Month: December 2014

Looking out AFTER Christmas… NEW YEAR’S EVE ideas

FUN NEW YEAR’S EVE ACTIVITIES FOR FAMILIES IN BRISBANE.
How do you celebrate New Year’s Eve with your Brisbane Kids? Regardless of whether they can last the distance and still be awake at midnight, we’ve come up with some great ideas for fun things to do for families to celebrate the final day of the year. There are also several family and kid-friendly New Year’s Eve celebrations taking place in Brisbane this year, which can all be found here and also on our Event Calendar.
http://www.brisbanekids.com.au/things-to-do-in-brisbane-with-kids/
HOW TO CELEBRATE NEW YEAR’S EVE WITH KIDS
Book a private gondola on the Wheel of Brisbane to see the 8pm or midnight Brisbane fireworks displays.
Have a glamorous dinner at one of Brisbane’s city hotels. Most of the big hotels do a set price New Year’s Eve buffet, with reduced prices for children.
http://thewheelofbrisbane.com.au/new-years-eve/

victoria-Point-New-Years-eve

NEW YEAR’S EVE AT HOME WITH CHILDREN
Not up to braving the crowds of revellers this year with your clan? Here are some great ideas for celebrating New Year’s Eve at home with your Brisbane Kids.

Buy some sparklers and take some photos of each child writing their age or name in the sky. Just be careful with children holding the sparkler, as the metal can get very hot and burn little fingers.

Buy some glow sticks (well priced at discount stores). Fill the bath up and pop the glow sticks in for some festive water fun. Another alternative is to put the glow stick inside a deflated balloon, blow it up, then float these in the bath. Be sure to supervise younger children in particular with glow sticks, as the contents are not nice if broken open.

Countdown the arrival of the new year with balloons. Pop a balloon containing instructions for an activity every hour, culminating in glow sticks at midnight. How Does She? has come up with a list of activities you could include.

Fill some plastic champagne/tumbler glasses and toast to your kids with some lemonade or sparkling mineral water to a wonderful year had in 2014!

Talk about what bits were your favourite and what you learnt from 2014. Then encourage everyone set some goals for 2015. We love the idea of a jar where you place a note every time something wonderful happens or and achievement is made throughout the year; then reading these aloud on New Year’s Eve.

Throw a neighbourhood party with other families and enjoy the fun.
An hour by hour countdown box. Open a different package every hour to countdown the hours to the new year. The Dating Divas have some great ideas for what these could be, including a time capsule and a ‘lucky penny’ activity.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY NEW YEAR’S EVE EVENTS IN BRISBANE 2014-2015
Bribie Island | New Year’s Eve on Bribie | 12pm-8.45pm – An afternoon event that will be fun for the whole family, with twilight markets and fireworks at 8.30pm.

Hamilton | New Year’s Eve @ Portside | 7:30pm – Great food and fireworks with two fireworks displays – 9pm and midnight.

Ipswich | Celebrate New Year’s Eve | 6pm-10:00pm – Something for everyone – Free kid’s rides, live entertainment, great food, screening of ‘The Croods’ at 7:15pm, then a fireworks display at 10:00pm.

Scarborough | Midnight New Year’s Eve Fireworks | 12:00am – A fantastic fireworks display just as the New Year hits!

South Bank | New Year’s Eve @ South Bank | 8:30pm – Get your spot early for this ever-popular New Year’s Eve event! A great vantage point for the fireworks at 8:30pm and midnight. Each show will last for 10 minutes.

Springfield | Icon NYE 2014 | 3pm – Market stalls, great food and drink and live entertainment, followed by a spectacular fireworks shows at 9.30pm.

Victoria Point | New Year’s Eve Celebrations | 5pm-9pm – Celebrate the start of 2015 with live entertainment and markets from 5pm, followed by a FREE fireworks displays at 9pm at Victoria Point Lakeside.

http://www.brisbanekids.com.au/event/new-years-celebration-victoria-point/
Wynnum | New Year’s Eve Party @ Wynnum Library | 5pm-6pm – Fun for the whole family, including games, book parade and crafts. BOOKINGS REQUIRED.

You know it’s almost Christmas in Queensland when….

Gorgeous Gloriosa appears…  and… wonderful news my friends….

We have it now  in store now at Bamboo and Lotus to add some exotic beauty to your Christmas decorating… or as a gift with a difference….

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It’s one of the most exotic and beautiful flowers and I love it!!

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A little botanical info about this amazing flower courtesy of WIKI…

For the South American flame lilies, see Pyrolirion.

The most common English names are flame lily, fire lily, gloriosa lily, glory lily, superb lily, climbing lily, and creeping lily.

They are tender, tuberous rooted deciduous perennials, adapted to summer rainfall with a dormant dry season. All parts of the plant contain colchicine and related alkaloids and are therefore dangerously toxic if ingested, and contact with the stems and leaves can cause skin irritation. Various preparations of the plant are used in traditional medicines for a variety of complaints in both Africa and India. In Indian language of Telugu, in the state of Andhra Pradesh it is called Naabhi and was used in traditional medicine.