Autauga County Schools

St. Paul Catholic School Spartan Spectacular Glow Gallery 2023

Art teacher Julie Fink and her St. Paul Catholic School students worked hard all spring to create treasure from trash! The Treasure Our Florida Habitat exhibit used found and recycled items and neon glow paint to simulate an out of this world experience of traveling down the Escambia River and into the Pensacola Bay! The Glow Gallery was buzzing with visitors all night long! Sculpture from recycled items, kiln-fired clay sculpture, watercolor and acrylic paintings, chalk pastel drawings- our Spartan students have a hand in it all. This year’s Glow Gallery highlighted the native species of Northwest Florida and reminded us all of the nega tive impact of human trash and even our presence, but it is our duty as stewards of this earth to never give up hope for a future where all species are protected and allowed to flourish.

Tropic Falls is the tropical getaway with something for everybody! One ticket includes 23 theme park rides, the region’s biggest indoor water park and the all-new Big Water Bay wave pool complete with Coastal Curl surf simulator! Now you can enjoy it all and save more with the Family 4 Pack! Save $49.96 on four general admission tickets for a limited time—get all the details at VisitOWA.com!

THRILL, THEN CHILL.

In grade school my son loved celebrating his summer birthday with a big party that included family, friends and everyone in his class. But after the last slice of cake was eaten and all the guests had gone home there was still one activity left, opening the pile of gifts. It became overwhelming and reached the point where his birthday seemed bigger than Christmas. It was time for a lesson in giving.

If your child is overloaded with gifts on his or her birthday, or if you feel it is time to teach the gift of giving, consider hosting a charitable birthday party this year. Your child will still enjoy celebrating his or her big day with friends and family. But instead of bringing a gift, ask your guests to bring a donation to a charity of your child’s choice. So your child won’t completely miss out on the new bike they’d been hoping for, limit gift giving to just family members. Or one big present from mom and dad.

Here are some ideas to get the party started

For your sporty child: Consider an activity like swimming, soccer, indoor ice skating, miniature golf, bowling, a bounce house at home or an indoor inflatables destination. Ask your guests to bring new or used shoes and clothing for Soles4Souls (soles4souls.org). This organization distributes donations to the needy in the United States and countries in Central and South America and Africa. Or find a local charity that accepts used

For the animal lover: Contact your local humane society to find out if they host kid’s birthday parties. If not, throw the party at home and have the kids make toys, blankets or anything else your humane society suggests for their homeless pets. Or take a trip to the zoo. Ask your guests to donate to the World Wildlife fund (worldwildlife.org) and they can adopt an animal they’d like to help. Adoptable animals include elephants, penguins, tigers and panda bears. Or, if you’re brave enough, throw a party with the local lizard guy at your house. Encourage guests to make donations to Heifer International (heifer.org) and let kids pick from a gift of goats, a present of pigs or any of the other animals Heifer International will provide to needy families in third world countries. The National Wildlife Federation (nwf.org) also maintains an adopt an animal program. With a donation you can adopt a gray wolf, harp seal or great horned owl to name a few.

For your little chef: These days cooking is all the rage and it isn’t just for adults anymore. Try hosting a cooking party for your little food lover. Check to see if there is a local venue like a specialty grocery store or cooking school that hosts parties for kids. Or a business that will come to your home and conduct a class. Or even a mobile culinary school. If not, use your own kitchen and host a pizza making party. Provide chef hats and individual pizza crusts for each child and a variety of toppings and let them make their own pie. Or make homemade ice cream and provide a choice of toppings like fruit, chocolate or caramel sauce, candies, or crushed cookies. Ask your guests to bring food to donate to your local food pantry.

Host a Happy Doll party: For a child who loves dolls, Happydoll.org provides dolls and all the materials needed so your guests can decorate a doll for a needy child. Each guest gets a cloth doll and non-toxic pens to design their own unique doll. Each doll has a specific tracking code so you can track where each decorated doll has traveled. Dolls are shipped to needy children throughout the U.S., and throughout the world including Haiti, India and China.

For the generous child: If your child just wants a simple but fun birthday party without a specific theme, host a cake and ice cream, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, musical chairs, and piñata kind of party that you may have enjoyed as a child. Consider donating to the children’s ward of a local hospital or to Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities. Or collect books and school supplies to donate to a church or other organization that helps local kids in need.

And if you want to send a little something home with your generous guests, say goodbye to the junk of the goody bag and try one of these simple ideas instead: make a craft like a friendship bracelet or a rubber band bracelet, ice cream cone gift certificate, local kid’s restaurant small gift certificate, sidewalk chalk, small book, homemade snacks like granola, trail mix or muffins (be sure to check for allergies.)

Is the Threat of De-Dollarization Real?

Q I’m hearing more and more about “dedollarization” and how several countries are moving away from the U.S. dollar as their basis of international trade. Will this affect the strength of the dollar, and should I be concerned about how I’m saving and investing because of this?

A. First and foremost, I care enough about you to say you may be spending way too much time on the internet, buddy. You’re drifting into the realm of conspiracy theories here, so let’s slow down and take a look at some facts.

China, Brazil and Russia are the three main players in all this. They already don’t use the U.S. dollar as their basis of international trade—all three have their

U.S. dollar. Those three countries, along with some of the oil-producing countries from the Middle East they’re trying to get on board with the idea, are talking about developing one currency they all use. In international trade, that currency would be converted back and forth to dollars— much like what Europe did with the euro. Which, by the way, really hasn’t worked out so well. Are those countries going to be able to devalue the dollar by doing that? No. Why? Because while those countries take up a lot of land mass, they don’t take up a lot of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the world. The United States still represents the vast majority of the world’s GDP. Sure, China’s big in that regard. But

Russia doesn’t bring much to the table, and Brazil is barely scraping by in a failed economy. Plus, they’re tiny as far as economics are concerned. I mean, Texas probably has a larger GDP than Brazil.

