Family Fun at momstown 5th Birthday Bash in Victoria!

WOW, momstown Victoria rocks a Birthday party!!! Thanks to weeks of planning, incredible support from our sponsors, unwavering support from the momstown team and HQ, hard work from volunteers, friends and family, our momstown 5th Birthday Bash was a huge success!

From left to right: Chris Munkacsi and Michelle Underdown of The Munkacsi Group, myself, my sister Mel, and May. Volunteers not pictured: Melissa Alegria, Charles Hogg, Ian Matthews, Lisa Underdown, Mi-Young Jin, Ava, Cara, my mom Lolita, plus Kate Wall & Charlotte King-Harris for helping prep loot bags and prizes!!! 
Thank you for all your hard work and support!!!

Our loot bags from Today's Parent were bursting with goodies from our sponsors, including a full box of Orville Redenbacher popcorn, Iron Kids vitamin samples, Nature Clean wipes, Mr. Christie's Snak Paks, Clifford door hangers from Scholastic, Island Parent Magazines, Epicure samples, a free 4-inch footprint tile from Danielle Studios, and so much more! 

Heaviest loot bags ever!

Our wonderful sponsors provided fun and engaging activities that aligned beautifully with our six momstown program pillars. These were just a few of the fun things to do, see and taste at our event:

Nursing/Rest Area with Silk Road Tea

Kindergym area

Photo Ops with our special guest, Huckle the Cat, 
star of Richard Scarry's Busytown Mysteries!

Bouncy Castle & Balloon Animals from Par-T-Perfect

Play House Cleaning with Norwex consultant, Charlotte King-Harris

Teddy Bear Health Check with Dr. Lisa Lau, ND, and Laura Kidson, RMT,
of Victoria Centre for Natural Health

SPF Awareness with Angela Burnell of Avon

Social & Play with Island Farms

Island Parent Fish Puppet Craft

Jr. Chef with Epicure Selections

Reading Corner with Huckle the Cat from Kids' CBC 
& member of Victoria Storytellers Guild,  Jennifer Ferris.

Marshmallow Kids Experiment with Martin Newham
& Christina Gilbert of Investors Group

Farmer Vicki & Daisy the Cow kicked off our show!

Fitness Demo with Hot Mama Health & Fitness

Glenn Kachmar's Whiz Bang Science Show

Yummy ConAgra Snack Pack Pudding Station

Fisher-Price Toy Demo - and we gave away all 8 toys!

Our guests raved about these gorgeous and delicious cupcakes made by Kyrie Smith with simple ingredients and real butter at Wildfire Bakery! 

We did three mini prize draws with gifts from our local sponsors: Avon, Epicure Selections, Heart & Hands Health Community, Island Parent, Norwex, Par-T-Perfect, Suetables, Victoria Centre for Natural Health, 4Cats Arts Studio in Oak Bay, Victoria Butterfly Gardens, Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre and Intrepid Theatre! Then we capped off the event with a BIG prize draw from our platinum sponsor, Island Parent Magazine, and our amazing national sponsors, Britax, Fisher-Price, Thyme Maternity, Scholastic Canada, and Melitta Coffee! A whopping 35 prizes in total - thank you to all of our incredible sponsors and everyone who celebrated with us! We hope you had as much fun as we did!!!

Amazing Prize Table!

You can see more pictures on our facebook fan page!

If this is how great we treat our guests at a public event, can you imagine how we treat our members? ;) Our membership is only $45/year, and during August and September only, you will receive a BONUS one-year subscription to Today's Parent magazine with your new membership or renewal! Sign up, sign up, sign up for your FREE 4-week trial, and together we'll make momstown Victoria ROCK!!!

Today's Parent is offering a bonus one-year (12 issues) Subscription with every new or renewed 1-year momstown membership, ONLY in August & September! JOIN NOW!

A Note from Kate Wall, our new momstown Victoria Event Coordinator!

Hi, my name is Kate and I am the new momstown Victoria events coordinator for the Langford area. My family and I just recently moved to Victoria, from Ottawa, and we now live in Langford. I am a mother of 2 very energetic boys, along with my third little man due at the end of September, which can’t come soon enough! 

I have a passion for helping mothers meet other mothers which is fired from my past experiences. I have been a stay-at-home Mom for almost four years, and I have also moved around a lot in my life; my father was in the Military and my husband recently retired from the Military (after 10 years of service.) I know first-hand how hard it is, and how isolating it can be sometimes, to be a mother. 

