Host your child's birthday party at a playground/pavilion at Skidaway Island State Park

A plus of living in our area is you can host a children’s birthday party outdoors – even in fall. But the one challenge is finding a playground with access to bathrooms and a pavilion.

Here’s a fun suggestion for a playground children’s birthday party from SouthernMamas reader Katie Kelley: she’s having her child’s 3rd birthday party at Skidaway Island State Park.

The state park has a playground that’s suitable for smaller children; has several picnic tables available or you can rent one of the pavilions for $55 for the entire day. There are two pavilions right next to the playground with access to the bathrooms.

You can make the reservation online. Parking passes for cars is $5. You can add up the cars and then pay later so that our guests don’t have to pay, Katie emails. You also can bring your own food/snacks/cake/decorations/goodie bags, etc. For more info, click here.

Rain, rain go away.

Check out SouthernMamas’ rainy day children’s activities for Savannah, Richmond Hill, Pooler, Hilton Head Is., Bluffton and beyond.

Click here for the list of suggestions. Tell them SouthernMamas sent you!

Buggy maker Maclaren USA is recalling about 1 million strollers sold in the United States over the past decade after receiving a dozen reports of children’s fingers being amputated when caught in the stroller’s hinges.

Maclaren announced a voluntary recall with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission this week. The recall involves all Maclaren single and double umbrella strollers sold in the United States starting in 1999.

Maclaren is offering consumers a free hinge-cover kit that corrects the defect in the stroller. Models affected include Volo, Triumph, Quest Sport, Quest Mod, Techno XT, TechnoXLR, Twin Triumph, Twin Techno and Easy Traveller.

If you have one of these strollers, click here or call toll-free between 9 AM- 5 PM, 877-688-2326. Both the site and phone lines have been inundated with requests; keep trying if you can’t get an immediate response.

Savannah baby and child photographer Nicole Williams loves children.

Which is why her popular photography business – Memories for Keepsake Photography – is sponsoring a family in need. Nicole, who in addition to being a talented photographer is also a mother of seven, believes the joy of Christmas should be experienced by EVERY child. And the spirit of Christmas should be in every adult who has children of their own.

Memories for Keepsake will sponsor a family by purchasing items on the children’s lists, stockings, perhaps a Christmas dinner etc.

From Nov. 7 – Dec. 4, 10 percent of all proceeds on portraits, growing plans and giftcards will be put into a special fund for a family in need, or a family who has been hit by the recession.

Memories for Keepsake is taking nominations from now through December 4. The family will be notified by Dec. 6, so they will have time to collect Christmas lists from their children.

To allow all families the opportunity to contribute to this family AND to purchase quality portraiture for themselves, family and friends, Memories for Keepsake is offering 30 percent off of ALL giftcard purchases made from now through November 21 to be redeemed Jan. 1-May 30 2010.

What a fabulous gift to give someone for the holidays AND help another family. So, if you purchase a $100 gift certificate from now through Nov. 21, you’ll pay $70 for $100 worth of portraiture and you’ll be donating $10 to the family Memories for Keepsake sponsors.

To book a session or nominate a family to sponsor, contact Nicole Williams 912.596.0832 or email info@memoriesforkeepsake.com. Click here to see more examples of Nicole’s extraordinary work.

Lunch always tastes better eaten outside.

Especially when it comes in my Nolita Stripe Tasty Lunch Tote – proof that good things do come in small packages. I love my Tasty Lunch Tote from BUILT NY, which also sells other reusable bags and unique kids’s lunchboxes. (BUILT’s Munchler’s Kids’ Lunchboxes are adorable.

The Tasty Tote keeps soup warm and carrot sticks cool. Even better, BUILT’s products are made of neoprene (no vinyl or PVC used), are machine washable, affordable, fun and stylish. The totes are so roomy and have such sturdy zip closures, I can stuff my son’s water bottle inside, with a few juice boxes and both our lunches with no trouble closing it.

This week, a SouthernMamas reader will win the Tasty Lunch tote in the color of her choice.