In other words, they just don’t have the muscle to take down the dollar mathematically speaking. Now, if they do manage to put this idea together, it still won’t end in “de-dollarization.”

The dollar will not be done away with. Even if they create their own currency,

Campus Church

115 Saint John Street Pensacola, 32503

Dates: July 9 - 13, 2023

Times: 6:15pm - 8:15pm

Ages: K4 - 6th grade (850) 479-6575 info@campuschurch.com www.campuschurch.com

Christ Church

18 West Wright Street Pensacola, 32501

Dates: July 10-13, 2023 Times: 8:30am - 11:30am

Ages: K - 5th grade Theme: Twists and Turns (850) 432-5115 victoria@christ-church.net www.christ-church.net

Charity Chapel 5820 Montgomery Avenue Pensacola, 32526

Dates: July 10-13, 2023

Times: 9:00am - 12:15pm

Ages: 4 years (must be 4 by July 10) - 7th grade Theme: Wild Life (850) 944-5520 www.charitychapel.org

All Saints Church 901 N. New Warrington Rd. Pensacola

Dates: July 10 - July 14 Times: 9am-12pm

Ages: PreK - 6th grade Theme: P.R.O.O.F. Pirates (850) 292-5186 www.allsaintsfl.net

East Brent Baptist Church 4801 N Davis Hwy Pensacola, 32503

Dates: July 10-14, 2023 Times: 8:30am - 12:00pm Ages: K4-5th grade

Theme: Twists and Turns (850) 477-5812 info@eastbrent.com www.eastbrent.com

Redeemer Lutheran Church 333 Commerce St., Pensacola 32507

Dates: July 10-14, 2023

Times: 5 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Ages: Completed K - completed 4th grade

Theme: God’s Wonder Lab Dinner, music, Bible stories, and crafts (850) 455-0330 redeemerpensacola@yahoo.com www.redeemerschoolpensacola.org

Myrtle Grove United Methodist Church

1030 N 57th Ave Pensacola, 32506

Dates: July 24-28, 2023 Times: 9:00am-12:00pm

Ages: Rising K-5th grade

Theme: Superhero Hotline (850) 456-7463 (Ext 5) jlbpensmgumc@gmail.com www.atthegrove.church

WinShape Camps Gulf Breeze

1122 Oriole Beach Road Gulf Breeze, 32563

Dates: July 31-August 4, 2023

Times: Monday - Thursday 8am - 5pm, Friday 8am - 12pm

Ages: K5 - 5th grade (850) 932-8197 www.winshapecamps.org

When I received the invite to my nephew’s, pirate party I was worried. The event was being held during the winter time at his house so all the five-year-old kids would be cooped up. How would over twenty kids be entertained in a small area indoors? Would I hear so many chaotic screams of “Arrr’s” and “Ahoy’s” that I would want to walk the plank?

My fears subsided when I beheld the enormous cardboard-created pirate ship in their living room. If the boat hadn’t been so crowded with kids, then I would have jumped inside of it myself. When I noticed organized activity stations set up throughout the house, I knew all the kids would have a blast. The party was a huge success that my kids still talk about four years later.

The pirate party isn’t the only impressive at-home one my sister and brotherin-law, Tara and Mike, have hosted. They had other events for my nephew and two nieces. The themes of their parties include knights and princesses, western cowboys and cowgirls, fairies and gnomes, Star Wars, and pirates. For all their parties they created a life-size cardboard centerpiece such as a castle or western town for the kids to play in and games centered around the theme along with a favor to take home. Homemade treats and a cake are abundant at every gathering.

So, what is the secret to throwing an epic birthday party on a dime?

Planning In Advance

The Stull Family is already planning the next unicorn theme party for June. They get ideas from Pinterest and other craft- ing websites. Sometimes they brainstorm ideas on their own. This planning helps them to have enough time to create all the activities and cardboard centerpiece.

Potential Savings: $25-$50. Advanced planning allows them to buy sale items and use coupons.

Homemade

Almost everything at parties are homemade from the cardboard centerpieces to the games, food and favors. This significantly cuts down the cost of the parties which were all under $200.

Potential Savings: $50-$75 by not buying a store-bought cake, games or favors.

Team Work

Tara and Mike Stull work together creating the life-size centerpiece, games, favors and homemade baking. They also include their kids in the process of coming up with ideas and creating the items. By working together, they don’t become too overwhelmed with the planning and creating that is involved. It also makes the process more fun for the entire family.

Potential Savings: $25-$50 by working together, the less they need to purchase store bought items.

Old School Games With A Theme

At the parties, they offer simple games that everyone loves, and they incorporate the theme into the game. Instead of a typical water gun fight, they created a water gun shooting range in the western theme party. Or instead of pin the tail on the donkey it was pin the lightsaber on Yoda for the Star Wars theme party. Some other games they played are a pirate scavenger hunt for gold coins, relay cowboy horse races and beware of the shark cardboard toss bean bag game.

Potential Savings: $100-$200 by not hosting the party at an outside venue such as a play gym, bowling alley or laser tag place.

Finding Free or Discounted Items

Tara and Mike asked local appliance stores for free cardboard boxes to create the