you could have a corrupt save check for saves with bad on the end of those and delete them
You can save the family you are playing and try them in a new game. In edit town click on the household and save household to library , Just exit the game after you do this. Start a new game and add the family from library to your new game. See if the option then works again.
You can also try clearing out your cashe package files. It cleans the game but does not delete anything in your game. See about deleteing the 5 temp package cashe files. They will regenerate every time you start a new game if you delete them. It just keeps the game clean. I delete mine every time before playing
http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Sims_3_Delete_Cache_Files
