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Jessica Jones-Gorman

10 Family-Friendly Ways to Celebrate New Years Eve

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New Year’s Eve will also have a different vibe this year but there are still many fun options to kick 2020 to the curb. Here’s our top 10:

Create a New Year’s resolution jar

Have each family member write down a few New Year’s goals (eating healthier, getting better grades, improving that jump shot) and toss them into a mason jar or bowl. When the clock strikes midnight, read each of the resolutions out loud.

NYE scavenger hunt

Compile a list of a dozen or more hard to find household items and break up into teams. Whoever finds and gathers all of the booty wins a prize.

Create a time capsule.

It’s not exactly a year we want to remember but it might be worth documenting 2020 for the grandkids. Pull together your favorite memories of the quarantine in the form of photos, recipes and other keepsakes. Throw in a few masks and a roll of toilet paper if you can spare.

Order takeout

Forget the cocktail wieners and serve something everyone will enjoy. Use this night to create a takeout sampler, ordering burgers and fries from five different fast food joints or a grab a few different specialty pies from a couple of different pizzerias. Have each of your family members vote on their favorite – maybe you’ll find a new hotspot to add to the weekday rotation.

Host a family slumber party

Drag all of your pillows and blankets into the living room and crash for the night. The kids will always remember the time mom and dad ate popcorn and slept on the floor.

Host your own ball drop.

For the first time in 114 years, crowds will not be allowed to gather to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Instead, the annual tradition will be virtual. Event organizers haven’t offered much more detail, only that a small group of celebrities and performers will be in attendance. So why not host your own ball drop? Hoist a piñata and attack it at midnight or suspend a bunch of balloons overhead and then release. How’s that for the new normal?

Set up an NYE Zoom

Since gatherings of more than 10 people are currently discouraged, a celebratory group computer conference might be the solution. If midnight is too late for such a celebration, schedule one with the grandparents for 8 p.m. Perform your own private countdown with lots of horns and noisemakers and break out the confetti if you dare.

Make a bubbly mocktail

Memories are built on the details. In addition to filling your table with delicious goodies, craft a signature mocktail for the kids. It can be as simple as a Shirley Temple (lemon lime soda, maraschino cherries and a splash of grenadine syrup), just make sure you pour it in a fancy glass.

Build a dessert bar

Fill it with ice cream, hot cocoa, or lots of little pastries to sample – it doesn’t have to be fancy, buy up all of the Hostess cupcakes and Devil Dogs you can find. Even on NYE comfort food is king.

Dress it up

After spending almost a full year in yoga pants, it’s time to break out the fancy clothes – if they still fit. If not, dress up the yoga pants with lots of jewelry and a full face of makeup. Best foot forward as we enter 2021!

Ideas for Winter Break 2020

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Like most things 2020, this year’s winter break will be different. Most family getaways are postponed, many communal play places are closed and all of the high-touch museums and educational learning centers now have restrictions. But if you’re desperately searching for ideas to keep your children busy during the holiday vacation, there are options.

Mask up and get out

If you’re seeking in-person entertainment, there are still opportunities for that.

At the American Dream shopping and entertainment complex in East Rutherford, N.J., Big SNOW is open daily with new health and safety precautions in place. Billed as North America’s first and only indoor, year-round, real-snow ski and snowboard resort, the attraction allows guests to ski and snowboard on a temperature-controlled mountain in two-hour increments. Daily packages, which include equipment rental and helmet, are priced at $69 per person. All guests must wear face coverings and gloves and the number of tickets sold is currently limited to accommodate for social distancing. Online reservations are required. For more information or to book your experience, visit bigsnowamericandream.com.

Rab’s Country Lanes is currently operating at 50 percent capacity, utilizing every other lane. And while no events are currently scheduled due to coronavirus restrictions, the bowling alley is encouraging families to visit during winter break.

