Shop Handmade for the Holidays!

Full disclosure: I'm a maker, a craft show organizer, and a craft show frequenter. I love the handmade! Ottawa has an amazing and vibrant maker-scene. We are so blessed to have such a fantastic and varied community of folks who make everything from handmade chocolates, funky jewellery, great stuffed animals, and pretty much anything else you could imagine. I am one of the founders of Craftalicious (December 10 this year!), and while you won’t find me there this year sitting behind a table hawking my wares, I hope to run into some of you at Ottawa’s awesome shows. While I certainly can't promise you no crowds (these craft shows can be busy!), there are many reasons to do your holiday shopping at craft shows this year.

• You are guaranteed to find a one of a kind item for everyone on your list. I have bought handmade lip balm, handmade soap, hot chocolate mix, gift cards and tags, fashion accessories, art, kitchen accessories, kids' toys, kids' clothes and many other great items at local craft shows. I have considered buying many, many more items, from kids' chairs made from recycled hockey sticks and hand sewn lingerie, and pretty much everything in between.
• By shopping at local craft shows you're supporting local industry and independent owners.
• Chances are good that you're supporting a mompreneur.
• You will be amazed at the selection and impressed by the creativity.
• You will get a chance to chat with the person whose hands made the items in front of you. How amazing is that?
• Lastly, and certainly not least, this year marks the launch of Ottawa’s very first CRAFT CRAWL.

Oh yes – it's kind of like a pub crawl but it involves crafts (ok, and no beer).

Six fantastic shows are part of the Craft Crawl, and they kick off on Saturday, November 4^th. They are:

• Urban Craft, November 5, 10am-2pm, 1233 Wellington St. W
• Handmade Harvest, November 4 & 5, 4-9pm (Fri) 10am-4pm (Sat), Almonte Old Town Hall, 14 Bridge Street
• Glisten!, November 19, 10am-4:30pm, 1233 Wellington St. W
• Sandy Hill One & Only, November 20, 10am-4pm, Sandy Hill Community Center, 250 Somerset St. E
• Idle Hands, November 26, 10am-5pm, St. Luke's Anglican Church, 760 Somerset St. W
• Hintonburg Artisan Craft Fair, November 26, 10am-5pm, 1064 Wellington St. W
• Urban Craft,  December 3, 10am-2pm, 1233 Wellington St. W
• Craftalicious, December 10, 10am-5pm, St. Matthew's Anglican Church, 217 First Ave.

Here’s how it works:

1. Pick up your passport at Urban Craft on November 5, or any show along the way.
2. Get your passport stamped at each of the shows listed on the passport
3. Collect 4 stamps or more to be eligible to win the giant prize package
4. Turn in your passport at Craftalicious on December 10 to be entered in the prize package draw!

Hope to see you among the crowds supporting handmade in Ottawa! Happy shopping!

*****

Donna is a wife and mom of two girls who is an avid and talented crafter! You can follow her on twitter here.

Dovercourt Recreation Centre's Saturday Night Date Night

by Vivian

I have a confession: it's been almost two years since I have had a "date night" with my husband.

You remember dates right? Where you can go out for a meal without having to bring along a stuffed animal or cut up food into bite-sized pieces for someone else?

We don't have a go-to 'night out' baby sitter, nor do we have family in the city who'll willingly take on our Jr. VP for the evening, so you can only imagine how happy my husband and I were when we learned that Dovercourt Recreation Centre added Saturday Night Date Night to its Fall programming this year.

From Dovercourt's schedules (it's helpfully found in their Pre-Schooler & Parented, School Age and Adult programs under "For Couples" on the first page):

Our new Saturday Night Date Night is a WIN WIN!

Drop the kids with us for an exciting evening for them and a night out for you. We'll start the night off with programmed water activities and a swim in the pool between 6:30 and 7:30 pm. Next up is Preschool room for a healthy snack and a wide range of quieter dry land activities designed to wind down the night and get ready for bed. Drop off is between 6:00 - 6:30 in the Preschool room, and pick up is between 8:30 - 9:00 in the Preschool room. $16 or 2 preschool Pass punches. Ages 5-12.

You pre-register and pay for the date night of your choice through Dovercourt's online registration system and then count down the days until date night.

We made sure to sell Date Night to our Jr. VP as being a special night for him. ;)

Unfortunately, the first date I tried setting up was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we were the only ones registered, so date night was cancelled. *Cue the sad trombone* :(.

Our date was moved to the following week and lo and behold, two days before Date Night, we were told once again that our Jr. VP was the only one enrolled, but they wouldn't cancel it again. The program director, Allison, did suggest that I tell some friends so that it could be a bit more fun for our son. After a couple of emails and a few late registrations, there were actually 8 kids who enjoyed Date Night this past Saturday! (The program can accommodate up to 20 kids per date night.)

While my husband and I were enjoying each other's company and an excellent sushi meal, our son and the other Date Night kids were under the watchful eye of Dovercourt staffer Amy. They had the pool all to themselves for an hour! Most kids requested life jackets and ours specifically asked to stay in the shallow end near the slide. After the pool, they were dried up, dressed, and herded back to the Pre-School room for a juice and granola bar snack, followed by a craft activity. Our son isn't big into crafts and as it turns out neither were some of the other kids, so when we came to pick him up at 9pm, he was happily playing with Dovercourt's large collection of games and toys. (One note about pick-up: you can pick-up your children between 8:30pm - 9pm, but after 9pm there is a $5 charge for every 10 minutes that you are late.)

