holiday

Smarties, we’re super excited to announce that the Smarty Party will be in the Belk Carolinas’ Carrousel Parade on Thanksgiving Day! The Smarty Party will be joined by her sister vehicle, The Macaroni Mobile, both sponsored by our friends at Bob Mayberry Hyundai in Monroe.

The Belk Carolinas’ Carrousel Parade, a tradition since 1947, is one of the largest get-togethers of Carolinians that takes place during the year. The parade boasts participation from both Carolinas and touches approximately half a million people from the 22-county metro area. In 2008, TravelMuse.com recognized it as the fourth largest Thanksgiving Parade in the United States.

It’s our favorite time of year in Smartyland ~ that time when we give and give BIG we will! This one will put the swag in your swagger this holiday season as we kick off the much anticipated 2012 Smarty Swag Bag holiday giveaway. We have scoured the QC and deliver our favorite digs to you, just because we {heart} Y-O-U, Smarty Charlotte!

We present over $2,000 worth of fabulous Smarty Swag…

A $50 Gift Certificate for Fatman Design products at Alphabet Soup Monogramming Boutique!

Need a last minute personalized gift for a special teacher, friend, or family member? Let Alphabet Soup help! Delight your family and friends with a personalized gift from their top-selling holiday line, Fatman Designs (product featured here!). Fatman Designs offers personalized cosmetic bags, coasters, license plates, key chains, luggage tags, cutting boards and t-shirts.

One lucky CSP reader will win $50 gift certificate for Fatman Design products.

Visit Alphabet Soup and let them help you with your last minute gift needs. Happy Holidays from Alphabet Soup!

Alphabet Soup Monogramming
Located in the Morrocroft Shopping Center
3900 Colony Road Suite B
Charlotte, NC 28211
704-554-1616

Did you ice skate as a kid? You know I’m a Charlotte girl – I’ve lived here all my life – so ice-skating wasn’t something we did very often. It was a very special treat. My dad would haul my sister and I over to Eastland Mall maybe once or twice a year where we’d be absolutely giddy as we’d lace up those rental skates. Our visions of perfect figure eights were quickly squashed the minute those blades (and our rear ends) hit the ice, but we didn’t care. Those were some of my favorite memories as a kid – ask any other native and I bet they’ll say the same thing.

I know a lot of you aren’t from the South. I bet lots of you grew up ice-skating on ponds (that seems like an urban legend to me, but whatever you say). Your childhood memories are probably overflowing with days spent on the ice, and you’re probably a little scared that your kids won’t have the same memories because I can guarantee you, you DO NOT want to ice skate on any of our ponds.

Well, you’re in luck. Eastland is gone, but now Charlotte’s got something so much better: Extreme Ice Center. And I can’t think of a better time than the holiday season to get the whole family bundled up and on the ice. Newcomers and natives alike will love this experience.

By our Smarty friends at Discovery Place

What if we told you an amazing adventure awaits full of hot cocoa, yummy seasonal snacks and a special showing of The Polar Express?

You might just think a trek to the North Pole is in the cards. Guess what? You don’t need to travel far to enjoy a winter wonderland of fun. Discovery Place is giving away tickets to PJs in North Pole City, an extravaganza full of family-friendly festivities. Enter for a chance to win tickets to the next Charlotte holiday tradition; guaranteed to be more exciting than Aunt Helen’s holiday fruitcake!

Just a hop, skip (or sleigh ride) away, celebrate the science of the season with cool hands-on experiments, special story time, as well as arts and crafts. Only a Grinch would miss this event!

Smarty Kaylee has been talking about her psychic, Mary Beth Wrenn, for years. I was always intrigued but easily distracted. Until yesterday, Halloween Eve.

Kaylee arranged for the both of us to visit with Mary Beth to have our cards read and perhaps a visit from the “other side.” To be honest, I went in extremely apprehensive but completely open-minded. I had zero expectations, in fact, I really wanted to prove her wrong. Until I walked into the room and met Mary Beth for the very first time. I felt relaxed and connected to her almost immediately.

My kids have cut me a major break this year with Halloween. Clay is going to be a ninja, sporting the same costume his cousin wore last year (his idea). Ella James wants to be a black cat. Finally, I get to mash the easy button!

Since they did me a solid and I didn’t have to scramble for obscure and costly costumes, I had some time to pimp my pumpkin, Pinterest style. (pumpkin from a parking lot and not a farm.)

I do not love carving a pumpkin. I do, however, love the way pumpkins look when they are carved, all lit up at night. However, it’s a lot of work so my husband is chief carver and my job is to critique his work. Know your role, right?

I’m crushing on painted pumpkins because it’s more evergreen than a carved one (you might see this one on my foyer table waaay past Halloween) and it’s moderately easy. I am super proud of myself and my arm hurts a tiny bit from patting myself on the back. My husband helped a little bit by doing the polka dots and touching up the “B”, which he said looked fuzzy from far away…what-the-hell-ever that means?

If I can do this, I know you can do it better, Smarties! Here’s what I did.

By Dr. Andrew Johnson
Southpark Pediatric Dentistry

It’s that time of year again and Halloween is less than a week away, along with that never-ending bag of candy that finds its way into your home after a night of trick-or-treating. There are a few things that I typically tell my patients and their families in order to help minimize cavities:

• Separate out all of your chocolate/milk chocolate candy from everything else. This is the best selection to let kids have as it has milk (calcium) in it and melts quickly with no gooey residue on the teeth.

Smarties, don’t let the title “Scarowinds” scare you away from Carowinds if you have little ones. They have something for everyone of all ages in this fun-packed theme park right in our backyard. Last weekend, I took our fam to Carowind’s Howl-O-Fest’s Boo Blast and the kids had just that.

Howl-O-Fest’s Boo Blast is a way for kids to show off their cute costumes and celebrate the fun of Halloween without the scary. It brings Halloween themed shows, attractions, and hands-on activities to the plaza just outside the Carowind’s Paladium Ampitheatre every Saturday and Sunday in October. Costumes encouraged! Add this Halloween fun to the 12 acres of rides and attractions in Planet Snoopy and you’ll have some serious happy campers!