Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in sacramento, CA

Birthday goodies

April 14, 2009

 have always made a big deal about goodie bags for my kids birthday party.  I think it comes from memories I have from my own childhood.  One party I remember in particular.  I must have been about seven years old and the mother who hosted the party was kind of a hippy.  Anyway, we received these goodie bags filled with these amazing fairy and gnome stickers and other little trinkets that pleased me so much.  Birthday parties are wonderful, but after watching another child open a mountain of presents there is nothing like the ride home, discovering a world of special little goodies just for you. 

In the past I have gone to great lengths to create birthday favors that would last.  I have made t-shirts with each child's name painted in sparkly puff-paint and cooked up bags of homemade play-dough from my grandmother's recipe book.  However, this year, due to a thin wallet and a shortage of time I have decided to go back to the basics.  This year we bought goodie bags covered with colorful balloons and are filling them with little plastic army men, erasers shaped like dinosaurs, crayons, stickers, plastic whistles and lollipops.  While I know all this stuff will eventually end up in landfill, I also know that each of my son's friends will spend at least an hour in pure delight. 

With that said, I want to share with you my very favorite favor store in Sacramento, it's called Wishing Well.  A general party supply store, Wishing Well has that five-and-dime feel I remember from my childhood.  Each store has a section filled with giant bins of goodies that range from $.06 to $1.00 each.  They also have every kind of balloon, plates, cups, banners, decorations and anything else you can think of for a birthday party.  All the prices are really reasonable and the kids have a ton of fun picking out the goodies and counting out one for each guest. 

Wishing Well locations include Roseville, Downtown and the College Oak area (Madison Ave. off I-80).  You can also find them online at www.wishingwellstores.com.

Party planning and penny pinching

by Kim Mordecai

January 21, 2009

I realized today that both of my son's birthdays are fast approaching. This time of year is always a hectic one for me because I don't choose to do the easy Chuck E. Cheese party where there is virtually not prep time and no clean up. Because we have always had home birthdays, this is what my son's expect and therefore, this is what their loving mother delivers. However this year, times are  Read more...

Part 3: 99 Fun Things To Do

by Kim Mordecai

October 17, 2008

Ta-Da! #'s 61 -99 of 99 things to do with your kids in Sacramento ! Read them over, pick one out and have a great weekend! 61. Go garage sale-ing on a Saturday in Midtown 62. Feed baby salmon at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery 63. Take a kid's art class with Monart Roseville or Folsom 64. See 4 th of July fireworks show at Cal Expo 65. Enjoy homemade cake at the Old Time Fiddle  Read more...

Party Eats

by Kim Mordecai

September 10, 2008

In keeping with my recent birthday party obsession, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite food secrets for kid's birthday parties. I am an avid hot dog and pizza kind of girl for kid's parties, so you won't find a lot of fancy recipes here cause one or the other of those two will please just about everyone. I have become a big fan of Little Caesar's pizza because  Read more...

Clever Kiddie Cakes

by Kim Mordecai

September 08, 2008

If you are looking for a way to spice up your preschoolers birthday, one great way to make your it extra special with a unique cake. When I was growing up my mom had one of those old 3-D Wilton cake molds of a panda bear. She would clamp the two sides of the mold together, fill it with cake batter and bake it upside-down. After the big cake bear had cooled she would spend literally hours  Read more...

Little Kids, Big Screen Thrills

by Kim Mordecai

August 26, 2008

I have two children with two very different personalities one is brave to the point of occasional stupidity, while the other has bouts of fearfulness that defy all reason. Because of this I often find myself balancing between tempering the aggressiveness of one while attempting to coax the other out of his shell. So if you had asked me yesterday if I thought it was a good idea to take my  Read more...

Bouncing back-to-school

by Kim Mordecai

August 12, 2008

We have one week left until school starts and instead of the balmy fall weather I remember at back-to-school time as a kid, it is H-O-T. My boys and I are trying to enjoy these last days of summer vacation to the fullest, and a necessary part of that enjoyment is finding ways to stay cool. Aside from the obvious: hitting the river in Sac or Folsom, Folsom Lake or the plethora of community  Read more...