Special Events

The 23rd Annual Holiday Festival, to benefit Newtown Youth and Family Services, Inc., returns to Main Street on Sunday, December 7, from 11 am to 5 pm.

The six-hour event will offer tours of historic Newtown Homes (12 Main Street, 51 Main Street, 63 Main Street and 74 Main Street), Gingerbread House Contest and Festival of Trees at Booth Library, photos with Santa and crafts in the gym at Edmond Town Hall, Victorian Tea in The Alexandria Room at Edmond Town Hall, Holiday Boutique, Hawley School Holiday Fair in Hawley Gym (10 am-2 pm), Service of Lessons and Carols at Trinity Episcopal Church (2 pm), two performances of Nutcracker Suite Ballet (noon and 1:30 pm), and two performances of  ‘Twas, an original play by Cristin Carlin, at Edmond Town Hall (4 and 5:30).

Tickets, which offer admission to all events, are $15, or $25 for a Family Pass (covering one adult and up to four children). Tickets for the ballet only or the play only are $5 each.

Family Programs & Events

*Gym Time At Edmond Town Hall: Come spend some quality time with your children while preserving a healthy lifestyle. Gym Time for families are Wednesdays from 9:30 until 11:30 am at the town hall. Cost is $50 per family. Call Elaine at NYFS for more information.

*Parent Education Program (PEP): “Putting Children First” is a State of Connecticut program required as a prerequisite to granting a divorce. Sessions are designed to help families cope with the effects of divorce on children.

Youth Programs & Activities

 *Job Bank is accepting applications from qualified 13- to 17-year-olds who want employment babysitting, pet sitting, or performing other household chores. Call between 10 am and noon weekdays for an application.

*Middle School Homework Club is running after school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

*Reed School Homework Club meets after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

*Rock ‘N Roll Middle School meets on Wednesdays from 2:30 until 5 pm.

Support Groups

*Alateen meetings are Tuesdays from 7 to 9 pm. This program is for youth affected by somebody else’s alcoholism. At meetings members share their personal experiences, and learn to find personal happiness, whether or not the alcoholic in their lives is still drinking.

*An Autism Group, for parents of children with special needs, meets at 7 pm the first Thursday of each month. Call Wendy Suckow, 364-1133, for more information. The group’s next meeting will be November 6.

*Mommy & Me, a support group for first-time mothers with children less than a year old, has resumed. The group meets on Tuesdays from 10:30 am until noon. Call Elaine for more information.

*NAMI is America’s largest grassroots organization dedicated to improving the lives of persons with serious mental illness. This group meetings the third Monday of each month, 9 am to noon.

*“Reality Bites”: Join Stacia Helfand for “Reality Bites,” a new weight management group that offers strategies and tips for weight loss. Weekly sessions provide a weigh-in for accountability, nutrition education, and peer support. The group is 45 minutes in length and is followed by a peer walking group. Reality Bites will meet Thursday mornings at 9 at NYFS 17 Church Hill Road. Fee $15 per session or ten sessions for $125. For more information, call Stacia at 203-260-8911.

*A new Sibshop group is forming. Meetings are Wednesday nights from 5 to 6 pm. This program acknowledges that being the brother or sister of a person with special needs is for some a good thing, for others a not so good thing, and for many, somewhere in-between. Classes for children ages 10–14 will begin November 5. Call Jessi to sign up.

All programs take place at NYFS, 17 Church Hill Road, unless otherwise noted. For more information or to register call 270-4335.