{Photo caption: The Jr. VP, playing with some of Dovercourt's games before we left him for our date. I would have gotten photos of him playing in the pool, but that would have defeated the idea of going out on a date!}

{Photos - Character Creative's Jr. VPs working on the after-swim beading craft}

A good time was definitely had by all! The Jr. VP is excited to have another Date Night, though I doubt he's as excited as I am!

P.S. It turns out that Dovercourt isn't the only one in the city who offers this type of program. If you're in Barrhaven, or perhaps seeing a movie in Barrhaven, you can also check out A Gym Tale's "Kids Night Out!". If you know of any other similar programs in the Ottawa-area, I'm sure other date-deprived parents would love to hear about them!

Vivian is mom to the five-year-old Jr. VP of Blend Creations, the company she and her husband run together.

Kids in the Capital Garage Sale! CANCELLED

Unfortunately we have had to cancel the sale for this year. Thank you to those who expressed interest in taking part in the sale. Looking for more space in your house? Trying to find a way to sell your baby or kid toys, clothes and gear?

Starting your fall and winter shopping? Looking for baby gear in a fun environment?

We've got the answer. Kids in the Capital is pleased to announce our first Community Garage Sale.

When: Saturday September 17, 2011 from 9am- 1 pm.

Children's activities from 11am-1pm

Where:  Quality Inn Orleans (3363 St Joseph Blvd, Orleans) map

How:

If you'd like to sell your used items, spaces are available for $25 with a table, and $20 without. There will also be a limited number of tables available for businesses at $40.

If you're looking for great deals just come on by and check it out!

Please contact kitc.sale@gmail.com for more information and to book a table. We look forward to seeing you there!

Rideau Canal Festival

 by Zach The Rideau Canal is 202 kilometers long, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and now it has its own party. Well, to be accurate, it’s had its own party for four years now. This year the Rideau Canal Festival is on from July 28 to August 2, and it’s in full swing.

I stopped by with my two kids, the girl (4) and the boy (2) on a really, really hot Saturday afternoon, July 30. We visited the Confederation Park site at about 1:30pm, right in the middle of the children’s activities held that day from 12:00 to 3:00. We were practically on time, by our standards.

The festival isn’t just at Confederation Park, though. There are activities at the Bytown Museum / Ottawa Locks site, and the Dows Lake Pavilion, so there’s plenty to do. Check their website at www.rideaucanalfestival.ca for detailed scheduling information.

The fee for entry into the Confederation park for adults is $5, but kids under 12 are free, so it was still a pretty cheap deal for us. The pathways around the main green are lined with a variety of booths, there’s a main stage, and, when we were there, a number of entertainers were making their rounds on foot.

The crowd was pretty thin at first, maybe because of the high temperatures in the middle of the day, but there were still kids clustered around the Scottish-accented stilt walker / juggler / comedian. The girl watched for a bit while the boy napped in the stroller, and then we moved on – I don’t think she quite knew what to make of a ten-foot high man in tartan tossing juggling clubs in the air.

We bumped right into a balloon animal artist, who whipped up a dog on a leash for the girl and a monkey in a tree for the boy. A face painter was also on hand, and the girl got a sparkly butterfly on her arm and the boy got a rocket ship on his face (at least until they went swimming later that afternoon…).

We were right in time for Irish dancing, performed by students of Trillium Academy of Irish Dance. The girl loves watching dancing, so she sat on the green in the sun for a while and watched, while I stood behind her and tried to use my shadow to try to keep her cool(er).

The Ottawa Art Gallery has a small tent set up with loads of markers, paper, paint, and stencils for on-the-spot masterpieces. The boy and girl had never used stencils before, and they started producing pictures like an assembly line.

We checked out a few of the exhibitors at the Energy Ottawa Ecosphere Environmental Fair, though I think the boy was more excited to be in a really big tent than to learn about recycling electronics in an environmentally responsible way. We got going just as a band started to get going, though we were able to listen to the music for a long time as we walked back home.

Zach is a dad to a four year old girl and two year old boy. He sometimes blogs. He is often blogged about by his wife over at Capital Mom.

Dancing in the Streets. The Ottawa version.

by Brie On a hot Friday afternoon we headed to the National Gallery of Canada with friends. But instead of going into the Gallery we sat outside under some trees and watched some free modern dancing. It was a pretty perfect way to pass the time.

Dancing in the Street is a project from The School of Dance that has performers and musicians dancing in streets across Ottawa. In their bright yellow t-shirts, the dancers preform contemporary dances playing off of each other and the space that they are in.

My four year old loved watching the dancers. In fact she loved it so much she asked me if she could get up and dance.

I was thrilled to see her exposed to some contemporary dancing. I have always loved modern dance because of its freedom of movement. Watching the Dancing in the Street dancers and then watching my daughter I realized that she has been doing modern dance all along!

We saw Dancing in the Street in front of the National Art Gallery, but you can check out their schedule and find them at different locations throughout the summer.  

Have you watched a Dancing in the Streets performance?

Brie is the mom of a 4 year old daughter “the girl” and 2 old son “the boy”. You can read her blog at Capital Mom.