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What kid doesn't love a game of pretend?
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Trader Joe's how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: for being inexpensive, gourmet and friendly.
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Snuggle up with one of these beloved bedtime stories for kids.
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Screen time doesn't have to be a solo activity with these fun, free online games for kids to play with friends.
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Take a spin around the lazy river at Mandalay Bay.
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SingleCare offers major savings on more than 10,000 prescription drugs through its free app.
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The outdoors are a natural playground for curious kids.
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These funny jokes for kids will have them laughing in no time!
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Timber Ridge Lodge in Geneva, Wisconsin features both an indoor water park and outdoor pools.
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Things like having a children's museum with a view like this make it easy to leave your heart in San Francisco. Photo courtesy of the Bay Area Discovery Museum
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Find a bare patch of soil to place your seed bomb. Spread them far and wide! Photo by the author
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The Outdoor Play Plaza at Greensboro Children's Museum in North Carolina.
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This Week: Free Halloween Fun for Kids in NYC & Beyond, Special Mommy Poppins Family Events, Ice-skating Season Starts

10/17/13 - By Raven Snook

We have quite a busy weekend in store here at Mommy Poppins. On Saturday, we're hosting our Halloween Family Cruise on New York Harbor, featuring the wacky antics of Dr. Blood, a costume parade, face painting, nautical skills and tasty treats. Then on Sunday, it's our first-ever Mommy Poppins Night at the New Victory Theater. Enjoy the charming family production Me and My Shadow, a pre-show puppet workshop and a post-show meet and greet with the cast, plus a 20% discount on tickets. There are still tickets available for the sail and the show, so we hope to see you at one of these special events—or both!

Meanwhile, everything's coming up Halloween on all of our sites. This week we rounded up FREE family costume parades in NYC and Westchester; haunted houses in New Jersey and on Long Island; NJ haunted hayrides and fun ideas for non-edible treats to hand out on Halloween.

Our Travel site continued its series on vacationing in the U.K. with a post about things to do with kids in Cornwall, England. Plus we've got a roundup of the ten best hotel chains for families including categories like best value and coolest amenities. And there are still a few hours left to enter our Songs for Seeds preschool music class giveaway.

Here's what else we covered on the NYC site this week:

OUR LATEST VIDEOS

We added three new posts to our NYC Halloween Fun Guide: the top kids' costume parades, Day of the Dead family celebrations and the best no-candy treats to hand out on October 31.

Ice-skating season has arrived! The Rink at Rock Center is already welcoming visitors and NYC's 10 other outdoor rinks open soon, including three brand-new ones in Brooklyn.

Our month-long focus on Sunnyside and Woodside continued with a roundup of the best shops for kids in the area.

We spent a fun-filled fall day navigating the Amazing Maize Maze at the Queens County Farm Museum, the only corn maze in all of NYC.

Our biweekly news post include info on a new play area in Prospect Park, a new home for second-hand kids' shop The Flying Squirrel and the chance for kids to be in a Coney Island circus show.

Best bets for the weekend includes the Day of the Dead celebration at El Museo del Barrio, a bunch of FREE harvest festivals and fall fairs, and our special Mommy Poppins events. Hope to see you!