Resolution: Get Organized!

I’m a total sucker for “Clean House,” the Style channel’s reality show in which host Niecy Nash encourages folks with incredibly messy homes to “stop the foolishness” and take control of their clutter.

In that spirit, I’m happy to announce Playdate’s MESSY CLOSET CONTEST. Just in time to help you tackle that New Year’s Resolution to get more organized, we’re teaming up with the professional organizers at Clutter Busters to help one lucky mama get a handle on her kid’s clutter.

Entering the contest is easy, and you could win a free closet makeover from Clutter Busters! Yay! We’ll take photos and show off your new, neatly organized closet — and your kid — in the magazine.

To enter, here’s what you need to do: Tell us in 100 words or less why your kid’s closet needs help. If you’d like to include photos as evidence, we’d love to see them!

Be sure to include your name, address and a daytime telephone number. The deadline to enter is Feb. 6.

You can submit your entry via email: contest@playdateyakima.com.

Or, mail us at Playdate, P.O. Box 9668, Yakima, WA 98909.

Happy New Year!

Looking for Christmas lights?

One of my favorite Christmastime traditions is taking a drive to look at the holiday lights and outdoor decorations. I guess I’ve been doing this since before I could say the letter L. My mom says some of my first words were “pretty ites.”

Anyway, my friend Kim at On Magazine does a pretty good job rounding up some of the best and brightest homes in the Yakima Valley. It’s a work in progress this season, but here’s the first list.

Also, the name is a mouthful, but I hear the Sunnyside Lighted Farm Implement Parade is worth a drive to the Lower Valley. There are more than 50 entries signed up for this year’s parade, which starts at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6. The parade has received some national acclaim and this year celebrates its 20th anniversary. Read more about that here.

On Sunday evening, Yakima’s own Holiday Light Parade parade will begin at 5:30 p.m. Put on some gloves, pack a thermos of cocoa and enjoy the show as the parade travels down Yakima Avenue from Sixth Avenue to Third Street. Afterwards, enjoy a choral performance, a visit from Santa and the lighting of the city’s Christmas tree across from the Capitol Theatre, 19 S. Third St.

We’ve got winners!

Wow! We had a lot of entries for our coloring contest. And, actually, we didn’t bother to count them. But I’m going to estimate it was about 100. Anyway, we had a drawing for the winners this morning. They each won four vouchers to see “Elmo Makes Music” next week at the SunDome.

Congratulations! We hope you enjoy the show.

Savannah Dutton, 2, of Selah

Dalton Gurnard, 7, of Union Gap

Madison Brownell, 9, of Selah

Naomi Rottman, 7, of Yakima

Brooklynn Frey, 3, of Selah

Courtney Stratton, 6, of Yakima

Keaton Pitzer, 2, of Selah

Nathan Varnum, 4, of Selah

Agustin Serrano, 6, of Union Gap

Noah Shirley, 6, of Toppenish

It’s December! Already?

Yikes!  Is it just me or is time really flying this year?  I’m not even back yet from our trek to southern Oregon for Thanksgiving (in Portland at the moment) and already it’s December! Just three and a half weeks ’til Christmas…

Luckily, I’ve been able to get a jump on holiday shopping while visiting this land without sales tax. An 8.2 percent discount on everything I buy! Yippee! If you’d like to track shopping news in the Yakima area, check out my friend Mai’s new blog, Shop Talk.

Then, finish your shopping so you can spend the rest of the month doing fun stuff with your family. We’ve compiled a list of holiday activities for the latest issue of Playdate. Online, you’ll find the same info here.  

My family will be officially kicking off the Christmas season this coming weekend at Mountain Meadow Christmas Camp. Be sure to say hello if you see us there!

OK, it’s time for us to hit the road and head back to Yakima now. I’m looking forward to going to work tomorrow to see all your entries in our Sesame Street coloring contest. There’s still time to enter! Read more about that here.

Hustle up and enter our contest!

Hey all — Just a quick reminder that Wednesday is the deadline to enter our coloring contest. We’re giving away 40 tickets to see “Elmo Makes Music” next week at the SunDome. Ten winners (selected in a random drawing) will win four tickets to take their family and friends to the show.

The coloring page with all the details is inside the latest issue of Playdate, which you should be able to find near the entrance of most Yakima-area grocery stores and pharmacies, as well as doctors’ offices and family-oriented businesses.  The Herald-Republic’s doors lock at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, so turn ‘em in before closing. 

Personally, I’m looking forward to taking my kids to see Bert (of Ernie fame) do The Hustle. If you’d like to read more that, please read the story I wrote for last week’s ON Magazine.

1, 2, 3… 40 free tickets! (bwahaha)

I’ve always loved The Count and his batty-bats on Sesame Street.  So you can bet I’m excited to announce that I’ve got not one, not two, not three… but 40 free tickets to see The Count, Big Bird and other Sesame Street favorites when the touring show “Elmo Makes Music” comes to Yakima in December. (High-five to Adam Kramer for making it happen.)

Here’s the deal: In the next issue of Playdate, which hits stands on Nov. 26, there’s going to be a coloring page. Rip it out — or, make a photocopy (we totally understand if you don’t want to ruin your mag). Have your kid color it and bring it to the Herald-Republic right away.  The deadline is Dec. 3, so you’ve only got a week to enter.  We’ll pick 10 winners to receive four vouchers for free tickets to the show. (Click here for all the dates, times and whatnot.)  Good luck!

Welcome to the new Playdate Web site

We’ve spent the past week working on a head-to-toe makeover. What do you think?

I’m hoping that the new site will make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for.  On the home page, you’ll find all the latest updates, the event calendar and my new blog (this is it).  If you like, you can sign up to receive our e-newsletter that will send you an e-mail when we post something new (only one e-mail per day).

Along the top of each page, you’ll find the menu of categories where we’ll keep lots of useful info, like where to find clubs for moms, birthday party ideas and great family day-trip ideas.  I’m still trying to get everything looking just right, and I still need to add photos to a lot of the posts. But feel free to poke around.

If you have any comments, feel free to email me or click on “leave a comment” next to the article.

Anyway, I hope you like what we’ve done. Personally, I think it looks pretty good. I’d like to give a big shout out to my Web gurus — Matt, Scott and especially T.J. — for all their help.  I definitely could not have done it without you.

— Sara Bristol