New Year's Eve: Family Fun in Milton & How You Can Throw A Kiddie-Friendly Bash at Home

As your tummy recovers from the deliciousness of the Christmas food feast and you stare at the presents strewn all over your living room; you might be starting to think of what to do on New Year's Eve. momstown Milton is here to help. 

Looking for family fun activities in the Milton area? 

Conservation Halton's New Year's Eve Hoopla is an evening of family-fun activity on December 31, 2012! With a wagon ride, puppet show, and more, there's something for everyone. Check out Conservation Halton for details.

The Town of Milton is holding its annual bell ringing on December 31, 2012 in Victoria Park from 11:45pm-12:15am. All are welcome to join Mayor Krantz for this Milton tradition since 1967!


Looking to celebrate New Year's at home with your kiddies? 

Throw a New Year's Eve kiddie-centric party at your place that will have your children laughing with delight as you countdown to the New Year.  Little ones can't stay up until midnight? Do that countdown hours earlier to coincide with their bedtime. 

Here are some kiddie-friendly activities that can help ring in the New Year in style! 

1. Sing-a-long - if your cable provider has a karaoke channel on demand, then that's always a great resource. But if not, blare your favourite tunes (maybe dig out that 101 Sing-Along Songs CD) that's been hibernating for awhile and sing to your heart's content.

2. Dress-Up -  Get out that costume trunk or transform some old clothes into fashion for the dress-up runway. A white dress or T-shirt can transform into an angel costume by adding some fairy wings. Or cut down the legs of old black pants into a triangular shape to create pirate pants. 

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Add some face painting if you wish. Click here for a make-your-own face painting recipe. 

3. New Year's Eve Sparkly Crowns -  Once your little pirate or princess is dressed to impress, it's time to create a crown worthy of the occasion. Click here for easy-to-make crowns that will leave your child feeling extra special!

4. Glitter New Year's Craft - Get your kiddies to create a glittery firework display to rival the night skies right on construction paper! Click here on how your kiddies can make their very own fireworks explosion. 

5. Toast the New Year with milk, water, or apple juice! Clink those little bottles, sippy cups, glasses together and toast the new year in style with your little one. 


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Happy New Year from momstown Milton! Best wishes for an exciting and wonderful 2013.

momstown Milton would love to have you join us in the new year for our exciting events.

 

Sign up for your 6 week free trial today!


Written by Liz Marques Kogan, a momstown Milton member and mother of 2 girls. 
You can check out her blog at orchidaforever.blogspot.ca. 

momstown Milton kids visit Springridge Farm for Ornament decorating, Gingerbread men and a Surprise Visit from Santa Claus!

momstown Milton families trekked over to Springridge Farm for a holly jolly good ole time! 

The kids had an amazing time decorating Christmas ornaments - with an array of colours to choose from, they were bound to make little pieces of Christmas tree art. 

Sitting in anticipation before decorating their ornament 

With their little faces deep set in concentration, they were learning about mixing colours and having fun seeing the colours that formed as the paint was applied!  

 

 

 All of this hard work can only mean one thing: time for Gingerbread Men! 

With smooth icing and Christmas coloured candies, the momstown Milton kids along with a little help  from their parents, created adorable and tasty holiday treats! 

 

 

And of course, a little sampling of your work is always a good idea! 

 

 

And little did our kids know that the best was yet to come. Santa himself made a surprise visit to all of the momstown Milton kiddies visiting Springridge Farm that day. A memorable experience for all. Merry Christmas!

 

Written by Liz Marques Kogan, a momstown Milton member and mother of two girls.

You can check out her blog at www.orchidaforever.blogspot.ca

Holiday Cooking with Kids - Easy and Elegant Cheese Balls

momstown Milton mamas and their junior chefs created an easy yet elegant cheese ball that the little ones pretty much made all by themselves! Special thanks to Mary-Anne Scaturchio-Selwa from My Smart Hands Milton for this sweet and delightful cheese ball recipe. 

What you need

1. 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

2. 3/4 cup coconut or chocolate chips or dried fruit (use whatever you have on hand!) 

3. 2 tbsp of Epicure Selections Mocha Cheese Seasoning

What you need to do

1. In a large bowl, add the Epicure Selections Mocha Cheese Seasoning to the cream cheese. 

2. Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese mixture until fluffy. 

3. Shape the cream cheese mixture into a ball. 

4. Roll coconut or whatever topping of choice (chocolate chips shown in pictures below) onto your cream cheese ball. 




This is how we roll!

With the holidays in full swing, this cheese ball making activity was a great way for our junior chefs to get into the festive spirit. They took simple ingredients and created a show stopping treat that could be proudly displayed on the holiday buffet table! 

 

Written by Liz Marques Kogan, a momstown Milton member and mother of two girls.

You can check out her blog at www.orchidaforever.blogspot.ca

Momstown Milton hosts Family Holiday Party for the Milton Community: December 2012

Tis the season to be jolly. And what better way to kick-off the holiday celebrations into high gear than by a momstown Milton family Holiday Party!

On a cool crisp morning on December 15, 2012, this close-knit Milton community of mamas and their families gathered together at the Italian Canadian Club of Milton for a spectacular holiday family event.

A warm and caring community, momstown Milton is deeply committed to giving back and donations of new toys and books were generously given by its members for Halton Women's Place.

