Now that you finally get to enjoy a day off from work without having to spend it at the beck and call of the holiday season — kick back and have some fun!

And even though we’re in the midst of the bleakest days of winter, there are still tons of bright ways you and your loved ones can enjoy your time together. So, to help you make the most of your time off, here are ten fun-filled suggestions on how to spend President’s Day:

#1: Be a Home Town Tourist
Ever pass a gaggle of tourists only to realize you’ve never checked out your city’s own claims to fame? Use your day off to be a home town tourist and hit up all the local places of interest you’ve been meaning to check out yourself. And yes, it’s okay to bring a camera — although you might want to skip on the fanny pack!

#2: Use Up Those Gift Certificates
If you’re like the rest of us, you’ve been meaning to cash in those holiday gift certificates but just haven’t had the time. Now’s your chance! And if you would rather avoid the mall, most companies now let you redeem your dollars online as well.

#3: Reconnect With Friends
Once you get caught up in a busy routine, it’s often extremely easy to fall out of touch with your best pals. So why not use President’s Day to reconnect with a few friends? After all, the day off gives you the perfect opportunity to hit that hot lunch spot without having to worry about being back in the office.

#4: An In House Production
If you’re stuck inside, spend the day gearing up for a family production. Whether it’s a classic story or something you concoct the day of, spend the day setting up your family production by creating make-shift costumes, setting the stage, and learning lines. Once you’re rehearsed, it’s lights, camera, action!

#5: The Great Outdoors
Use your day off to hit the slopes, the rink, or even a snow filled park. Whatever your cup of tea, grab your outdoor gear and enjoy the winter wonderland while you still can.

#6: Start A Garden
Although May flowers may be the last thing on your mind during this grey week in February, now is a great time to get the heads up on spring. Purchase a few packets of seeds and start your own indoor garden in your kitchen or living room. By the time those April showers roll around, your seedlings will be ready to plant.

#7: Fit For A Princess
Despite your efforts with top of the lines moisturizers and conditioners, the winter always manages to reek havoc on our hair and skin. President’s Day provides us the perfect opportunity to fight back, so hit the salon! While you’re at it, bring your little princesses along for the pampering —they’re sure to appreciate the royal treatment!

#8: Indoor Picnic
If the weather is particularly frightful in your neck of the woods, why not bring the outdoor activities in? Clear away the living room floor and give your little ones an indoor picnic — sans the sunscreen of course!

#9: Brush Up On Your Hobbies
We all have hobbies that we would love to devote more attention to. So whether you can paint, write, or jam up a storm, spend your day off brushing up on those talents you never seem to get enough of.

#10: Do Nothing!
Sometimes, nothing beats a day of pure relaxation, so why not use President’s Day to do just that? Stay in your PJs, have pancakes for lunch, and catch up on all those DVDs you never seem to have time to enjoy. After all, don’t you deserve it?

It can be tough to think of fun things to do to get out and about as the days get colder and/or darker. If you’re finding that the DVD, TV, or computer (or all three) is working overtime to entertain your kids, here are some ideas to get everyone moving. If you’re not at home during the day, share some of these ideas with caregivers.

• Play a Game of Hide & Seek: This is a great way to entertain young children. Ideally this game is played outside, where there is plenty of room to run. But you can also easily play this inside if the weather is awful.

• Build a Fort: Whether inside or outside, fort building exercises real muscles and brain muscles. Grab a few blankets for ‘rooftops’ and some broomsticks and couch pillows for walls and go build something.

• Puddle Jump: Neither you nor your kids will melt in the rain. If it’s not too cold, throw on some wellies, a rain coat and a rain hat or grab an umbrella and go blow off some steam by jumping in puddles. Unleash your inner child and jump in some too!

• Have a Treasure/Scavenger Hunt: Organize a scavenger hunt in your back yard, at the mall, in the neighborhood, or just in the house. Check out this site for good ideas on how to organize one: Scavenger Hunt Ideas

• Try Some Imagination Play: Follow your kids’ lead and just go where imagination takes you. You could end up playing a mom going shopping in your child’s store. You could end up playing monster truck races. It doesn’t matter what specifically, just let loose and play with your kids.

• Page & Page: Reading doesn’t have to be a passive activity. If you have children who can read, grab a book and have one person read one page, another read the next page, and so on.

• Break out Traditional Games: Uno, Battleship, Candyland, Monopoly – there are lots of great board games out there to keep you and your little ones entertained.

• Be Card Sharks: Cards are fun for the whole family. Play a game of hearts, poker, gin rummy, war, go fish…

• Creative Kitchen Play: Let your child or children invent a recipe and then go experiment and experiment by making the dish. The results may be awful, they may be great. It doesn’t matter – it’s just fun.

