The Mom Crowd

An average night of entertainment consists of watching television or movies, for most. While this is suitable for average nights, it is not very special. If you are looking for something more interesting to do, choose something that will create good memories and that the whole family can enjoy; consider seeing a theatrical performance.

The days of theater are not past but are alive and well. There are numerous shows across the globe every day and night attracting enthusiastic crowds. Here are a few tips for planning a night of theater.

Find a Show

Look online or in your local paper for future shows. In your paper, listings will probably be in the entertainment or arts/culture section. Online, search for your city and use keywords such as, “musicals,” or “live theater.”

One of the most popular shows right now is the musical Wicked. Wicked contains a few familiar characters from the Wizard of Oz but takes a much different and intriguing spin. It describes how the wicked witch of the west got her start and explores her early interactions with Glinda, the good witch of the north. This particular show is suitable for adults and children alike and has an amazing music score. Many people like it so much that they see it more than once.

Book Your Tickets Early

You should order your tickets early to get the best choices in seating. Some popular shows, such as Wicked, sell out quickly. To order your tickets online, search for your area. For example, if you are in Baltimore, just search for Wicked Baltimore tickets and several ticket broker sites will show up.

When you are placing your order, you will get to look at a seating chart. The best seats will be higher priced than other seats, but you can still get decent seats on a budget, if you buy them early enough.

Make a Night of it

Think about making the whole night special by dressing up and going out to dinner before the show. Take the kids to a place they love and watch their excitement grow as the evening progresses. The first time, you could even leave it as a surprise until you have arrived at the theater. If everyone enjoys it, you could even make this a family tradition monthly or around holidays or birthdays.

The best thing about a live performance is that it is much more active than television or a movie. Yes, you are still sitting and viewing as a passive participant, but the sounds of the orchestra, the sweat on the actor’s brow, the action taking place in the here in now right in front of you is unlike any other experience.

Another wonderful thing about the theater is every performance is different. You could go to see Wicked or another show several times and each time it would be unique.

Catching a live show will be an amazing experience for your children that they will never forget, especially if the show is something they want to see. Some little boys might not admit to wanting to see a show, but if you go see something they can get excited about it may peak their interest in music, art, and theater in a way TV never will.

Many people today make a habit of including regular physical exercise in their daily routine to keep their body fit and healthy. Although physical exercise is always an excellent use of time, you should also aim to include plenty of stimulating mental exercise in your daily life. You can easily incorporate mental workouts through a new hobby, from learning a new instrument to completing a craft project.

Embrace Your Musical Side When you pick up a musical instrument, you can tap into your innovative side and create your own music. However, before you can start impressing your family and forming your own band, you need to learn how to play. If starting a band seems like a fun idea to you, begin your training with basic piano lessons. Learning to play an instrument will give you an excellent outlet for your rhythmic soul after you leave your job each evening.

Manage Your Own Ecosystem For amateur scientists who enjoy nature and biology, a miniature ecosystem can provide excellent intellectual stimulation. Individuals who prefer the world of the ocean can start up their own saltwater fish tank, complete with stunning corals and playful fish. For those that prefer a desert climate, a terrarium housing toads and turtles makes an excellent choice. This hobby will require you to learn a little about your miniature ecosystem and how to keep your inhabitants alive.

Learn a New Language Even if you don’t intend to leave the country in the near future, learning a language can give you an electrifying experience. For added fun, choose a language from a country that you would love to visit someday. As you learn a country’s language, you can learn more about the culture of that nation. You can spice up this idea by learning how to cook native dishes for your friends and family.

Handcrafted Projects Making something new with your hands is a great way to stimulate your senses and your brain. You don’t have to buy a fancy sewing machine to make your own cool e-reader case. Just get a sewing needle, a few pieces of fabric, matching thread and your imagination to create a functional accessory for your daily life. Other fun crafting projects include making jewelry and pottery.

After getting home from work or putting your children to bed, don’t settle for a boring evening in front of the television. Instead, try out a new hobby to give your brain the exercise it needs to thrive.

Last summer, I took one of the most interesting vacation trips I could ever go on. I took an RV trip with the kids from Phoenix to San Francisco. . As a full-time writer, I have the distinct advantage of being able to work from any location. So one day in late May, I called my parents up and asked to borrow one of their two used class B motorhomes. I explained my idea, “Yes, Mom, I plan on taking my two kids on the road for the summer, stopping here and there and getting to know the country.”

At first, they thought I was a little crazy, a single mother with a somewhat limited income, on a road trip in a large RV with two kids. Was I crazy? Well, I admit, at first I was a little scared, after all the biggest vehicle I had ever driven was a van. However, I was determined to spend some quality time with my kids, and do it in an inexpensive way.

The Trip

We started off at about 5 a.m. at the beginning of June. Our destination? The Grand Canyon of course! It was only three hours away, but the kids had only been to Phoenix, so it was a great opportunity to see the Grand Canyon. We stayed at Trailer Village, an RV campground located on the South Rim of the canyon. We had planned to only stay overnight but ended up staying a few days. We spent a day rafting down the river, another walking along the trails in the early morning and evening. Other than that we just spent some time being together, playing in the pool and talking.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas was our next destination. While I knew the kids couldn’t spend time at the casinos, I also knew there were many other things available there. I planned out our trip so that we could stay at the Circus Circus RV park. The kids enjoyed the lights, the action, street vendors and shows. During the day, we toured some of the most fabulous hotels along the strip including, the Venice, the Eiffel Tower hotel, and the Excalibur. I had only planned on spending a night here, but we ended up spending the better part of a week. We took in a cirque du Soleil Show, went to the Ethel M Chocolate factory and to the Red Rock Canyon just outside of Las Vegas.

What Trip Would Be Complete Without a Visit to Disneyland?

