Celeb moms gathered for a great cause on Saturday. Huggies hosted an event with the charity organization Baby2Baby, which helps families with small children who are in need of diapers and other supplies. Those in attendance at the event included Rachel Zoe (and her husband Rodger and son Skylar), Molly Sims (and her son Brooks),
Selma Blair, Eric Dane & Rebecca Gayheart and their daughters Billie and Georgia, Busy Phillips, Alyssa
Milano, Ellen Pompeo, Sarah Chalke, Johnny Knoxville & family
and Jessica Chastain.
And even if you didn't get to attend the star-studded garden event, you can still help! For every tweet using
#HuggiesBaby2Baby from now through Mother's Day, Huggies Every
Little Bottom will donate an additional pack of diapers to help Los
Angeles families in need.
Caption: Huggies Snug and Dry and Baby2Baby Mother's Day
Garden Party
Jumpstart, a national early education organization, brought New York Times best-selling author, acclaimed actress and producer Tina Fey and Cindi Leive, Editor-in-Chief of Glamour Magazine to its 8th annual Scribbles to Novels event at Cipriani Wall Street. The event spotlighted the work of these luminaries while bringing attention to Jumpstart’s mission of working towards the day every child in America enters kindergarten prepared to succeed.
The Honorable Cory A. Booker, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey joined Jumpstart at the event. Just six months ago, Jumpstart launched its program in Newark and now 43 Corps members from Montclair State University are serving 105 children at the Early Childhood South School.
“Jumpstart helps young children develop the essential skills they need to be ready for kindergarten and a bright academic future. We know that children from economically disadvantaged communities tend to fall behind and stay behind their more affluent peers,” said Sharon Reilly, executive director of Jumpstart in the Tri-state area. “Jumpstart is an organization that helps close this achievement gap before it starts. We are deeply thankful to Tina Fey, Cindi Leive and Cory Booker for their help in celebrating Jumpstart’s 20th anniversary and for building much-needed awareness to this urgent issue.” Jumpstart’s Scribbles to Novels brought together an audience of 600 supporters and raised more than $1million in support of Jumpstart’s program in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
To learn more about Jumpstart's programs and how you can get involved, click here.
Mega-stars
including Katy Perry, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, One Direction, Kristen
Stewart, Dwayne Johnson, LeBron James and Johnny Depp reigned as this year’s
favorites, winning top honors at the live telecast of Nickelodeon’s 26th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards,
Saturday, March 23, 8 - 9:30 p.m. (ET/tape delayed for West Coast). Hosted by the biggest kid in Hollywood, Josh
Duhamel, the awards were broadcast from the Galen Center at USC in Los Angeles
where kids honored their favorites from the worlds of film, music, sports and
television. This year, a record-breaking
387 million votes were cast around the world in 22 categories.
In the spirit of the star-studded slimefest, Duhamel kicked off
the celebration by singing a special Kids’
Choice Awards version of Pitbull’s smash hit “Don't Stop the Party,” as he
made his way from the dressing room to the main stage. Experiencing a series of random celebrity
encounters along the way, Duhamel
thumb wrestled with Mike “The Miz” Mizanin, was tackled by Jerry Trainor dressed
as a Yeti, wore the same dress as Fergie, scatted with Steven Tyler and played an elaborate game of Rock Paper Scissors
with Megan Fox, only to be transformed into Pitbull himself at the end.
For the first time ever,
a special camera gave the fans a 360-degree view of all the action on stage. Also a first for the messfest, Nickelodeon
debuted the “Kids’ Choice Mustache Cam,” a take on the popular “kissing cam,”
which featured kids and celebs including Miranda Cosgrove, Debby Ryan and
Bridgit Mendler wearing fake funny mustaches, with Duhamel singling out Judd
Apatow for having the best real mustache. In
a display of his athletic prowess, Duhamel hit the stage wearing Dwight
Howard’s LA Lakers uniform and challenged Howard to a “Slime Dunk” contest with
the winner, Howard, getting a face full of the green goo. With the wave of a magic wand,
Sandra Bullock and Neil Patrick Harrisattempted
to create a slime-free zone, but their plan backfired and the two were honored
with a dual sliming at the presenters podium.Duhamel teamed up with Nick
Cannon for the Tandem Buttkicking Zipline Sumo Spectacular in a slime-tastic
finale thanks to blimp recipient Dwayne Johnson, but Josh
Hutcherson and Amanda Seyfried took the prize for the most epic sliming on the show.
