The holidays are getting closer.. Are you ready?
More parades and tree lightings fill the calendar this week. Zoolight Safari at the Birmingham Zoo is in full swing as well as the Winter Wonderland at the McWane Science Center.
If Polar Express is a holiday tradition for your family there will be 2 showings at the Alabama Theatre on Saturday.
If you haven’t seen Santa yet, make sure to check our list of Santa Sightings around Birmingham
Have a great week and stay warm!
It’s Not Our Fault if Your Kids are Bored!
Sunday December 8th:
Zoolight Safari – Birmingham Zoo
Celebrate the Holidays at Wells Fargo ZooLight Safari. Plan ahead for this exciting holiday-centric event! Be amazed by more than half a million lights, holiday music and plenty of festive activities as the Zoo comes alive for 18 nights of fun in this transformed winter wonderland!
$8 Non-members
Members free
5pm – 9pm
Liberty Park Christmas Parade and Celebration
Enjoy the city’s official parade followed by the Liberty Park Christmas Celebration with children’s activities, refreshments, live entertainment, pictures with Santa, and more!
Parade route: Liberty Park Sports Complex to Alston Meadows
2pm – 4pm
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Monday December 9th:
Tot Time with Ms Eve – Avondale Library
Storytime for 2-4-year-olds with a caregiver. Includes stories, songs, and craft. 24-hour advance registration required.
10:30am
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Tuesday December 10th:
Homewood Christmas Parade
Parade Route: The parade will begin at the Homewood Library and travel east on Oxmoor Road; turn left onto 18th Street South; travel under the Christmas Star; turn right onto 29th Avenue; turn left onto 19th Street; travel past City Hall turn left onto 28th Avenue; Travel to the intersection of 18th Street. Walking groups will be encouraged to turn left onto 18th Street and vehicles will have to continue straight thru the intersection toward Central Avenue.
City Tree Lighting Ceremony immediately following the conclusion of the parade at City Hall Plaza.
6:30pm
Family Night with Santa’s Magical World – Vestavia Hill Library in the Forest
A light supper will be served from 6:00 – 6:30 pm, followed by a program featuring Santa and his winter wonderland. Children will have an opportunity for photos with Santa on his “throne” after the program. Shuttle service will be available if parking lot is full.
Family Tours – Birmingham Museum of Art
FREE // Meet in the Main Lobby
Join us for an in-gallery family experience! Children aged 3 – 8 and their adult companions are invited to join Museum educators to explore our collection, discover activities that make looking at art fun and exciting, and create new family memories about art.
No reservations required. Family Tours are also available by appointment for groups of 10 or more children aged 3 – 8. For more information or to schedule a tour, call 205.254.2964.
10:30am
Storytime for All Ages – Homewood Public Library
Story Time
10:30am
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Wednesday December 11th:
Family Story Time with Mr Mac – North Shelby Library
Storyteller Extraordinaire – Come join Mr Mac and his musical storytime complete with puppets! All Ages, no registration required.
10:45am
Storytime – Barnes and Noble Summit
If you give a pig a pancake, she’ll want some syrup to go with it. Chaos is the order of the day when an accommodating little girl tries to keep up with the whims of a busy little pig!
11am
Special Event Storytime – Barnes and Noble Summit
We’re celebrating kindness and compassion as crucial components in the fight against bullying. Join us for a reading of Llama Llama and the Bully Goat by Anna Dewdney, because you are never too young to show kindness.
1pm
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Thursday December 12th
Mommy and Me Storytime – Homewood Public Library
Story Time for our younger patrons (birth to 30 mo.) and their lap partner.
10:30
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Friday December 13th:
Zoolight Safari – Birmingham Zoo
Celebrate the Holidays at Wells Fargo ZooLight Safari. Plan ahead for this exciting holiday-centric event! Be amazed by more than half a million lights, holiday music and plenty of festive activities as the Zoo comes alive for 18 nights of fun in this transformed winter wonderland!
$8 Non-members
Members free
5pm – 9pm
Special LEGO Event – Barnes and Noble Summit
If you love Lego, then this is the event for you! Adults, teens, older children, will have the opportunity to try out the new Lego Architecture Studio line of kits. Learn about scale, models, and other aspects of design — with Lego!
7pm
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Saturday December 14th:
Zoolight Safari – Birmingham Zoo
Celebrate the Holidays at Wells Fargo ZooLight Safari. Plan ahead for this exciting holiday-centric event! Be amazed by more than half a million lights, holiday music and plenty of festive activities as the Zoo comes alive for 18 nights of fun in this transformed winter wonderland!
$8 Non-members
Members free
5pm – 9pm
Clay Christmas Parade
3:00 pm starting in front of CCHS.
Trussville Annual Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting
The parade will start on Parkway Drive at North Mall. It proceeds down Parkway Drive and turns right onto Highway 11. From Highway 11, it turns right onto Chalkville Road and ends just past The Mall.
The Tree Lighting will be immediately following the parade at West Mall. Come enjoy Christmas carols, hot chocolate provided by Bryant Bank, and join in the countdown for the tree lighting!
Road Closings: For the safety of our participants, the following roads will be closed to vehicle traffic from 1-4pm: Pine Street, Oak Street, Cherokee Drive and parts of Parkway Drive
3pm
Kids in Nature – Ruffner Mountain Nature Center
Let’s go outside and explore! KIN programs focus on a different topic each month and includes a naturalist-led hike and a craft. In December we will learn all about mammals!
$5/ $7 (non-members) per child. Chaperones are free.
1pm – 2:30
The Polar Express – Alabama Theatre
On Christmas Eve, a doubting boy boards a magical train that’s headed to the North Pole and Santa Claus’s home.
This film is a fundraiser for Kid One Transport.
