What are you doing New Year’s Eve? The A Parent in Silver Spring crew will be attending a family-friendly board game marathon (Apples to Apples, anyone?) with the kids at our amazing neighbors’. Chris and I have decreed NYE amateur night in DC and surrounding suburban hot spots, and besides, after 12 New Year’s together we have spent our share of twelve-thirty-ones drinking champagne from a bottle while dancing on a speaker (OK, that was just me). We had our wild date night on December 26 when the crowds were festive but less panic attack-inducing, and Grandma was in town for free babysitting.

Besides, there is no one else we’d rather ring in the New Year with than our three beloved babies. I bet some of you feel the same. So pop open the Martinelli’s and read on for ideas for your own kid-centric NYE parties!

Midnight Noon at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, featuring Milkshake

10:00am-2:00pm on December 31, free with paid admission, free to members. For the fourth year running, this fab family-friendly museum is celebrating New Year’s at noon so the little ones can be part of the fun. Music by Milkshake, crafts, hats and noisemakers, snacks, science and more! Details.

First Night Events in the DC Area – Alexandria, Annapolis, Falls Church, Fairfax, Leesburg and more

Instead of hitting “the club” (really, why is there always a “the” in front of club? is there only one?) with a bouncer, why not hit an alcohol-free family event with a bounce house? About.com DC has the scoop on all the local First Night celebrations in our area.

Outdoor Ice Skating at Rockville Town Square or Downtown Silver Spring Outdoor Ice Skating

Rockville just opened on December 28, and Silver Spring’s outdoor ice rink is perfect for kid beginners. Both feel festive and festivus-y, without the huge lines of the Scuplture Garden Ice Rink (though you can’t beat this downtown DC rink for it’s beauty).

So long 2011, and happy 2012 to you all!

The Water-skiing Santa
Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2011, 1 p.m. FREE. This crazy fun event has a water-skiing Santa, flying elves, the Jet-skiing Grinch, and Frosty the Snowman performing on the Potomac River.  Best view of Santa and crew is from National Harbor. No matter the weather, this event is on!

Visit Santa at the Mall
Our-Kids has a comprehensive list of all the shopping spots where Santa is chilling in a comfy chair awaiting kid visitors and photographs. My personal endorsements for Santa meetings (as someone who once took her kids to City Place Mall in Silver Spring on Christmas Eve where an 18-year-old boy was playing Santa??) are:

• The Shops at Georgetown Park

• Mazza Gallerie 

• White Flint Mall (there’s a train)

• Tysons Corner Center (there’s a train)

• Westfield Wheaton (there’s a train)

• Montgomery Mall (there’s a train – check out this Facebook group, hilarious)

College Park Aviation Museum
One of the best miniature train displays is at the Aviation Museum, where the display is historically accurate and  trains, villages, tunnels and depots spark the imagination while bringing history to life. The display is on until the 23nd, but the museum is open every day except Christmas and New Year’s Day. Also, on Thursday at 10:30am experience the Peter Pan Club for preschoolers and on Friday from 2-4pm kids age five and up can be a part of the hands-on fun for Afternoon Aviators.

Christmas at Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon is decking the halls for a special daytime program November 25 – January 6. Holiday visitors will enjoy themed decorations (including 12 Christmas trees), a gingerbread replica of the Mansion created by former White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier, chocolate making demonstrations, and a rare opportunity to tour the third floor of the Mansion. In 1787, George Washington paid 18 shillings to bring a camel to Mount Vernon for his guests’ enjoyment. During Christmas at Mount Vernon, visitors can meet Aladdin the camel. Christmas at Mount Vernon is included in general admission: $15 for adults, $7 for youth (6-11), and free for children five and younger. Mount Vernon is open every day of the year.

Seasons Greenings at the United States Botanic Garden
See the outdoor train garden, enter the Conservatory and enjoy a colorful display of poinsettias and other winter-blooming tropical plants, and the National Mall in miniature, a replica created with natural plant materials. 100 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC at the foot of the U.S. Capitol. Regular hours 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Open until 8 p.m. with live music on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout December.

Bowling
One snowy Christmas break we started the family tradition of hitting the bowling alley when the kids were off school, and it stuck. Highly recommend bowling to the holiday tunes for daytime fun.

Here’s our go-to list of fun outings to keep us from staying in and eating too many See’s candies and Christmas cookies.

• Walk through Brookside Gardens’ Seasons of Lights – evenings until January 3rd.  Don’t miss the electric trains displays in the South Conservatory (this is open 10am – 4pm for free) and be sure to pick up an I-Spy style scavenger hunt for kids at the train exhibit.

• Get tickets to a holiday arts performance, choosing from one of the fabulous offerings on the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County’s Do and Go Calendar.

• View how the stable in Bethlehem may really have looked on the Holy Land tour at the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, DC.  Click here for info on tours led by the Brothers. From Christmas Eve day through New Year’s view hundreds of luminaria lights in the Seven Nights of Lights displays.

• Take in holiday films like It’s a Wonderful Life on the big screen at the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring…and then dance to the light of the moon.

