Blog

It’s Good to Give

Walk with us! It’s as simple as that. Team Kidsguide will be front and center at the April 1 Walk for Kids benefiting Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California, and we’d love to meet you there! It’s easy, it’s free and it’s good. Just show up for the party on the path, or help us raise funds for this very worthy cause. Here’s how…

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Winter While it Lasts

The groundhog predicted six more weeks of winter, but in sunny Southern California that snow might not last. Slip in a trip while you still can! Read on for the latest snow conditions at our local tubing parks, plus tips for a super-fast ride.

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Organize By the Book

Most kids have managed to collect a Barnes & Noble’s worth of books. They’re busting out of the bookshelf, tucked into drawers, bent open on nightstands and stacked in all four corners. When enough is enough, read our fun ideas for stashing ‘em, swapping ‘em or donating ‘em.

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Is Your Kid Dialed In?

Studies show that most tweens are now packing their own personal keypad, and your kid’s begging to be one of them. Is your kid old enough for a cell phone? Here’s what you should consider before making the big decision.

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Paint a Great Museum Trip

Forget your 6th-grade field trip, with those stern curators and dusty artifacts. We have a whole list of local museums that are a total blast for kids! With smiling docents, kid-friendly activities, treasure hunts and messy art classes, your kid will be anything but bored. Read our tips for making the most of your visit.

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Free Party at IKEA!

This just in! IKEA Costa Mesa offers free kids’ birthday parties from 4-6 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month, complete with entertainment, soda, cake and a gift! Tapped out of party ideas (and cash)? This might be just the thing! Get the details here.

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Passports to Fun!

Snag amusement park passes for your family this month and you can write “fun” on the calendar for the rest of 2012! Now’s the time to buy: many attractions are offering special deals exclusively for locals. Just show proof of Southern California residency and you’re in!

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Kids Eat Free!

There are places where kids eat free almost every day of the week. Seriously! Even more than one choice of restaurants. It’s like happy-hours for kids! From Mexican food and hotdogs to BBQ and healthy salads, we’ve got you covered in the Kidsguide Kids Eat Free Page. Woohoo!

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Rain, Rain, Come & Stay!

Don’t let stormy weather dampen your spirits. Button up your raincoat, slide on some galoshes and head outside with your kids for these rainy day rendezvous. Count worms, float a boat, challenge your kids to Soggy Soccer or…

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A Kid-Friendly New Year’s

Who needs a champagne toast at midnight? Ring in 2012 family style with a long list of kid-friendly New Year’s Eve celebrations, with everything from ginger-ale toasts to noontime ball drops. You’ll have your happy sleepy-heads in bed by 9 p.m. Celebrations are everywhere, including downtown Fullerton, the Great Park in Irvine, the Children’s Museum at La Habra and more!

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Do-It-Yourself Gifts

With a few simple supplies and a little creativity, your kids can create one-of-a-kind holiday gifts for coffee lovers, bookworms, desk jockeys, sweet tooths and other family and friends. With easy instructions, get them all wrapped up in an afternoon.

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Gingerbread Make-Overs

Take a break from holiday shopping and start a sweet-and-sticky tradition this week by building a gingerbread house with your kids. Whether you have 20 minutes or all day to play, you’ll frost your way to some finger-licking fun with our kid-friendly tips, tricks, recipes and decorating ideas. Keep reading to start your creation.

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Timber! Tie Up a Tree

The turkey leftovers are gone and your to-do list is already needling you to get a Christmas tree. Make this year’s tree hunt an event to remember by chopping down your own at cut-your-own tree farms! We found them locally, in the countryside with a wide range of trees –– even on a farm accessible only by the Christmas Tree Train.

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Anything-but-Black Friday

Conquering the crowds to scout out Black Friday deals may be your idea of fun, but it probably isn’t your kid’s. Treat your offspring to some day-after-Thanksgiving revelry while you shop, with these local offerings that include a Shop and Drop Day Camp, hourly drop-off childcare and lots more.

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Gobble Up Some Fun!

With all the shopping and cooking, it’s no wonder kids can get lost in the turkey trot we call Thanksgiving. But with a little planning this week, you can make sure your little ones have just as much fun as you do on the biggest family holiday of them all.

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Thank a Veteran

Veterans Day is much more than just a day off from school. It’s a great opportunity to teach your kids how to show respect, support and kindness to the men and women who have served – or are still serving – our country. Read on for some great ideas from volunteering at a local hospital to foster military pets.

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Free Museum Daze

Many local museums offer free admission days at least once a month. So no matter what your schedule or budget is like, you can plan your calendar around fun, educational activities for you and your family without breaking the bank. With 15 museums to choose from, you’ll find hands-on museum fun ranging from art to science!

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Carved to Perfection

It’s days before Halloween and you’re staring at a big fat pumpkin and one excited little kid. Here’s how to choose, design, prep, carve and preserve a one-of-a-kind jack o’ lantern that will wow your brood and impress the neighbors for days.

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Pumped-Up Pumpkins!

Make your perfect-pumpkin hunt an event to remember with a jaunt to one of these pumped-up pumpkin patches. Your kids will go out of their gourds with games, rides, ponies, petting zoos, bounce houses, face painting and much more!

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Boo!

Have you “boo-ed” yet? It’s a great way to get the family into the Halloween spirit. Boo neighbors and friends. It’s easy and we’ve got step-by-step instructions, from poems and signs to boo baskets and goodies.

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Cool Stuff for Kids

We love stuff. It’s what we look for every day at Kidsguide –– fun stuff, educational stuff –– stuff that enriches the lives of kids and families. So image our delight when we found Bart King, the “king” of stuff and author of 11 books. Read on as he shares his faves, from dork albums and underwear tricks to how to win at arm wrestling.

