If you did not enter the Barbie contest yesterday, here is your last chance!
Thanks to our friends at Barbie, we are offering two big gift baskets each with eight different Barbie dolls and six child admission tickets to The Barbie -I Can Be Event at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto! For more information about the event, click here to read yesterday’s blog post.
How do you win this great giveaway? All you have to do is tell us what your child wants to be when they grow up by sending an e-mail to win@canadianfamily.ca with “Barbie” in the subject line. The winner will be chosen today at 4:30 p.m.—so do not delay!
Remember to include your full mailing address in your e-mail so that we can send you the gift basket if you are the winner.
Good Luck!
**We are not responsible for travel or accommodation costs for winners from outside of Toronto.
Attention Barbie enthusiasts! The Barbie – I Can Be Event is going on this weekend at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. If there is a little dreamer itching for adventure in your home, then you can’t afford to miss this event!
In 51 years Barbie has held (and rocked!) more than 100 careers. Her most recent achievements, a Computer Software Engineer and News Anchor, was voted on by fans and announced in late February. The Barbie – I Can Be event seeks to inspire young girls to become everything they ever dreamed to be.
At the event young girls will be able to try on uniforms and learn first-hand about six different careers. Among the six featured careers are: surfer, vet and racecar driver. Then they can walk the “Career Walk of Fame” and receive a diploma from Barbie herself!
Also included in this special event is a historical career exhibit and a candy station!
The event is just two short days, this Saturday, March 20 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, March 21 from noon to 5 p.m., so don’t miss out!
Thanks to our friends at Barbie, we are offering two big gift baskets each with eight different Barbie dolls and six child admission tickets to the Barbie-I Can Be Event! The dolls included in the basket are:
How do you win this great giveaway? All you have to do is tell us what your child wants to be when they grow up by sending an e-mail to win@canadianfamily.ca with “Barbie” in the subject line. The winner will be chosen Friday afternoon. Remember to include your full mailing address in your e-mail so that we can send you the gift basket if you are the winner.
Good Luck!
**We are not responsible for travel or accommodation costs for winners from outside of Toronto.
Photo of Four Generations of Women by Jun's World, via Flickr (CC)
Today is International Women’s Day, a day to mark the achievements and strength of women all across the world, past and present. This year’s theme is “Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All,” something we feel pretty strongly about here at CF.
Here are a few ways you might choose to recognize International Women’s Day this year:
• Try lending a $25 micro-loan to a female entrepreneur in a developing country through an organization like Kiva.org. (A number of CF staffers loan through Kiva, and love the experience.) Involve your kids in selecting who will receive your loan, and discuss where they’re from, and what they’ll be using the money for—all of this information will be available in their profile.
• There are events celebrating women happening all across Canada—everything from art exhibits to galas to free concerts. Check the schedule here to find out what’s happening near you.
• Show your support while you shop! Rona has partnered with the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) and the Canadian Association of Women in Construction in honour of International Women’s Day, and from today until April 4, every Rona store will be raising funds for the CWF, and for ever $1 raised, they’ll donate the equivalent in labour and materials to renovating women’s shelters.
Happy Family Day! We’re off today celebrating with our families but thought we would give you a few ideas for fun Family Day activities in your province.
Calgary, Alberta
• Cardel Winter Carnival Between noon and 4 p.m. Cardel Place is hosting a free winter carnival complete with face painting, live entertainment and a free public skate (bring your own skates).
• Papa John’s Family Fun Day – Take your family to the Calgary Olympic Oval and enjoy a day of family fun for free (with a donation to the Calgary Food Bank)! Watch the Olympics with other families, enjoy indoor skating and a pizza lunch.
• Reel Fun Family Day – If you know a young film-buffs, you won’t want to miss the premiere of the Reel Fun Film Festival. The Festival runs from Feb. 15 – 22. In addition to showing some great films, there will be great family activities too!
Ottawa and Toronto, Ontario
•3rd Annual Beach BIA Family Day Festival – Head towards the Kew Gardens Park for free entertainment. A Petting zoo, magicians, a scavenger hunt and more!
• The Toronto Zoo is offering free admission for Children under 12 until Monday. All your child has to do is bring a Valentine for their favourite creepy crawly.
• Free Family Day at the Y – Enjoy free swimming, play YMCA games and meet an Olympian at any one of the eight GTA locations.
• Foster a Snow Angel – Families are invited to Parliament Hill in Ottawa to make snow angels. You can even personalize your snow angel with food colouring.
• If you can find a hill with enough snow, try tobogganing (after all, the family is the picture looks like they’re having A LOT of fun!)
• Malls designated as tourist attractions will remain open (e.g. Eaton Centre, Toronto; West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton)
• Take a few minutes and complete our 3rd Annual Reader Survey! You could win a Dyson vacuum or a KitchenAid stand mixer!