• Check out the Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival through December 31 or Zoolights at the National Zoo (it’s totally FREE!) through January 1st. At Zoolights the awesome new “iceless” skating rink in the Picnic Pavilion, an eco-friendly synthetic ice skating surface is just $5 for 30 minutes and $2 for skate rental. You may bring your own skates if you wish.

• Be a Christmas in Washington cliche and view the National Christmas tree  and then go ice skating in the Sculpture Garden ice rink on the Mall (be sure to buy your tickets ahead of time or you’ll spend your “skating evening” like we did one year drinking Guinness at the Dubliner with our skates unused under the table…so go early, buy tickets, then head to see the tree and come back to skate!)

• Move it, move it to National Habor to view Ice! Merry Madagascar and all of the other holiday revelry at the Gaylord.

• Enjoy holiday lights from your warm cozy car and drive through Howard County’s Symphony of Lights (here’s a $5 off your admission coupon) or Prince Georges County’s Watkins Regional Park Festival of Lights displays.

• If Grandma/nana/aunts/any willing family are town, get thee to date night. Scroll down at this link for some admittedly very dated date night venue ideas…since baby arrived we haven’t been out much to check out new places. However, all these venues are still open and according to my cooler and younger friends, still good bets.

And thanks to Grandma, we’re heading out ourselves right now, woo-hoo!, so I have to end the list here due to foot-tapping husband.

Great Kids Village Silver Spring is open today for open gym!

Be With Me the Kids Playseum is open today all day.

The Newseum is open.

The Show Must Go On: Disney on Ice is showing tonight and has added an extra performance on Monday.   GREASE is showing tonight too.

Find more stuff that’s open by following the #opendc hashtag on Twitter

Merchants Open in Silver Spring (via email from Laurie Writes)

Panara Bread

Eggspectations

Whole Foods

Chick Fil A

Office Depot

Adega

Living Ruff (will open)

Lebanese

Ulta

DSW

Borders books

Men’s wear house

Pier one

Washington sports club

Starbucks

Potbelly

Sprint

Upscale RX

Strosnider hard wear

Baja Fresh

Z pizza

Fuddruckers

Asian bistro

Gymboree

Red lobster

Macaroni Grill

Kibana

Pho hiep hoa

Austin grill (will be open)

Copper canyon (will open)

Cake love (will open)

My eye doctor

Pacers running store

Know something else that’s open?  Leave a mention in the comments!

We’re trying to dance off our cabin fever.

Here are some videos for your viewing pleasure, featuring the dancey talents of Eve and Charlie.

Check out their Snow Lake Ballet.

And

The Boom Boom Robot (with Lil Sister Shakeyerbooty)

If you have any similar fun videos of your kids, leave a link in the comments!

METRO

On Tuesday, Metro system will open at 5 a.m. with limited service and may close early

OPEN GYMS

FunFit is open today for MOMS MORNING OUT until 12:30pm

Great Kids Village Silver Spring - 10am-4:30pm

Interactions Learn and Play in Kensington – Opening at 10am

Be With Me The Children’s Playseum in Bethesda is open at 9:30am.

The Family Room on Capitol Hill is open at 9am.

MUSEUMS & HISTORY

National Geographic Museum -  The museum will be open Tues. Call 202-857-7588 to confirm in case of early closure.

Mount Vernon – Open all day, but the evening music program is canceled due to impending snow.

The Newseum is open today from 9am-5pm

You see, my road has not been plowed, and we are three city blocks of waist-deep snow from any major roads.  We’ve tried carrying the kids on our backs down to the highway, but they start hysterically crying and fighting with each other every time we try.

My husband (the one whose job pays the mortgage) was feverishly working from home today while I fiendishly tried to occupy the kids and keep any blood-curdling screams from reaching his conference calls to his team all morning. I also had to clean a disgustingly dirty house that four people and two animals have not been able to leave for 72 hours before our neighbors arrive tonight for a Snowmageddon drinks, dessert and more drinks party.

So those of you that wanted to know what was open, that means that your road has been plowed. It means you are able to leave and go somewhere.  Anywhere.

So while I am sincerely sorry I could not help you, I also ENVY YOU.

However, I obviously have power and Internet and thus I am well-aware that I am totally enviable and blessed myself.  My friend Jodifur in Potomac?  She texted today that she expects to be out of power until FRIDAY.  Other friends in Rockville just returned home from the Bethesda Marriott where they took refuge with their four kids for a few days and found  $300 worth of groceries rotten in their fridge.

These are hard times people. (Yummm, Hard Times, how I miss you.)

I’d suggest we all virtually hold hands and sing  Kumbaya around virtual fires, but at our house we ran out of firewood over here on Saturday.

But you know what we still have over here?  Heineken, La Crema, 10 pounds of frozen edamame and a huge box of World’s Finest chocolate bars that my kid is supposed to sell for a school fundraiser.  Things could be worse.

Yes my friends, I’ll be here all the week.  Try the veal.

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 7

Be With Me The Children’s Playseum in Bethesda is open NOW and serving free hot chocolate, coffee and tea from Starbucks!  They have just started having Sunday open play, but opened several hours early today to give the families without power a place to play!  Leave a comment here before midnight tonight February 7 to receive one of FIVE free admission passes, courtesy of Be With Me’s owner. With schools very likely closed some days this week, you’ll need it!

