Not one to give up easily, I decided to create my own game.  I took inspiration from the cards I liked and then racked my brain to come up with more questions.  In the end I had 100 clean, laughter-inducing, conversation-provoking questions that were perfect for my girls’ weekend.

On the night of the party I passed around the questions and had each friend draw three – one to answer themselves, one to ask to anyone in the group, and one to put back.  We started the game around 8 pm and we were still playing it at 3:30 am.  The ladies loved it!  We laughed about prom dress descriptions, commiserated about house-cleaning woes, and shared stories about our lives that would never have come up in regular conversation.  It was exactly what I was hoping for.

A few months later, I created several more sets to use at a Relief Society (a LDS womens’ group) dinner.  I placed a set at each table and had the women play while they ate.  The effect was fantastic.  Women of all ages and backgrounds were able to laugh and relax together.

After the dinner, several of the women asked me where they could buy their own copy of the game.  That’s when I decided to make it official and add ChatterBox (titled after the nickname of my oldest daughter – who has been a fountain of questions from the time she could speak) to the MeckMom Etsy store.

As of today, you can purchase both the boxed set (handmade by me) or a printable set (to be handmade by you) in my Etsy shop.  The sets come with my original 100 questions but if you’d like to customize your set by adding a few questions of your own, just let me know and I’ll add them in for you.

I know I’m a bit biased, but I really do love this game.  If you’ve got a mom, sister, or good friend on your Christmas list this year, I highly recommend giving this game a try.  It would make a perfect gift!  Or better yet, buy one for yourself and share the fun at your next baby shower, girls night, or women’s meeting.  I’ve even used them at visiting teaching appointments and presidency meetings.  You just can’t go wrong when you get women talking.

I’m planning to create more sets in the future –  a group date set for teens is in the works and a family reunion set will be coming soon.  I may even create a supplement pack (25 more questions) for the Women’s Edition since it’s been so popular.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Remember, if you want to win your own boxed set of ChatterBox you still have a few days to enter the “Best of MeckMom – Chatterbox Giveaway”.  Just comment on your favorite MeckMom idea on last week’s Talk To Me Tuesday post to enter.  The deadline is Tuesday night (Nov 10th) at midnight CST.  Thanks everyone, for your support.  I hope you enjoy ChatterBox as much as I have.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

To be honest, I never really expected anyone to read it – and I’m pretty sure that, at the beginning, very few were.  But thanks to the prodding of my super-supportive husband and my ever-enthusiastic sister, Mindy, I kept posting.  Now, several years later, there are loads of you out there.  Some of you have been around for years and a bunch more pop in for the first time every day.  It’s that last group I’m trying to help out with today’s post.  I know it can be a bit difficult to know where to start when you first happen upon my blog.  So my goal is to create a ‘best of MeckMom’ post that can hang out at the top of my blog and give new readers a great introduction to the MeckMom way of doing things.

For today’s Talk To Me Tuesday post I’m asking for your help to find the best MeckMom posts of the past 3 and a half years.  Which MeckMom idea have you tried at your house?  Were there any posts that jumped out at you as a particularly helpful or creative?  If you were going to recommend MeckMom to a friend which post would you mention?  I know it seems like I’m begging for compliments here but I’m really not.  I’d just like to create a great little quick-reference list for new readers to enjoy.  Additionally, your feedback will really help me know which type of posts you guys would like to see more of in the future.

I know it’s a lot to ask, but your feedback is really important to me.  So even if you’ve never sent in a comment before, I hope you’ll add your vote to this post.  Remember, it doesn’t have to be your all-time favorite, just a quick note about a post that has helped you make your everyday life a little easier.  As a little incentive, I’m offering the winning commenter a MeckMom exclusive – a great new conversation game I’ve created called Chatterbox.  I’ll be posting more about Chatterbox later this week but trust me, you’ll want to get in on this giveaway.  How’s that for a teaser?

The giveaway will be open all week and the winner will be chosen at random next Tuesday (Oct 11th) at midnight CST. I’ll contact the winner via email and post the winner’s comment name here.  Good luck, everyone!  As always, to those of you who comment, thanks for passing it on.

*This giveaway is now closed (but please feel free to keep commenting).

And the winner (randomly chosen by the iPhone app, iChoose) is… #21– Mikelle! Thank you so much for all your feedback.  I loved reading all the comments this week!  It’s so fun for me to know that you guys are actually getting something helpful from all my ramblings.  I’ll be creating the Reader’s Favorites page with all the links soon.  Congrats on your big win, Mikelle.  I’ll be contacting you via email today.