Smoothies!

There are some great ways to spend time with the family this weekend.  Maple Sugaring fun starts this weekend, more Lunar New Year events are happening and families can clear out unwanted stuff or score some “new” stuff at the Hillside Community Swap this weekend. But there’s more!

Check our Upcoming Events to find out all the local happenings and details. Also, if you haven’t already, sign up for our newsletter to get some great deals and find out about more great events and subscribe to our daily newsletter so you don’t miss a thing on Barista Kids. While you’re at it, “like” us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and check out our new Pinterest page. We post a lot of important information over there, so you don’t want to miss out.

Here are this weekend’s highlights:

Take the kids to Smoothie-palooza at Whole Foods Montclair after school today to make delicious smoothies for a great after-school snack. (Friday, January 27)

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A friend shared this fantastic video on Facebook yesterday, and it made my rainy-day-with-a-sore-throat morning.  Dicken Schrader, accompanied by his kids Milah and Korben, performs a heartwarming version of “Everything Counts” by Depeche Mode on kazoos, recorders, cheese graters, and maracas. Depeche Mode was one of my favorite bands in high school, but this quirky version appeals to the parent I am in the 21st Century.  The kids are so adorable – and talented!

And, by the way, the original was the song I played for my parents to convince them to let me go to a Depeche Mode concert – relative to some of their other songs it’s a quiet and calm song.  Check out Dicken featuring Milah and Korben performing “Shake the Disease” as well.  Enjoy!

Do you need a cupcake? Of course you do. Would your little girl be tickled pink to attend an impromptu tea party? Why yes.

Located at 41 Glenridge Avenue in Montclair, Angel Cakes officially opens this Saturday. Customers can walk in to buy cupcakes and cookies. Moms can bring in their little girls for one-hour tea parties, complete with kid-sized tables and dress up clothes. You don’t even have to make a reservation. Just drop-in for playtime fun.

Owner Veronica Bird from Bloomfield has two daughters of her own, ages 3 and 6. “I’m always trying to find something fun and creative to do with my girls,” she says about her drop-in tea parties. “Anyone is welcome to come in and play.”

Her store hours are:
Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Tuesday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Click to the jump to see two of her amazing cakes. (Note: They have to be pre-ordered.) Yum.

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Glenfield’s G-Force Robotics Team is competing in the FIRST LEGO League Global Innovation Award competition. The theme of this year’s competition, which encourages students to develop their innovative solutions to real-world problems, is to come up with a food safety invention.

G-Force, led by math teacher Courtney Washington, has designed “The Cleansing Conveyor,” a self-cleaning conveyor belt that prevents cross-contamination in stores, factories and lunch rooms. The winner of the award is determined by online votes. Visitors to the site may vote once a day.

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I enjoy dreaming about spring break and summer vacation when my fingers and toes are frozen solid like they were this morning at the bus stop. Now that they’ve thawed out enough so I can type, I’ll share what little I know about Walt Disney World in Orlando in case you’re considering a trip there soon. When people find out we went over New Year’s Eve, I get mixed reactions. A large number of parents look at me like they just got off the Tower of Terror, some are mystified that we made it back alive but most are enthusiastic and ask for advice.

Before I went, I asked for tips from friends who had gone recently. Most of them told me, “Don’t go.” My husband agreed. He wanted to visit the world’s most famous theme park–one that hosts 47 million visitors each year–kind like he wanted to get a spinal tap. I guilted him into the trip because I have fairy-tale memories from my visits there in the ’80s. I basically made him feel like a dead-beat dad until he agreed to go.

Pushing him paid off because he really fell for Disney World. It helped that I prepared beforehand–my OCD kicked in–so the trip would be fun for him. (It’s going to be a blast for the kids no matter what you do.) For example, I discovered the cruel reality that the Magic Kingdom–the busiest, most packed park at Disney–does not serve alcohol. I repeat: The Magic Kingdom does not serve alcohol. It is wise to head to Epcot around 5 p.m. each day where the margaritas will make you forget how long you stood in line to ride Peter Pan.

Here’s more of what made Disney World so fun for us:

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Going Dark

Chill @ Stage Left, the concert venue formally known as Incredi-Bills in Montclair, will present live performances from a variety of new bands made up of students from School of Rock Montclair. The show will take place on Friday, January 27.

“School of Rock Montclair doesn’t just offer a revolutionary way for our students to learn, enjoy, and perform music, it’s also a social scene where young musicians can meet, develop their sound, and form their own bands,” says Matt Sandoski, owner of School of Rock Montclair.  “Our musicians connect with other students who share their tastes and vision, and they use our teaching staff of professional working musicians as a resource for ideas, feedback, and guidance.”