Great Kids Village Silver Spring is opening at 11:30am this morning and will stay open as long as people keep showing up (note:  regular hours are usually ’til 6pm, but they may close early if people stay away due to snow or Super Bowl.)

The Family Room on Capitol Hill is open 12-6pm.

The Newseum is open today from 9am-5pm as usual.  The staff all spent the night at the museum on Friday night so they could be open yesterday too.

We Love DC has a list of open restaurants in The District.

Know of a place that’s open for families today?  Mention it in the comments, help your fellow parents and be entered to win a free pass to Be With Me in Bethesda!

Hypothermia Hotline – If you see a homeless person, calll 1 (800) 535-7252 IMMEDIATELY

PepCo – Report an Outage 1 (877) PEPCO-62, Report Downed Wires (202) 872-3432

PepCo Stormcenter – Shows areas out of power

BGE -  1-877-778-2222

Dominion - 1-888-667-3000
Allegheny Power – 1-800-255-3443

Montgomery County Plowing of Roads - Highway Services at 240-777-6000, FAQs

“Plowing and salting major county roads. All crews will continue this process until all precipitation stops and all major county roads and primary neighborhood streets are cleared. After a 24-inch snowfall [stops falling], our crews should complete the work in about 48 to 60 hours.”

Metro Service – No above ground service or Metrobus running, below-ground service active until 11pm, modified service schedule here . Glenmont to Forest Glen service running in Silver Spring. Yellow Line – Pentagon to Crystal City, Red Line – Medical Center to Union Station and Glenmont to Forest Glen, Orange Line – Ballston to Stadium-Armory, Green Line – Fort Totten to Congress Heights, Blue Line – Ballston to Stadium-Armory.

Report Downed Trees

In The District – call 311 for downed trees, Montgomery – 240-777-6000, Prince George’s – 301-499-8600, Fairfax – 703-383-8368.

Locate a Towed Car in The District – You may have been blocking the plow.  Call (202) 727-5000.

Washington Gas – Customer Service for interuptions in service  (703) 750-1000

“To avoid the possibility of an interruption in gas service, Washington Gas would like to remind its customers to clear any accumulated snow from their natural gas meters and regulator vents as well as any appliance exhausts using hands, a brush or broom.”

Comcast – 1-800-COMCAST (1-800-266-2278), Live Chat with Customer Service

Verizon -1-800-VERIZON (1-800-837-4966), Live Chat with Customer Service

Cox -703-378-8422, Live Chat with Customer Service

Reminder: It’s every resident’s responsibility to shovel out his/her entrance to his/her residence, sidewalk and driveway.

Snow Ice Cream recipes

Scrabble domination strategy tip, for those of you in family board game land: save your “S” tiles to simply make plural your adult opponent’s best high-scoring words.  Do it even if you could score higher using your own tiles.  It ticks them off so much it messes with their strategy and mires them in self-doubt.  Also, hoard your A, E, I, N, R tiles for maximum chances at using all seven of your tiles for the 50 point bingo bonus. (These tips are from an anonymous devoted but devious wife and The Imperial Valley Student Scrabble Tournament Champion, 1988 and 1989.)

Trivial Pursuit best guesses: Your first instinct is usually right, don’t overthink it. Say only last names, because if you only have the last name you’re right, but if you verbalize an incorrect first name, you’re out.  Stumped?  Always guess, never pass.  When in doubt, guess Muhammad Ali for all-around sports stuff, Ted Williams for baseball, China for country questions involving technology or population, Japan for country questions about weird practices, Stephen Sondheim for Broadway/musicals/songs, Katherine Hepburn for Best Actress.

How To Win at Monopoly: Buy all railroads, skip the utilities, never sell a much-needed property to your opponent no matter how sweet the deal, get hotels on the purples by Go and the oranges by Free Parking.

Good night and good luck!

So here are some indoor play options that are open today to help you kill the snow day – call a friend and get to playing!

FunFit – Open gym in Rockville is starting at 11:30am-2pm.

Interactions Learn and Play in Kensington – Open gym from 12pm noon – 5:30pm.

Great Kids Village in Silver Spring and Columbia – Both the new Silver Spring and former-Playwise Kids Columbia locations, 10am-5:30pm

The Little Gym Silver Spring – Opens at 11am, regular classes as scheduled.  Call 301-681-7005 to take a free trial class. 11:30am Funny Bugs for 3-4 years, 4:30pm Funny Bugs/Giggle Worms for 3-5 years, 5:45pm Beasts/Super Beasts 19 mos-3 years, 6:30pm Giggle Worms/Good Friends 4-6 years.  Again, call first to make sure they have room for your child and to reserve your space for one free class.

Silver Stars in Silver Spring and Bowie – Both the Silver Spring and Bowie locations have Open Gym today from 12-1pm.  In Silver Spring the age range is 7 and UNDER, in Bowie it’s 12 and UNDER.  Bowie also has Open Gym from 2-3pm today.