Daily Five: Patch Gets A New Look Later This Week

1. 'Tis the season for craft fairs and Christmas bazaars and all kinds of homemade awesomeness, and Patch is here to help you find every great buy out there. Every Thursday between now and Christmas, log onto Patch to read our Holiday Crafts & Bazaars Round-up. In the meantime, make sure your craft fair or Christmas bazaar is on our calendar by posting it as an event.

2. Children's Dentistry of Westerly is hosting a holiday food drive for the families in the community. All donations will go to the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center and Jonnycake Center of Westerly. Drop off donations at 130c Granite Street, Westerly, R.I., Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

3. Later this week, we'll unveil a new look for Patch that helps you live better in Stonington, Mystic and Pawcatuck. You’ll be able to:

Personalize Stonington-Mystic Patch by following groups. A few clicks makes your local news feed custom-fit to the topics you care about. Police blotter and shelter pets? Taxes and restaurant reviews? Why not?

Better organize your day by creating groups of your own. Use Patch to plan a rec sports league or school fundraiser. Everyone can finally be on the same page—literally.

Experience a better mobile Patch. We know you live on your smartphone—so we put everything you love about Patch in a smaller, more portable package.

Share comments and photos more intuitively and much, much faster.

Turn any blog or opinion piece into a mini-community of interest, complete with followers of your very own.

For a sneak peek, check out Long Beach (NY) Patch and let us know what you think.

4. Patch wants to find the most over-the-top holiday decorations in America—the best “decked” house in the country—the one home so spectacularly decorated that everyone in town jokes your holiday decorations could rival Rockefeller Center’s.

If this sounds like your house, upload a photo or video of your home to our contest page by Dec. 16. Only residents of Patch towns are eligible to enter. We’ll select 24 regional finalists, and from them, pick one grand prize winner. Patch will pay up to $500 of the utility bill for each finalist, while our national winner will have $100,000 donated to his or her local school district.

5. Today's Thought: "Forgiveness is the act of admitting we are like other people." —Christina Baldwin