Three-Martini Family Vacation: A Field Guide to Intrepid Parenting [Paperback]

Christie Mellor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 3, 2007

Chill the glasses! The author of the wildly successful Three-Martini Playdate is back with more irreverent and useful advice about life with children. Wickedly funny essays offer helpful advice on harnessing the energy of toddlers-gone-wild: on vacation, out to dinner, even just when grandmother stops by for a visit. Parents will relearn the art of traveling, socializing, and eating out like adults . . . sometimes with well-behaved children in tow. In dozens of short, kicky chapters like Cocktail Parties: Actually for Grown-ups! and The Theme Park Vacation: A Last Resort, Christie Mellor gently reminds parents that family vacations can truly be fun.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her latest guide to parenting under the influence (following The Three-Martini Playdate), Mellor delivers another clever, tongue-in-cheek self-help that scoots deliciously close to the edge of offensive while delivering laughs and lessons for the beleagured mom and dad. Typical suggestions are both smarmy and smart: "You should be running the vacuum cleaner, turning the volume up on the radio, and having a dance party when your infants are napping, so that they won't startle awake when they hear a dog barking in the next county." She also warns of "ornate décor made exclusively for children," and what exactly to expect from a babysitter: "You will be lucky if the sitter is able to feed your child reheated pizza before putting him to bed with his clothes on." Another sharp bit of advice: get those kids reading books as soon as possible; it'll pay dividends in countless waiting rooms, cars and airports. And addressing the topic of the day, Mellor enthuses, "It's amazing how many ideal holiday destinations are...a ten-minute to a three-hour drive from home," provided "a little flexibility in one's definition of 'ideal.' " Further tips are set aside for plane travel, theme parks, holidays ("Santa moves in mysterious ways"), mealtimes and, of course, hosting a cocktail party ("Actually for Grown-Ups!").
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About the Author

Christie Mellor, author of The Three-Martini Playdate, is a writer and actress. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two always-angelic sons.

Product Details

• Paperback: 159 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Printing edition (May 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811857336
• ISBN-13: 978-0811857338
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,030,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

While pursuing a happy life that includes an interesting husband, two almost-always pleasant children, and a neurotic duck, Christie became a vociferous cheerleader for the "other kind of parenthood," the anti-perfection, you-deserve-a-life kind. Her first book, "The Three-Martini Playdate," was a harbinger of a new trend for today's beleaguered parents, helping them to withstand the unceasing and overbearing good advice and pressure to raise perfect, highly enriched offspring,. She continued the thread with "The Three-Martini Family Vacation." Christie also likes to draw, and does so repeatedly throughout the pages of "Raised by Wolves: Clues to the Mysteries of Adulthood," out in paperback in the spring of 2010, a book designed for the adult child whose parents did NOT read "The Three Martini Playdate." Christie's rants have been published in Britain in The Guardian, Junior Magazine, and the Sunday Express, and in Australia's Sunday Life Magazine, and she's been heard on Britain's BBC radio and American Public Radio's Marketplace, in addition to being reviewed and interviewed in Newsweek, Playboy, The New York Times, People, and other publications.
"You Look Fine, Really" is due from HarperCollins in the spring of 2010. It's for the ladies. The gals. The women. Specifically women over the age of 40. And yet, it's totally girly! Christie is very excited about this one.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It was ok, July 27, 2011

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integrity36 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Three-Martini Family Vacation: A Field Guide to Intrepid Parenting (Paperback)

I was expecting a lot more out of these books. I ordered both, thinking they would be good for a laugh.
Maybe I have a different kinda sence of humor, cause it they didn't make me laugh at all.
The running alcohol theme was a bit much.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars angelinamax, May 23, 2011

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angelinamax - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Three-Martini Family Vacation: A Field Guide to Intrepid Parenting (Paperback)

This book is written in an entirely different tone than her first book. The first book was tongue in cheek and cute, but this one was more of an instructional manual of what she thought was wrong with other people's parenting and how they should fix it. Not nearly as funny. Dissapointing since I put off buying this book for years and then finally did. I was really expecting more since I absolutely loved her first book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read !, October 3, 2007

By 

Maureen Ryan "Tired Mommy" (North Andover, MA. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Three-Martini Family Vacation: A Field Guide to Intrepid Parenting (Paperback)

Probably the funniest book I have ever read on parenting. Mellor doles out wise parenting advice with a side of satire. A real break from other "real" parenting books and a quick read for the ever busy among us. A must for parents who can laugh at themselves and/or others.