery is the only school supply manufacturer that is part of the program. Last year 2008-2009 school year was a record-breaking year with over $50 million raised."

Review
Thanks to Avery's PR company, I received a gift basket of Avery items similar to what one of my lucky readers will be receiving (see giveaway details below).  In my gift basket, I received the following products:
-A package of Insertable pockets 'n Tabs Dividers
-A package of Durable Write-On Plastic Dividers
-A package of Standard Weight Sheet Protectors
-A package of Dark Fabric [Iron-on] Transfers
-A Heavy Duty 1" One Touch Binder
-A Recycled Chipboard 1" Binder
-A 2-pack of The Original Hi-Liter Brand pens
-A name badge label pad
-A 2-pack of Marks-A-Lot Permanent Markers
-A 2-pack of Glue Stics (Permanent)
-A snazzy fabric storage box (with an earthly feel)

After reviewing the Avery gift basket, I found it difficult to pick only a few of my favorite items to talk about.  In the end, the products that I chose were the durable write-on plastic dividers and the heavy duty recycled chipboard binder.

My review package arrived at the perfect time - just as I was about to start putting together my new (and first) coupon binder.  When doing this, I found the durable write-on plastic dividers to be extremely useful!  First of all, I found them to be very sturdy which makes turning the pages in my binder much easier (especially for larger sections).  Secondly, I love the fact that you can write directly on the tabs and erase the writing if you need to.  The tabs were easy to write on and held the ink well.  I have tried writing on other dividers similar to these ones in the past and the text always seemed to rub off after a few uses.  The Avery dividers are a great alternative since I am confident that what I write will stay put!  Finally, these dividers offer a great alternative to the traditional divider because they have both side tabs and top tabs.  This is a useful feature for anyone who likes to subdivide their binder categories or sections.  All-in-all, this product had everything I was looking for!  Currently I am using other dividers I had lying around to complete my coupon binder but in the next couple of weeks, I plan to scout the store for Avery's new durable write-on dividers to replace those I originally used in addition to the Avery dividers.

As for the Avery's 1" Recycled Chipboard Binder, there are a few things I like.  First of all, I love that it is eco-friendly!  According to the Walmart Canada website, these binders are made from 100% recycled chipboard and approximately 80% of that being from post-consumer material.  Secondly, I was impressed by how durable this binder was; it seemed like the binder was much sturdier than traditional 1" binders that I've used in the past.  Finally, I absolutely love the design on this line of binders.  Most traditional style binders (those without zippers) are plain and lack personality.  Fortunately, the Avery 1" Recycled Chipboard Binders come in four (4) unique colors, each of which have a fun ingrained pattern.

Overall, I think all the products I received in the gift basket are great!  I love to see that Avery backs products that have been made since I was a child (like the Hi-Liter) and I think it is especially great that they continue to make new and innovative products. 

What can you win? One winner will receive "a gift basket worth more than $50 of school and office supplies including highlighters, labels, t-shirt transfers, binders, and more" from Avery.

How to enter: Visit Avery's Website.  Then, come back here and leave a comment telling me the name of another product that you like or would be interested in trying. This question must be answered to gain an entry in the giveaway.

Each of the following will give you one extra entry in the giveaway (unless otherwise noted). Please make sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do. If a certain entry method is worth more than one entry, which will be indicated for methods worth more than one entry, please leave a comment to reflect each entry:
- Subscribing to my blog via email or RSS feed (Maximum of 1 entry - please tell me how you subscribe in your comment).

- Adding my button to your blog sidebar.

- Following me on Twitter (@ihchicky) and Tweeting about this giveaway (with a link to this page). Please leave a link to your tweet or your twitter name. You can do this once a day.

- Following me on Blogger / Google Friends Connect (publicly).
- Entering one of my other giveaways.  Please indicate the name of the other giveaway you entered.

- Blogging about this giveaway on your blog. Please leave a link to your blog post in your comment.

- Talking about and linking to this giveaway in any public forum or on Facebook. If you do this, please leave your user-name and a link to the post.

-Donate a minimum of $1 to my BlogHer 2010 Fund using the ChipIn widget on the right hand side of my blog. Earn 2 entries for each dollar you donate! Please leave me your PayPal email address so I can verify your entry.

Important Entry Details:

The above entries (main and bonus) can only be submitted once per person (except for the tweet entry, which can be done daily). Please do not use more than one blogger account or add additional anonymous comments to gain extra entries. This is not fair to everyone else and this practice is strictly prohibited. If a person is found to be using more than one account to enter the same giveaway, they will be disqualified from that particular giveaway, as well as all future giveaways.

NEW END DATE!!  This giveaway will end on Sunday, December 20th at 11:59pm (Central Standard Time). After the giveaway has ended, the winner will be picked randomly using random.org. EMAIL RULES: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. I will be notifying the winner by email only. Please make sure your blog profile includes your email address and make sure that it is visible. If you do not have a blogger account, please make sure you have included your email address in your post. If there is no email address provided, to contact the winner, another person will be chosen. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning email notification with their complete mailing address (I will be forwarding all this information to the sponsor), If this information is not received within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to residents of the US only!

Good luck!