GIFTS THAT ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD!
Ties,
gloves, electronics, toys. Seem a bit ho-hum for your Christmas list? Judy
always says to start the next year's "occasions list" as soon as Christmas is
over. Spread your gift-shopping expense over the entire year and begin by
picking up these out-of-this-world gifts sure to impress your friends and
family:
HOGWARTS
HOLIDAYS
Conjure up some magic with the brand new Universal Orlando gift card – you can
load it with enough galleons, sickles and knuts to cover tickets to Universal’s
Islands of Adventure to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and still have
enough left over to preorder a four-pack of Pumpkin Juice ($23.95) or a Pygmy
Puff ($14.95) from Zonko’s online store.
Add Dinah Bucholz’s new Unofficial Harry Potter Sweet Shoppe Kit ($14.95
at
www.Amazon.com)
with 35 recipes culled from the pages of the Harry Potter book series –
including Treacle Fudge and Coconut Ice – plus chocolate lollipop molds in the
shapes of frogs, brooms, flies and owls and broom-shaped lollipop sticks and
you’ve got the makings for an enchanting tower of gifts.
Visit
www.UniversalOrlando.com
and select your card (several feature characters from the Harry Potter movies)
at
www.UniversalOrlando.com/giftcards.
Add an item from the gift shop and the candy-making kit and, faster than you can
say, “Accio!,” your gifts will be on their way and ready to create some
spellbinding fun for the holidays.
THE
FINAL FRONTIER
Heed Captain Kirk’s advice to “explore strange new worlds . . . to boldly go
where no man has gone before,” with a visit to the closest thing to the “final
frontier” – the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. and its IMAX
showing of “Hubble” so you can journey through distant galaxies.
Add a
couple irresistible items for your astronauts-in-training: My First Outer Space
Science Kit ($21.95) and the page-turner, Do Your Ears Pop in Space, by
Mike Mullane ($15.95). Tuck everything into TrendyKid’s new Archie Alien Travel
Buddies luggage duo ($89.95), which is lightweight,
sturdy and tricked out with all the organizing pockets kids need to hold their
most valuable possessions (snacks, stuffies, storybooks) – and was designed by a
six-year-old.
Visit
www.USSRC.com and click on “get tickets” to
buy museum and movie admissions, then click on “merchandise,” which will take
you to the Space Camp Store, to make your gift selections. Once the items
arrive, pack them into the Archie Alien backpack, which nests inside the
carry-on. The luggage set can be ordered at
www.TrendyKid.com
and you’ll be ready to hit the road for your visit.
TRAVEL
BACK IN TIME . . . WAY BACK
Take a jaunt back in time to when dinosaurs roamed the earth with a
prehistoric-themed gift that includes a visit to one or more of Utah’s dinosaur
attractions: the new Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City; the newly
renovated Dinosaur National Monument in Jensen and the new dinosaur exhibit at
the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site.
The sites are within several hours’ drive of each other and well-worth a visit
as each presents a unique chapter in Utah’s epic dino narrative – from the
largest collection of vertebrate fossils at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry
at the Natural History Museum of Utah to the more than 1,500 Jurassic dinosaur
bones preserved in a 200-foot-long wall at the Quarry Visitor Center and Quarry
Exhibit Hall in the Dinosaur National Monument to the new Scelidosaurus dinosaur
exhibit at the 200 million-year-old St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at
Johnson Farm – the only place in the Americas the dinosaur has been on display.
Visit
http://NHMU.Utah.edu
and click on “plan a visit” – you can reserve tickets for the date you wish to
schedule your expedition. Call 801-587-5784 to order books, dinosaurs, toys and
tee-shirts from the Museum Store. Visit
http://www.NPS.gov/dino
for information and entry fees to the Dinosaur National Monument and head to
www.DinoSite.org
for information and admission for the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site (open
Sundays during the summer).
FAIRYTALE
LAND
For the little princess or prince on your list, a stay at The New York Palace,
located in the very heart of Manhattan, fits as beautifully as Cinderella’s
glass slipper. Here, just beyond the courtyard gates, is where old-world
elegance meets new-world opulence with sumptuous rooms with marble baths, plush
terry robes and luxurious bath amenities, fully-stocked refreshment center and
nightly turndown. And speaking of footwear . . . there’s also a complimentary
shoe shine.
Add a horse-drawn carriage ride in Central Park; a visit to Madame Tussauds to
see such royal figures as Princess Diana and the royalty of Hollywood, including
Robert Pattinson, Miley Cyrus and “Captain Jack Sparrow”; and a trip to FAO
Schwarz, a fantasyland for children with its Grand Hall trimmed with 20,000
computer-controlled colored lights, Muppet WhatNot Workshop, giant dance-on
piano keyboard and FAO Schweetz, a classic New York-style candy shop with
hundreds of tantalizing confections.
Visit
www.NewYorkPalace.com
for information about booking a room, suite or package; click into
www.MadameTussauds.com/NewYork
for tour information and drop by
www.FAO.com to see what is offered
exclusively at the world-famous Fifth Avenue store. Then visit
www.NYCGo.com
for all the sightseeing possibilities.