• Bathtub Science: There’s a really neat book called Bathtub Science that features 35 different projects involving water (some might be better suited to outdoors than the bathtub) that you can do together with your child.

• Go Mad: Mad Libs are always good fun – especially when you involve multiple people in filling in the blanks. Buy a few Mad Lib books at the book store or download the iPhone App:Mad Libs

Rock legend Alice Cooper memorialized the joy of the last day of school in the band’s ubiquitous 1972 hit, “School’s Out.”

With no school to fill youngsters’ last few weeks or days of summer, it’s up to parents to figure out how to keep them busy and out of trouble. Start planning now to stretch their creativity muscles with fun activities?

Here are 10 to generate memories.

#1. Broadway Babies.
Have the kids write, produce and put on a play. Check out library books on plays and theater, and have them encourage friends to join in. If your kids are tech savvy, let them create movies.

#2. Memory Makers.
Start a scrapbook. Let youngsters take photos of anything their hearts desire, using a child’s digital or disposable camera. Have them work on scrapbooks of their work each week. By wintertime, they will have a keepsake capturing tons of memories.

#3. Freebie Frenzy.
Get on your local visitors and conventions bureau Web site. Search for possibilities such as free movie nights or free or low-cost tickets for museums.

#4. Host a Pirates Party.
Gather your little Blackbeards for a pirate-themed party. Fill a treasure chest with candy and other treats, and have the children dress up. Draw a treasure map, and have the kids complete tasks before receiving the next clues. Consider activities such as making puzzles, solving riddles or competing in pie-eating or bubble-gum-blowing contests.

#5. Get Global.
Each week, check out a library book on a foreign country. Learn with the kids about different cultures, foods and clothing. Declare “(Name of Country) Day,” on which you all prepare typical foods, learn phrases and play popular games from that nation.

#6. Super Savers.
Institute a coupon-clipping contest and have your kids help you hunt for savings. Put them in charge of coupons for alternate weeks and keep a running tally of what was spent each week. By halloween, the one with the lowest dollar amount wins a prize.

#7. Freeze Time.
Build a time capsule for the summer of 2008. Have your kids collect all of their summer souvenirs, photos, and have them make a mix CD of favorite songs. Then secure the items in an airtight container and bury it. In 10 years, they can dig it back up and laugh at the fun times they shared. Bury it at least 4 feet underground, but check with your utility companies before digging. Mark the spot and record where you’ve buried the time capsule.

#8. Wet ‘n’ Wild Time!
When the weatherman predicts hot and steamy weather, host an old-fashioned sprinkler party. It’s fun, inexpensive and always a blast. Ask neighbors, friends and relatives to bring different kinds of sprinklers, water guns and slides, and fill up water balloons. It will be a great way to keep the neighborhood entertained and cool.

#9. Kiddie Kitchen.
Have your youngsters create fun meals on their own. Start with a cookbook such as Emeril Lagasse’s “There’s a Chef in My Soup.” Let the kids do everything from setting the table to seating their guests to serving the food. Be prepared for a mess — and for a good time and great pictures. But always make sure you or another responsible adult is on hand to supervise the kitchen activities.

#10. Karaoke, Anyone?
On the next rainy day, try a karaoke DVD for kids. They can set up a stage, make costumes from old clothes and rehearse. They’ll be ready to give a concert in the late afternoon or evening.

For children there is almost nothing worse than being cooped up inside on a rainy day.

And for grownups, the constant refrains of ‘I’m bored!’ and ‘when will the rain stop?’ are enough to send anyone around the bend. So what to do? Why not plan ahead for some of these rainy days by keeping a list of fun, indoor activities at the ready. On the next dreary day, you’ll be a hero for fending off the blahs.

Sarah on ‘Being Creative’

‘Rainy days offer the perfect opportunity to exercise the creative, right half of your brain. Rather than mope, declare the next rainy day ‘funhouse day.’ Turn off the TV and give yourself and all of your family members the license to let loose and have some fun. If your children are old enough, challenge them make up a game and then play it with the whole family. Last Sunday it rained all day, and my nieces and nephews, who were staying with us, invented a ‘name game’ that had us all howling with laughter. That was followed by a rowdy round of charades. And then we capped off the day by sitting in a circle and making up a story, where each person had to build on the sentence created by the person on their right. Those games turned a gray day into a bright one.’

