UrbanBaby San Francisco

Kawaii: it means cute in Japanese, and if you’re raising a kid in the Bay Area you’re probably already steeped in it. Mushrooms with faces, frowning rain clouds, birds perched on bright, childishly round trees; you’ve seen the graphics on bags and T-shirts in the trendiest kiddie boutiques. But what you may not know is that Loyal Army, one of the key progenitors of the style, is a local enterprise, designing and manufacturing its shirts, hoodies, onesies, and other gear in San Francisco.

Loyal Army’s primary customers are pre-pubescent girls (who buy Loyal Army shirts by the thousands from the Delia’s catalog) and hipsters in arrested development, but even little kids can get in on the trend. Loyal Army’s onesies, pajamas, and hoodies are super-soft, come in sizes up to 18 months, and feature designs so cute you won’t be able to stop yourself from squealing. How could you resist, for example, the Eat More Fruit onesie, liberally festooned with smiling produce and featuring long sleeves for (semi) wintry weather? It’s cute enough to lick.

Loyal Army’s clothing can be found at many boutiques in the Bay Area, at the Loyal Army retail store, 1728 Haight Street (at Cole Street), San Francisco, 415-221-6200, or online: loyalarmy.com.

Anyone who’s taken a look at the typical school lunch menu lately knows that the homemade chicken sandwiches and fruit cups of our youth have been replaced by chicken nuggets, jalapeno poppers and a “salad bar” (two bins of limp iceberg lettuce, some pink tomatoes, and loads of ranch dressing). School lunches are more of a dumping ground for excess commodity goods than a carefully orchestrated diet that gives our nation’s youth the best fuel possible. That is, unless your school is lucky enough to subscribe to the wonderful catering services of Revolution Foods.

The Alameda-based firm is run by a two-woman team who dreamt up the idea of a new kind of school lunch while at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Though they only graduated in 2006, their fledgling institutional food supply business now serves healthy meals at over 100 Bay Area schools, and is working on setting up other programs in San Diego and Los Angeles. How’s the food? The word is, delicious enough to tempt kids used to Hot Pockets and Doritos to instead eat wholesome, freshly made selections like lasagna, teriyaki chicken, and tamales, at about $3.50 a lunch. Way better than handing your kid a $5 and telling him to stock up at Taco Bell.

For more information visit revfoods.com.

Goodwill to man and all that: we’ll be back after the winter holidays. Until then, drink Champagne, put the kids to bed early, and avoid toys that make beeping noises.

Christmas break is upon us, which is going to leave a lot of parents at home wondering what the heck to do with all the energy of their usually-in-school kids. One wonderful way to encourage a mellow Saturday evening: make them run wild all day at the Circus Center’s free Open House and Holiday Carnival. The bastion of big-top arts opens up its facilities to the public; you can try a swing on the flying trapeze, learn to juggle, or balance on a teeterboard. Parents too klutzy (and kids to young) to play on the equipment can watch contortionists and physical performers of all stripes, or attend workshops in acrobatics, trampoline technique, and the basics of aerial performance.

For the very youngest kids, the basement of the vintage-cool, high-ceilinged Circus Center (housed in an Art Deco-ish former high school gym) is transformed for the event into a holiday carnival with face-painting, balloon animals, dress-up-as-a-clown supplies, and other gentle fun. There’s also a calliope demonstration for multi-sensory circus delight.

If you just can’t get enough, stick around for the evening performance, Pratfalls and Rising Stars, at 7pm. If you really, really can’t get enough: the Circus Center offers classes for children and adults. And would you know how much you loved the flying trapeze until you tried it?

The Open House and Holiday Carnival runs Sat., 12/20 from 10am-4pm (evening performance begins at 7pm) at the San Francisco Circus Center, 755 Frederick Street (at Lincoln Avenue) in San Francisco. The holiday carnival is free; evening show is $8-12. Call 415-759-8123 or visit circuscenter.org.

It’s cold out there. Bundle up and drink some cocoa.

Fisherman’s Wharf Holiday Lights Boat Parade

Stand on the shore and watch more than 100 boats from the St. Francis Yacht Club and the Fisherman’s Wharf Fishing Fleet parade by, alight with holiday decorations and illumination. The best places to stand are Pier 39 and Aquatic Park. Dress warmly!