The headliner for the January 27 event will be Going Dark, the energetic, heavy rock trio of School of Rock students whose music has been featured on area rock radio stations WDHA-FM and WRAT-FM.  The band is Alex Fogg (15, drums), L.J. Militello (14, guitar), and Oliver Shaw (12, bass and vocals), and produced by Grammy-winner John Ginty, former music director for School of Rock Montclair.  Going Dark has opened for teen sensations Big Time Rush at Six Flags in Jackson, NJ and legendary rocker Sebastian Bach at Irving Plaza, in New York.  Their debut CD “Play Your Game” will be given to all in the audience at their Chill performance.

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Beginning January 30, preschoolers will get a chance to join Dora, Diego, Boots, Swiper, Pinto, Backpack and Map on more adventures when Dora the Explorer premieres new episodes on Nickelodeon.

Since the interactive animated series featuring the bilingual Latina adventurer debuted in 2000, Dora has become an international hit with preschoolers around the world (the show is broadcasted in 151 markets and translated in 30 languages), won a host of awards, including an Emmy, Peabody, Parents’ Choice, NAACP, Latino Spirit and ALMA, appeared with Shakira in a video and launched a spin-off show for Dora’s cousin, Diego, in Go, Diego, Go! (both shows were recently nominated for an NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Children’s Program.” )

Tara Williams sat down with Chris Gifford, Dora’s co-creator and executive producer, as well as the creator and executive producer of Go, Diego, Go! to chat about his characters and Nickelodeon (he was a producer on Nick’s Clarissa Explains It All.)  If you were a child of the 80s you may remember Gifford as “Danny” on The Great Space Coaster and 3-2-1 Contact, the PBS kid’s show Gifford worked on as a unit manager.

Q: When did you move to Montclair?

I think it was December of 1993.

Q: And you were living in New York City before that?

Actually, I was living in Orlando.  I was working for Nickelodeon in Orlando for three years.  Prior to that, I grew up in the city.

Credit: Nickelodeon

Q: How was Dora the Explorer created?

I had been developing a number of shows—I was executive in charge of production and development for Nick Jr.—and I was developing a number of shows over a couple of years and none of them were capturing what I think Nick Jr. was trying to be.  What I really, personally, wanted to do, which was more about producing—I felt more comfortable producing—than I did as an executive.

Q: Because?

I like to be more hands-on.  As an executive, I think I would be too intrusive to their production process and I think better executives sort of let the producers and creators work on their own.  So, I would be my own worst nightmare as an executive.  Personally, I was feeling as if I really did not want to get back into production.

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At least according to the Foundation for Child Development.

The FCD has released its first STATE CWI report, Investing in Public Programs Matters: How State Policies Impact Children’s Lives.  The STATE CWI ranks and compares children’s well-being by state, and identifies public investments that matter.

Key findings include:

• Higher State Taxes Are Better for Children
• Public Investments in Children Matter
• A Child’s Well-Being Is Strongly Related to the State Where He or She Lives

Here are the top 10 states ranked on overall child well-being:

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Story Dances is a dance and creative movement program for preschool children that will take place at The Loft at the South Orange Performing Arts Center.

Almost 20 years ago, before Story Dances was a fully developed program for preschool children, it was a way for Sheila Rees, a recent M.Ed graduate of the Temple University Dance Department, to engage young children in her creative movement classes by making up stories around movement words. These stories led the way for children to jump like superheroes, twirl like spinning tops, gallop like horses, and fly in the air like beautiful butterflies.  They used their imagination and creativity to explore movement.  Could they jump high like a kangaroo and jump low like a frog?  What level does a bunny jump?

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Last Sunday, I was invited to take my family to NJPAC to see the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s Show. I was so grateful for the invite and jumped at the chance to take my 8-year-old. She has been learning Mandarin as part of Nisuane’s Mandarin program since kindergarten, I love dance and it was the start of the Lunar New Year, so it was a perfect opportunity for both of us.

If you haven’t been to NJPAC yet, what are you waiting for? No seriously? It’s a beautiful space with great shows. The truth is, I have been there many times, but only once before for a family show. I took my girls to a Dan Zanes show a couple of years ago. But this was the first time that I, or my daughter, got to experience a FamilyTime performance, which includes either a pre- or a post-show workshop.

After the show, which we both really enjoyed, we were invited to the workshop. My daughter and a group of other children were greeted by a man from Nai-Ni Chen. He talked about Chinese New Year and the year of the dragon. He discussed the other Chinese Zodiac animals and then showed the kids his own Lion mask he made out of a paper plate and some construction paper. The kids were excited to get to work and created their own Chinese Lions. Once they were compete he had the kids take their masks over to an open area and taught them a traditional Lion Dance. The kids, and their photo snapping parents, loved it.

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