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Fall/Winter Issue is Here!

We’re so excited to share all the great “stuff” in the newest issue of Kidsguide! We’ve got fun stuff, educational stuff, resourceful stuff––all the stuff to make parenting and family life easier and a lot more exciting. (Excitement includes amazing underwear and arm wrestling tricks and an awesome contest.)

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Stop The Madness

With school in full swing, getting kids out the door can be a free for all. Time to calm the morning madness and Kidsguide is here to help. We’ve got tips and suggestions for making your mornings more zen-like than a class full of yogis, including a printable morning checklist.

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Homework Help

Now that the school year is back in full swing, that means homework assignments are here too, and all the headaches that often go with them. If you have a child that struggles to get their homework done, or even get their homework started, Team Kidsguide can help. We’ve got some tips and resources you will want to know about!

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Thinking Outside the Box

It’s that lunch-making time of year––kids are back at school and it’s up to you to make sure they’re getting the proper nutrients. While making a lunch every day has a tendency to become monotonous, we found five awesome ideas that will turn packing a lunch into a fun activity that you and your kids can do together.

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Everyone Loves a Surprise

Now that the school year is beginning, and your family is getting back into a routine, it would be nice to surprise your kids with something unexpected. Team Kidsguide has some easy (and budget-friendly) ways you can give your kids a little break from their new schedules and have some fun.

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Poppin’ Popsicles

Celebrate the last few weeks of summer with these easy-to-make, inventive Popsicle recipes! We found some really cool ideas from Malted Milk Ball Pops to these Orange-Banana Smoothie Pops. And better yet, we found some great ways to freeze ‘em without using an extra fancy Popsicle mold!

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Camp Kidsguide Week 4

This week the counselors at Camp Kidsguide thought campers should not only experience “Campy” performances, but take in the sights and sounds of a professional show as well. We know while this sounds great to campers, it can make parents cringe at the thought of pricey theater tickets. Lucky for them, Team Kidsguide has done their research and found some great ways to afford a professional show.

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Camp Kidsguide Week 3

This week campers, get ready to get wet! We’ll be playing water games –– and these aren’t the games your parents played. We have new ones that are fun and easy to learn: Splash Volleyball, Freezing-Water Tag, Beach Towel Balloon Toss and a Water Balloon Back-to-Back Dash. Game on!

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Camp Kidsguide Week 2!

It’s field trip week here at Camp Kidsguide! This week we’re taking a cool ride to cool off to see cool Arctic Foxes! We’re taking the Aqualink water taxi to the Aquarium of the Pacific. Come and join us! We’ve even got coupons for the taxi and a free child’s admission to the Aquarium.

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Camp Kidsguide!

Welcome to Camp Kidsguide! For the next four weeks you, and your friends can follow Team Kidsguide on our Facebook Page and participate in our virtual camp. Each week there will be a new theme with fun activities posted daily – crafts, games, field trips, even a final performance week!

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Splish Splash!

On hot summer days a splash in the water always seems to cure the “it’s-hot-and-there’s-nothing-to-do” blues. We know it’s not always convenient, or affordable, to take the kids to a big water park. Fortunately, many local parks now offer some very “cool” water features for families to enjoy.

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Discounted Fun at the Fair!

The OC Fair officially opens on Friday, July 15th and you know your kids will be asking to go during it’s month-long stay. And, we know you would love some tips on making it a “Fair-ly” cheap experience. Marla Jo Fisher, a staff writer for the Orange County Register, has compiled an awesome list on how to do this.

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Kids Bowl Free!

When the weather gets hot, what could be better than a game of bowling in an air-conditioned facility? A free game of bowling! Select bowling centers around the country are participating in the Kids Bowl Free program. The program is designed by bowling centers to give back to the community and provide a safe, secure, and fun way for kids to spend time this summer.

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Happy Birthday America!

Nothing marks the beginning of summer quite like a Fourth of July celebration. This week Kidsguide will help you find the best places to honor our country’s independence. Team Kidsguide has put together an easy-to-use Fireworks Guide for 2011; giving you a list of Fourth of July festivals and fireworks shows that are sure to make your celebration complete.

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Welcome To Our New Site!

Over here at Kidsguide, we like change. And, as you can see we’ve totally embraced it with our new site. We invite you to poke around and explore the new features: The Blog, where we introduce cool things weekly; The Calendar, an easy-to-use format that lets you find events by date; and The Directory, the ultimate A to Z guide for family resources.

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Yipee! The Calendar’s Out!

Summer is here and you know what that means…ninety days of figuring out what to do with the kids. Luckily, Kidsguide Summer Calendar has arrived. It’s bursting with over 620 fun events. Free concerts? Got ‘em. Over 100 outdoor movies? Check. Fourth of July ideas (including picnics, parades, carnivals and fireworks), oh yeah. We’ve got it all!

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Movies for a Buck!

Family movies for only a buck! Kids are entertained, moms/dads save money while being comfortably cooled in the air-conditioned theater. Hey, that’s the often-discussed and seldom-realized win, win! There’s even lots of theaters – Regal and Krikornian – and movie titles to choose from too! Yay!

Insider tips: Get there early! Also visit theater websites and join their clubs. Membership is free and they offer free and discounted goodies!

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Got Yummy Milk?

Hot summer days equal cool summer drinks. Two-time national barista champ, Heather Perry, has teamed up with GOT MILK to create creative, calcium-rich recipes to make with your kids! We’re talking pure deliciousness: Red Velvet Frappes, Tiramisu Shakes and Honey Bee Lattes! Get your free recipe booklet. Enjoy!

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