The Friday Five

We’re starting something new this week: The Friday Five.

We are celebrating five of the little things in life that bring a smile to our faces.

So here goes:

1. Holiday traditions we celebrate year after year, whether is it hanging a special ornament on a tree or laughing about a piece of candy that has been in your stocking for 20 years.
2. Ice skating and hot chocolate. In Chicago, we are so fortunate
   to have many options to enjoy both! Our local favorite – The Rink at Wrigley.
3. Lincoln Park Zoo Lights. Yet another amazing thing about being in Chicago  in winter time. This free activity is a beautiful way to experience the zoo and Chicago.
4. The Holiday Train. Most kids simply love riding the train, but throw in Santa and it just doesn’t get any better!
5. Laughing at bad Santa pictures! They are plentiful and always bring a smile to our faces.

Pom-Pom Time!

School is almost out for the year, and many of us are looking for something the kids can do (that doesn’t involve plopping them down in front of the tv) while everything else gets done.

Sometimes craft projects can become so messy it makes us shudder at how much more work it will create simply keeping the kids occupied. But making pom-poms can be a simple and fun way to keep kids busy while they help create some holiday decor and cheer.

The easiest way to make pom-poms is to purchase an inexpensive pom-pom maker, and a whole lot of yarn. I recommend Pound of Love Yarn as well as Red Heart Super Saver Yarn. The pom-pom maker and yarns are all found at your local craft store, and everything is less than ten dollars.

Purchase yarn in a variety of holiday colors (thinking beyond Christmas, this would also work for Thanksgiving, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day…) and follow the instructions on the insert that come with the pom-pom maker.

The trick to a really great, full pom-pom is using more yarn than you ever thought anything could possibly need (hence the pound of yarn). When you think you’re done winding, wind some more. And then some more.

You can forgo the store-bought pom-pom maker and make them the old-fashioned way (?) by using a piece of cardboard and following these instructions. However, this method can be very difficult to produce full, fluffy pom-poms, especially for children.

Once you’ve had the kids make all the pom-poms their arms can stand (which will get tired from all the winding), you can sew them up with a tapestry needle to make a beautiful garland for the mantle or tree. They also make very pretty individual ornaments and adornments for gifts. The possibilities are limited by only your child’s imagination and stamina!

If you don’t have it in you to hand-make pom-poms, don’t fret! You can buy a bucket of them and have the children sew them together to make a garland. It won’t have the same effect as the hand-made version, but it is still mess-free entertainment and encourages the children to be involved.

As always, we’d like to hear from you: How do you keep your children occupied in a mess-free way while you take care of holiday tasks?

Continue The Give

To continue with our theme of helping children help others, we have another organization which lends itself to child philanthropy.

Project Linus is a national organization that provides “love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need, through the gifts of new, handmade blankets.”

Because Project Linus benefits children in need, they encourage children and families to work together to create the blankets. Making blankets with your children can be rewarding and an easy way to create some extra family-time during the busy holiday season.

One straightforward and trouble-free way to make blankets with non-sewers (children and adults alike), is the “No-Sew Fleece Blanket.” Pick up some fleece from the fabric store (be on the look-out for coupons in the Sunday paper and on-line promotions) and get started! It is just that simple.

In the mood for some company? Invite some neighbors and their children over to host a blanket making party. Many blankets can be made in a very short amount of time and when you’re done, the children can watch a holiday movie while the adults have some time to catch up with one another.

Donations are accepted throughout the year. Contact your local chapter to arrange for pick-up/drop-off.

Because Smarty Party recognizes that not everyone has the time to host such an event, we will be hosting our own! However, we also recognize many families are overwhelmed with activities at this time of year, so we’re waiting until those winter doldrums set in.

Look for an announcement early January, 2011 for dates and times!

After the Tricks…The Treats!

As we approach the season of gift-giving, many of us find ourselves (and children) wrapped up in the gifting rather than the meaning behind the season.

Parents often look for ways in which to help children learn about and understand the importance of giving to others, especially those in need. Introducing the concepts associated with homelessness and hunger in a way children can understand can be challenging. However, research has shown that as children learn about disadvantaged individuals, they are also learning valuable information about the world outside of their home. In showing them the world is full of different people, with differing life-opportunities, they are growing into compassionate, empathic people (for more information on this subject, please read the article Children for Children: Why We Teach Children About Homelessness).

With that in mind, why not take a lesson from what many preschool classrooms do as service projects once or twice a year: Host a sack lunch making event with friends. Many churches and shelters in Chicago serve lunches to those who are hungry and donations are always welcome.

Have each child in your home pick a couple of friends (depending on how much you can handle!), make a list of the items needed and request each guest bring one or two items from the list. Lunches generally include a sandwich, wrap, or soup, a snack (granola, nuts, string cheese, hard boiled eggs, etc.), a drink such as bottled water, and a piece of fruit.

Lincoln Park Community Shelter (773-549-6111) needs sack lunches on a daily basis. Purchase and prepare (at home or at LPCS) 30 lunches, and drop them off in the evening. Staff distributes the lunches in the morning, for guests to take with them as they leave for the day.

