Don’t miss your chance to win this month’s Giveaway. Beat winter boredom with Strawbees, a simple concept of straws and connectors with limitless opportunities for building.
Date Night
Get Sporty
You don’t have to be a sports fan to enjoy the atmosphere at a Toledo Walleye game. Take advantage of special theme nights, as well as game day promotions that offer collectible gifts to fans who arrive early, or postgame activities that keep the fun going after the last goal. With different seating options (rinkside, anyone?), you’re sure to have a great night out getting sporty with your sweetie.
Take a Tour
Whether your frequent the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA), or have never set foot inside, this month offers the perfect way to find romance in the galleries during Flashlight Tours: The Glorious Look of Love (various times, February 15-17). Before docents uncover stories of love across the ages found in works of art, enjoy drinks and appetizers in the Café. $23/members, $30/non-members. toledomuseum.org.
Go Wild
Enjoy an exclusive, adult-only overnight experience at the Toledo Zoo. This one-of-a-kind event on Friday, February 16 includes special access tours, delicious food and drinks and a chance to sleep in the Aquarium. toledozoo.org/snooze.
Hit The Theater
Soak up the beautiful, historic Valentine Theatre, which has become the headquarters for the local theater art scene with the Toledo Symphony, the Toledo Ballet and the Toledo Repertorie Theater using the main stage. See a live performance, a Silver Screen Classic film, like Gone with the Wind, and more this month. valentinetheatre.com
Dine & Indulge
Explore one of the many great restaurants in downtown Toledo. Cozy up with a glass of wine and an artisan pizza at M Osteria, or make a reservation at Rockwell’s Steakhouse in the historic Oliver House, or visit the Brim House, the upscale restaurant at the new Renaissance Toledo Downtown Hotel.
Play Some Games
Savor the sweetness of nostalgia at Reset on Monroe Street. With more than 30 arcade games (think classics like PAC- MAN, Cruisin’ USA, and Space Invaders) and 30 beers on tap, this is a perfect place to relax, reset and have a good time.
Share a Cup
of Coffee
There’s nothing that says your date has to be limited to the evening/night hours. Anytime you can get away with your partner for some quality time is important— so consider starting your day at one of the many quaint coffee shops around town.
Grab a
Cold One
Sometimes it’s nice to have a casual night out with your date where you can enjoy a cold beer and good conversation. If this sounds like you, head to Fleetwood’s Tap Room in Hensville, which features 48 craft beers on draft, a wide selection of whiskeys, and an eclectic menu.
Family Favorites 2017 – Advertise
Family Favorites new nomination process gives your business a better shot at winning with new campaigning features.
These on-ballot advertising opportunities offer both group and category ads so you can get more votes.
Don’t be left off the ballot!
Call 419-244-9859 or Email [email protected] to find out more.
GROUP BANNER: $1000
Have your business name and call to action displayed prominently over every category in a group.
Each group adspace will be available to a maximum of three advertisers.
Groups Include: Shop Local – Education & Childcare, Health & Wellness – Family Friendly Restaurants After School Activities & more!
CATEGORY BANNER: $300
Have your business name and call to action displayed prominently over a category of your choice.
Each category adspace will be available to a maximum of three advertisers.
Consult your account manager for category info
EXCLUSIVE EMAIL BLAST $500
Your personal nomination request to all of our digital subscribers.
WEEKLY EMAIL NEWSLETTER $100 PER ISSUE
Reserve your spot in our weekly newsletter to our digital subscribers.
Sent on: 1/24, 1/31, 2/7, 2/14, 2/21
Don’t be left off the ballot!
Call 419-244-9859 or Email [email protected] to find out more.
Family Favorites 2017 – Assets
Let us help you win a Family Favorites award!
Learn about digital advertising options here.
Your vote is your voice, so use it in our Family Favorites Readers Poll. We want you to vote for the people, places, things and ideas that make Toledo great.
We encourage you to grab the graphics from this page and share them on your own website and social media platforms, or print them as postcards and posters!
FAMILY FAVORITES LOGO: 
To use our logo, right click on the image and save it to your computer.
WEBSITE WIDGETS:
To use this widget, right click on the image and save it to your computer.
FACEBOOK COVER IMAGE:
To use this image for your Facebook cover, right click on the image and save it to your computer.
INSTAGRAM IMAGE:
To use this image for your Instagram feed, right click on the image and save it to your computer.
8.5X11 POSTER:
To hang this poster in your business or organization, download a PDF to print. This poster is 8.5″x11″.
LET THE MUSIC PLAY
The Toledo Opera is bringing a unique experience into a select few preschools within the Toledo Public Schools Head Start program. An Opera Is A Story is an educational introduction to opera for students who may not have had any prior exposure to the musical genre.
Teaching artist Christina Farrell brought the program, which she created, to Toledo in 2014. She’s since introduced local preschoolers to age-appropriate adaptations of “Carmen,” “Hansel and Gretel,” and “Porgy and Bess.” This year, she brings the students the story of Gioachino Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” with her adaptation called “Figaro! Figaro!” Farrell created the content and concepts and aligned the lessons with Ohio’s Early Learning and Development Standards, which ensure that school curriculums meet educational objectives, according to the Toledo Opera.
Farrell is a trained musician and educator with a bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance and a master’s in Educational Theater. She’s been a Master Teacher at the Wolf Trap Institute of Early Learning Through the Arts since 2011.
Let the music play
Loviah Aldinger, Associate Director at The Toledo Opera, said the program is a great way to introduce opera at a young age and get children actively involved in learning about music.