In
addition to “Don’t Stop the Party,” global superstar Pitbull performed his
explosive hit “Feel This Moment” with Grammy Award-winning vocalist Christina Aguilera
and a crew of mini lookalike dancers, and found himself drenched by a massive slime
fountain triggered by Aguilera at the end of the song. International music sensation Ke$ha rocked
the stage amid confetti and disco balls, with a medley of “We R Who We R” and her new single “C’Mon.” Not to be outdone, Duhamel, decked
out in a milkshake costume, got his groove on with Jaden Smith and kids in the
audience during a special impromptu “Kids’ Choice Shake”
dance party.
And in case you missed it last night, the live broadcast of Nickelodeon’s26th Annual Kids' Choice
Awards encores Sunday, March 24 at 12 p.m. and 9 p.m. (ET/PT). Replays of the awards will also air on
TeenNick at 10 p.m. (ET) on Monday, March 25, and on Nicktoons at 9 p.m. (ET) on
Tuesday, March 26. Nickelodeon’s 26th
Annual Kids’ Choice Awards
will be available on Nickelodeon On Demand beginning Sunday, March 24.
We’ll be honest: We had read the reviews of the previous incarnations of Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark. To say that we were pleasantly surprised when we went to see a recent performance of the Broadway musical is a huge understatement. Perfect for both adults and kids, Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark is a visual thrill ride for audiences of all ages.
A true rock musical, we were amazed at the high-flying antics (pun intended) of the actors. Unlike other shows where the audience sits passively watching the show, Spiderman and the Green Goblin fly above the crowd in head-turning, did-they-really-just-do-that sequences.
And for all the negative reviews about the musical’s infamous glitches, the performance we attended went off without a hitch. Spiderman flew through the air like a natural arachnid. Even the battle scene between Spiderman and the Green Goblin—in mid-air, nonetheless—was cool and intense.
Visually, the show is beyond anything we’ve seen. The set design looks like a larger-than-life comic book, and the costumes are at once ornate, beautiful and sometimes scary. While you might think that this is a boys’ musical, there’s lots for women to love too, like a sweet love story between Peter Parker and MJ (whose vocals were phenomenal!). But by far, our favorite song from the show was “A Freak Like Me” performed by the Green Goblin, with assistance from The Sinister Six.
Yes, Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark has been touted as the most expensive Broadway musical created—and it was well worth it. A fun family show, it was one of the best musicals we’ve seen in a long time.
Not even a snow storm could stop Dancing With The Starschampions J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff from free-styling and meeting their fans yesterday at Mohegan Sun. Flying in from the West Coast, the duo battled all-day travel delays on Saturday to make sure they got their dancing feet to the East Coast for Mohegan Sun’s Reality Check event on Sunday (Jan 22nd) where they wowed the crowd with a special performance and later hosted a fan meet & greet.
Says J.R, expecting his first child this May with girlfriend Diana Gonzalez-Jones.: “Since the show has ended, the biggest thing we miss is performing together. We are excited to be here to have another opportunity to do it again...Karina [has] taught me how to speak through dancing.”
For more info on The Mohegan Sun, please visit mohegansun.com.
Chocolate lovers everywhere will love sinking their teeth into The Chocolate Show New York. Celebrity Parents had the delicious experience of attending the show for the second year in a row, and it simply doesn't disappoint. There's something for chocolate fiends of all ages. Kids can listen to Pablo Cartaya read from his book Tina Cocolina and then eat some yummy treats in the Kids Zone, while fashion-forward types can be amazed by the gorgeous (and edible!) chocolate dresses and costumes. Other folks can get their fill of every variety of chocolate imaginable as they visit vendors' tables and sample delicacies from around the world. You'll definitely be in a heavenly choco-coma after you leave The Chocolate Show; we sure were.
Having famed toy store FAO Schwarz open an hour early...just for you. Seats in Lincoln Center to watch the MACY's Thanksgiving Day Parade float by--without braving the bitter cold. See Lady Gaga perform. These are just some of the fabulous (and priceless!) VIP experiences that Mastercard is offering with its new Priceless New York program. Cardholders can get preferred access to sporting events, shopping and dining, New York City style.
