New deals and nifty products. From coffee to laundry soap what's new in Israel's stores?
By EVA BEN-DAVID
Those who like to drink instant coffee can now get a bonus with the purchase of almost every variety on the shelves. Elite coffee offers two yellow coffee mugs with a jar of Aroma coffee (NIS 26.50), a mug decorated with a picture by an Israeli artist with the purchase of the classic Elite instant coffee (the red label and lid, NIS 23.20), or a device to froth milk with the purchase of the classic Platinum coffee (NIS 41.95). Nescafe has a package containing two jars of Nescafe Red Mug coffee plus two red mugs for free (NIS 42.90), and gives an Osem brownie fudge cake for free with the purchase of a jar of Nescafe's Taster's Choice (NIS 48.65).
At Ikea you can get a calendar and greeting cards for the New Year decorated by artists from Akim, an organization helping the mentally retarded. The calendars are sold for NIS 15, and the cards for NIS 10; all the profits of the sales will go to Akim. Alut, the Israeli National Autism Society, also sells calendars, decorated by autistic children. The price for a wall calendar is NIS 50, and a calendar you can put on the table is NIS 25. There are discounts for volume purchases. To order, call 03-5718188. The Klalit Health Fund has published a calendar with healthy recipes for the holidays; for members, the calendar is NIS 25, and for others, the price is NIS 39.
If you want your house to smell and look clean and fresh before the holidays, you can take advantage of some deals when buying cleaning products. If you buy a 2.5 kilo package of Tip, Ariel or Tide laundry detergent, you can get a 3.5 liter size Soltam pot for only NIS 40. This deal is valid until the end of the month at the Supersol, Cosmos and Zol Lemehadrin chains. You will get a 50 percent reduction on every second Finish (dishwasher detergent) or Cilit (all-purpose cleaner) product. This deal lasts until the end of the month in all the supermarkets. If you buy two Nikol products (sponges, garbage bags, baking trays, etc.) at the Mega or Clubmarket chain, you can buy a six-pack of paper towels for NIS 5, and at the Supersol chain, you will receive a third Nikol product for free (this does not include the cleaning wipes).
If you're thinking about spending a lazy holiday laying in your own hammock, but don't have one yet, Na-Ad-Ned Hammocks is offering different models with different decorations; the smallest model, for a baby, is NIS 300, and a hammock with room for a few people is NIS 1,500; to see some of the models, you can visit the company's Web site at www.naadned.co.il. The company, located in Netanya, will donate 5% of sales to benefit autistic children.
Tupperware is having some special offers for the holidays. For example a set of two elegant serving bowls with lids in the colors blue-green that can be used to serve salads or cold food is on sale for NIS 79 (instead of NIS 98), and a round cake platter, with handles on both sides and a cover, is now NIS 105 (instead of NIS 129); the deals last until October 8. To find out where you can get Tupperware, call 1-800-780-800.
A handy item to put in your pocket book or briefcase are the Oral-B Brush-Ups teeth wipes. Now every time you feel you have a bad taste in your mouth, or when you suffer from bad breath, you can just wipe your teeth clean of plaque with a mint-flavored wipe. The wipes come in handy during a long plane ride, for example, or after a meal when you're not home and cannot brush; a package of 12 Brush-Ups wipes is NIS 22.
Active Baby is the new "miracle diaper" from Pampers that absorbs more than ever, but expands much less in volume. According to Pampers, this diaper will expand about a third less than any other regular diaper when filled with liquid, and this will allow baby more freedom of movement. A Jumbo package of Pampers Active Baby is NIS 88, and a regular-size package is NIS 70. If you buy two packages of Pampers at Mega, SuperPharm, Super Center or Sheva Shuk during the month of September, you will receive two packages of Pampers wipes for free.
If your child doesn't like to take vitamin pills, maybe he would agree to take his vitamins in liquid form or even diluted in water or mixed with food. Pharmaton's Kiddi is a multi-vitamin syrup, meant for children from age one to 14, containing vitamins of the B-group, vitamin D and E. The orange-flavored syrup also contains calcium and lysine, which helps to absorb the calcium. The price for a 200 ml. bottle is NIS 54.80.
Choosing the right makeup for yourself can be a difficult task, but at some SuperPharm branches your life is made a little easier with the introduction of the "Magic Life," a machine that takes your picture, and lets you see for yourself how certain products would look on you. The machine saves you the trouble of having to apply makeup from testers, and you can try out products without being bothered by sales people. For the moment, Magic Life only works with the brands Clarins, L'Oreal and Make-up Forever; other brands will be introduced at a later stage.
During long plane rides, when your feet and ankles can swell up, it is important to keep moving around in order to prevent problems with the blood circulation. Wearing special stockings might also be helpful. Traveno is the name of special travel socks, made by the Swiss company Sigvaris, which are said to support the legs and prevent blood circulation problems. The knee-high socks for men and women are available in black or skin-color in selected pharmacies at NIS 170 per pair.
Hepi has new dishwasher detergent tablets, with the fresh scent of lemon, that supposedly clean and protect your glassware as well. At the moment, you will get additional 10 tablets for free when purchasing a 50 tablet box, sold at NIS 31, a reasonable price compared to other brands. For a permanent fresh scent in your dishwasher, you can use a lemon-scented air freshener, which can be tied to a dish rack; the Hepi air freshener is NIS 8.50.
A cute gift that grandmothers might like to receive from their small grandchildren or to give to them, is a book called I Have the Best Grandmother (in Hebrew), written by Shosh Rotam-Lidor. The book contains little stories in the form of poems that can be read to the grandchildren, and is refreshingly illustrated with drawings of modern looking grandmothers and grandchildren. The book also contains a CD with songs grandmothers used to sing when they were young, and which are now passed on to the youngest generation. I Have the Best Grandmother is available in the bookstores for NIS 97; for a preview of the book and songs, you can go to www.savta.co.il.
Persil has a new laundry detergent that is meant especially for modern textiles, such as viscose, polyamide, polyester and other mixed synthetic fibers. The new Persil gel has a pink-purple color, and is therefore easily recognizable. The gel is good for clothing such as bathing suits and sports or ballet outfits. It contains the ingredients Flexoform, which supposedly keeps the clothes in their original shape, and Neutralin, which prevents unpleasant odors from settling in the fibers. A one-liter bottle of Persil Modern Textiles gel is NIS 23.
O.B. has a new tampon called Pro Comfort, which combines a special, comfortable shape with the SilkTouch wrapping. The O.B. ProComfort comes in normal, mini, super, and light varieties and the price varies from NIS 34 to NIS 40 a package.