Pacific Garden Missions (312-492-9410) welcomes ready-made sack lunches as well as other food donations;

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church (773-492-9410) welcomes sack lunches as well as individual sandwiches.

If you don’t have the time to make lunches, your family can still help those in need by donating to a food depository. Two local options include The Greater Chicago Food Depository (773-247-3663) and the Lakeview Pantry (773-525-1777).

As always, we would like to hear from you: How does your family give to those in need?

After the Tricks…The Treats!

Now that Halloween has passed and you’ve no doubt got loads of candy to deal with (unless you are one of those parents that makes their kids get rid of all their candy the day after), you are no doubt up to your knees in sweets.

Many people have lots of tricks for using up all these treats, and our Lovely friends, Gina and Bob from bakin’ & eggs have offered up two delicious solutions that will help the spirit of Halloween live on for a little while longer.

Next time you are baking up your cupcakes or muffins, Gina suggests placing half of a bite-sized (…or the whole bite) candy bar right into the center of the of the unbaked batter. Even the youngest kids will be able to help out with this one! All things chocolatey shall melt into yummy goodness and you might be able to forgo the frosting…if you dare.

Bob suggests stashing away all that leftover candy until it is time to make your gingerbread houses. This is a great way to reminisce with the kids about the last couple of months as you look forward to another holiday season.  The kids’ imaginations will soar as you all work together to come up with some interesting ideas for how to incorporate some non-traditional candied goodies.

For those of you interested in turning Halloween leftovers into an economics lesson, how about offering a candy buy-back? Give your children ten cents (or less) for each piece of candy they agree to sell back to you. With the gift buying season right around the corner, this may be a great incentive to earn some extra cash.

And now we want to hear from you. What are your interesting recipes and ideas for using up your Halloween candy? If we get ten responses, Smarty Party will choose one in a random drawing to receive 10% off of a Smarty Party class!

Trick-or-Treating & Beyond

It seems like every year, the opportunities for our children to wear their Halloween costumes becomes larger and larger: There is the neighborhood party, the local business district event, the school Halloween parade and the after-school party, all culminating with Trick-or-Treating itself.

It is safe to say that by the time Halloween rolls around and the kids have scored their major loot, the costumes have lived a full life.

So this year, in case you’d like to add something else to your fall festivities, how about celebrating Harvest Style?

Heritage Prairie Farm, located about an hour west of Chicago, is celebrating the bounty of the fall season on Saturday, October 30th from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. This is truly a family event and includes farm tours, crafts, delicious samples from the farm kitchen as well as local beer and wine offerings.

If you have the time, stay for the Farm Dinner, which begins at 6:00 pm. There will be a full meal served followed by a bonfire and s’mores.

Because Heritage Prairie Farm is a working farm, it is a wonderful time to help children (and adults) understand where food comes from. It also serves as a concrete way to illustrate the commitment and work it takes to get the food from the farm to the grocery store to the table.

If you can’t make it to Heritage Prairie Farm, Wagner Farm in Glenview, has plenty of opportunities for kids to learn about the history of farming on a real, working dairy farm.

And just in case all you have time (or energy for) is a trip to the library, there a plenty of amazing and beautiful books to help explain and illustrate where our food comes from.

No matter what you dress up as, we wish you and your family a lucrative Halloween!

Apple Picking Time!

So another school year is well under way and we are all left asking ourselves, “what happened to summer?” Regardless of how many afternoons we spent in the backyard playing tag or how many days of camp we scheduled, those ninety or so days did go by so quickly.

Monday through Friday has arrived. But we are given a gift right now – those precious few days between school beginning and winter catching up with us – commonly referred to as Fall. And this time of year, I try to suck the warmth out of every single moment and enjoy the crisp, fresh air before the wind chills set in and daylight savings leaves us in the dark by 4:30.

Plenty of us have been apple picking and we each search for something a little different in the orchards we visit. Below are two a little out of the ordinary.

• Honey Hill Orchards : Many fun and free activities for the whole family along with some delicious donuts made fresh throughout the day.

Shabonna Lake State Park is nearby, allowing for a short hike and a picnic lunch.

Also close by are HOKA Turkey farm and Waterman Winery and Vineyards.

• Earth First Farms:  100% Certified Organic Produce in beautiful Michigan. You can even rent a tree, which entitles your family to all the fruit produced from that tree for an entire year.  They also feature vegetables and fruits at several Chicagoland Farmer’s Markets.

Once you’ve picked a peck or so of apples, you might want to find something other than applesauce to use them for.  Below is a recipe that is easy for parents and kids to make together.

APPLE COOKIES

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups enriched flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup chopped and pared apples
1/4 cup apple juice or milk
1 egg
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)
Combine margarine, sugars, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Sift flour with soda.
Add 1/2 of flour mixture to margarine mixture and blend.
Stir in apples, raisins, apple juice or milk, and egg.
Add the remaining flour; mix.
Drop by teaspoonful onto greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 400 degrees for 11 to 14 minutes.
Remove from cookie sheet while hot.

Serve with a smile!

We’d love to hear from you with your apple recipes! Please email them to us at: jen@smartyparty.us