Celebrity Parents went to the Mastercard Priceless New York event held at FAO Schwarz. A native New Yorker, I have to say that going into the normally bustling toy store before anyone else gave me a huge thrill. My kids wandered through the aisles (without being bumped by people and their bags!) and were able to soak up the beauty of this legendary landmark. We were given a fab tour of the store by an animated toy soldier, and the kids ate up (literally) the fill-it-up-to-Sugar-Rush candy bag in the FAO Schweetz section.
Click below to see the cool commercial.
We all had an amazing time, and the once-in-a-lifetime experience was truly priceless. The kiddos are still talking about it, which makes me want to whip out my Mastercard and book our next Priceless New York experience.
For more info on Mastercard Priceless New York program, please click here.
I’m a scaredy-cat by nature. I don’t like rides that go fast, and I’ve never been on a rollercoaster in my life (and don’t have any plans to go, either, thank you very much.) And my fam is pretty much of the same mindset, too.
So I don’t know possessed us to try The Beast, a 30-minute pure thrill NYC boat ride that races down the Hudson River at about 70 mph. As soon as we boarded, the kids started to panic. “How fast is this going to go?” asked my son, as we pulled out and practically flew down the river. Our captain blasted awesome 80’s metal music, and when we weren’t holding on for dear life, my hubby and I were fist-pumping the air and having a blast!
Yes, there were moments when it felt like we were slightly airborne, which we probably were. The Beast stopped in front of the Statue of Liberty so we could take some photos. And then we were told to hang on, because the second half of the ride was going to be more intense than the first half. We rode back to the dock…but not before the captain stopped short, causing a huge tidal wave of water to hit us! He also swung the boat around 360 degrees…twice. It was terrifically terrifying all at once!
When we got back to the dock, everyone was soaked, relieved, and giggling, too. We LOVED riding The Beast, and your family will, too. It’s one of those true NYC adventures that should be on the top of your must-see list, whether you’re a native New Yorker or not. Anyway, isn’t it cool to tell someone, “Hey, I rode The Beast?”
For more info, or to purchase tickets, please click here.
The name certainly doesn't lie. The Gazillion Bubble Show in NYC has literally a gazillion (or more) bubbles in the exhilirating 75-minute show. Created by the Yang family (parents Ana and Fan, brother Jano, and son Deni), the bubble artists create a spectacularly exciting and beautiful show that stimulates the senses and truly makes you feel like a kid again.
We went on the night that Deni performed, and we were totally blown away (no pun intended). Deni blew bubbles of all shapes, sizes and colors; some were then filled with smoke, others rotated around the others. It was true visual artistry, something you can tell the bubble artists take pride in. Kids were invited up on the stage to participate in various segments of the show; Deni had a genuine way with the children that helped compliment the show and made everyone feel included.
Each part of The Gazillion Bubble Show is more thrilling than the next. At one point, the entire audience was under the sea, thanks to beautiful wafting laser beams and a billion bubbles (which, by the way, smelled sooo good!). And we absolutely LOVED the part where Deni channeled his inner Neo (complete with black sunglasses) and turned the stage into The Matrix with green lasers and awesome music.
The Gazillion Bubble Show is one not to miss. You'll find yourself reaching your hands up to catch and pop the beautiful bubbles, laughing along with your kids and having a fabulous time. We sure did.
The Gazillion Bubble Show is playing at The New World Stages in NYC. For more info and to purchase tickets, please go to www.gazillionbubbleshow.com.
There was no sweeter place to be recently in NYC than The Chocolate Show. Held at the Metropolitan Pavilion, The Chocolate Show was a decadent experience for chocolate lovers of all ages. A beautiful chocolate train on display welcomed guests, and little ones got to paint designs with chocolate, thanks to the Young Chefs Academy. The crowds were ten-deep to see famed chocolatier Jacques Torres build a gorgeous Christmas tree made from the good stuff. Patrons got to sample bite-size chocolates from all over the world, as well as local favorites such as Lily O'Brien's and Rogue Confections. And do we need to mention how good it smelled at The Chocolate Show? We purchased a warm super-sized chocolate chip cookie from Jacques Torres and literally licked the wax paper it was delicately wrapped in.
The Chocolate Show is travels worldwide, so be sure to get tickets the next time the show is in your town! You'll feel that for a moment, you are in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, and you have the Golden Ticket. For more info, click here.
