Suri Cruise at a NYC playground (People.com)

2010 is here, and I started a new project to inject a little more interesting fodder in a parent resource blog/information tool.

Let’s face it a blog about NJ Playgrounds can be pretty bland . It probably is one of the most boring topics for a parent to look up. But parents still search for places for their kids to go to, indoor or outdoor, so my little website has proven to be a useful tool.

I’ve been able to visit many of those places my precious “commenters”, friends and playground fans have told me about.

So about the project…

I’ve always been intrigued by fame. How it affects one’s life, especially for parents taking their kids out.  Are they successful in being invisible or do they get easily noticed?

So starting small, I’m asking 30 NJ celebrities what their favorite playground is.

Will we get any response? Who knows.

I’ll tell you one thing, the famous NJ native, @ThatKevinSmith makes himself extremely accessible, but the sheer number of people pinging him makes it seem like a lottery for a response. I am a non-celebrity and have trouble keeping up with email sometimes, what happens when you have a huge following?

I’ll be sharing my results in the project, who I emailed, wrote, called, facebooked, twittered, what were the response times, and any fun stuff on the way..

Who are these 30 NJ Celebrities?

Well ideally we’d have 30 celebrities who have children in the Garden State and have a favorite spot to take them, but let’s face the facts.

1) A big chunk of native NJ folk that have become famous have moved to LA, NYC, etc.

2) Celebrities from NJ come in all ages and may not necessarily have kids/grandkids of playground age or like playgrounds. So they may be drawing from their past memories so it’s more of a reminiscent recommendation. Also do celebrities really go to playgrounds? Do they create their own kiddie paradises in their backyard or lower estate?

3) The definition of celebrity- I know I’ll have to be a little flexible especially when it comes to the definition of “NJ celebrity” I’ve started my preliminary list subject to change. I would love to include also famous writers, experts, just a variety, so far I picked comedians, reality tv, and actors with kids: Kevin Smith, Jim Breuer, The Real Housewives of NJ, Brooke Shields, Stephen Colbert, Jon Bon Jovi, and Jay Mohr…

Who else should I include?

We’d love to know who you consider a NJ Celebrity who would answer what their fave play place is to take their kids. If you give us a good/original recommendation, we’ll add you to our “credit page”, name and link. Also anyone have experience getting in touch with celebrities? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

I’m targeting June 1, 2010 to share the results of this project, with some updates in between.