Kalakoa! A mishmash of family fun and news

Pineapple drop rings in 2013

New York may have its illuminated ball in Times Square, but Hawaii has a festive pineapple that will descend from a flagpole at the Town Center of Mililani on New Year’s Eve.

The family-friendly event will feature the dropping of a 12-foot pineapple down the 30-foot flagpole near the Consolidated Stadium 14 theaters at 7 p.m. Monday, coordinated with its East Coast inspiration. A firecracker and confetti cannon will blast as the pineapple descends.

Musical entertainment will be provided by The Deadbeats and "American Idol" finalist Camile Velasco. Clowns and games will keep the keiki busy while they wait for the main event.

For more information, call 625-0108 or visit www.towncenterofmililani.com.

Kids can join in year-end fun

Kids who are too young to stay up until midnight can celebrate New Year’s early at Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

Families can participate in a countdown to noon, complete with a balloon drop and an apple juice toast.

Children can create festive party hats and noisemakers or enjoy carousel rides for $1 from 10 to 11:30 a.m.

Admission is $10, $8 kamaaina and military, $6 for seniors over 62. Call 524-5437 or visit www.discoverycenterhawaii.org.

Shrine hosts Hatsumode celebration

Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha-Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu invites you to participate in a Japa­nese celebration of the new year starting at midnight Tuesday.

This first visit to a Shinto shrine — typically done by millions of people in Japan during the first three days of the new year — is called Hatsu­mode. It’s a Japa­nese ritual to usher in abundance, good health and positive energy for the new year.

From midnight to 2 a.m., enjoy complimentary bowls of ozoni mochi soup served at the temple. The soup will be served again from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

At 10 a.m., expect to hear the beats of taiko drums from Tsu­tomu Nakai and Dragon Beat Wa-taiko. Shi­shi­mai, the Japa­nese lion dance, will be performed periodically throughout the day.

Purchase an oma­mori charm to make a wish for the new year.

Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha is at 1239 Olo­mea St. Call 841-4755 or visit www.e-shrine.org.

Pockets of creativity

The Christmas excitement is over, but school won’t start up for days. Keep the kids busy with some simple crafts.

This project is also great for a group of kiddos to make together because it allows for collaboration, laughter, sharing ideas and mixing materials.

Before you get started, use newspaper to protect the table surfaces. Tape the newsprint together to make a work surface.

Parents should read through the directions first to determine which steps they should help with, especially where scissors and glue guns are involved.@Subhead1:here’s what you will need

Everyone has skinned their knees or outgrown a pair of pants, taking them to the point of no return. Instead of tossing the pants in the trash, cut the pockets out and put them to good use. The pockets can be embellished to make creative gift bags to take to a birthday party or to use as party favors.

They also can be used as small storage bags or purses. Kids can keep lip balm and grooming products, games and jewelry in these pockets.

Materials:

» Pair of old jeans or pants (such as camouflage or khaki)

» Scissors

» Hot-glue gun and glue sticks

» Embellishments of choice: glitter glue, craft pearls, small fishing bobs, lures with no hooks, small fishing weights, military men, buttons with crests, tortoiseshell buttons, ribbon

» Safety pins (if using fishing weights)

1. Cut the pockets out of the pants, keeping the cut lines close to the hemmed edge for a smooth finish.

2. Embellish as you please or with the suggested ideas.

Optional: You can glue Velcro onto the flap and pocket so the pocket will close well, if it doesn’t already.

Rosette-embellished pocket:

1. Cut 1/2- to 1-inch-thick strips of fabric in 8-inch lengths from the pant leg.

2. Roll strips from one end to the other to make a rose shape, and drop a dot of glue on the end of the strip to hold the rosette tight.

3. Cut two leaf-shape pieces of pant fabric, and glue them around the rosette. Drizzle or draw clear glitter glue lines on the leaflets to mimic veining.

Fishing-themed pocket:

1. Gather an assortment of fishing lures, weights and bobs. Look for items with absolutely no hooks. If you are using fish lures with coating on them, wash them with a dishwashing liquid and let them dry before using them in this project.

2. Use safety pins to attach fishing weights that have a small loop for twine.

3. Hot-glue on any small fishing bobs or other decorative elements.

Military-inspired pocket:

1. Pull together tortoiseshell and crested buttons, plastic "Army men," and ribbon in federal blue, tan or gray. The tortoiseshell pattern has the slight look of camouflage and will fit well with this theme.

2. Hot-glue the ribbon onto the face of the pocket to add stripes. Fold the edges before gluing it down so it won’t fray later.

3. Add a few toy figurines and buttons to the pocket’s flap.

Pearl-embellished pocket:

1. Line up pearls on the pocket and glue them down. You can use glitter glue to brighten up the pocket, but the simple pearls against the camouflage fabric turned out really elegant on mine. Less can be more on these because, remember, you will be filling them with neat things.

Hanging plaques from salvaged wood

Simple wooden plaques can be whipped up from scrap lumber that would otherwise fill the landfill. When doing a home-improvement project, save the extra wood cuts. (Mom and Dad should supervise the gathering of wood to prevent splinters in little fingers.) You can also find scrap wood at local home-improvement stores, which often give it away or sell it for $1 a cut.

Select a lightweight piece of wood so the wood is easy to hang with a ribbon and hot glue. These plaques look sweet in groups.

Materials:

» Wood scraps, about 4 by 6 inches

» Fine sandpaper

» Colored craft paint (I used blue-gray.)

» 2 craft paint brushes (any size for base coat and Polycrylic coat)

» White craft paint

» One 2- or 3-inch craft paint brush (for white paint)

» Graphite sketching pencils with good erasers

» Small quart of Polycrylic Protective Finish by Minwax (clear coat to seal the pencil sketch)

» Sturdy ribbon

» Hot glue gun and glue sticks

» Small shells from a beach vacation or a trip to the craft store

1. Sand the wood pieces to make the surface and corners smooth to the touch.

2. Paint the wood the darker color of paint that you have chosen. Let dry.

3. Paint one loose brush-stroke of white paint over the darker color. (This will be the area you sketch on.) It can be a loose stroke and brushed on just one time so that it’s a light coat. (The brushed-on wispy look creates a lovingly worn feel for this project.) Let the white paint dry very well.

4. Now for the fun part. You can sketch anything in the world onto the white surface. Have children’s books around to get ideas. Use the pencil lightly until you feel good about your image. If you want to start over, erase. You can also brush on more white paint to make a clean canvas again. You can also put a name or saying on the plaque. Perfect handwriting, as you can see from the examples, is not needed.

5. Once you have it the way you want, brush on a coat of Polycrylic seal to keep the pencil from rubbing away. Let dry.

6. For hangers, glue the ribbon to the top about a half-inch from the sides. Glue a seashell over the ribbon ends. If you are dealing with a heavier wood, you might prefer to staple a strong ribbon or piece of twine to the back of the plaque using a light-duty staple gun. This should be done by a supervising parent, and it’s only needed for a wood piece heavier than a ribbon would hold.