Check out the rules below to enter to win:

Island Child – a sponsor of SouthernMamas – wonderful selection of Corolle and Madame Alexander dolls and accessories in time for the holidays.

Check out the collection of dolls and accessories at the Island Child Web site here. You can order online or at the Island Child store in the Village at Wexford on Hilton Head Is. 1.888.705.5437 or 843.686.5437.

Island Child – owned by children’s clothing gurus Steve and Senny Powell, who have seven adopted children and have fostered seven children – has been dressing Lowcountry tykes for 25 years

Send Island Child a favorite photo of your Island Child and he or she could become ISLAND CHILD’S NEXT TOP MODEL.

Kelig Neal!

Congratulations. Kelig wins a free Kindermusik semester of classes for her baby.

Kindermusik  has three new parent-and-me music classes starting this month at three locations – Mondays in the Sandfly area, Tuesdays on Wilmington Island and Saturdays on the Southside. The classes run November through January 2010.  

To register for Kindermusik, visit the Coastal Empire Savannah Kindermusik Web site and click on the Kindermusik for Ages 0-7 button. Or call 912.728.KEYS (5397)

Click here more information.

Check out Kindermusik’s sister site 88 Keys, for piano tuning, piano service, sales/rentals, even piano moving. The family-owned business also buys, sells and RENTS pianos. You can rent a spinet piano for $1 per day. That’s right  -$30 a month for a piano. For more info, click here or call 912.728.KEYS.

Attention Savannah and Hilton Head Is. moms groups!  Here’s a fun idea for an event: have a Tippy Toes Pottery party.

Tippy Toes is an amazing concept developed by local mompreneur Amanda Reed, who uses your child’s footprints, hand prints and finger prints to create a whimsical painting on pottery.

Think large lobster serving platter, which the claws of the lobster are a child’s footprints or a magical garden with flowers made of a child’s handprints. The artwork includes the child’s name and year.

I was thrilled to attend a Tippy Toes open house today, where Amanda made prints of my two children’s hands and feet to create creative and sentimental presents for the grandparents!

Check out some of the gifts Tippy Toes can create for you here.

Tippy Toes Pottery travels around to events. Hosting a tippy toes event is a great way to get your friends together to make precious memories.

Hostesses receive 10 percent of all event sales toward the purchase of their pottery. Find out more here.

Become a fan of Tippy Toes Pottery on Facebook here.

Heated discussions about childhood vaccines are seen on national news channels and are being talked about more openly among parents.

To help sort through the confusion of safety, rights and choices, the following topics will be discussed during an upcoming vaccine seminar hosted by the Savannah Autism Support Group Meeting at the pediatrician office of Dr. Ramon Ramos, 313 Eisenhower Dr.:

• Vaccine laws, recommendations and exemptions
• Mercury/ thermarosal and other additives in vaccines
• Questions to ask your physician or pediatrician: informed consent
• Predisposition to vaccine reactions
• Strategies to increase immune function if you choose not to vaccinate

The meeting will be 6:30-8 PM Tues. Nov. 10. Attendees will go home with a packet of information of guidance and support materials to help you make an informed decision for your child. The presenter is chiropractor Steve Ranicki of Pooler.

For more info, call 912-748-1506 or email Jennifer@ranickichiropractic.com. RSVP requested: Jessica at SavannahGAandAutism@yahoo.com or call: 667-9060.

“Joy to the World” will be one of the tunes playing in your head after enjoying Disney On Ice presents Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo.

It’s just one of the Motown hits featured in the ocean adventure of the clownfish Nemo, playing this weekend at Savannah Civic Center . Remaining shows are:
Sat. Nov 7 @ 11 AM
Sat. Nov 7 @ 3 PM
Sat. Nov 7 @ 7 PM
Sun. Nov 8 @ 2 PM

The show is well-worth braving all those trinket and cotton-candy concession stands, with beg-your-parents-for $15 Nemo hats. But kids quickly lose interest in the goodies once the fish on skates hit the ice.

The production includes all your child’s favorite characters, ever-forgetful Dory, Bruce the shark, the overprotective Marlin, “super-dude” turtle Crush and Nigel the pelican.