Other in-person ideas include: iPlay America (check out their family-friendly New Year’s Eve celebration), Showplace Entertainment Center, the Staten Island Zoo, the American Museum of Natural History (see their spectacular Holiday Origami Tree featuring 1,000 origami cranes symbolizing peace), and the New York Aquarium, public skating sessions at SI Skating Pavilion or the WWII Veterans War Memorial Ice Skating Rink at Clove Lakes Park.  Be sure to call ahead to make reservations and for information on Covid-19 safety regulations.

Host a video game marathon

Like it or not — especially if you were lucky enough to land a Play Station 5 or Xbox Series X — video games will be a big part of your winter break. But no worries if those big ticket items did not find a space under your tree. There are plenty of educational and fun apps that can be downloaded to your children’s devices for free. No judgment here, during winter break screen time is our friend.

For a few moments of sanity, download LEGO Tower, an app in which your little builder can construct, operate and manage their own apartment complex or business. Minifigure residents live, work and play there and you can visit your friends’ LEGO towers and trade items.

There’s also Super Stickman Golf, an award winning physics puzzler that allows you to swing your way through over 280 holes using special abilities like sticky balls, ice balls, air brakes and nitro balls.

Of course there’s always Crossy Road and Fruit Ninja, a couple of old-school faves that help click the boredom away.

And if you want to take a family approach to your gaming, try out Spaceteam, a “cooperative shouting game” for phones and tablets that encourages players to work together to prevent their ship from exploding. Players are assigned a random control panel with buttons, switches, sliders, and dials and have to follow time-sensitive instructions that are sent via your teammates. 

Take a trip to the Louvre

The historic French museum might be on the other side of the globe, but you can tour its famed galleries and get a close-up look at the Mona Lisa herself virtually. Guests can click through the Louvre’s empty halls, zooming in on most paintings and sculptures. A retrospective to commemorate the 500-year anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci which was scheduled to run from October to February has turned into the museum’s first virtual reality experience, bringing life to the artist’s most famous masterpieces.

And the Louvre is not the only museum to offer virtual tours.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is allowing kids to take a ride in a time machine at www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/metkids/time-machine, choosing their own adventure based on timeline and geography.

The British Museum of the World offers a pretty cool look at mummies and kids can view dinosaur skeletons and other interesting artifacts at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Virtual Tour | Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Staten Island Zoo Launches Sensory Inclusive Experience for Children with Autism

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The Staten Island Zoo in West Brighton recently partnered with Kulture City to become a certified Sensory Inclusive venue. Training employees to assist and accommodate guests with sensory processing needs, the Zoo also equipped the property with sensory bags containing KCVIP badges, fidget tools, noise cancelling headphones, sunglasses and other resources.

“If needed, our guests can borrow the bags at no cost to help them best enjoy the experience,” the Zoo noted in a statement. “We also have designated ‘Headphone Zones’ for those with auditory sensitivities, as well as ‘Quiet Areas’ for those who might need a safe place to cool down.”

Here’s some helpful information about the Sensory Inclusive Experience, including what to do if it gets too loud, how to handle free-roaming animals and more.

The zoo will also host a special Thanksgiving event on November 15. During the annual blessing of the animals participants will learn about Native American culture while drumming and dancing with the Red Storm Drum and Dance Troupe. Animals are given a Thanksgiving treat and visitors can assist zookeepers in the preparation. Tickets must be reserved online. Visit statenislandzoo.org for more information.

Fans of “New York’s Biggest Little Zoo” can  register now for a virtual 5K Fun Run/Walk to support their efforts to conserve wildlife and provide education to the public. Virtual runs/walks can be done on your own time with your family and friends and at your own pace. To register, go to goneforarun.com.

Stay updated on all of the fun events the zoo has to offer! Visit the Staten Island Parent Family Calendar at siparent.com/events. Be sure to bookmark the page and check back often for new virtual and in-person events all over Staten Island.

Want more info like this? Get our newsletters packed with ideas, events, and information for parents in Staten Island.

