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.

For our family, heading to National Harbor to check out ICE! and all of the Christmas on the Potomac features at Gaylord National Harbor has become a holiday season tradition. And we loved this year’s version of the ice sculpture wonderland, ICE! Dream Works’ Merry Madagascar.

Yes, King “I like to move it,  move it” Julien and friends pictured above are crafted completely from blocks of ice.

Our Freeze and Fun Day Pass included bundling up in the warm blue coats the ICE! attraction loans you and walking through ICE! with its Merry Madagascar theme. Of course, we had to try all of the FIVE indoor ice slides!

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.

ICE! featuring DreamWorks Merry Madagascar is open daily through Sunday, January 8, 2012 including holidays

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-4:30pm and 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

Charlie having a blast at the Bazaar

Most activities are geared towards kids age 5-13 (with their parents). Younger kids can go play with blocks and toys in the incredible Building Zone discovery room.  No reservations are required, just drop by anytime on Saturday.

This year there will be

• The chance to meet the hosts of the new PBS Kids show Design Squad Nation and complete Design Squad engineering challenges inspired by the show, such as launching ping pong balls on a super-sized “Pop Fly” contraption and making their own Pop Flys!
• A rocket scientist exhibit that explores aerodynamics
• Power Up, IBM’s 3D interactive game
• DESIGN a pop-fly lever and see how high it launches a ping pong ball
• Competition LEGO robots that kids can control
• A slime-making station.
• An electric breadboar.
• A popcorn booth that explores the principles of thermodynamics
• Opportunities for Scouts to complete badges (view the official website for complete information on badge requirements and Scout levels)

Discover Engineering Family Day
National Building Museum February 19, 2011
10:00 AM – 4:30 PM

401 F Street NW Washington, DC 20001 | 202.272.2448 | Red Line Metro, Judiciary Square

Regular Hours: Mon – Sat 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, Sun 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

Photo courtesy eGFI

The Great Zucchini is blazing into the The Avalon Theatre in NW Washington, DC this Saturday February 12th at 10 am.

If you’ve seen him before, come by to enjoy some new routines, as well as many of your favorites.

If you’ve never seen Zucchini before, what are you waiting for? Kids find him so funny that they can’t stop laughing.  Click here for more details and for ticket info.

If you’ve  been thinking about introducing your kids to the Caps LIVE, this Saturday would be especially awesome, because it’s the DC area’s official Hockey for Huggies game to benefit the DC Diaper Bank!

Fans are asked to bring new packages of diapers to the Caps game and drop them off at section 119 at the Verizon Center, and these diapers will be distributed to Washington, DC area families in need by Capital Area Food Bank, in partnership with the Washington, D.C. Diaper Bank.

But it’s not only a diaper drive – it’s also a fun family event! Huggies will have a booth on the concourse at section 119, where fans can play games like Plinko and win Capitals prizes including Caps hats, player autographed items and other cool stuff. (And if you win, you can also choose your winning to be in the form of a donation to the DC Diaper Bank – how generous of you!)

So many of you guys have contacted me about how to host your own diaper drive and which is the best local organization specializing in diaper need. And the newly-founded DC Diaper Bank is the place and resource I recommend to Washington-area families. I’ll be writing more about how we can easily get involved, whether you’d like your business to become a diaper drop-off location, how to host an office diaper drive, how to adopt the DC Diaper Bank as your official moms’ club or preschool charity, and more. Stay tuned! If you can’t wait, visit www.dcdiaperbank.org and contact Corinne Cannon, Founder and Executive Director, today. You can also consult these extremely helpful FAQs from Huggies about how to obtain diapers if you are in need, how to host a diaper drive and more.

And be sure to fan the DC Diaper Bank on Facebook and follow the DC Diaper Bank on Twitter.

Hockey for Huggies is an NHL initiative that all 30 teams are participating in this month. It could make even a heart of hockey rink ice melt to imagine those wild hockey players making sure that Every Little Bottom is clean and diapered.  Because one in three American mothers struggle to provide diapers for their babies, and every baby deserves hygiene and health.

If you’re unable to make the game but want to get involved, you can also text CAPS to 501501 to donate $5 to babies in need in the area or visit NHL.com/huggies.

Check out this vid with adorable Caps wife Karie Erskine, a local mom married to defenseman John Erskine.

Disclosure: As an official Blog Ambassador I am a selected social media partner for the Huggies Every Little Bottom campaign. I am compensated for my time as a consultant to the program. However, the content, thoughts shared and enthusiasm for this great cause are fully my own.

Attention American Girl lovers and families searching for free, fun ways to make American history accessible to their children: This Saturday the Smithsonian National Museum of American History is hosting a free event featuring American Girl Addy Walker and introducing a new self-guided museum tour for families!

And if you attend on Saturday, the museum is giving away one Addy doll, and your child could win!

This Saturday February 5, to celebrate the kick-off of Black History Month, kids are invited to bring their own American Girl dolls to the National Museum of American History and answer Addy’s questions between 10AM and 2PM.  The answers to the questions can be found along the brand new self-guided Addy’s World tour, which teaches the children about Civil War history on their age-appropriate level. Then at At 2:30PM, on e correct questionnaire-answering child will bring home his or her own Addy doll. The winner must be present in Flag Hall at 2:30PM.

Here’s a little video about the new self-guided tour that will now be available at the museum on Saturday and through August. The Addy’s World guide is recommended for families with elementary-aged children.

And if you check out the exhibit and tour and your child brings her American Girl doll along on the museum adventure, be sure to take a photo  and upload it to the museum’s Flickr group.

Don’t miss this weekends’s Make Some Noyes Family Dance Party on this Saturday, January 22nd from 3-5pm in the Kensington Town Hall at

The reason for the fun? Preserving the historic Noyes Children’s Library that has been serving the children and families of our community since 1893 and is one of the few public libraries in the nation specifically for kids!

There will also be games and crafts for the kids. The family-friendly music will be provided by D.J. Chris Alloteyand Dance Leader Aaron Anderson will lead families in the fun.

The price? Just $10 per person (infants are free) with a $25 family max, and all proceeds go to the fund to save this incredible children’s library!!

Other ways you can help Save Noyes Children’s Library:

• Become a Fan of their Facebook Page and receive updates on all the fun family events they’re hosting this year!
• Donate and/or Volunteer

The Noyes Children’s Library is open three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, from 9am-5pm. Special programs include toddler and preschool storytimes, Spanish language storytimes, storytimes for children who are visually impaired. (Search for upcoming events here.) Storytimes can also be arranged for groups from schools or other organizations. Reservations for storytimes may be scheduled in person, or by telephoning Noyes on Tuesday or Thursday at 240-773-9570.