The Mom Crowd

Happy Independence Day!  I hope you’re all out enjoying yourselves at parks, barbeques, parties, ballgames, movie theaters, and the like.   For those of us who are more likely to spend the holiday at home, I thought it would be nice to piggyback off of Amanda’s super fun post from yesterday with some easy entertainment ideas for you and your family members!  I’m not reinventing the wheel here, just having a little fun.

Five summery or patriotic movies you can enjoy with the kids:

• The Sandlot – summer classic about friendships, baseball, and a big scary dog.  Includes a great 4th of July scene.

• Field of Dreams – quintessential baseball fantasy with great family relationships and sweet moments to treasure.

• My Girl – sweet, simple story about an important summer in young Vada Sultenfuss’ life (with a Home Alone-era Macaulay Culkin; remember how cute he was?)

• An American Tail – great family animated film about a little mouse who gets separated from his family en route to the States.  Lots of history, too!

• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – “It demonstrates democracy in action,” the trailer declares.  Experience again this movie classic and tell your children all about the late, great James Stewart.  I first saw this in a high school government class.  Loved it.

Easy music idea: 

If you’re looking for some fun with background music for your holiday dinner, look no further!  Make a playlist or mix cd with “freedom”, “summer”, or “America” as your theme.  This is especially fun to do with tweens & teens; give them $10 and have them buy 10 songs from an online store to make a mix for the family.  Here’s a small sampling of what I found in my iPod with those words in the title:

SeeqPod – Playable Search

I played my list at dinner last night and it sparked lots of fun conversation with my dear hubby.  Crank it up and enjoy!

Any other film or music suggestions out there?  Are you inspired to decorate your house like the one in the picture above?  (Yes, that is an actual house in my neighborhood.)  Have a great holiday, and for grins, I’ll have Bill Pullman take us out:

I am preparing to celebrate the Fourth of July by looking up ideas for crafts, food, and fun around the web. I love ideas that are practical, easy, and can be prepared in a short time frame. I am NOT Martha Stewart and I don’t aspire to be. So here is what I have found to help all of us party in style this Friday!

History

• Brush up on your American history by checking out PBS’s short history of the Fourth of July.

• Use Earthcam and see Statue of Liberty welcoming people to the USA at this very second. (yes, I know this may seem so 1999, but I think it is cool.)

Food

• Macaroniandpeas.com offers up some tips on grilling hot dogs (and dealing with any guilt about it.)

• Who doesn’t love Trifle? Here is a holiday version that will wow everyone. Other variations are also listed.

• Really cool cupcake ideas at HankandWillie.wordpress.com.

• Fourth of July Fruit Kabobs at Citruslist.blogspot.com.

• Arranging colored cupcakes in a flag pattern. Not original, but certainly easy!

• This Red, White, and Blue IS the bomb! You have to check out how to make it at Chocolate on my Cranium.
  

Games and Crafts

• Amazingmoms.com lists 5 different relay races you can play this Summer with your kids.

• Alphamom.com does a nice round up of 5 great looking crafts.
  

• Here is link to 12 different printable coloring pages for the artistic kids in your family.

• Dress up your teddy bears for Independence Day. Then keep your bear around as a mascot for USA during the Olympics in August.

• Printable USA paper airplanes.
  

• I am usually lacking in appropriate holiday decor and I found these cute Uncle Sam Hat Treat Holders at crafts.kaboose.com.
  

What about the rest of the weekend?

• Independence Day is only on Friday, what about the the rest of the weekend? What to do then? Macy’s Three Day Sale, of course!

Do you do anything special for the Fourth of July? Will hot dogs be involved? Will your kids cry during the fireworks?

I recently received a copy of Ty Burr’s book “The Best Old Movies for Families” from the TCM channel promoting their new summer show ‘TCM Essentials Jr.’ Every Sunday night hosts Abigail Breslin and Chris O’Donnell present a family-friendly classic. This Sunday is ‘Goodbye, Mr. Chips.’ The book was too good not to tell you about it.

There is a reason that Ty Burr’s book, ‘The Best Old Movies for Families’ has received five stars in every review on Amazon.com. The book is a great reference guide to be used by parents to help them decide which old movies are appropriate to introduce to your children. People familiar with old movies can use this guide as well as those who don’t know anything about older films, but want to watch a great movie with their kid.

The author tested a lot of the movies on his two daughters whose ages are 9 and 11 and their friends. Mr. Burr has been a film critic for over ten years and has had many other jobs requiring him to watch movies. He claims that he averages about 1 movie a day and over thirty years that is 10,680 films. The author is one of those guys that make you want to pick their brain and discuss films and trivia all day. Luckily, we get to read his thoughts in the book.

The book focuses on films made in the golden age of the film studios, from the silent era to the early 1960s. The Introduction opens with a hilarious rant about the Hollywood-junk that is currently being spoon-fed to our children and the MPAA rating system. I found myself saying “Yes!” out loud many times and reading parts out loud to my husband. The author does recognize that your kids will still watch what is out today, but wants to build a bridge between parents and children and introduce them to a wider spectrum of films that aren’t trying to sell them something.

After the first “Starter Kit” chapter, each subsequent chapter lists movies in its respective genre, like Comedy, Dramas, and Musicals. There is one chapter about movies not to show your kids. Then, each movie lists: the director, stars, appropriate age range, the sell, the plot, why it is in the book, useless trivia, pause button explanations, notes about the DVD extras and availability of the film, and further movie suggestions if your child liked the movie. The guide gives you great tools to help you decide if a movie is right for your child. However, the author does caution that if you are on the fence about a movie it is better to error on the side of caution and preview the film first.

The great writing is one of the reasons why this book is so highly rated. The writing is smart without being patronizing or dull. I feel like I know a little bit about Mr. Burr’s family and why his two girls enjoy showing old movies to their friends. Also, the book gives you practical suggestions on how and when to turn on an old movie. Hint: Don’t tell them it is good for them.

I enjoy movies a lot and watched ‘Roman Holiday,’ ‘An Affair to Remember,’ and ‘Guys and Dolls’ as a kid. I enjoy catching an old movie once in a while now. I recently watched Hitchcock’s ‘North by Northwest’ for the first time and enjoyed watching Mr. Gable being chased. I hope that my little one will enjoy movies as much as I do. Now I am thankful to have a tool to help me decide what to watch with her.

If you made it through the review and want to win my copy – all you have to do is answer the question “What is your favorite movie from the golden age of film and why?” in the comment section. The giveaway will end this Sunday night at 10:00 p.m. and only one winner will be chosen at random. Also, be sure to leave your email address in the comment form, so I can reach you.

UPDATE

Vered from Momgrind.com is our winner! I assigned all the comments a number and entered them into random.org and hers was the first number to pop up. Congratulations!

Turner Classic Movies graciously agreed to sponsor my giveaway and will be sending Vered her book! Thank you to all that entered. (If you didn’t win, check your library for it. Mine had the book on the shelf.)