Adventures of a Mini Van Mom: Microsoft Windows Phone 8X by HTC Party

I have been using the same phone for the last couple years and it is not smart phone. Lately I’ve been really wanting to have a smartphone especially when I don’t want to print off a coupon and it would be handy to have it loaded on my phone instead. So needless to say, I was so excited when I found out I was selected to receive a FREE Verizon Windows Phone 8X by HTC!

I love the color and how user friendly and sleek it is!! Part of the reason I was excited about my party, was to show off my cool new phone, and to have an excuse to get together with friends and family to laugh and eat good food.

Love that I can check the weather on my phone!

Love the color & how thin and sleek it is!

I played some music, a Top Hits Beatles cd, I had loaded on my cell phone for back ground mood music while we got the party started by eating a delicious nacho bar and veggie tray. It was easy to turn it up or down by pressing the top or bottom of the side button on the side of the phone.

After eating, I welcomed everyone and showed them my new FREE Windows Phone 8X by HTC!

I started highlighting some of my favorite features:

*The Camera ~ The easy to use camera with editing built right in. I like that you can edit your photos before you upload to Facebook or text or email it to someone. And the panoramic feature is pretty neat too. And I love that I can switch the view for taking photos either facing out or towards me! I had fun prepping for it to share with my guests and am looking forward to playing even more with it in the future!

In case you want to know more, here’s a short video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ8Njs0-5pY

We had fun trying out the camera.

*The Skydrive ~ I think the Skydrive is such an awesome idea and one my favorite features! That is one thing that is really annoying with my current phone, when I take a photo, I have to hook up the cord to my computer to upload it and then post to Facebook or email it. I love the idea of having my documents and photos saved to a Skydrive and be able to access it from my computer! And 7GB is a lot ~ and it’s free! Yay! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siPgqholRh4

*The Kid’s Corner ~ My son LOVES Angry Birds and several othter Kid’s Apps. And I have let him play them but not without a few surprise purchases which is very frustrating!! So I love this feature! It’ll be nice to let my son play his education games, play Angry Birds, and even take photos with the camera all without being able to purchase unwanted games or videos! I can rest assured that he is safe and I don’t have to watch over his shoulder every minute to make sure he’s not getting into something he shouldn’t be! I love what they said on the video: “Everyone can get their hands on a Windows Phone. Both big and small.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF4qa15lPFg

My guests had fun passing the phone around and trying out the camera. And I had fun showing them all the different features. My son even had fun looking it over.

We played the Pinterest Party Board challenge. Here were the different categories:

1. Pin a Photo of an Important Person in Your Life

2. Pin a Photo of You With a Group of Friends or Family

3. Pin Your Favorite Video Game

4. Pin a Photo of Your Favorite Childhood Memory

5. Pin a Photo of Your Favorite Activity or Sport

6. Pin a Photo that Represents Your Favorite Song

7. Pin a Photo of Your Dream Job/Career

8. Pin a Photo of Everyone in Attendance at the Party

Here's my --> Pinterest Party Board <--

It was a bit complicated for some of my guests but I kept the party light and fun and I helped them figure it out and get their hash tags right.

The winners of the Swagbags were very excited! Verizon sent me Tote Bags filled with a set of nice glass coasters, a thumb drive, a nice Verizon Cup & Straw.