Alicia on ‘Great Memories’

‘My four-year-old daughter loves to sing and dance. Lucy has a great creative mind and loves to put on a show. So when it rains, we make Lucy the star of the show and capture them on home videos. We’ve played dress up, sung karaoke, made dance videos, and put on wacky plays. Lucy’s all time favorite is to get dressed up in my outfits, shoes and makeup and put on a fashion show. I snap pictures and at the end of the show, sit with Lucy at the computer to make a photo album. Those cute albums always make me laugh when I look at them later. So go ahead, let them pick out their own unique outfits and strut their stuff as you ‘ohhh’ and ‘ahhh’ over their new styles.’

Here are some tips for a rainy day to entertain your kids for a day full of fun:

#1: Furniture Fun
Plan a trip to an imaginary land and build the adventure in your living room! Make a furniture obstacle course leading to a blanket covered cave in your living room. Be creative and make sure to add some challenges along the way — kids love tunnels and forts made with blankets and sheets draped over chairs and tables. At the end of the course, create a spot where they can camp out and eat funky snacks, listen to music, and hang out. For excitement, turn out all the lights and give everyone flashlights while they are going through the obstacle course.

#2: Make your own Playdough!
Making your own Playdough is inexpensive and easy, and when you make your own, there is no reason to be concerned if it ends up in your son’s mouth!

Here are the ingredients:
7-8 cups all-purpose or bread flour
3 cups salt
3 tablespoons cream of tartar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 cups hot water
Food coloring

First, mix the dry ingredients, then add in the wet ones and mix kneed by hand for 8-10 minutes or in a dough hook mixer for 5-6 minutes. Add in the food coloring with the wet ingredients if one color is sufficient to save time! Store it in a sealed container and if it becomes to dry knead in a dribble of water.

#3: Creative Creatures
Take sets of three index cards and line them horizontally, stacked on top of each other on a table. On the top piece, have your kids draw heads, on the middle piece have them draw matching bodies, and on the bottom piece, have them draw the legs and feet to their creatures. After your kids have drawn a few people and animals, mix and match the heads, bodies, and legs to create silly creatures.

Easter is upon us, and chances are your little ones are hopping with anticipation for the big egg hunt.

If you’re feeling like your hunts have been stuck in a rut and are looking for some fresh ideas that will make their feet thump and whiskers twitch with excitement, we’ve got some ideas to help.

Sarah on ‘The Basics’

For a hunt to be fun for all age groups, you’ll need to consider breaking it down into a few, smaller ones. That way the young children won’t be run over by their larger, more experienced siblings. Color code the eggs by age group: one for kids three and under, one for kids aged four to six and another for those over seven. For the toddlers, place eggs on the grass so that they’re easy to find. For the next age group, hide the eggs in slightly more difficult to find places, like under bushes and on windowsills. To challenge the oldest group, hide the eggs in trees, on top of car tires, and other exciting and slightly harder-to-find spots. Let the younger ones start first, then progress in stages until you’re done.

Alicia on ‘The Five ‘W’s”

Everyone has different criteria for what is important to them about their hunt. To help you plan effectively, focus on the four W’s: who, what, where, and when. Who? Is it the whole family gathering or just the kids in the neighborhood? What? Do you hide hot pink peeps or real dyed eggs? Where? Inside or out? When? Easter Day or the day before?

The Hunt Is On

Here are 3 unique twists on the familiar Easter Egg Hunt to help you as you plan.

#1: Turn Off The Lights
Why not stage an egg hunt the night before Easter? Hide plastic eggs in the backyard and give each person a flashlight for the hunt. A fun thing to try is to hide glow sticks, bracelets and necklaces in some of the eggs so they are illuminated during the search. Warm up afterwards with hot chocolate with a bright yellow peep chick floating on top.

#2: Redeem Coupon Here
Most people get their fill of jelly beans, Cadbury crème eggs, and trinkets during the holiday. Put something different in those plastic eggs for the hunt — coupons. The ‘coupons’ which you can make and print off on your computer can be for all kinds of special treats that will keep on giving for weeks to come. Some favorites include: 2 Helpings of Dessert, Get Out Of Setting The Table Tonight, Stay Up One Hour Past Your Bedtime, and Your Night To Pick TV Shows. Not only are these fun and valuable, they usually save you money as well. This is also a great idea for an adult Easter Egg hunt where the coupons can be for things like Dinner Out, Backrubs, and Get Your Car Washed.

#3: What Came First The Chicken Or The Egg?
For most Easter Egg Hunts, prizes and candy are often hidden in plastic colorful eggs. A fun variation is to hide plastic chicks instead. You can find them in most big stores and they usually come in different colors too. Take the chickens and place a numbered sticker on the bottom of each one. This should then correspond to a prize or candy that can be redeemed after the hunt. It also works well to make one chick the grand prize and whoever finds that one gets an extra special gift like a complete Easter basket or a large chocolate egg.