When: Fri., 12/19, 6-9pm; All ages; Free.

Where: Pier 39, Embarcadero Street (at Beach Street), San Francisco, 415-673-3530, pier39.com.

Family Holiday Sing-Along

Strike the band and join the chorus– the Pacific Boychoir that is, which sings your favorite carols as the audience sings along.

When: Sat., 12/20, 11am; Age 3+; $5-25.

Where: Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street (at Taylor Street), San Francisco, 415-392-4400, gracecathedral.org.

Winter Solstice at Muir Woods

Celebrate the season (and the shortest night of the year!) with a solstice party at the famous redwoods park. Participants will make a redwood wreath, sing holiday songs, and take a lighted walk through the dark woods.

When: Sun., 12/21, 3-8pm; Age 4+; Free.

Where: Muir Woods, Panoramic Highway (at Frank Valley Road), Mill Valley, nps.gov/muwo.

Family Hanukkah Celebration

Latkes are a featured player at this Hanukkah party, at which partygoers will also sing traditional Hanukkah songs, dance, spin the dreidel, and enjoy a special holiday performance. Linger afterwards for a community candle-lighting at 4:30pm.

When: Sun., 12/21, 2-4pm; All ages; Free (suggested donation $5-7 per family)

Where: The Jewish Community Center, 3200 California Street (at Presidio Avenue), San Francisco, 415-292-1299; jccsf.org.

If you come from a European background, walking into Union Square store karikter is going to slam you with so many memories that you won’t be able to resist gasping. Tintin! Barbapapa! That old Colonialist Babar! These icons, beloved by European children (both present and former), are all but unknown stateside. But at karikter they’re kings, represented in both whimsical toys (Little Prince action figures) and household objects (Barbapapa bathtub stoppers).

There are other, more grown-up objects for sale at karikter: watches, vintage Air France posters. But it’s the character trinkets that take up most of the shelf space and elicit “Oooh look!”s from shoppers. A big blobby money bank made in the shape of Bibendum (the Michelin Man, for Yanks), Barbapapa soup bowls, Tintin rockets, whimsical Vilac animal-topped umbrellas and other enchanting emphemera can be found at this unique emporium, a great Christmas shopping stop for those with relatives from the Old Country.

karikter is located at 418 Sutter Street (at Stockton Street), San Francisco. Call 415-434-1120 or visit karikter.com.

In this season of Santa, when kids are clamoring for plastic Made-in-China junk that will be landfill by next Christmas, what better way to give them a sense of what they’re asking for than taking them on a factory tour? And as an article in the San Mateo County Times points out, there are several Bay Area factory tours that are great for kids.

First and foremost:  the Jelly Belly Factory Tour in Fairfield, about an hour northeast of San Francisco, a free tour so cool that Readers Digest called in the best factory tour in America. Tourists don paper caps and look down on the factory floor, watching beans spun in polishing machines like rocks, and workers separating imperfect beans (”Belly Flops”) from the premium ones. The tour takes about 40 minutes, and participants get to taste jelly beans at each stage of their creation. The whole thing winds up in the Jelly Belly retail store, where you will spend about $20 on jelly beans, and everyone will get a big sugar rush, which turns into intense arguing on the way home.

Another kid pleaser: Mrs. Grossman’s sticker factory in Petaluma. Yes, the woman who made stickers a potent fad of the ’80s by introducing “stickers by the yard,” rolls of stickers that patrons could cut to size, is a local and offers a fun look at her sticker factory daily (closed on weekends). The tour costs $3 per person (kids under age 3 free; strollers are permitted), and takes a little more than an hour as kids goggle at stickers whirring out of the laser cutting machine by the thousands, view bygone sticker lines at the Sticker Museum, and participate in a sticker craft. Once again, the tour ends in Mrs. Grossman’s retail store, and you will be begged for stickers until you break down and spend every bit of money you brought with you.

The San Mateo County Times article has details on more kid-factory faves, including fortune cookie factories in Oakland and San Francisco, Berkeley’s delicious-smelling Scharffen Berger tour, and, a wow for kids with a automotive fetish, Fremont’s New United Motor Manufacturing facility. You’ve got some time off coming, right? Here’s how to soak it up.