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Casa Belvedere Hosts Popular Italian Cooking Show

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The COVID-19 quarantine may have prevented live participation in Casa Belvedere’s popular classes and program offerings, but it has not stopped the Italian Foundation from sharing culture with the community virtually.

Turning to Facebook Live, the organization has been hosting a social media series entitled “My Dad Can Cook.” Starring Chef James Paone and his daughters Rosemary and Sophia, the 25-minute segments are hosted in Casa Belvedere’s Cucina Colavita where Paone and his teens demonstrate Italian-inspired meals using fresh ingredients from “Nonno’s Garden,” which is located on the grounds of the Cultural Center.

A temporary substitute for Casa Belvedere’s children’s culinary program, the organization says it hopes to resume in-person, socially distanced cooking classes for both children and adults soon.

“With the power of the internet and social media, we have been able to cast a much wider net recruiting participants,” noted Gina Biancardi, Casa Belvedere’s founder. “People from Ohio, Florida, Texas and California sign up for our classes and programs. I never imagined that a Texan would ‘attend’ an Italian class being taught, virtually, in Staten Island.”

New fall and winter episodes of Paone’s show are being planned, highlighting cold-weather soups and traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas specialties. For more information about the show and other programs at Casa Belvedere, visit www.casa-belvedere.org.

Want more info like this? Get our newsletters packed with ideas, events, and information for parents in Staten Island.

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Skate of Mind: Skate Parks in Staten Island

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Looking for a place to shred? Staten Island has a couple of metal and concrete streetscapes where kids can practice their tricks at local skate parks.

If your teen is a skater or BMX enthusiast, you’re probably aware of all of the ramps, rails and sloped terrain that the borough has to offer. Rugged, undulated pavement with a couple of parking blocks for tricks? Those types of unofficial hangouts are scattered across both the north and south shores. But what about some skate parks built exclusively for kids to shred? Staten Island is home to three.

Ben Soto Skate Park

Midland Beach Playground off of Father Capodanno Boulevard

Built and named in honor of Benjamin Soto, a Marine and Staten Island BMX enthusiast who was killed in 2001 during a tour in Japan, this park was opened in 2005 and originally included a number of professionally styled ramps built by Soto’s friend and fellow skater, Ed Pollio. The landscape of the park changed in 2011, however, when the NYC Parks Department deemed much of the equipment outdated and hazardous. The park was bulldozed and eventually rebuilt with a range of smaller posts and rails. Here, SI skaters will currently find an urban metal and concrete streetscape with posts and rails. The site is unsupervised and no liability waiver is required. Bikes, inline skates and scooters are allowed.

Read Next | The Top 10 Staten Island Parks

Faber Skate Park

2175 Richmond Terrace, Port Richmond

Located on the shores of the Kill Van Kull, this four-acre park is built on the former estate of the Faber family, who were best known for operating the first lead pencil factory in the United States. The site was placed under the city’s parks jurisdiction in 1928 and once included Staten Island’s largest public swimming pool. Overlooking the Bayonne Bridge, Faber Park was boosted by a $1.5 million rehabilitation effort in 1996, and the addition of a skate park in 2015. Designed by a group of 50 youths in partnership with Stantec’s Action Sport Group, the skate park features several interconnected circles that were arranged to take advantage of the site’s sloping topography. It’s scenic here – basketball courts and playgrounds are interspersed by grass, canopy trees and well-landscaped walking paths. This site is also unsupervised. It closes at dusk.

5050 Skate Park

354 Front St, Stapleton

The Island’s only indoor skate park, 5050 is owned and operated by Edward and Angelica Pollio, a husband/wife duo who met on the BMX scene. The 8,000 square foot location is currently closed due to COVID-19 regulations, but when opened 5050 features daily riding sessions for $14.  Helmets are required and all participants must have a waiver signed by a parent or guardian. Children under 11 years old need to be accompanied by an adult. 

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December 2020 Issue
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