Our next destination was Los Angeles. We stayed at several locations in this wonderful city. There is just so much to see. Our first stop was Hollywood Blvd. and then Universal Studios, but we also visited Venice beach, Santa Monica and Long Beach before heading over to Anaheim, Disneyland and then down to the San Diego Zoo.

Along the California Coast

Our trip continued up the California coastline driving along scenic highway 1. When we saw something that interested us; we would stop, play, eat out or fix something in our temporary home and enjoy our time together. We saw interesting state parks, theme parks, towns and communities. We met other RV’ers, just out having a good time like us, some actually adopting the lifestyle full time, then we made our final destination of San Francisco.

San Francisco Area

While in San Francisco, we visited family and stayed in the California Delta, an area full of waterways; meaning there were lots of RV parks, camping, skiing, rafting and boating. San Francisco is only about an hour from the Delta, so we made several day trips to the city by taking the Bart train. Needless to say, the rest of our vacation was spent languishing about, relaxing in our RV and enjoying ourselves. It was truly the best family vacation we have ever been on (inexpensive too).

When we moved to England 3 months ago we left our Christmas decorations behind.  We are only planning on being here for 4 years and we live in a small flat with little storage.  We only brought the necessities and Christmas decorations didn’t make the cut.  As Christmas was approaching the kids started talking about getting a Christmas tree and hanging up stockings.  My husband is in graduate school and we are living on a pretty tight budget. I didn’t want to spend very much money on buying a tree, ornaments, stockings, lights etc.  We wanted to keep with tradition and make Christmas in England feel like “home” but spend as little as possible.

I asked my mom if she could find the storage box and send our stockings to us from the US.  She didn’t want to mess with digging through our Christmas boxes so she generoulsy ordered some stockings online for the kids and sent them to us.  We bought the cheapest reusable Christmas at a store (costing $11!) so we can use it for the next 4 years, one strand of twinkle lights, and 2 boxes of candy canes.  Everything else we had at home.

Here is what we have on our tree:

• Paper chains
• Homemade salt dough ornaments painted by the kids
• Candy Canes
• Sparkley red ribbon left behind from the previous flat-renters
• Twinkle lights
• Stringed popcorn (still in the process)

I like it when my tree looks pretty with full lights and is decorated with my pretty ornaments. But I gotta tell you, our kids LOVE their home decorated tree! They are so proud that everything on it is something they helped make or find in our flat to decorate it with. Our tree has lights on the top half and has ornaments unevenly distributed everywhere.  The paper chains are not cut evenly either.  But it has lots of flair and personality and it brings a smile to my face when I look at it.  We all worked hard to put our tree together and I love that they love it.

We spent very little money–especially since we can reuse everything except the popcorn and maybe the candy canes.  I have found that I don’t need fancy decorations for Christmas to feel like Christmas.  Spending time with my family and remembering why we celebrate Christmas in the first place has been a great reminder for me this year.

What fun things to you put on your tree?  Favorite homemade decorations?  Best Christmas budget ideas?

In the last 24 hours I have been invited to 2 different cookie parties happening this month. I don’t think that they will be my last two either. This is the first Christmas that my first child will understand a few Christmas traditions and I am so excited!  I am sure she will be elated to know that Christmas cookies are a yearly tradition.

Here are 5 ideas for Christmas Cookie Parties if you are thinking of throwing a party.

Cookie Exchange Party

A cookie exchange party can happen in the evening for a girl’s night out or during the days with kids and chaos.  My friend Tashi is hosting a Christmas cookie exchange this year and here are her rules that you could follow as well.

1. Bring 7 dozen of your best and yummiest cookies.
2. Bring 12 copies of your recipe.
3. Bring 1 dozen of your cookies arranged nicely in a basket or platter.
4. Bring a container to take home your new cookies.
5. If you don’t have time to bake or have ruined your recipe but still want to attend, just go to your local bakery and pick up 7 dozen yummy cookies.

Cookie Decorating Party

A cookie decorating party is completely fun for the kids and adults during the day time. Everyone can have fun while making a mess and eating delicious cookies.

My friend Jennifer C. is hosting a cookie decorating party and she will be providing the cookies and frosting. If the weather cooperates the party will be happening in the back yard. The guests only need to bring 3 things: (1) their kiddos (who aren’t in school), (2) some sprinkles to share, and (3) a take home container.

I am sure you can ask other moms chip in to bring cookies and ask someone else to bring frosting if you don’t want to provide all of the elements.

Cookie Bake Day

My family has had a cookie bake day almost every year. All the women get together and bake cookies in the same kitchen together. There is always a line for the oven, we are on top of each other, and making a mess on every counter space available, but it is so much fun! At the end of the day we have massive amounts of cookies and we trade what we made. It’s really fun being together and being silly.

Baked Ornament “Cookies”

Perhaps you aren’t looking to gain a few extra pounds this December and would prefer a non-edible party – you can always hang your cookies on the tree instead! I have never made these myself, but I really want to this year. It seems like it would be fun do with my kids and other kids as well. Here is a link to make Christmas Dough Ornament Crafts.

Cheer up homeless shelters and hospitals with your cookies!

After you have a cookie party you can package them up to give to a local hospital or shelter. You can get the kids involved and tell them who the cookies are for. They could even write a note or draw a picture to go with the cookies. You can even take it a step further and collect children’s books to give away along with the cookies. There are homeless shelters with children too. I am sure they would love cookies! A step further would be to gather your friends, family, or church, and provide a cookie decorating party for the children at the shelter. Here in San Antonio, The Strong Foundation, helps homeless families get back on their feet. Check with your local shelter’s volunteer coordinator to see if you can help.

Have you ever hosted a cookie party or participated in one? What is your favorite Christmas cookie?