Independence Day is this coming Tuesday. How will you be spending the holiday? It’s a tradition for my family to have a BBQ and then head out to watch some fireworks.

What are you planning to do? Let me know!

This is how many Americans plan to spend the day, according to the National Retail Federation,

• Cookout/BBQ/picnic: 65.5%
• Fireworks/community celebration: 43.6%
• Travel/vacation: 13.3%
• Will not celebrate: 11.6%
• Attending a parade: 13.5%
• Other: 8.3%

This is also a time when many people go away on vacation. According to AAA.com, 44.2 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more away from home during the holiday weekend (Friday, June 30 to Tuesday, July 4), an increase of 2.9% compared with last year.

So if you’re traveling and unable to record your purchases, please let us know by contacting the Panel Support Center by phone at 1-800-962-6700 or email support@ncponline.com.

If you’re an NCPMobile App user, you can continue to scan while away on vacation.

Thanks, and enjoy the holiday!

It’s time to reveal the winning phrase in our Mystery Phrase promotion, which ran from June 1 to June 15. The winning phrase is …

Scan every week to earn the most rewards.

Congratulations to those who searched through the past blogs and found all the words and then also solved the Mystery Phrase!

We had thousands of correct responses. We then randomly selected the following five winners:

• Charles B., Woodburn, OR
• Lynn H., Pittsburgh, PA
• Becky J., Muncy, PA
• Miesha L., Paramount, CA
• Kathy L., Lamesa, TX

These winners will receive their $50 Amazon Gift Card claim code within the next few days.

I just want to say thank you for the nice comments that many readers posted. We’re glad you enjoyed participating in this promotion!

For those who want to know where to find the words that make up the Mystery Phrase, they were in the following posts:

Scan – May 5, 2017
Every – September 8, 2016
Week – November 18, 2016
To – April 27, 2017
Earn – January 29, 2016
The – April 13, 2017
Most – August 5, 2016
Rewards – January 27, 2017

Thanks again, and have a great day!

Father’s Day is almost here, and I know sometimes people wonder what to get or do for the dads in their lives.

And there are a lot of dads. In case you ever wondered how many fathers are out there, well the U.S. Census Bureau knows! According to the bureau, there are an estimated 72.2 million fathers across the nation in 2014, the most recent year for which data are available.

My kids and I have been trying to figure out what to do for my husband. He said he doesn’t want anything this year, so I’m working with the kids to come up with some ideas on what activities we can do.

Any suggestions? What will you be doing for Father’s Day? Let me know!

Here are some activities that dad might appreciate, according to the Readers Digest:

• Fishing
• Golfing
• Beer tasting (my husband would definitely like this one!)
• Visiting an amusement park
• Having a spa day
• Going to a car show
• Attending a sporting event
• Attending a musical performance
• Attending a museum or art show
• Cooking
• Traveling
• Volunteering with the kids

For those looking to purchase something for dad, Father’s Day sending is expected to reach an average of $134.75, up from last year’s $125.92, according to the National Retail Federation. Total spending is expected to reach $15.5 billion!

Here are some of the most popular items that people will pick up for dad, according to the National Retail Federation:

• Greeting cards: 64.3%
• Clothing: 46.1%
• Gift certificates/gift cards: 42.6%
• Books or CDs: 23.9%
• Consumer electronics/Computer related: 21.2%
• Personal Care: 20.9%
• Sporting goods or leisure items: 16.7%
• Tools or appliances: 16.3%
• Home improvement or gardening supplies: 16.2%
• Automotive accessories: 16.1%

While 48% will take dad to a special outing, such as dinner or bunch.

Whatever you do for Father’s Day, I hope you have a great day!

It’s late in the afternoon as I write this, and boy could I use a snack! Who doesn’t like a good snack?

According to The Nielsen Company, “the total salty snack category accounted for more than $27.5 billion in sales across Nielsen-measured U.S. retail stores for the year ended Feb. 25, 2017.”

That’s a lot of snacks!

According to Nielsen, despite the fact that consumers want to eat better, snacking trends appear to be shifting away from snack bars, cereal snacks and dried fruits.

In addition, the potato chip category, which has more than $7.2 billion in annual sales, had a sales increase of just 1.7% for the recent year. Pretzels, meanwhile, lost 0.5% in sales in the last year, pulling in just under $1.5 billion.

Any meat snack fans out there? While potato chips and popcorn still lead the way, meat snacks are a growing snack category. Nielsen said the meat snack category – made up of jerky and sticks – has posted annual sales growth of more than 7% over the past four years. During that time, sales totaled $2.8 billion.

To be specific, American households spend an average of $25.81 per year on meat snacks. Other growing areas are pork and seafood snack products. (Yes, seafood snacks!)

What types of snacks do you like best? Are you in to meat (or seafood) snacks? Let me know!

It’s Not Too Late To Play Our Mystery Phrase Promotion
Do you want a chance to be one of five winners who’ll each receive a $50 Amazon Gift Card claim code?

Then take part in our Mystery Phrase promotion. Even if you don’t win, it’s a ton of fun to participate!

Here’s a reminder of what you have to do:

• Read through our past blogs and look for eight highlighted words. (The words will be in bold and in red font.)
• Construct a coherent NCP-related sentence – the so-called “Mystery Phrase” – using the eight highlighted words that you found. (The sentence must match NCP’s predetermined phrase. Please do not create your own phrase.)
• Send your entry to news@ncppanel.com with the subject line, Mystery Phrase, and include your name and phone number (in case we need to contact you). Only one entry per person will be accepted.We’ve had a good response so far, but there’s still time to enter. The contest ends on Thursday, June 15.

Have a great weekend everyone!

It’s time for some fun! We thought it would be cool to have a contest. Hopefully you’ll find it fun – and rewarding!

You’ll have to do a little work, but you could be one of five people who’ll each win a $50 Amazon Gift Card* claim code.

Here’s what you have to do:

• Read through our past blogs and look for eight highlighted words. (The words will be in bold and in red font. Hint: You may have to go all the way back to the early blogs!)
• Construct a coherent NCP-related sentence – the so-called “Mystery Phrase” – using the eight highlighted words that you found. (The sentence must match NCP’s predetermined phrase.)
• Send your entry to news@ncppanel.com with the subject line, Mystery Phrase, and include your name and phone number (in case we need to contact you).
• Five winners will then be selected in a random drawing. Each winner will receive a $50 Amazon Gift Card claim code!
• The contest ends on Thursday, June 15, so get started soon!

Remember: The eight words could be in any of our past blogs, so you’ll have to do a little searching. (But the words are highlighted.)

Make sure to check out the rules.

If you have any questions, please contact us at news@ncppanel.com with the subject line, Mystery Phrase Question.

Good luck to all, and have fun!

Amazon.com is not a sponsor of this promotion. Except as required by law, Amazon.com Gift Cards (“GCs”) cannot be transferred for value or redeemed for cash. GCs may be used only for purchases of eligible goods at Amazon.com or certain of its affiliated websites. For complete terms and conditions, see www.amazon.com/gc-legal. GCs are issued by ACI Gift Cards, Inc., a Washington corporation. All Amazon ®, ™ & © are IP of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. No expiration date or service fees.