Tickets are $12 at the door or in advance through Ticketmaster.
Doors open one hour before showtime. 100 min. This movie will begin with a sing-along with the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ.
2 Showings:
10am and 2pm
Bart’s Art Cart – Birmingham Museum of Art
This drop-in art program for kids and families features a different theme from our galleries and art activity each month. Stop by to make art with Bart! Ornaments // Hanging decorations are common in many cultures. Make your own for the holidays!
11am – 1pm
Family Storytime – Emmet O’Neal Library
Bring the entire family and join Mr. Mac for stories and music each Saturday morning.
10:30 a.m.
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Sunday December 15th:
Zoolight Safari – Birmingham Zoo
Celebrate the Holidays at Wells Fargo ZooLight Safari. Plan ahead for this exciting holiday-centric event! Be amazed by more than half a million lights, holiday music and plenty of festive activities as the Zoo comes alive for 18 nights of fun in this transformed winter wonderland!
$8 Non-members
Members free
5pm – 9pm
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Local Attractions Open Daily!
McWane Science Center:
IMAX
McWane Science Center’s IMAX® Dome Theater puts you in the center of the action by projecting breathtaking quality images onto the 5-story-tall dome screen and delivering intense surround sound through almost 3 tons of speakers and subwoofers.
Now Showing: Flight of the Butterflies, Titans of the Ice Age
Unearthing Alabama’s Ice Age – through December 31st, 2013
McWane Science Center is home to Alabama’s second largest natural history collection. Made up of over 500,000 specimens and objects pertaining to the natural history of the state, this important collection focuses on the preservation, education, and research of Alabama’s rich biodiversity and paleobiodiversity. One of the more significant subsets of the collection is Alabama’s largest collection of Late Pleistocene faunal remains – or Ice Age fossils.
Made up of nearly 10,000 cataloged specimens, the McWSC Pleistocene collection contains a unique diversity of fauna that not only includes those native to North America, but migrants to the state from both South America and the Old World. This collection includes mammals, both extant and extinct, reptiles, amphibians, birds, fishes, and botanical remains collected from both cave and stream localities in the state. Extinct mammals represented in the McWSC collection include mammoths, mastodons, giant beavers, saber-toothed cats, giant armadillos, tapirs, peccaries, and giant ground sloths.
This spring, visitors will have an opportunity to view some of the fossils in the collection with a new exhibit titled — “Unearthing Alabama’s Ice Age.” This exhibit will not only highlight many of the Ice Age animals from the McWane Science Center Collection, but will highlight and dispel many of the common misconceptions surrounding the Ice Age in the state. The goal is for visitors to have a better understanding and appreciation for this time in Alabama. For example, guests might learn that Alabama was on average only five degrees colder than today, glaciers did not reach farther south than southern Illinois or that all the Ice Age animals did not go extinct at the end of the Ice Age. While the largest animals, such as mastodons, giant ground sloths, and saber-tooth cats died out, nearly all the animals that are living in Alabama today were also around in the Ice Age.
The Unearthing Alabama’s Ice Age Alabama display is located in the City Gallery on Level 2 of the museum. It is included in the cost of admission to the museum and free to members.
Birmingham Zoo:
Lorikeet Aviary – Our Lorikeet Aviary has more birds than ever! Zoo guests can feed these exotic birds every day. You and your family will see these birds’ behavior as they eat nectar out of your hand.
Weekends 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
PELICAN FEEDING – A great way to see our pelicans in action is to witness them eating their favorite treats near the pelican boardwalk.
RHINO ENCOUNTER – Embark on an African adventure and experience one of the world’s most extraordinary animals, the Southern White Rhino. Watch from only feet away as our zookeepers engage in hands-on interaction with the animals inside their African-themed exhibit. Don’t miss this exciting encounter with one of the largest mammals on the planet!
Weekdays: 3pm – 3:30pm
Weekends: 11:30am – Noon & 3pm – 3:30 pm
GIRAFFE FEEDING – This up close and personal animal encounter is a memory you and your family will have for a lifetime.
Weekday: 11am – Noon
Weekends: 10am – 11am & 2pm – 3pm
Vulcan Park and Museum:
Vulcan is the world’s largest cast iron statue; made of 100,000 pounds of iron and 56 feet tall, he stands at the top of Red Mountain overlooking the city of Birmingham. But, Vulcan is more than a statue. Vulcan Park and Museum features spectacular views of Birmingham, an interactive history museum that examines Vulcan and Birmingham’s story, and a beautiful public park for visitors and locals to enjoy. With an official information center that is operated by the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau, Vulcan Park and Museum serves as the first stop for visitors to the Birmingham area!
Railroad Park:
Railroad Park is a 19 acre green space in downtown Birmingham that celebrates the industrial and artistic heritage of our great city. Situated along 1st Avenue South, between 14th and 18th Streets, the park is a joint effort between the City of Birmingham and the Railroad Park Foundation. Hailed as “Birmingham’s Living Room,” Railroad Park provides a historically rich venue for local recreation, family activities, concerts, and cultural events, while connecting Birmingham’s downtown area with Southside and UAB’s campus.
Southern Museum of Flight:
Earn Your Wings – Bring your little pilot and soar above the clouds in our little pilots room. Kids enjoy building aircrafts, flying kites, and more.
Museum Open Tuesday – Thursday
9:30am – 4:30pm
Do you have or know of an event you would like to have added to our weekly calendar? Please email us at contact@birminghammommy.com, subject line “Events Calendar” – We would love to hear from you!
** All information listed on our calendar is subject to change without notice to us or you… We do our best to keep the information accurate and will always update as soon as we learn that something has changed. It’s always best to double check with the event via their website or a quick call, especially when weather can impact the event.