I’m very excited to be part of momstown Victoria, and to start coordinating events in the Langford area. I see this as a fantastic opportunity to build a great group of moms from within the Langford/Westshore area (and beyond!) a reason to get out and socialize with other moms and their children and a great excuse to get out of the house. We are a very active family and we can’t sit still for long, entertaining my boys is easier when we are out of the house. We’ve enjoyed many momstown events, “Active Mamas” being one of my favorites. I also enjoy “Crafty Mamas” which is childfree and blissful! My sons really enjoy any events that involve going to Tumblebums! 

When we are not participating in momstown events we love exploring our new surroundings, there’s so much to do here! We enjoy going to Thetis Lake, exploring local trails, fishing in Langford Lake (but never successfully catching anything) and playing at the water park – just to name a few. I can’t wait to coordinate some momstown events at some of my new favorite places.

Join Kate at Tumblebums on Tuesday, August 28th, 9:30-11 am! Only $5 per play for members only, or when you come for a momstown playdate on a free 4-week trial! Sign up today!

'A Cuddle for Little Duck' at momstown Victoria Scholastic Sponsored Tales for Tots

We had another great time meeting friends at our monthly Scholastic sponsored momstown Victoria Tales for Tots program at Chapters Victoria. This month we shared an adorable board book, A Cuddle for Little Duck, by Claire Freedman. This is a perfect bedtime story about a little duck's busy day that ends in a warm cuddle!

We did a very easy standing duck craft, then rounded everyone up for story time and our book prize draw. This month's winner was Dominique and her son Linden!

Tales for Tots is our FREE public drop-in every 3rd Wednesday from 10-11 am at Chapters bookstore! The Victoria Transit stop is right outside the entrance; or request a 1-hour parking coupon to any of the city parkades when you come for the momstown event! 

Interested in knowing what else momstown Victoria has to offer? Sign up now for your FREE 4-week trial! 

Welcome Laura Shepherd to momstown Victoria Team!

Laura Shepherd has a passion for working with children and has been instructing studio dance in the South Island for the past 15 years. She has instructed hip hop, lyrical, modern, tap, jazz, musical theatre and creative ballet as well as prepared students for dance exams, competitions and many performances. She has achieved Associate certification with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, London, England, tap and modern branches. 

Laura also enjoys instructing for local recreation centres and frequently instructs classes which include parent and tot, preschool and school age dance, art and themed programs. After discovering the many benefits of baby sign language with her own daughter, Laura became a Babysigns Independent Certified Instructor. She has also recently completed the Family Child Care Training through the CCRR and holds a Standard First Aid/CPR C certificate. She currently owns and instructs dance for Gravity Dance Co. which operates out of the Shawnigan Lake Community Centre a few evenings a week.

Laura lives in Victoria with her fiance, five-year old stepson and 21-month old daughter. She enjoys being a mom as well as a step mom and spends her family time at local attractions, community festivals, beaches, parks and occasional lazy days at home. Laura is very excited to be coordinating events for momstown and is looking forward to celebrating all of the joys of parenthood with the families of Victoria. 

Laura will be instructing our momstown Victoria Music & Movement program at Dance Victoria this Wednesday, August 22nd, 10-11 am! Not a member yet? Sign up for your FREE 4-week trial here! 

Today's Parent Bonus with momstown Victoria Membership!

If you haven't noticed it yet, momstown is more. We're more than a website, and we're more than a business. We're a movement that is connecting local moms through frequent, high quality, fun and supportive networking events. We offer this at a low membership fee of only $45 a year, and our members enjoy exclusive discounts and deals at both the local and national level to make this incredible value even more incredible.

momstown.ca is proud to announce that Today's Parent, Canada's leading national parenting magazine, is offering a BONUS 1-year (12 issue) subscription with each 1-year momstown membership. This limited time offer is only available between August 1st, 2012, If you already receive a Today's Parent subscription, your subscription will be extended by one year! 

Today's Parent is committed to helping parents build happy, healthy families. From pregnancy to teens, and in between, parents will find articles on health, education, discipline nutrition, crafts and so much more. 

Look for our full-page article on p.76 of the September issue! Click here to sign up for your FREE 4-week trial! 

Celebrate with us! momstown 5th Birthday Bash

momstown Victoria Music & Movement with Jacob Lee

Here is a look at our latest momstown Victoria Music & Movement program, with our special guest, Jacob Lee! Jake is a music teacher on summer vacation, and he brought his wonderful assortment of drums, musical props, and mad ukelele skills to our playgroup! The children sang, danced, hopped, chased balloons, and played with different instruments and sound props. As a parent of three spirited kids, I also loved that all age levels were engaged in the music and fun!

It also happened to be Jake's birthday, so we celebrated with cupcakes from - where else? Crumsby's!

Join us again on Wednesday, August 8th, in Studio 3 at Dance Victoria. Not a member yet? Sign up now for a FREE 4-week trial!