Things to Do in Centennial

Relive elementary school artistic accomplishments with today's Groupon, offering $50 worth of personalized pottery pieces for $25 at Color Me Mine in Aurora. Celebrate V-Day painting pottery with your special friend, or surprise your valentine with pottery that you painted to look like two hearts absorbing each other, forming one monster heart.

Lyle Phetteplace fell in love with the outdoors and his home state of Colorado at an early age. Today, he runs Renaissance Adventure Guides so they can continue their passion and allow others to experience adventure, too. The excursions they curate include everything from hiking, kayaking, climbing, backpacking, and even sea kayaking, a skill beginners hone on the lakes of Colorado before moving on to distant ocean destinations to paddle, such as Costa Rica. Renaissance designs guided travel tours of the country, which presents excellent terrain for hiking, backpacking, and other activities in addition to sea kayaking.

Renaissance Adventure Guides believes outdoor adventures have the ability to bring people closer to their fellow participants and the environment, so they treat each experience differently. They customize adventures to suit the abilities and goals of their customers, while also keeping groups at a manageable size so everyone receives personal attention and a unique secret high-five. Since safety is always at the forefront of any expedition, they also offer avalanche training taught by American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education–trained instructors. Additionally, having learned to love nature at a young age, they strive to pass along their love for exploring to children through kids camps filled with days paddling the river.

For the past 24 years, the Denver Boat Show has served as an annual port of call for modern-day sailors of all stripes. The latest incarnation is bound for the Denver Convention Center, where spectators and interested buyers can kick the rudders of vessels from exhibitors such as Colorado Boat Center, Rocky Mountain Boat Co., and Great Lakes Boat Company. In addition to rows of boats and boating accessories, the convention center’s halls will also ring with happy laughter elicited by family-friendly activities, including indoor wakeboarding demos and daily performances from Twiggy, the waterskiing squirrel.

With the aim of helping women learn golf fundamentals and find a network of like-minded players, golf visionary Nancy Collins founded the all-female league known as Sassy Golf. Throughout the week, members convene on different Denver-area golf courses to participate in stress-free nine-hole outings. Each round includes a 45-minute group lesson and concludes with a post-game gathering in the clubhouse to bond over divot-settling digestifs. The flexible scheduling allows busy members to register for the outings, clinics, and demonstrations that do not conflict with their personal schedules. In addition to ladies-only adventures, Sassy Golf coordinates monthly 18-hole coed outings during which the sun is converted into a giant disco ball. See the complete list of member benefits.

With more than five years of experience splattered on its palette, South Denver Art Center continues to teach a range of artists how to tap into their creative energies and create artwork through a variety of media. Weekly classes are taught using the Monart Method—developed by art educator Mona Brookes—which uses a step-by-step technique to teach all levels of students how to create art through drawing, painting, clay work, and smashing things with a cricket bat. By employing five basic elements of shape, pupils can enjoy the process of creating without feeling lost or confused and can improve self-confidence while remaining as focused as a cat that’s ready to pounce on a laser-pointer dot.

Also at South Denver Art Center's private studio, friendly instructors lead groups during casual parties. These laid-back sessions offer an evening of fun as patrons sip on beverages and learn how to create each session’s themed art piece using paint, clay, or glass. Past events have included students swirling brush strokes into colorful peacocks, sculptors forming a chips-and-dip tray from raw clay, and artists fusing pieces of glass together to create a candleholder or larger pieces of glass. The center also offers private and kids' parties.