Halloween party idea!

Today I am calling local active adult communities in hopes of landing an awesome event. Our Halloween party is taking place during the week; and we thought it would be fun to go trick or treating together. Seeing as this Halloween takes place on a Sunday it is going to be hard to do. Too many dads have to get up in the morning to go to work, and most go to church that day. Instead what we have come up with is throwing our party at an active adult community room, and trick or treating our residents....
How cool is that? Some of these resident have no families around and rarely see young kids.
Here is how I am planning to do this. Next week I will pass around door hangers giving the residents information about what day and tine we will trick or treat. If the resident wants to participate they can place the door hanger on their door they day of trick or treating. I also figured our door hanger should include volunteer info for our child care program in case they would interested. Retirees are perfect candidates to watch children for our mom's day off event; they are readily available on weekdays!

Hopefully the idea will work and I'll post a review in November!
Happy Halloween!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

In your town: Petting Zoos!

If you are living in a large metropolis area in the united states, you are bound to have a petting zoo within two hours of your city. I say that with confidence because even though we do have one in our area, the business is not the best with customer service or organization. Trust me, we've tried it three times. Each time the playgroup has left with a bad taste their mouth.

So I have been on the hunt for a petting zoo relatively close to our city. The long search had left me discouraged, and disappointed. Until one day, I was at a local grocery store, and noticed a flyer for "kids day". I noticed it was going to have a petting zoo there. At first I thought it was the local petting zoo, but I figured it did not hurt to ask. The least they could tell me it that it is the same petting zoo we've been using.

So I asked.

This petting zoo is also close to our home, and is not an 'officail' business. But it had everything a petting zoo could offer. The ladies were amazing! This kids had a great time.

A few weeks later I noticed an ad on craigslist about a kids day at a local day care. Kind of like a promotion for business, but nonetheless it also offered a petting zoo. So I once again asked. Turns out the event used someone who had two rabbits, a tortoise, and a duck. OK, maybe it's a horse shy of a petting zoo, but still the kids would have fun.

My point is, you don't have to have an actual petting zoo around to get the petting zoo experience. Keep your eyes peeled, and you may find petting zoos in your own backyard. Ask around; word of mouth leads you to wonderful things.  If all else fails maybe someone will have an uncle or grandparent to raises llamas, and goats. Kids are not really too picky about the animals they see.

Party in the House!

Yesterday I received an email from house party notifying me of my chance to enter the fisher price play date house party!

My jaw dropped when I saw the hostess receives

5 new Fisher-Price toys:


Go Baby Go! Stride-to-Ride Dino

Laugh & Learn Learn & Move Music Station

Laugh & Learn Learning Kitchen

Lil' Zoomers Spinnin' Sounds Speedway

Fisher-Price Stack ‘n Surprise Blocks Musical Croc Block Wagon

10 Brillant Basics Rock-a-Stack® Toys

10 Fisher-Price Day and Night Diapers sample packs

Apply for this House Party and if you are chosen, please share your event stories with us!!!!!!!!!! Happy Playing!

M.A.M.A.s Take on the parade!

This past Saturday, we went to our city's annual tortchlight parade. Last year I did not attempt to do this for a few reasons; I was pregnant, the parade runs until 11 pm, and the walk to the streets is long. This year, I decided to face my fears when my assistant organizer decided to post it for an event. I suppose it also helps that my husband was marching in the parade again this year (The first year we were in spokane he also marched in it.).

Thankfully another assistant's wonderful mother had the nerve to save spaces for us from early in the morning. With space saved there was no worrying over the kids getting bored too early. Just in case, I headed over to the dollar store beforehand to stock up on entertainment. Here is what I bought:

Glow sticks (to avoid the "Mommy I wants" on the mobile vendors)
Box of jumbo crayons
Activity coloring book
Stickers booklet
Snacks (okay; these were from walmart)

I also brought sunscreen, but thankfully we didn't need it.

I had unbelievable luck. The parade started at 7 :45 pm and my kid's bed time is 8:30 pm. Being the drive took 20 minutes, the parade does not end until 11pm, I knew the kids would miss bedtime. Lucky me, my middle child did not go to bed on time for nap, and slept from 5 pm to 6pm instead.

Boredom fighters worked like a charm. When the parade came, the kids had used everything, at least once. I was pleasantly surprised that my 2 yr old watched it. It made caring for my baby easier. Both the girls got dirty, but what can you expect?

So here is a local town idea you can use as an event for playgroups. You can check with parks and rec or city hall for any annual parades. Also check with your schools and universities. My high school has a homecoming parade every year.  Most parades are free to watch, and don't have to be costly otherwise.  I only spent $17 and actually didn't use all the glo sticks.