“A lot of places have enrichment programs,” Aldinger said. “This is more than that.”
The program helps students learn storytelling skills, listening skills and problem-solving abilities, Aldinger said. According to the Wolf Trap Institute website, the arts also help young children learn critical skills such as creativity, collaboration, math, language arts, and imagination.
Farrell uses music, props, instruments, stick puppets and other items to set the scenes of the story. She uses repurposed pizza boxes as miniature stages to help tell her stories. The outside of the box can serve as one location from the story, and the inside can feature a place from another scene, Aldinger said. Students receive CDs of the music to listen to at home.
“It’s not too elaborate,” Aldinger said. “There is a lot of play and pretend. It is very age appropriate.”
The story will be slowly revealed over several sessions during the two-week residency. Classes participate in half-hour workshops on alternating days over the course of two weeks. Toledo Opera said the students sing, use creative movement, explore musical instruments, and learn how costumes can help imagination. Professional guest artists will join the children for their fourth session and perform pieces from the opera at the school.
This year’s lineup
This year, eight classes will participate in An Opera Is A Story, which begins January 22. The residency will take place in Toledo Public Schools’ Head Start programs at Leverette Elementary School, East Toledo Family Center, and Toledo Day Nursery’s Mosaic location.
The program is a unique opportunity that is not taking place in a lot of schools throughout the nation, Aldinger said. The Toledo Opera is always seeking funding to continue the residency. She said there will be researchers from Bowling Green State University present this year to evaluate the program to show donors the educational impact An Opera Is A Story can provide.
Good To The Core
A new fast casual healthy eatery has made its debut in Toledo. It’s the perfect time to stop by as we all start following those New Year’s resolutions after the non-stop feeding frenzy of the past month; or year, whatever the case may be.
‘Healthy’ is not a four letter word
My family eats pretty healthy and we enjoy junk food in moderation. That being said, my youngest was going to have nothing to do with trying the new CoreLife restaurant.
He immediately jumped online to check out the menu. Half the ride there he was warning his older brother. “Dude. Everything is healthy. There isn’t going to be anything we like. It’s all weird stuff.” Ok, that might not have been verbatim, but it was close. You would have thought he lived on Pepsi and chips the way he acted. As you read on, you will see that he slowly changed his mind.
Eating with your eyes
Like many fast casual restaurants, CoreLife gives you the opportunity to step up to the counter and order your meal exactly how you want it, while watching the food being prepared right in front of you. The philosophy at CoreLife is pretty straightforward. Started in Syracuse, NY in 2015 a group of friends saw a need for healthy, yet flavorful, fresh, and nutrient dense foods to fuel our bodies. They believe in grass fed beef, all-natural chicken, no high fructose syrup, no additives, no GMOs, or trans fats or artificial anything. It almost sounds too good to be true. But according to Jake Barrick, the lead kitchen manager, “You’re always getting fresh.” He said even the dressings are made fresh daily at each location. “All of our items on our menu are gluten free except the complimentary bread we offer everyone,” he said.
We walked in with my youngest still wondering what we were doing there. But as he took a look at the menu options as well as the possibility of how he could create his own masterpiece of a grain or green bowl, he changed his tune a bit. When you walk up to the counter it’s like stepping into a colorful garden that looks so enticing you will become excited about vegetables. Those ingredients go directly into your bowls.
Grain bowls, broth bowls,
green bowls, oh my!
Green bowls begin with any combination of spinach, romaine, or kale. Grain bowls start with a base of warm quinoa, warm wild rice blend, or rice noodles. And the broth bowls are amazingly filling and begin with vegetable and bone broths that have simmered for hours.
From there, select from the endless options, or like me, choose a combination listed on the menu. My grain bowl began with quinoa and kale, and I loaded it with corn, grilled chicken, broccoli, peppers, and a tantalizing dressing. And I can’t lie here. I wondered to myself, ‘how will this keep me full the rest of the night?’ Wonder no more. I was amazed I had no hunger pangs hours later. Why? I think it had to do with the fact I was only putting nutrient dense whole foods in my body!
My daughter enjoyed the sriracha bowl with tofu. My youngest devoured his leafy green bowl with steak, and my oldest son enjoyed the broccoli cheddar vegetable broth bowl. With cauliflower puree, cheddar and parmesan cheese, broccoli, carrots, celery and scallions, well, it was no wonder he was mad we all couldn’t keep our spoons out of his bowl. It was too tasty to be so healthy.
Yup, the little kids love it too
There was a nearby table with a darling four year old girl just munching away on her kid’s salad bowl and sipping one of their many fresh squeezed juices. For $4.95 kids can put together their own bowls. I could see that little one was enjoying every bite of the nuts and dried cranberries she had added to hers. This was not her first time there and her parents said she loves it.
Karen Zickes is a mom of three active children and freelance writer who resides in Holland, OH. She can be reached in c/o [email protected].
The Short Course
Kid-friendly: Yes
To avoid wait: Anytime
Noise level: Moderate
Bathroom amenities: Changing Station
High chairs? Yes
Got milk? Yes as well as a variety of fresh made juices
Kids’ menu? Yes, but you won’t find chicken fingers or fries here Allergy info: All items are gluten free. A manager will step up to the line to make your order if you alert them of an allergy. They know every ingredient and will be absolutely sure there is no cross contamination.
CoreLife Eatery
5231 Monroe St. Toledo, 43623 | 419-540-0416
Daily 11a.m.-9p.m. **New location in Maumee near Meijer opening this month www.corelifeeatery.com