New Year's Eve Events For Families

If you're looking to celebrate an early New Year's Eve with your family, here are some options. Know of more that should be included here? Please note in the comments.

Photo by Ashley Dinges on Flickr.NAPERVILLE: The DuPage Children's Museum in Naperville will host its annual "Bubble Bash" on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. The event will feature musical performances by the rock 'n' roll band The Boogers, along with art activities, photo ops, refreshments, lots of bubbles and a museum-wide countdown to noon. Tickets are $20 per person for members and $25 per person for nonmembers. (Children under 1 are free.) Reservations are required, and you probably better make them asap if you're interested, since this event always sells out.

GENEVA: The Geneva Park District is hosting a Lil' Tykes New Year's Eve Bash on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at the Stephen Persinger Recreation Center. There will be a countdown to noon, games, snacks and more. Parents are free but must accompany children. The cost for children is $10 per resident child, or $15 for non-resident children. For more info, or to register, call the park district at 630-232-4542.

Click to read more ...

Simple, Really? Creating a Gingerbread 'Masterpiece'

I was really inspired by Jamie Weitl's guest post last month about how she was creating an experience-based Advent Calendar to make sure she spent the season making memories with her three young chlidren.

So I did the same. Well, almost. OK. Sorta.

I didn't make those darling red-and-green circle tags like Jamie did. I just scrawled dates and ideas on scrap paper I tore up into rectangles. Some of our "experiences" were pretty basic, like printing out free Christmas coloring pages and then coloring them together. After my daughter and her friends took apart the Advent Calendar I was using for the paper scraps -- and one of the "drawers" went missing for several days -- I just piled the rest of the pieces on my desk. And some days our plans changed last minute: We never did make it to any of the holiday-themed library storytimes in Batavia or Aurora that sounded like such fun.

It is truly amazing how closely this resembles the photo on the box.But I made sure my 3-year-old daughter and I did something holiday-themed each day. That definitely eased my anxiety about Christmas getting away from me, as it has in years past, especially before I became a mom.

On Tuesday night, our holiday-themed something was to make a gingerbread house. 

Don't worry: I didn't bake one from scratch. Ours was just a kit from Williams-Sonoma, purchased mostly because it promised a "building tray for foolproof construction." It also claimed everything my "young builder" would need to "create a masterpiece" and said she would have a "blast" customizing her creation with decorations including "festive red-and-white peppermint pinwheels" and shredded coconut "snow." Hmmm. The peppermints looked pretty standard to me.

Click to read more ...

What You Need to Know About Chanukah

My good friend Laura Weisskopf Bleill shared this post with me to share with you. Laura is the co-founder of the fabulous chambanamoms.com, a resource for families in the Champaign-Urbana area.

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. I’ve been asked so many different interesting questions lately about the holiday that is quite well-known because of its proximity to Christmas, that I thought I would repeat my answers here. 

The first night of Chanukah is Dec. 20, and the last candle will be lit on Dec. 28. Photo by idovermani on Flickr.Chanukah may be one of the most well-known Jewish holidays, but it is hardly the most religiously significant. Chanukah celebrates the aftermath of a military victory by Jews (the Maccabees) who fought the religious oppression of Assyrian rule more than 2200 years ago. The Jews took back the holy Temple in Jerusalem, which had been desecrated by the Assyrians, who had used it to worship idols and allowed farm animals to reside there. Chanukah celebrates a miracle — when the Maccabees wanted to light the menorah as part of the re-dedication, they could only find a tiny flask of oil, enough to light it for only one day. A miracle happened when the oil actually lasted for eight days.  While the message of Chanukah is a beautiful one - one that celebrates faith, miracles, and dedication to our people and our traditions — the story is not found in Jewish scripture.

Click to read more ...

Holiday Guide: A Hot Cocoa Bar for Cold Days

Our regular guest columnist Stacia shares with us an easy way to make a mug of hot cocoa the centerpiece of a holiday party. 

I wanted to tell you about this super fun party I threw over the weekend. It was a Mustache Party for a boy baby shower. Cute huh? More specifically, I wanted to tell you about the hot cocoa bar that I made for the party. If you are so inclined, you can read about the details of the Mustache Party here.

Note the mustache mugs.Like I said, I had a hot cocoa bar and this is so great for holiday parties or even while you are out sledding or whatever it is you do during these long, cold days. I found this recipe online and I would give credit where credit is due if I could remember where I found it (it was some kind of recipe website).

Click to read more ...

Holiday Baking: Chocolate Crinkles

Last December, Amy Hatch of chambanamoms.com shared her recipe for Mint Peekaboo Bars. (I baked them for a cookie exchange last week, and they are indeed delicous.) This year, she cooks off our "Holiday Baking" series with a recipe for Chocolate Crinkles.

When I woke up last weekend, I knew it was time.

The famous chocolate crinkles. Photo by Amy L. Hatch.Time for what, you ask? Time to finish my holiday shopping? Time to put up the Christmas tree? Time to put the lights on the house?

Yes to all of the above. But, most of all, it was time to bake the chocolate crinkles.

Off all the weapons in my holiday arsenal, the chocolate crinkle is perhaps the most powerful. Sure, telling the kids that Santa is watching might get them to stop misbehaving.

But offering them a crinkle if they promise to get along? That will bring them to their knees. This isn’t just a cookie: This is a Cookie.

Last weekend, I finally baked the chocolate crinkles. And they are perfect, at long last. I’ve been working on them for eight years, trying to achieve the texture my mother was always able to get when she made them every year.

And yes, I will share that secret with you, my friends.

Click to read more ...