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!
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.
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.
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).
How do you get into the holiday spirit if your children are too young to stay up late for the night time lights displays, or to sit through a full-length performance of The Nutcracker? You get your Christmas party on during the day! Here are our family’s fav daytime activities during the holidays.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
We also enjoyed a new feature this year, the “Character Passport” Meet & Greet in which our children were excited to meet (and hug) a slew of Dreamworks characters in the atrium of the Gaylord National Harbor Resort. Shrek, Puss in Boots, Po from Kung Fun Panda and Gloria from the Madagascar movies were all waiting in a special Dream Works village created just for kids.
Also available for families is ice skating on an indoor rink and a mini train ride within the ICE! tent, a Puss in Boots Quest for the Magic Beans Scavenger Hunt in the Gaylord, and gingerbread house decorating with Gingy from the Shrek movies. You can also reserve tickets for Brunch With Santa on Saturdays and Sundays until Christmas Eve.
Worth the drive alone is the (free) viewing of a 60-foot glass Tree of Light in the atrium with indoor nightly snowfalls nightly and 2 million twinkling lights.
A photo of Alice and I from a cool free-e-mail-a-pic-of-yourself machine at ICE!
Disclosure: My family and I were given Freeze and Fun Day Passes for review from Gaylord National Harbor as part of a Momz Share holiday party. All opinions expressed are my own.
Head to the kid-tastic St. John the Evangelist Christmas Bazaar in Silver Spring this weekend!
Did I mention it’s totally free? And that Reptiles Alive will be there on Saturday at 11am? And the incredible local musician Sasha Bondarev will be performing with singers from his CD Sand Castle at 1pm on Saturday, as well as 11:30am on Sunday? And amongst these super shows, you and your kids can
Shop for cool, artisan gifts featuring oodles of fabulous vendors
Grab a yummy, reasonably-priced, kid-friendly lunch
The kids can play games in the game room and make crafts
Face painting!
Peruse the on-site antique shop, The Treasure Trove
Shop for books at rock bottom prices in the Book Shop
The Bazaar also has an Adult’s Only Night on Friday night November 12 from 6pm-9pm. There they’ll have delicious Italian food from Vicino Restaurante Italiano in Silver Spring available at discounted prices for dinner purchase, wine and beer and kid-free shopping.
The St. John’s Christmas Bazaar is where I get tons of my holiday shopping done for beautiful gifts that don’t cost me a bundle. It’s frugal-finds heaven! There are loads of vendors selling handmade handbags, hair bows, kids’ gifts, jewelry, candles, infused olive oils, stitchery, creative Christmas decorations priced waaaaay less than Smith and Hawken, and more. Other favorite areas of the bazaar are the Treasure Trove – antiques goods for thrift store prices – and the used book sale is chock full of finds for your family library.
And I always come hungry all days, because there’s breakfast, lunch, drinks, baked goods and treats! Hope to see you there!
St. John’s Christmas Bazaar Friday November 11, Saturday November 12 and Sunday November 13 Adult Night Friday 6-9pm Family Fun on Saturday 9am-4:30pmand Sunday 9am-2pm 10201 Woodland Avenue (in the School Auditorium) Located right behind St. John the Evangelist Church at 10103 Georgia Avenue at the intersection of August Avenue Silver Spring, MD 20902 blocks from the Forest Glen Metro