And what's a party without food? The momstown Milton families brought in delicious savoury and sweet treats - it was a fantastic feast!

momstown Milton thought of everything to ensure a smashing holiday fest and there were so many things for the kids to do that the question was, which jolly activity should they tackle first?

Being blessed with incredible Milton community sponsorship, the party was high energy and high fun!

There were poinsettias to be created with seasonal coloured paints from Art Innovators of Milton and Flamborough - little hands could take big pieces of foam and make beautiful poinsettia art that their parents could proudly showcase at home.

For anyone still seeking out a few more tree ornaments, well, they didn't have to look any further as momstown Milton had an ornament ball decorating station replete with glittery glue, bedazzling gems and bright stickers!

Springridge Farm brought a decadent edible twist to the craft-making fun by supplying Gingerbread Men for the kids to decorate with sweet frosting and yummy candies.

Monkeynastix Milton brought in high paced energy with their obstacle course for the little ones with energy to burn!

With the flurry of activity happening at the party, the refreshing shakes provided by Paula Porter Maclean from Body by Visalus Challenge were a delightful treat! These frosty healthy shakes are gluten-free, kosher certified, and jam packed with 23 vitamins.

There were two sections filled with tons of toys and books for more ways to the little ones to play and share together.

After the children had gone through festive activity stations, the children all gathered quietly on the floor and listened attentively as Sarah from Recycled Reading read the endearing classic, 'Twas The Night Before Christmas.

Sam Kassam-Macfie, owner of momstown Milton, led the crowd in a jubilant rendition of Frosty the Snowman, just before the jolly old man himself, Santa, joined in on the festivities. Santa handed each child a book (brought in by each of the children's mothers) as the children sat on Santa's lap and smiled big for a picture.

And that wasn't all...with fantastic prize giveaways, the momstown Milton Holiday Party of 2012 was an unforgettable event of fun, laughter and plenty of holiday cheer - a strong symbol of the beautiful spirit that embodies this wonderful community.

Wishing you and yours Happy Holidays from momstown Milton! 


Written by Elizabeth Marques Kogan, momstown Milton member and mother of two girls. You can check out her blog at orchidaforever.blogspot.ca. 

momstown Milton kids get cooking with Nutella

Our momstown Milton moms and tots gathered together this week with Miss Mary-Anne for our Junior Chef program.The energy and excitement in the room could only be explained by one thing: Nutella! 

All little eyes and ears were on Mary-Anne as she explained what ingredients our Junior Chefs needed and what we would be doing, with a little help from mom, to make delicious Nutella Breakfast Bars. 

Nutella Breakfast Bars:

 

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350°F and coat an 8*8 baking pan with cooking spray. 

2. In a large bowl, combine flours, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Our Junior Chefs enthusiastically took turns at whisking together.

3. In another bowl, whisk sugar, butter or non-hydrogenated margarine, applesauce and egg. Add the applesauce mixture to the flour mixture and mixed just until combined. 
 

4. Fold in trail mix and spoon the whole mixture into the baking pan. The kids had a lot of fun patting and smoothing out the surface. 

5. Place in the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Let cool for 15 minutes and cut into bars. 

Our Chefs had one more task to complete - spreading the oh so yummy Nutella across the top of the bars -  a little or a lot made no difference because the final product was true perfection!  

 

 

  Craft Time - favourite breakfast foods! 

Before beginning the next scrumptious treat, our Junior Chefs were given a fun craft that got them to put on their thinking caps too! They were asked to think about their favourite breakfast foods. And then they pasted colourful pictures of their special breakfast foods on a Breakfast Menu page that we encouraged the moms to take home and post on their refrigerators.

Recently Nutella released Canada's Breakfast Report citing that moms reported that the top three breakfast challenges included: a lack of breakfast ideas that the kids would like, picky eaters and a lack of time to prepare food in the morning. 

The breakfast menu was designed to help the kids "tell" moms what they prefer and act as a quick reference guide in the morning to help take the guess work out of what to serve.   The Junior Chefs enthusiastically composed their collage of foods and some of the moms were surprised at some of the foods their little ones indicated as favourites.

We weren't finished yet! Miss Mary-Anne announced it was time for another delicious Nutella recipe! 

Fruit 'n' Nutella Yogurt Parfait
(Serves 4) 

Mary-Anne led the Junior Chef group in explaining what they needed to make the Nutella parfait and how to make it. She also reminded the group that moms can make the parfaits in small mason jars for a breakfast on the go! 

 Ingredients

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Directions: 

The kids got busy layering 1 tbsp of granola, 2 tbsp of yogurt, 1/4 cup berries and of course the 1 tbsp Nutella just had to be on top!  They could then repeat with another layer depending on how hungry they were and if they could stand the wait before diving into the deliciousness.

 Each participant got to take home a full sized jar of Nutella, 5 easy-to-make and appetizing recipes and a handy "I love Breakfast" magnet - perfect for hanging our favourite breakfast menus craft on the fridge at home!  

We hold our Junior Chef program once a month.  If you'd like to join us for this program and our other amazing programs, sign up for your 6 week free trial today!

Written by Liz Marques Kogan, a momstown Milton member and mother of 2 girls. 
You can check out her blog at orchidaforever.blogspot.ca.