a peek inside the fishbowl

Please join me in welcoming Tradex to the Fishbowl!

Tradex is an Ottawa-based mutual fund company. They can assist with Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP), Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIF), Tax-Free Savings Plans, investment accounts and life insurance. But their focus today is Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) because it’s (a) important and (b) not well understood.

I will let the experts explain it a bit better:

Despite being available since 1998, only about 35% of children between 0 and 17 have received the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) of 20%. (Source)

Do you have RESPs for your kids? If not, do you know much about them? I will say this, it’s a great way to save for a child’s post-secondary education.

Time for a reality check: the average yearly tuition cost for an undergraduate degree in Ontario is estimated to be $6,307 in 2011, a 5% increase from 2010. Assuming this rate of increase and without considering the costs of books, course material, food and lodging, this suggests that, at a minimum, a 4-year undergrad degree will  cost your child $27,184 by the 2015 graduation year. (Source)

I don’t know about you, but that number freaks me out.

Grab yourself a coffee and watch this video. It might give you a better understanding of why RESPs are so important:

Do you have any questions about RESPs? Leave them in the comments below. Tradex is happy to answer !

This giveaway is hosted by Fishbowl patron Tag Along Toys, one of my favourite independent toy stores in Ottawa. As an unexpected surprise, Tag Along gifted us the Djeco art kits that are part of this giveaway. (!)

I have professed my love for Djeco here on the blog before. They are incredibly lovely and sophisticated art sets and the girls just love them. You can imagine their surprise when I told them that our advent activity would be to work on a couple of new ones.

Tag Along carries a wide variety of Djeco kits. Some are more suitable for younger kids, some for slightly older (and I wouldn’t be surprised if adults bought them too) but the one thing they share in common is their beautiful design.

Here’s the one Sarah worked on:

This one is a little different from the other Djeco kits. It’s reusable. The media is “liquid chalk” instead of markers or paint. They’re marker-like tools that deliver really vibrant colour. The artist draws on an acetate layer, following the pattern on a white sheet underneath. You pull it out…

… and voila! You reveal the full picture underneath. So pretty. (And reusable!)

This is the one Emma worked on. You peel off parts of the picture that are sticky underneath. Pour out some glitter (it comes in small vials as part of the art kit), and you have yourself a glittery masterpiece. Here’s a peek:

I love toys that have this much play value… and don’t need charging or batteries!

And now the giveaway part.

This giveaway is for one winner. That person shall receive TWO Djeco kits:

1) “Ribbon and Lace” Chalk Markers by Djeco (Pictured above) – “Creating a masterpiece is easy and so much fun! Chalk Markers are easy to use. They’re erasable, so you can start again and again. Includes 4 illustrated plates and 4 transparent sheets, 4 spacers, 6 liquid chalk felt brushes and a step-by-step instruction booklet.” Ages 7 – 10 years.

2) “Glitter Boards” by Djeco (Sneak peak above) – “Perhaps the favourite among little girls, the Glitter Dress allows them to create the ball gown of their dreams. The four glittering gowns are brought to life when the glitter is added, to create beautiful sparkly pictures. Once completed, your child will have a delightful set of pictures to hang in their bedroom.”

AND

3) ONE Big Bag of Science (We love science stuff here at Casa Fishbowl.) – “This giant kit is designed to whet the appetites of budding young scientists of all ages. With more than 70 unique, fun, hands-on science activities, this kit guarantees hours and hours of science fun. Amaze your friends and family with such activities as making water disappear, having a liquid flow uphill, making a 30’ soda geyser, growing fake snow instantly, balancing 6 nails on the head of one nail – and much, much more. This kit covers the three areas of science (Physical, Earth and Life) as well as activities in Chemistry, Physics, Magnetism, Weather, Biology, Geology and Flight. The re-usable zipper bag is great for storing all components when it’s time to put your lab away. P.S. You’ll even learn why you might hate your vegetables and what the iron in your breakfast cereal looks like.”

There is much to love about this giveaway, isn’t there? Wow. Want to win?

• Leave a comment below telling me what kind of toys Santa will be leaving under the tree this year. That’s it!

Some other details:

• This giveaway is open to anyone residing in the Ottawa area but is void in Quebec. (Here’s why.)
• The winner will have to pick up their prize from Tag Along Toys in a timely manner. They’re located in Kanata at 499 Terry Fox Drive in the Signature Centre.
• One entry per family please! We want lots of people to have the opportunity to win.
• If you can’t post your comment because you’re behind a firewall at work or whatever, you can email it to me for posting: andrea at quietfish dot com 
• I will do a random draw of all qualifying entries using Random.org at noon EST on December 15, 2011.

Thank you Tag Along Toys for hosting such an amazing giveaway.

Over to you Fishies!

I’m very pleased to welcome a new patron to the Fishbowl today… Ikea!

Monday night I had the opportunity (along with about 200 other friends and media types) to attend a sneak preview of the new Ikea opening here in Ottawa and it totally surpassed all of my expectations.

They are officially opening to the public on Wednesday. They’re expecting 13,500+ people to walk through the doors that first day (which is why I’m going to wait at least a week before attempting a return visit), and I totally understand why. There is, after all, plenty to be excited about.

Ottawa is moving up. The old store was the world’s smallest IKEA, and the new one is now it’s Canada’s largest at a whopping 427,000 square feet. The new Ottawa IKEA carries the full range of 9,500 IKEA products, as well as 55 inspirational room settings, 28 creative kitchen concepts and three full house displays.

So yeah. It’s big.

Question: how many elephants could you fit inside the new Ikea?

Answer: a lot. (All kidding aside, if someone could answer this for me I would really appreciate it.)

Some points of interest:

There are 640 seats at the new restaurant. Here’s a peek at what the eating (and lounging!) areas look like:

As I mentioned, there are 55 room settings, and couches as far as the eye can see:

There are three complete mini-homes within the new Ikea, an excellent way to visualize small spaces:

There are 36 cash lanes (yay!), and 1,200 parking spaces… 600 of which are sheltered (and the bike racks are there too!):

There’s a a bigger and better child care area and ball room. I would love to try it out. Even for five minutes.

I have always loved the children’s section. This one is even bigger:

… and so is their kitchen planning centre. And there are even more great kitchen concepts (be still my beating heart) than ever before:

And the building is 40 per cent more energy efficient than the last store (which was built in 2004). I think that’s pretty cool.

So yes. Exciting stuff for Ottawa! Will you be checking out the new Ikea? :)