pop pop fizz fizz

I'm a total sucker for when new cool things come out. I remember when the ipad was first announced I was all "I MUST HAVE THIS" or the fitbit? Had to have that immediately (no clue where mine is by the way). I remember when I first saw a commercial for Soda Stream. YES PLEASE! But alas, it sort of fell to the bottom of my "things to buy" list, with diapers, formula and toilet paper pushing it to the bottom.

But not anymore my friends. Not. Anymore.

Enter in my good friend House Party.

Yup!  This lucky lady was selected to host a Soda Stream house party.  I was super excited. I kept telling Mike it was like Christmas.

When it arrived, as always, my trusty assistant helped me unpack everything and take it for a test run.

here is just one of the sample kits it came with.

and here she is...almost ready to go!

I won't share with you my first test photos because I totally didn't read the directions and bubbly water was shooting out all over the place. Let this be a lesson to you. Read the directions. Once you do, it's easy peasy!

 First, you fill up a Soda Stream bottle with water. I used filtered because I'm fancy pants like that.

 Then you decide how bubble you want the water. You can see that there are three levels of bubblineses. Since we were making diet cranberry rasberry yumminess, we wanted it bubbly like soda, so our goal to was add enough carbonation so that the three circles all lit up.

Once we had our bubbles, we removed the bottle and added the soda syrup stuff. I would highly recommend doing this over a sink, as sometimes the new bubbly water can bubble over.

Then that's it. Enjoy!

I have used this way more than I thought. I've made "spicy" (aka bubbly) water for the kids (though Taylor says it's hot and tries to put it in the fridge to cool it down), and on more than one occasion I've found myself saying "I wish I had some XXXXX" the XXX being any type of beverage you desire. And then I go, oh yeah! I can totally whip up some ginger ale right quick with my Soda Stream maker!

Seriously, if you don't have one of these, get one. They are the bomb diggity. And even better, I have a handful of $20 rebates to share. So, if you'd like one, leave a comment and I'll get back to you.  I also have found a great black Friday deal. Target has the Soda Stream on sale for $79.99, and you get a $25 gift card. Combine those with the $20 rebate and you are getting a $100 machine for FREE!! Okay, not really, but $35 is practically free.

Oh, and as part of my House Party party pack, I need to share a group photo.  Two other guests are not pictured so the kids are filling in, and this is what happens when you let a 2 year old take a picture. blurry anyone?