Beware, though, there are a few, small fireworks in the first half of the roughly 90-minute show, which temporarily upset a few kids near my family. We saw the show courtesy of Feld Entertainment, the Disney on Ice promoters which provided the recent ticket giveaways on SouthernMamas.

Tickets are available @ etix.com OR 1-800-351-7469.

A slew of open houses at schools happening this month. If you are looking into schools for the 2010-2011 school year, below are a few open houses to check out. If you’d like to have a school included in this list, please email the info to anne@southernmamas.com:

Open House for Prospective Families @ at St. Andrew’s School
noon-3 PM Sun. Nov 15
St. Andrew’s, a college prep school for Pre K3 through Grade 12, is hosting an Open House at the school at 601 Penn Waller Road on Wilmington Island.
897.4941.

Open houses at Savannah Christian Preparatory School
2:30 PM Sun. Nov. 15 at the Lower School (preK-5th), Chatham
Parkway Campus, 1599 Chatham Parkway
10 AM Thurs. Dec. 3 at the Lower School (preK-5th), Chatham
Parkway Campus, 1599 Chatham Parkway
7 PM Mon. Nov. 9 at The Lower School (K-5th) at DeRenne Avenue Campus,
2415 E. DeRenne Ave.
10 AM Wed. Dec. 2 at The Lower School (K-5th) at DeRenne Avenue Campus,
2415 E. DeRenne Ave.
912.234.1653 ext 106

Bouncy house lovers, take heed: Bouncing Angels , the beloved Savannah indoor play place at Victory Drive and Skidaway Road, is undergoing some fabulous changes to make it into an even more fun play space and birthday party headquarters.

The indoor inflatable play & party entertainment center @ the Victory Drive Shopping Center, 2123 E. Victory Drive, no longer charges higher weekend rates!  Now, you pay the same price every day for kids: $5 plus tax for tots 2 and younger; $8 plus tax for the 3-and-up set.  

Coming this month and in December, more inflatables and less distracting arcade games. That means kids will spend more time jumping and playing than begging Mom and Dad for money to play the coin-operated arcade games. New inflatables include Dora and Diego and a farm, plus more slides.  

Bouncing Angels also plans to add two Wii Sports games, yet another fun way for children to exert all their energy.

New discount cards are also available so after 10 visits, your next THREE visits are free. You receive a discount on admission with three or more kids.

In addition to regular walk-in, open play, Bouncing Angels also is available for birthdays, field trips, mommy clubs, group events etc. Birthday parties are a snap at this monolith of play. If you’re planning to host a birthday party there, ask about the free party deal: after 15 paid admissions of $16 each, you earn a free birthday party with up to 16 kids (a $259 value).

Birthday are becoming much more special at Bouncing Angels, too. Coming soon: thrones for the birthday boy or girl (like the one pictured here) as well as a personalized “Happy Birthday” banner with the child’s name.  Birthday guests receive unlimited jump time – so they can bounce off all that birthday cake.

Many popular features of Bouncing Angels will remain including the free Wi-Fi and frequent jump cards, which allow you to save on admission fees.

Bouncing Angels hours:
10 AM-8 PM Mon-Thurs.  
10 AM- 9 PM Fri.- Sat.
noon-8 PM   Sun.

Check out their Web site here. For more info. call: 912.691.8797.

The Coastal Health District, which includes Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long, and McIntosh Counties, has received 1,300 doses of the injectable form of the H1N1 influenza vaccine.

Due to the limited amount of vaccine, local health departments are targeting two of the priority groups recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
• Pregnant women because they are at higher risk of complications and can potentially provide protection to infants who cannot be vaccinated;
• Emergency medical services personnel because they are essential critical response partners and can be a potential source of infection for
vulnerable patients.

County Health Departments are sharing the vaccine with some local obstetricians and gynecologists who initially requested vaccine from the state of Georgia, but have not yet received any. Women who are pregnant are encouraged to contact their personal physician to check on H1N1 vaccine availability.

In other words, if you’re looking for the shot-version of the swine flu vaccine for your kids, you have to wait.

