This is my girl.
She’s pretty giddy about discovering one of her newest…
Panera Favorites
She didn’t know I was planning to pick her up from school. She usually rides the bus. When we walked past the vending machines on the way to the car she asked, “Can I get something?”
I said, “Lucy. No. We are going to Panera.”
To which she skipped and wooted and I win.
Immediately, she asked, “Can I get one of those…. BREAD BOWLS?”
YES YOU CAN HAVE A BREAD BOWL, LUCY.
Honestly, my plan was to take her for a sit-down snack… our usual Cinnamon Crunch Bagel.
But she wanted to try something new… the Chicken Noodle Soup IN A BREAD BOWL.
So while she worked on her soup, I got myself the classic favorite that pulled us into Panera Bread in the first place… the Cinnamon Crunch Bagel. You guys.
Do you see that cinnamon crunchy goodness?
DO YOU SEE IT?
Aaaanywho…
While Lucy finished off the soup and began demolition on her bread bowl, I broke out my notebook so we could brainstorm her upcoming birthday party.
Panera is a nice place to go, like on surprise dates with your kids or lunch with your girlfriends. I’ve done both my fair share of times. On this day we ran into other friends who were sitting by the fireplace, which… is AWESOME!
Soup in bread bowls, cinnamon nuggets of bagel-y goodness, birthday party planning… A FIREPLACE.
My daughter is the best after school snack/second-lunch date. She definitely had a second lunch.
She’s 8. She can do that. We had fun tossing around party ideas and planning. Last year’s birthday celebration had to be set aside, so this meeting was pretty special.
So…. Have you been to Panera?
*leans in*
What’s YOUR favorite menu item???
You know… Panera has a little sweepstakes going on for MyPanera members (it’s easy to sign up!). Go check out the faves on Panerabread.com and vote. Your vote enters you for a chance to win A YEAR OF YOUR FAVORITE!
A. YEAR.
Or you can create an ode. An ode to your Panera fave. I know I do a happy little dance when the server brings our food to the table. Lucy squeals and does a little jig right in her chair. I wish I’d had my camera on.
Panera is featuring five items on the Favorites page: The Fuji Apple Chicken Salad, Mac & Cheese, Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Cinnamon Crunch Bagel and Bacon Turkey Bravo Sandwich. But if you have your own favorite – you can add it!
I have tried… all but The Fuji Apple Chicken. Looks like I need to make another visit soon.
You can also enter for a chance to win a $25 Panera gift card by using #PaneraFaves on your Instagram, Facebook and Twitter too! They are making it so handy to enter!
(Find Panera on Facebook, Twitter and obviously, Instagram.)
Oh but here’s one more way to win at Panera!
Panera provided me a $100 Panera gift card to give to one of YOU! Simply leave a comment telling me which Panera Bread menu item is your favorite?
Sweepstakes Rules:
No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
- Leave a comment on this post telling me which Panera Bread menu item is your favorite?
- Tweet about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post.
- Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post.
- For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 2/26/2014-3/30/2014.
Be sure to visit the Panera Bread brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!
And don’t forget to enjoy your favorites with your favorites…
*Thanks to Panera for sponsoring this post! All experiences and favorites are my own.*