Down economy or no, there are still holiday indulgences that parents are willing to spend on. One much-beloved, pricey local tradition: the Ritz-Carlton’s annual Teddy Bear Tea. Children and parents dress up in holiday finery and bring favorite stuffed animals for a tea party in the Ritz-Carlton’s splendiferous, decorated-for-the-holidays Lobby Lounge. Binky the Elf presides over the tea, tells classic holiday stories, sings songs to amuse parents, and hands out balloons as kids enjoy hot chocolate, teddy bear cookies, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, all served on gorgeous oh-my-god-be-careful china. The whole shebang culminates in a visit and portrait with the giant, cuddly costumed Ritz-Carlton teddy bear, and each child is given a high-quality teddy of her own to take home.

Warning: this event may be a bit threatening for very young children, who will no doubt enjoy the cookies and PBJs, but will not be interested in going near any big teddy bear, no way, no sir. But for children age 4 and up, particularly Fancy Nancy-style princessy girls, the event is a holiday highlight.

A portion of proceeds benefits The Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The Teddy Bear Tea occurs daily through December 24, 2008 at the Ritz-Carlton, 600 Stockton Street (at California Street), San Francisco. Seatings are at 10am (tea ends at 11:30am) and 1pm (tea ends at 2:30pm). $80 per person; call 415-296-7465 or visit ritzcarlton.com.

As the holiday season cranks up into high gear, you may have a child or two panting to relay his gift desires to Santa. You can go see the big red guy in person: He’s at the Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco from now until the day before Christmas from 10am to 9pm (10am-6pm December 24), as well as at many other Bay Area malls and holiday celebrations. Hey, maybe your kid will scream enchantingly for the photograph! Won’t that look lovely staring out of a photo cube 30 years from now?

If the mall Santa kiosk isn’t your thing, there are electronic options. Fill in the fields at Santa’s Emails and your kid will get a personalized message promising Santa and the reindeer will be popping by on Christmas. There’s also a cute email form that sends an after-Christmas report on Santa’s delivery. Write & Email Santa Claus lets your child ask for specific presents he or she would like for Christmas–you may want to supervise so Santa doesn’t promise the kid a monkey or a car.

Sorry, holiday haters: it’s pretty much all winter holidays, all the time from here on out. But we did find an option for those who are allergic to all seasonal cheer.

Lunatique Fantastique’s Wrapping Paper Caper

Styrofoam peanuts, wrapping paper, and other packing materials take on a life of their own in Lunatique Fantastique’s annual show. Puppeteers dress in black and fade into the background as they shape objects into impromptu puppets that spin a holiday tale in live 3D “animation.”

When: Ongoing through 1/4/09; weekends and Monday 12/22 and 12/29 at 3:30pm; Age 1+; $10.

Where: The Marsh, 1062 Valencia Street (at Hill Street), San Francisco, 415-271-3256, themarsh.org.

Christmas At Sea

Holiday fun with a nautical bent. The event starts at 3pm with sing-along sea chanteys, followed by ornament-making, a holiday story, followed by tours of historical vessels staffed by costumed actors playing captains and crews from Christmas of 1901. Santa himself will arrive at the pier at 4:20pm.

When: Sat., 12/13, 3-7pm; Age 3+; Free for children under 16, $5 for those over 16. Reservations are required for the evening boat tours.

Where: Hyde Street Pier, Hyde Street (at the Embarcadero), San Francisco, 415-447-5000, nps.gov/safr.

Winter Wonderland Villages

Use recycled materials to create small snowbound houses and villages.

When: Sat., 12/13, 1-3pm; Age 2+; $5 per person or $15 for a family of four.

Where: Crissy Field Center, 608 Mason Street (at Halleck Street), San Francisco, 415-561-5418, crissyfield.org.

Wee Scotty Fashion Show

Meet the tastemakers of tomorrow at this fashionable event at which young designers aged 7 to 17 will show off their designs. Live music, refreshments, a display of handmade duds culled from the 2008 Project Junior Runway competition, and a raffle for a sewing machine signed by Metallica further liven up the evening.

When: Sat., 12/13, 7pm; Age 4+; Free.

Where: Wee Scotty, 1807 Divisadero Street (at Bush Street), 415-345-9200, weescotty.com.