Free Activities

My son, Roan, has reached the age of forced ambivalence. I didn’t see it coming, at age four, yet here it is. When I asked him on Sunday to accompany me to a concert by the band Milkshake, he acted cavalier and stipulated that his cousin, Boone had to go as well. I invited Boone, nine years old, who is the king of cavalier. I think his mother threatened or bribed because he eventually was on board. I mention this because I did not expect these boys to dance, sing or frolic during the concert. I was wrong. Read more »

The Turkey's back in the fridge waiting to be pulled out for sandwiches, the family's in a tryptophan-induced stupor. OK, time to figure out what we're doing for the rest of the weekend!

This weekend will be a bunch of Christmas Tree lightings and Santas will be ready to hear children's wishes. In our Holiday Guide you'll also find lots of other holiday activities like visiting the Department Store Holiday Windows and Holiday Train Shows. Plus there's the opening festival of the new Children's Center at the 42nd St Library.

Here are some other interesting events and activities to do with the kids this weekend: Read more »

When I was a kid I basically lived at the Jefferson Market Library. We climbed on the bronze oxen sculpture (the things we let kids do in the 70s), watched movies in their little viewing room and worked my way through the books, literally, starting from A. It's a great children's library. But, there are shamefully few great children's libraries in New York City and last year they closed the main children's center at the Donnell Library which was a double shame. But I'm super excited to hear that they are opening a beautiful, new Children's Library Center at the 42nd St. main lending library. WOW! Read more »

Reader, Susan, asked me if I knew of any places for families to volunteer around the Holiday time. Her idea was to get a couple of families together in her neighborhood to all volunteer together. That sounds like a great way to teach children about the importance of helping others and making it a fun community activity at the same time.

There are always so many opportunities around the city--even I find it overwhelming, but there are actually some great resources and websites that make it easy to find a good program to fit your location, child's age and interests to do some holiday giving. Read more »

Two last-minute updates I wanted to share:

South Street Seaport Ice Skating Rink, which was supposed to open tomorrow, Friday, November 28th has been postponed. The rink is not set up yet. I'll keep you posted.

Also, I got a great tip from my friend, Jonathan, last night on how to see the giant Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons up close without the crowds of the inflation station. Read more »

Your children's holiday memories won't be about the toys they get under the tree, they're going going to be about the wonderful holiday traditions that your family shared. One of these traditions should be going to see the department store Holiday window displays. These festive holiday windows are a great way to get into the holiday spirit and this simply magical experience is completely free.

Lots of people like to do the Holiday Windows Walk on Christmas Eve, but it's also a great way to walk off your Thanksgiving dinner because it tends to be less crowded when the stores are closed. We've rounded up the best ones for kids (the more traditional displays), plus some other great Holiday stops to visit while you're in the neighborhood Read more »

When it comes to Santa, my children have been around the block once or twice. Yup, they've sat on the laps of just about every Santa in town, making googly eyes, whispering sweet nothings into his ear, as if he's the only one true Santa in their hearts, when, really, they've got a different Santa in just about every neighborhood that they're selling the same line to. Poor guy, he just eats it up.

So if you want to know where to get your picture taken with Santa in NYC, you've come to the right place. Here's the skinny on the fat man:

Read more »

With everyone looking to shave a few dollars off their expenses a be a little greener too, swapping is becoming more and more popular. This is something we've always been big fans of and we get together with our friends regularly to trade clothes and other items. We do brunch and dish as we try on each other's clothes. At the end, someone takes all the left-overs to a Housing Works to donate.

Besides swapping clothes with your friends there are many local and national resources that can help you swap everything from your child's toys to your actual house or apartment. Here are the resources you need to cut the cord to your cards and trade what you've got for what you want. You'll be more than prepared for Buy Nothing Day on November 28th. Read more »

A little bit of everything this weekend, so whether you're looking for indoor or outdoor activities, film, art, a cool concert, or something literary, we've got it and it's all free. See wonderful short films at MoMA, A Mr Ray concert, buy discounted books and holiday gifts at a charity book fair, story time, magic and skating at Bryant Park, and crazy cool can art in Battery Park City. Have a great weekend and get ready for some turkey eating.

  Read more »

What do the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Children's Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Public Library, Prospect Park and the Prospect Park Zoo all have in common? They're wonderful NYC cultural institutions that you almost feel guilty for not going to more often (or ever). You know they're great, they're just a little...inconvenient.

But now, they all have something else in common too...they're all stops on the brand new FREE Heart of Brooklyn cultural shuttle. The Heart of Brooklyn Culture Shuttle is a free hop-on hop off service running three different programs: Read more »