“We do not have enough quantities at this time to give the vaccine to everyone who wants it and we ask for the public’s patience and understanding as we move forward with our vaccination efforts,” said Dr. Diane Weems, Coastal Health District Chief Medical Officer. “Eventually, we hope to have enough vaccine for everyone.”

Last month, the Coastal Health District received a limited supply of the H1N1 Influenza nasal spray vaccine, available for children. Click here to find out more.

Health departments will not charge for the vaccine; however Medicaid, Medicare and some private insurance can be billed for a nominal administration fee.

Yes, there’s still time to have professional portraits shot for your holiday cards – without blowing your budget.

Savannah photographers Heather Shiver and Siobhan Egan are offering mini-photo sessions this weekend in Forsyth Park, Sat & Sun. Nov. 7 & 8.

The 30-minute sessions cost $50 and include the session and a CD of edited images.

To book a session, contact Heather, a SouthernMamas sponsor, via email at info@heatherimagery.com or call 912.844.6379.

Check out Heather’s amazing work here.

Your waistline, your children’s teeth and your children’s teachers will thank you. Here’s where you can donate that excess Halloween candy,

*Operation Gratitude sends care packages to U.S. troops overseas. You just pay to ship to California, but an extra $11 donation covers overseas postage.

*Any Soldier and Operation Shoebox will also let you donate candy.

*Ronald McDonald House Charities accepts candy donation for kids. Search for a local branch here.

If anyone knows of any local shops, food pantries, pediatric wards, nursing homes, churches or synagogues that have candy drop-offs, please comment below or on our SouthernMamas Facebook page here. Also, anyone have any tips on ‘encouraging’ kids to donate their candy?

This week, a lucky SouthernMamas reader will win a free Kindermusik semester of classes for her baby.

Kindermusik  has three new parent-and-me music classes starting this month at three locations – Mondays in the Sandfly area, Tuesdays on Wilmington Island and Saturdays on the Southside.

These particular classes in the giveaway are open to babies ages newborn to 20 months, although Kindermusik has classes for ages 0 to 7. This week’s giveaway is for one of the three 0-20 mth. old classes, which start in November and run through January 2010. It can only be used for one of those sessions and can’t be redeemed for cash.  A minimum of five children are required for each class.

Children and parents in the class will move, fly and dance with an exciting curriculum called ‘DoSiDo’. The value of the giveaway is $104, which is the cost for the class and includes tuition through January 2010 and home materials. Find out more here.  

Check out the rules below to enter to win:

Don’t want to wait for the giveaway to register for Kindermusik? Enrollment is limited, so sign up soon. For exact details on times and dates or to enroll online TODAY, visit the Coastal Empire Savannah Kindermusik Web site and click on the Kindermusik for Ages 0-7 button. Or call 912.728.KEYS (5397)

A Kindermusik session makes a great  gift. Kindermusik “gift certificates” are available for a semester of classes. Click here more information.

Check out Kindermusik’s sister site 88 Keys, for piano tuning, piano service, sales/rentals, even piano moving. The family-owned business also buys, sells and RENTS pianos. You can rent a spinet piano for $1 per day. That’s right $30 a month for a piano. For more info, click here or call 912.728.KEYS.

Check out the fabulous prices @ See Jane’s Beauty Bar, Savannah’s ultimate chic and cheeky destination for exceptional manicures, pedicures, waxing, brow grooming and facials.

Custom facials from as low as $20. Brow shape waxing for $15. Custom built lashes for $20. Plain Jane Manicure for $15. Signature manicure for $20.

Almost as enticing as those prices: BEAUTY BAR HAPPY HOUR is every Thursday night. Receive a complimentary cocktail with every service, treatment or purchase from 5-9 PM.

See Jane Apothecary + Beauty Bar is @ 323 W. Broughton St. Click here for more info. Tell them SouthernMamas sent you! Tel. 912.234.1080. Email: info@seejaneshop.com

See Jane is also Savannah’s hottest socializing space for group bookings such as bachelorettes, bridal showers, girls’ night out. Click here for more info on excusive use of See Jane. For all bookings, the hostess gets a free pedicure.