The exhibit is all about creative ways Canadians have reused existing materials to make something new, from First Nations’ reconstruction of European goods to, more recently, Douglas Coupland’s foray into artistry. Visit the exhibit on the ROM’s 4th floor. The exhibit closes January 31st.
To win one of two family passes (each includes two adult and two children’s tickets), simply post your best craft project, made using things you already had in your house. Please include your email address so we can contact you. We’ll pick winners tomorrow morning.
And for more great ways to creatively use things in your house, check out some of these great craft projects to get the DIY side of your brain working:
Over 1,900 people took part in a nation-wide campaign that encouraged Canadians to take “two minutes to remember” today at 11:00 a.m.
“This is a simple way for all of us to honour the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country,” says Andrew Cohen, president of The Historica-Dominion Institute, which invited everyone, whether at work, school or home, to take part in Remembrance Day silence. (Here at CF, we had two minutes of silence amongst ourselves, though there was no company-wide initiative.)
According to a new survey by the company, seven in ten Canadians also agree that the government should make it mandatory, not voluntary, for people to observe two minutes of silence every Nov. 11. What do you think?
It’s that time of the year again, The Children’s Trunk Show is rolling into Toronto (and Vancouver!) this Friday and Saturday and we are hoping to see you there. If you’re not familiar with the show, it is a fantastic showcase of local mompreneurs and their work-everything from personalized jewelry to ecofriendly shops (with loads of cool gear) and things you didn’t know that you had to have (like the winner of our 2009 Mompreneur contest). And, besides getting in a little early Christmas shopping it is often where we find inspiration for the items we fill the pages of CF with.
In Toronto, the show is happening in the Distillery, in the Fermenting Cellar, Buildings 6 & 7, 55 Mill Street. In Vancouver, find it at the Vancouver Museum, 1100 Chestnut Street. Get all of the details here.
And hey, we’ve got some free passes left for the Toronto show, so if you are in the area send us a quick note to win@canadianfamily.ca for your chance to win. Winners will pick up the tickets from the front desk at the show.
The Children’s Trunk Show is coming up next weekend (Friday, November 6th and Saturday November 7th) in Toronto and Vancouver. It’s a great consumer show organized by moms for moms and full of local mom entrepeneurs: we find so many great (and by “great” we mean, adorable, beautiful, useful, helpful, innovative, and so on) products there every single year. And the keenest among us even get a jump on Christmas shopping!
In Toronto, the show is happening in the Distillery, in the Fermenting Cellar, Buildings 6 & 7, 55 Mill Street. In Vancouver, find it at the Vancouver Museum, 1100 Chestnut Street. Get all of the details here.
The best news? We’ve got passes to give away! Lots of ‘em! Want one? Just email us at win@canadianfamily.ca with “Children’s Trunk Show Tickets” in the subject line. Please indicate if you’re from Toronto or Vancouver. The first 7 entrants from each city will win!
This was the dress we picked for CF's Editorial Assistant
Even though our minds are still circling around the fact that Saturday is Halloween and we will be soon shooting the most fabulous Halloween shoot for next year’s October issue (stay tuned!), we did manage to sneak away to a couple of the Spring fashion shows at Toronto’s LG Fashion Week.
So far the highlight? David Dixon, and even Barbie by David Dixon. We found both lines to be very wearable (for women of many shapes and ages), and the Barbie collection was surprisingly chic and work appropriate for the notorious lady of leisure (think Victoria Beckham meets Audrey Hepburn). We were even able to pick out an outfit for everyone on our team that would be flattering and work appropriate, and we are already planning our Spring splurges on the feminine yellow chiffon skirts and tops and the structured jackets from his namesake collection.
But we have to admit, we left the Joe Fresh Style show a little dazed and confused. While the music was superfun and the models were generally upbeat (especially Theodora Richards–Keith Richards’ daughter–who had an endearing first walk stumble), and we know that this was only a small tidbit of what is in store for us come spring, we didn’t find much that we could wear, or would really want to wear. To start, there was a lot of underwear (or at least what we hope was underwear) and bras over top, which we definitely hope is not a sign of fashion to come. There were also bloomers, gingham bloomers to be exact, hot pants and then more gingham. And there was a puzzling straw hat that looked more like Amish headgear than a sun accessory. And all of this culminated into what can only be described as farmhouse chic.
Looking for ways to show the people who care for and teach your child how much their hard work means to your family? Here are 3 easy ideas:
1 Your provider has a big hand in what your children learn each day. Trace your child’s hand and help her write what she likes most about each of her daycare/child care workers/E.C.E.s so she can give them out to staff.
2 Work with your child on a small homemade gift such as cookies, muffins or a cake that can be shared by staff.
3 If it is a home daycare, consider buying flowers or a small gift if you know something about the provider’s hobbies or interests.
Even just a heartfelt “thanks” is sure to be appreciated.
It’s that time of the year again, The 
