Review and Giveaway for Your Daughter

I don’t even remember on what site I found the link to Dot Girl products, but I was intrigued by an advertisement for the First Period Kit. Thinking back to when I got my period, it was a shocking, surprising, humiliating, and uncomfortable experience for me. Being a young girl and having to go to my mother to talk about that was not fun. Having to wear those thick bulky pads and making sure it was in the right place so you didn’t leak was not fun. Getting my next period in school and having to go to the school nurse to call my mom for a change of clothes was not fun. The hormones were not fun. And the questions I had but was embarrassed to ask meant I struggled through a lot of this on my own.You all know I am a big fan of pre-made kits, of which I make a lot to get me through my life, so of course I had to investigate this one. The Dot Girl’s First Period Kit is such a fantastic idea that I sent an email to the company asking for permission to review their product. I was surprised to get an email back telling me they were sending me a free sample as a giveaway. Wow–and I hadn’t even asked!

I’m going to divide this review into two parts: one, the contents of the kit; and, two, a review by not only me but my three daughters, whose opinions I also sought to give a fair and balanced assessment. (Is “Fair and Balanced” a copyright infringement on Fox? Well, tough.)Here’s what’s in The Dot Girl’s First Period Kit:

• The Dot Girl’s First Period Guide® , a 12-page booklet with answers to common questions
• The Dot Girl’s Period Calendar®, a simple way for a girl to track her periods
• One Ultra Thin Kotex® Pad With Wings
• Two Kotex® Lightdays® Panty Liners
• Kotex® product brochure (product claims only valid within the U.S.)
• One store coupon for FREE Kotex® products -a $4.90 value (valid only within the U.S.)
• Reusable Dot Girl Warm Pad, a heating pad handy for soothing cramps
• Scensibles™ Petite Pak (3 disposal bags inside)
• Hand Wipes

So why purchase a Dot Girl’s First Period Kit? Why not just put together a kit yourself? Well, there are a lot of reasons why I advocate purchasing a kit from Dot Girl:

• Everything in the kit is exceptionally cute. It’s bad enough when you get your period. It’s even worse having to carry supplies around in your purse. At least these are all pretty.
• The kit is small. It’s easy to carry in a purse, keep in a car dashboard, keep in a school locker, etc.
• The kit is unobtrusive. It doesn’t scream “Hey, I’m a PERIOD kit!” It comes in a cute but simple, nice-quality bag.
• Imagine yourself standing in front of a display of feminine products. Imagine you are a teenager, have never used one of those products, and having to figure out what you need and what is going to work best for you. Imagine standing there next to your mom and asking her for advice. How do you feel? Dot Girl’s partership with Kotex® took care of this: Kotex® produced a great small brochure with full-color pictures of all of their products and a description of how to use them.
• Dot Girl thought of everything for you, so you don’t have to go out and do this one yourself.

From my point of view, I’m wishing I had something like this when I was a teen. However, I sought the opinions of the other ladies of the house. To keep their identities safe, I’ll label each kid Kid A, Kid B, and Kid C. Kids A and B are older; Kid C is six. (Hey, she wanted to chime in, too.) The older two were not what you would call thrilled to be asked by their mother to review products for their period, but, after I started opening it, they became interested and really started to think about how they’d use it (which is what I asked them to do)…at least until they found the “Feel Your Boobies” card. Then it became uncomfortable for them again.

Kid A: The calendar is really useful. I could keep it in my wallet and no one would know about it.
Kid B: Hmmm, “Scensibles Bags.” The box is cute. I wonder if they smell nice.
Kid A: I like the blue bag. It doesn’t look girlie-girlie.
Kid B: Does it come in pink? (We were sent a sample in blue.) Polka-dots would be nice.
Kid C: Can I have the bag to keep my money in?
Kid A: Ohhh, a heating pad!
Kid B: Really? It’s so small.
Kid A: But then you can take it with you and even use it in class and no one would know about it.
Kid B: It works without electricity?
Kid C: Can I play with it?
Kid A: No, you can’t! Yeah, you just press this silver-thing. Hey, it says you can freeze it, too.
Kid B: But you can’t take it frozen to school
Kid A: Yeah, you’d have to use it as a heating pad.
Kid B: There’s a coupon! I wonder if you could double it.
Kid C: Can I have the bag?
Kid A: I like the pictures of things in the book. I think that’s helpful.
Kid B: I really don’t want to know!
Kid C: Can I have the bag?
Kid B: “Feel Your Boobies?”
Kid A: What?!?!
Kid B: There’s a card in here that says “Feel Your Boobies.”
Kid C: Boobies! (laughs)
Kid A: It sounds like what they say in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged DVD.
Kid B: Yeah, but I really don’t want to know.
Kid C: Can I have the bag now?

On the whole, I think it’s a hit with young girls.

Dot Girl also has some other great products. I’m really intrigued by the leak-proof underwear. Dot Girl says, “The soft, comfortable cotton/spandex fabric and its innovative, breathable coating in the center and rear keep any leaks from feminine hygiene products in the panty and NOT on the clothes.” Really? Now that would be useful!

If you’d like to get a Dot Girl’s First Period Kit for your own child, then either head on over to Dot Girl to order one or enter my giveaway here. To enter, go to the Dot Girl website, take a look at all their great products, then leave a comment stating your favorite product and why. Don’t forget to leave a way for me to contact you in the comment! If you are the winner, you have three days to claim your prize before I pick a new winner, so please remember to contact me after you are notified via email. I’ll choose the winner on Wednesday, October 21.

And, now, here’s the disclaimer, which I hope goes along with the FTC’s new regulations on bloggers: I shop with this vendor. I approached the vendor and asked if I could do a review, and they offered a free sample that I’m using as a giveaway. I am also now an affiliate of Dot Girl. You know I don’t do product reviews just to make money, and I won’t try to sell you on something I don’t use myself. So there’s everything out in the open.

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